It was a glorious summer headlined by the arrival of Roberto Soldado, now though after yet another blank, this time in the Europa League, the time has come to take a look at Bobby. What went wrong? Who is at fault? Will he ever score again?
The fall of Roberto Soldado
The ball clearly bobbled, the political unrest affected the atmosphere, the presence of Harry Kane was unsettling or lady luck has cut him loose. There are many possible excuses that we can wheel out in defence of our Spanish striker, but the truth of the matter is, something has gone wrong. From being a free scoring striker, the man who was set to make La Furia Roja’s false nine very real, Roberto Soldado has gone beyond being a funny joke, it’s now close to being offensive.
Go back to the warm month of August, a time when we were still very much in love with AVB and Gareth Bale was a Spur and listen to The Fighting Cock’s early season episodes.
In there amongst the tactical musings and political dissections, you will hear four united voices, four voices expressing in various states of climax the fact that we had finally signed a striker. The missing piece, the lost half of AVB’s Rosetta Stone had been unearthed by Daniel Levy and to our delight transported by Ryanair.
We laughed, we boasted, we professed our love, 30 goals this season? Straight into every single Fantasy Football team? A song within two minutes of his first appearance? Most def.
We had a international class striker. We had hope. We had summer fling to blow anything Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsen could sing about, but now with the smell of summer completely washed away, we are left little more than fractured memories.
[linequote] Soldado, the missing piece, the lost half of AVB’s Rosetta Stone had been unearthed by Daniel Levy[/linequote]
For the last five months I have clung to the hope that all he needed was a chance, a stroke of luck, a double deflection, anything to break open the floodgates, last night he had that chance and last night he snatched at it.
In his anger he turned and kicked the goal post, it was a futile reaction though. Like attempting to live up to your drunken whispers in your girlfriend’s ear after you have spent the last 10 hours drinking your own body weight in Jaeger.
So what went wrong with Soldado? What transformed him from a potent striker into the flaccid number nine we now see fleetingly?
The single biggest issue that faced Soldado was the fact he was deployed as the central point of a strike force that was full of strangers that didn’t know or understand him or even each other.
In previous years the forward players have been part of the Luka Modric, Gareth Bale or VdV orchestra, this year they found themselves without a conductor. With no inspiring figure to lead them they relied more on the tactics of AVB and less of the brilliance of individuals. Soldado should have inspired them, but that is not his role and never has been.
He is the chef, the man who stands at the pass and adds the finishing touch. He has never been the man to roll up his sleeves and chop the onions or baste the meat. He is a finisher, and as we have seen in the last few weeks, a totally different player to Emmanuel Adebayor, who has been our most successful striker since Dimitar Berbatov was whisked off to Man United in the boot of a Lexus.
In Spain, where only CR7 and Leo Messi outscored Soldado, he was the benefactor of creative brilliance from Esteban Granero and Football Manager semi legend Juan Albin at Getafe, whilst at Valencia he had a plethora of stars ready to hand the ball to him exactly when and where he wanted it. His support at Valencia over three years where he scored 59 goals in 101 games, rolls off the tongue. Joaquin, Vicente, Jordi Alba, Juan Mata, Ever Banega, Pablo Piatti, Sergio Canales and Pablo Hernandez. For any professional penetrator, this is a serious fluffer cast.
At Spurs under AVB it immediately became clear he would be expected to do more. Arriving to the squad late, after his exploits at the Confederation Cup, the season started with some well taken penalties, but little else. As Spurs laboured, Soldado floundered.
Moving to a new country, adapting to a new role, working with other new players who had yet to settle themselves threw the Spaniard as off-course as his ancestors had been in 1588. Nerves have now taken root in Soldado, a man who was instinctive has become pensive.
