Has the man from sunny Spain performed at White Hart Lane?

Last summer, we purchased Spanish striker Roberto Soldado from Valencia for a fee of £26 million which was our record fee at the time.

There was a lot of hype about Roberto because his goal record for Valencia was simply astonishing. In 101 league games for the club, he notched up a tidy 59 goals. It seemed like Tottenham had finally found themselves a world class striker.

This was simply not the case. In 26 league games, Soldado has only found the net 6. 4 of these have been from the penalty spot. Some fans would believe that when Roberto plays, he has shown glimpses of the man who scored on average a goal every two games. I believe this is true. Roberto and his link up play are good, he can pick a pass but the finishing touch just isn’t there.

I recently asked my twitter followers what they thought of the Spaniard this season. The views varied:

“Being honest I expected better. He WILL come good”

“it’s only the goals that he's lacking you can't knock his work rate. I think he'll come good...”

“Frustrating but I think if he'd started scoring from open play early on then I think he'd have 20+ league goals now.”

“Showed glimpses of skill but a tough first year for him, both personally and professionally. Next season should be better.”

“he hasn't stopped trying but nothing is going his way, he will come good got the ability just hadn't clicked yet.”

So, most fans agreed that he will score more goals and will play a bigger part for us next season.

We will wait and see!

 

I just hope he is given the chance to have more of an impact next season, unlike this season when after scoring, he gets dropped, losing what confidence he had gained.

 

I agree, after his goal against Cardiff, we all thought this was a turning point. But no he gets dropped again.

 

He has to be the worst striker we couldve chose to play the lone striker in the quickest most physical league in the world. If he wants to succeed hel have to up his work rate massively else hel never come good.

 

He has clearly under-performed this year, but i feel a lot of this is down to not playing to his strengths. If you pay top dollar then you should at least try and shape the team and tactics to bring the best out of him. AVB's slow build up and inverted wingers gave Soldado minimal ball either to feet or cutbacks to play off. Equally the regular lump forward (sorry, early ball) under TS may
work for Adebayor, but not for a guy six inches shorter. Soldado is more akin to Defoe, but much smarter (seldom strays offside) and with an impeccable first touch. I really believe we should be looking to Eriksen and Soldado as our first choice combination next year, supported by "proper" wide playes (Lennon and Chadli) and a solid midfield (perm two from Sandro, Paulinho, Dembele and Sherwood's lovechild. COYS

 

He has to perform next season. When he has played, I have not been impressed with his effort. We will see, but I expect more from him. Much more

 

For Soldado, i feel sorry for him as he just starts to look like turning a corner and scores from open play, then he is dropped, how does anyone expect him to build on that when he is not being played consistently, For next season have him and Eriksen on the pitch together to see if they can link up play together and have 2 good wingers to also feed him the passess he can turn into goals.

 

Had we signed negredo and city bought soldado I'm pretty sure the roles were reversed.. He simply doesn't get the service. He was Spain's number 9 prior to us destroying his confidence with a system and players that don't suit

 

Decent striker in the Spanish league, totally unsuited for the English league don't get me wrong he's a decent forward intelligent and unselfish and gets into good positions and with some time on pitch and confidence he will improve but I doubt that he will ever emulate the form he showed in spain unless of course he plays against defences like ours every week.

 

What annoys me is that we had top money to pay out on a striker, something Levy had refused to do at some crucial points over the last 5 years. Then when we finally do we choose possibly the worse suited striker we could get. He has zero sell on value aswel his tally of 2 goals from open play is embarrassing, with out going into lamela and paulinho aswell how the hell is Baldini still in a job?

 

Why baldini still has a job is beyond me but I expect levy may sack him in the summer so he can cover his own ineptitude. Again.

 

Soldado - It's very simple, he's not had the service..... We have played the wrong system for him. Nacer should have been played more often with Lennon and Eriksen coupled with Roberto - SIMPLE
COYS forever - keep the faith always

 

Its not as simple as saying he hasnt had the service what does that mean. that he hasnt had the ball handed to him on a plate in the six yard box every time. thats not going to happen every game in the uk in fact he's had plenty of good opportunities in front of goal and completly missed them. I still think he's a smart and classy player and he seems to be trying to adapt but next year is make or break and no excuses. the effort seems to be there if the end result isnt then he's just not good enough.

 

Lennons service is worse than macdonalds he is pants

 

Agreed, not that simple. However if you have a guy that has good touch and excellent link up play, you don't help him by playing 20 slow and square passes in your own half and then, when the opposition is in full 4-4-1 formation in front of you, whack the ball at him or over his head with two CB's marking him. We have pace and guile in our squad so why not use it? Liverpool break fast, pass positively and aggressively and it seems to work pretty well. With possession and game time, Soldado's confidence will return and so will his strike rate. Granted, he has to work harder, but if you make 20 runs and never get a single early pass it must be a tad demoralising. Check out the body language of Suarez, Sturridge, Adebayor, Rooney, RVP et al when they are not getting regular service - it's not a lot different.

 

Have to admit the service from the start was awful, slow build up play, inverted wingers and townsend in particular lashing at anything from 30 yards. i think we all felt for the guy and was willing him on to score, how good was it to see him get one from open play at villa. in fairness he has worked hard to adapt and since ade has come back into the team and eriksen has found his feet he's looked a lot more comfortable but still not enough goals. decent player and should be better next season but dont expect the new manager to build the team around him.

 

Left footer on left wing, right footed on right wing, poacher in the box. It really is simple but coaches always overcomplicate things