The Man to be Destroyed by Tottenham Hotspur

Fans will sing his name, but the stories in the papers continue. Goals may be scored, but yet – the stories detailing an “exit” will still be relentlessly published, as the press prints on.

Since Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival on the 27th of May, the name of Roberto Soldado has flirted with the Tottenham Hotspur exit door more times than I’ve hit the replay button on Eric Dier’s goal versus West Spam on the weekend.

First it was Atletico Madrid who were keen on taking our number 9 from White Hart Lane back to sunny Spain. Now, Talksport links Roberto with a move to Inter Milan in exchange for midfielder Fredy Guarin, whilst The Express state that Spurs are chasing forward Mattia Destro, with Soldado heading in the opposite direction.

Reliable or not you may consider these stories, there always seems to be one consistent element, and that is the matter that – Soldado is available for transfer!

Being in Soldado’s Shoes

I shan’t bore you with the details of Soldado’s unbearable demise, which as Spurs fans we are all well aware of, but if there’s one thing that can change rapidly in the world of football – it’s an opinion.

Billed last summer as our £26 million strike-force saviour, a lack of goals from open play, or even a lack of goals in general, led Roberto be listed as one of the "10 worst buys of the Premier League season" by The Daily Telegraph in April 2014.

Soldado is living proof that, if a striker doesn’t hit the ground running, week after week more and more question marks are raised over his price-tag. As the question marks increase so does the pressure, causing confidence to wane. With a striker’s confidence waning, a goal-scoring opportunity that would have been a walk in the park a year or so ago, suddenly seems like the most impossible task on the football field.

As a fan, you can only hope for a game-changing goal that will revitalize your star striker and resurrect his career at your club, but without that moment, you are left with the fear that the very guy will never be the same player that you had originally purchased.

And for Soldado – this couldn’t be more accurate.

Time for a fresh start, but will it be at the Lane?

After Andre was axed, and Sherwood sacked, fans and people of the press murmured the inevitable words - “fresh start”, believing that players who had currently fallen out of favour during the previous regimes, were now given a clean Spurs slate – but is Soldado one of these players?

Despite facing opposition of lesser stature, pre-season was considered a successful one by fans of Soldado. His finishing may not have been clinical as we’d demand, but there was an evident understanding on the field of play with Erik Lamela, and Soldado’s neat, intricate link-up play that had often gone unnoticed at times last season, was rewarded via goals from his teammates.

So that leads us onto Thursday the 14th of August. With Soldado still making the headlines in terms of an exit from Hotspur Way, Tottenham’s very own Mr.Marmite Harry Kane signed a new 5 year deal to keep him up at the club until 2019.

We had reported exactly 3 months earlier, that Poch was a keen admirer of Kane after trying to sign him for Southampton, but had any of us anticipated this bumper-new deal for the 21 year-old? If so, it was a small minority.

Two days later, and to our first game of the season away to West Ham, Pochettino’s first PL XI as Spurs boss saw Emmanuel Adebayor start as striker, for him then to be replaced by Harry Kane midway through the second half. Kane’s introduction was then justified, as he provided a silky through-ball to assist goal-scorer Eric Dier, sending the Spurs fans into raptures.

To take a stab at what Soldado must’ve been thinking during these developments? Maybe “sh*t” will suffice.

Stick or Twist

With three forwards on our books, and one who you could argue is not deemed essential to our Head Coaches’ plans, where do we go from here?

After investing a then club-record fee of £26 million into a player who was tipped to solve our on-going conundrum in attack, should we be tempted to cut our losses and risk it all on a player like Destro?

The point of Destro not being Premier League proven can be made, but then neither is Soldado – so you can empathise with the hierarchy of our club looking into the possibility of shipping one striker out for another. Although, I fear that even this option alone may be undeniably worthless.

An opinion held by myself, is that it is not the player that is the problem, but the club itself!

For a long-period of time now we haven’t had an out-and-out striker hold the title of being some-what prolific and bag 20+ goals in one season. In fact, it wasn’t until winger Gareth Bale scored 21 goals in the 2012-13 season, that a player at Spurs had eclipsed 20 goals - a record previously held by Jurgen Klinsmann somewhat twenty years ago!

If Pochettino has been appointed by Daniel Levy to “fix” our club and improve the current players– then why not let him work his Argentine artistry on Roberto Soldado!

Tottenham Hotspur may have somewhat destroyed Roberto Soldado last season, but now we face the possibility of hitting the self-destruct button ourselves, if we are unable to persevere with the poacher.

The saying goes that form is temporary and that class is permanent, but I assure you - neither will be separated from one another if not given time to differentiate the two.

 

We sold our best player and scoured europe with a large amount of money and bought for top dollar the shortest, slowest, weakest, laziest striker we could find to play as a lone striker in the Quickest most Physical league in the world.
Here lyath the problem!

Hes good at penalties though.

