Football fans have already begun to criticise Tottenham Hotspur’s lack of goals. Spurs fans have already given up on Europe – is it now time for Andre Villas-Boas to give up on Roberto Soldado?
After their shattering 6-0 defeat to Manchester City, Villas-Boas is under even more pressure to deliver goals and results. So far they have only netted nine times in the league; only one more than bottom side Sunderland and two more than Crystal Palace.
Roberto Soldado, who cost the club a record £26million, was brought in to score the goals that would otherwise have been scored by Gareth Bale. Not only has he not lived up to expectation, he has been detrimental to Spurs this season, keeping Jermaine Defoe, an experienced Premier League striker, on the bench.
Gylfi Sigurdsson, who has played as many minutes as Soldado but in a different position, has scored three times this season, only one less than Soldado. Spurs’ only consolation is that Chelsea have an even worse striking problem in Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o.
Although Johan Elmander is not as talented as many of Spurs’ attacking players, I believe Tottenham could benefit from a striker who’s taller than 5 foot 6. He is the type of player Spurs are missing; he’s tall, powerful and works hard to get to the ball.
I’m not trying to suggest that he’s the solution to Bale’s absence. He is not a prolific goalscorer, but, like Emile Heskey, the Swede can provide a presence up-front and play in the other striker, either Defoe or Soldado.
AVB, if he manages to keep hold of his job, should begin to think about changing his formation to playing two upfront instead of a lone striker. This would mean, however, dropping one of his many attacking stars to the bench; either Aaron Lennon, Lewis Holtby, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela, Sigurdsson or England starlet Andros Townsend.
Although most Spurs fans would be saddened to see any of the players being dropped it would a sacrifice well worth paying if they still hope to push for a Champions League spot.
Alternatively they could put in a £100million bid for Liverpool’s SAS: Suarez and Sturridge.
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