[linequote]Arriving to the squad late, the season started with some well taken penalties, but little else. As Spurs laboured, Soldado floundered[/linequote]
There were moments during the first few months were it seemed the block on Soldado was lifting. At Villa Park he scored a second goal with a Matador’s flourish, under the gaze of 1882 he bagged a hat-trick against Anzhi, but since then a penalty is all he has to show for his efforts.
The biggest problem was Soldado being asked to play a role unnatural to him and the effect of his ineffectiveness has broken him. What has accentuated this break is the rise of Adebayor. Since AVB was cut loose from his man-made downward trajectory, his replacement has brought back Adebayor.
The Togolese had been nothing more than a bored bystander under AVB, but with Sherwood in charge, his return has been seamless. Originally deployed alongside Soldado, he is now operating even better alone. He is the man that Soldado should have been but could never have been.
Adebayor is suited to the solo role, Soldado isn’t. This isn’t a fault with Soldado, it is simply a reference on what kind of players the two are. Our team should have been planned around Soldado but it wasn’t. For 18 months we were convinced that our team was evolving as part of plan, now it seems we were making it up as we went along. There are now £56 million pounds worth of talent wasting away in the wings as proof of this.
So what now for Soldado? Will he take his place alongside luminaries such as Sergey Rebrov, Helder Positga, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent? Is there a chance his Spurs career can be rescued?
[linequote] For 18 months we were convinced that our team was evolving as part of plan, now it seems we were making it up as we went along[/linequote]
Personally I hope so. The affection I had for him on his arrival still stands today, I want him to succeed, but as we saw with AVB, what you want and what you get are a million miles away from each other. Soldado has the talent to succeed, but who is appointed this summer and whether or not lady luck returns to him, will be the defining factors. I just hope the damage to his confidence and self belief aren’t terminal.
Under Sherwood I don’t see Soldado shining, but I have been wrong countless times before. I do have a niggley though that Thursday the 27th with 1882 in attendance at White Hart Lane will be the night the soldier gets back to firing.
Optimism. It’s a curse us Spurs fans are well acquainted with.
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16 Comments
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21/02/2014 @ 2:03 pm
Soldado needs to work harder, especially on being the first line of defence. Some of his approach work and linking up is exquisite and world class. However, in front of goal nothing is going right as exemplified by last night’s incredible miss, which as you say, was preceded by nasty bobble on that laughable patch of earth misnamed a ‘Football pitch.’ Clearly his confidence is shot to pieces. There does seem to be a confidence problem with a number of players this season: Townsend, Soldado, Rose, Lamela and even Eriksen. Something is not right. It’s probably due to bringing in so many new players at once and then the unsettling effect of AVB’s departure, which was rash, to say the least. I think Sherwood needs to bring in a sports psychologist to deal with players anxieties but don’t think that’s Tim’s style as he’s more of an ‘old school’ coach.
21/02/2014 @ 2:07 pm
Completely agree with you on this. Soldado hasnt had anything go for him since he joined Spurs. He was asked to play in a completely different position to what he’s used to AND get goals. Expecting players to plant the ball onto his foot has been no more then a pipe dream and he’s joined a team in transition. Man City got the better spanish striker and Roberto’s credentials as a world class striker have been seriously tested.
21/02/2014 @ 2:14 pm
One of the looming problems is if and when Adebayor loses interest and we are left with a promising ,but as yet not ready striker in Kane
21/02/2014 @ 2:45 pm
great read. I got to be frank, we are a total shambles from top to bottom…we are making it all up as we go along. All the signings we made haven’t improved the squad at all and we spun4ed 100m in the process.
LEVY- OUT, BALDINI – OUT, SHERWOOD – OUT, but above all – LEWIS – OUT
21/02/2014 @ 2:45 pm
Soldado is not suited to playing as a lone striker and performs better while having another striker with him, last night the bobble in the pitch stopped him from scoring, you could see how frustrated he was as he ended up kicking the post..I really like the guy but hope to hell he starts scoring soon as otherwise we will be relying on Harry Kane (what a worrying thought).
