The lack of Cristian Romero to a doubtlessly season-ending harm might have uncovered Tottenham Hotspur‘s ongoing defensive woes, but the larger concern dealing with new boss Roberto De Zerbi will seemingly be the stark shortcomings within the ahead line.
Not because the creditable comeback draw towards Manchester Metropolis again in early February have the Lilywhites scored a couple of aim in a Premier League sport, having now failed to attain in any respect in every of their final two.
No participant has even reached double figures for league objectives, whereas solely Richarlison (9) has bought above 4, a stark decline from the times of Harry Kane and Heung-min Son proving so constantly prolific in north London.
The make-up of the present attacking choices seems akin to these days previous to Kane in his pomp, significantly throughout that turbulent 2013/14 marketing campaign.
Spurs’ ahead line seems prefer it did again in 2013/14
Tottenham might not have confronted the specter of relegation in that chaotic post-Gareth Bale marketing campaign, though it did see Tim Sherwood appointed in December 2013 to attempt to regular the ship, amid the intention of main the membership again into the Champions League.
Regardless of his memorable 59% win ratio, Sherwood was dismissed on the finish of the season with the north London facet in sixth, sparking the beginning of a fruitful interval underneath Mauricio Pochettino.
The make-up of the squad that the Englishman inherited actually is analogous to the present crop, with a stark lack of choices on the flanks, excluding Aaron Lennon and the injury-hit Erik Lamela, alongside an underwhelming batch of strikers.
The aforementioned Kane, only a rising, comparatively unknown expertise on the time, solely scored thrice within the again finish of the season, whereas marquee signing, Roberto Soldado, scored solely six Premier League objectives himself that yr.
Surprisingly, the primary aim risk following Sherwood’s arrival got here within the type of Emmanuel Adebayor, the Togo worldwide coming back from harm to attain 11 league objectives between December and Might, the brightest spark of that interim tenure.
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Spurs – prime scorers* |
|
|---|---|
|
2013/14 |
2025/26 |
|
Adebayor – 11 |
Richarlison – 9 |
|
Eriksen – 7 |
Van de Ven – 4 |
|
Soldado – 6 |
Romero – 4 |
|
Paulinho – 6 |
Tel – 3 |
|
Sigurdsson – 5 |
Palhinha – 3 |
|
Kane – 3 |
Grey – 2 |
|
Sarr – 2 |
|
|
Kudus – 2 |
|
|
Johnson – 2 |
|
|
*PL solely – 2 or above |
|
To say that kind of type was the norm for the polarising ahead can be incorrect, nonetheless, with the well-travelled marksman arriving with an enormous popularity, but flattering to deceive throughout a lot of his time at N17.
Sound acquainted?
De Zerbi must improve on the brand new Adebayor at Spurs
Like in 2013/14, the place Spurs completed sixth regardless of scoring solely 55 instances, objectives have been scarce within the present marketing campaign, with Micky van de Ven and Romero the second-highest scorers within the league with 4 apiece.
The brand new Romero ought to by no means play for Spurs once more after De Zerbi’s arrival
It is not simply Cristian Romero who might be coming to the top of his Spurs profession.
Richarlison, as said, is the person in Adebayor-style type with 9 objectives, but a greater comparability to the previous Arsenal and Manchester Metropolis man may properly be Dominic Solanke, the 28-year-old not delivering as anticipated following his club-record arrival.
In Adebayor’s case, a fruitful mortgage spell in 2011/12 – which yielded 17 league objectives – was adopted by only a additional 18 top-flight objectives over the following three seasons, by no means managing to take pleasure in any form of consistency, each when it comes to ending and health.
Even in that yr underneath Sherwood, the now-retired striker had missed the primary chunk of the marketing campaign resulting from harm, making solely a solitary look earlier than late December.
High quality on his day, but that day did not come typically sufficient, very a lot the case with regard to Solanke’s time at Tottenham up to now.
For a lot of, together with Sherwood and fellow former Spurs man, Jamie O’Hara, he regarded like a “nice signing” on the time, contemporary off the again of scoring 19 Premier League objectives at Bournemouth.
Like Adebayor, he had that advantage of being ‘Premier League-proven’, albeit with there maybe the priority over his failed spells beforehand at different elite top-flight golf equipment, making simply 28 appearances mixed at Liverpool and Chelsea.
In Adebayor’s case, he too had seen his time on the likes of Arsenal, Manchester Metropolis and Actual Madrid proved short-lived, even whereas recording a good report for every of these golf equipment, having by no means been capable of finding a settled residence for one cause or one other.
In 113 video games in whole for Spurrs, the now 42-year-old scored simply 42 instances, with Solanke heading in the right direction to realize an analogous report contemplating his present trajectory, with simply 22 objectives in 62 video games to this point.
After an injury-hit 2025/26, he’s out there once more, though Sunday’s journey to Sunderland represented a poor outing for the ex-Cherries star, with O’Hara brutally suggesting that it “seems like he is forgotten the way to play soccer“.
Anticipated to be the primary attacking pressure underneath De Zerbi, Solanke was outshone by Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani on the flanks, registering simply 18 touches on the Stadium of Mild.
As author Zach Lowy famous on the weekend, Solanke is “the largest proof that signing ‘Premier League-proven gamers’ isn’t a assure of success”, because the turbulent story of Adebayor additionally showcased.
12 league objectives in nearly two seasons simply is not adequate for a £65m signing, with De Zerbi needing to swiftly discover an improve, be it inside Tottenham’s personal ranks, or available in the market this summer season.
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Roberto De Zerbi’s spell at Spurs bought off to a disappointing begin on Sunday – the place was the attacking aptitude?