 

AVB played a system/ tried to play a system that didn't suit either of our forwards last season (neither Defoe or Soldado did well in it). Poch may well create something that Soldado can work in. On the defensive side he's far more suited to the high pressing game than either Ade or Kane imo and his link up play has been brilliant in pre season.

The problem comes when we are forced to play the long ball out. Soldado cannot compete aerially against this league's defenders.

 

Maybe it would be wise to assess the strikers and some other players until January before taking a decision. This is also what we should have done before spending the Bale money on 7 players of which only one can be called a success (Eriksen)... I'm convinced we have to accept yet another transition year to build something without putting to much pressure on the team this time.

 

I think that the best position for Soldado is playing in the hole behind another striker of larger stature.
He has the ability to link up play, and the predatory instincts to play off another striker.
I know we have Eriksen for this job, but with the amount of games we have this season, a player of Soldado's class is an ideal replacement.

 

Yes, the laziest striker who scored 59 league goals in 88 appearances for Valencia...

 

Personally, I'd be inclined to bring in a short term, experienced option such an an older player (think Eto'o - albeit I'm not specifically advocating him) so that we have four striking options. That would give us more cover short term and it would also allow us to give Soldado more time to see if he improves under the new manager. After all, if Lamela gets another season with a new manager it seems a shame for our other big money signing to be squeezed out of the door.

 

Soldado is probably the bes technical player we have, but last year managed to destroy him.
Given the opportunity to play he will come good. The pre season games showed this.
I can remember a few years ago when the whingers were singing "get rid of Bale". We have short memories don't we!

 

In a Slower, physically weaker league.

 

To Felon82
Slower poorer league.
Which teams got the the Champions league final?
Technique is the same wherever you play.

 

One thing is for sure, he cannot score from the bench ,play the man ,give him 6-8 game run .Then make a constructive criticism, not on one game, then back to the bench,then the last 15 mins,then back to the bench.
Or just sell him and wait 6 moths for his replacement to settle in.

 

6 goals in an entire league campaign (4 from the spot) tells you all you need to know about his credability in this league

 

You mean the league that has won 6 out of last ten Champions a League trophies, whereas only 3 PL teams have had that honor in the same time frame? That league?

 

Read it correctly i said-
"SLOWER, PHYSICALLY WEAKER"

Soldado gets bullied in the Premier league by stronger bigger quicker Defenders, in la liga its all tiki taka pretty play where you can score goals in the 6yrd box. Soldado is totally unsuited to the EPL


Thanks Jimmy very intelligent comments, i'll walk you through this one Soldado cost £26 million he scored 2 goals from open play in an entire season. He may be rich but he is a failure at his job.

 

NO ONE WILL sell Soldado without proper replacement coming in.

Who would you rather have Soldado or Etoo? I'd take the old man in order to let Soldado excel in Spain where he probably belongs. Etoo on a bridge contract would allow Harry to mature and take over eventually.

 

Yes, the league where outside the top 2 usually every team is ****. It's a great league for stars who are afraid of competition and no one is tall enough to defend the arial attacks of a guy who is 5'8". What a league.

 

Except:
Atlético Madrid (La Liga Champs 13-14, Copa Winners 13, EL Champs 09-10, 11-12, Super Cup Winners 10, 12)
Sevilla (EL Champs 06-06, 06-07, 13-14, Copa Winner 09-10, Super Cup Winners 06)
Valencia (La Liga Champs 03-04, Copa Winner 08, UEFA Cup Winner 03-04)

And "afraid of competition" is hilarious, by the way. The EPL is great, but the depth of talent on most of the La Liga sides is pretty steep. You're just not giving it enough credit. A team like Stoke or Sunderland or Hull would get absolutely picked apart by most Spanish sides.

Plus, Spurs really seem to want one of those guys who can't win aerial attacks against 5'8" players.

 

Soldado was only surpassed by the best 2 players in spain so to label him like felon has done is not only wrong but very short sighted, he played in a similar set up that avb employed but unfortunately the players that were to supply him i.e andros and siggy never made it to the byline to cross but instead cut inside and shot bypassing the positioning and space that soldado made for himself thus lowering confidence then he suffered personal problems followed by deadwood taking over who prefered ade who was always going to perform as his contract was up for renewal. The club is to blame for soldado's form more than anyone else, i also suggest that his knockers actually watch what he does as his movement and interplay are exceptional oh and by the way while he wears our beloved shirt give him 100% support or we have also failed.

 

Some people on here, you'd think id insulted their mothers.

Soldado has looked like a lost sheep since his arrival and lamela like a lost Lamb, both maybe technically good and played well in their former leagues but they have been shocking for a combined £56 million all i see is both of them getting out muscled and dissapearing in almost every game they play in the Prem.
Until they both step up and start delivering they will both be labbelled as flops.
If he was so outstanding as a number of you are implying then why is there so many questions and articles questioning him?

 

Wouldn't waste my breath boys cannot remember the last time felon said anything positive about sours to be perfectly honest