21/02/2014 @ 6:26 pm
Still quite a few games to go this season. At the end of the season Spurs will need to review the strike force of Adebayor, Soldado and Kane, with Defoe gone to Toronto. There will have to be some changes for next season, you would think.
21/02/2014 @ 7:59 pm
Soldado is not the type of player to do well solo upfront. This has been made clear from his performance when he is upfront alone. However, I don’t think that he is useless. Throughout the season we have seen glimpses of excellence from him with a couple of key passes and a few flamboyant skills during matches. Its clear that he has the talent to play at a high level and it would be foolish for us as a club to not utilise that talent. How? I personally would keep playing him in a 442 along with Adebayor upfront. Lets not forget he has only been playing in the premier league since the beginning of this season. Lets also not forget that we have got a whole new bunch of players that don’t know each other as well as they should.. Its going to take time, that’s all. The “fall” of Soldado is not a something I agree with. We just need time.
21/02/2014 @ 8:08 pm
Sign Sandra im sure as harry said she could have scored that one ,new team,new players, poor pitch, strange country, and any other reason we can think of .its was 4 yards and a fucking awful miss .would love to be that poor at my job and be there monday morning
21/02/2014 @ 8:26 pm
After watching mr soldado for the past 4 seasons in spain I was so pleased when we signed a proven goal scorer
But watching him this season in a spurs shirt has been eye opening in how inaffective his is
He doesn’t seem to be happy with either the team or formation and position he’s put in
Why isn’t he scoring at the moment is it the training or the coaching because somthing is not right in soldados head at the moment
He should be hitting the back of the net week in week out with the world cup coming up
My conclusion we missed the boat by a season with soldado at his most deadly in his last season in spain
I hope I’m wrong and he turns his and spurs season around or its another white elephant signing by the lilywhites
Coys
21/02/2014 @ 9:42 pm
Hmm. Roughly three million a goal by my calculations. Money well spent!!! I will leave you all to decide. I know what my view is!!
24/02/2014 @ 2:47 am
Soldado thrives on decent crosses into the box. No one in the Spurs team is providing that at the moment.
I am a Chelsea fan and Soldado can easily walk into our first team, maybe rotated with Eto’o.
So come on you Spurs, get your act together, take some points off our title rivals and finish top 4 (I detest the Scousers and also to annoy the smirking Gooners).
See you at the Bridge later.
24/02/2014 @ 3:04 pm
Obvious from first game, he hasn’t got what it takes. We play at our best with 1 man up front. He can’t play up front on his own. Massive waste of money. Whoever scouted him should be shot. No Pace. No Power. No Heading ability. Give him back to Valencia!
24/02/2014 @ 9:18 pm
I don’t get this “isn’t suited to a solo role up front” line. Pretty much his entire career thats exactly what he has been
25/02/2014 @ 2:50 pm
I’ve been disappointed by his lack of effort/impact. If the ball finds him, creatively he is OK but he is missing more often than not because he’s not doing enough to evade defenders.
There has been a handful of sitters he has missed, and IMO that is bad luck. On the ball or off it he shows no desire/fire. It’s never going to click if he walks around with his back to goal. Shit service (and it is terrible, brainless service out wingers and wingbacks provide) is a problem..But he is never carving opportunities for himself with the heavy amount of possession we get over the course of a season.
He has the ability, but he does not have the spark/aggression/winners mentality this league needs.
26/02/2014 @ 5:00 am
The truth is we need a poacher of quality to replace Defoe ( legend ) who has now departed the club. Now ( from what I have heard ) people’s argument has been how much “Bobby” creates , but the truth is we need someone who can not only create but score! I mean he is a striker after-all? Is he not? Which for what he has been is not up to par for Tottenham. I personally hope he has a good two/four game run , gets us Europa ( Champions League if were lucky ) so we can sell him high!
01/03/2014 @ 8:21 am
In my honest opinion, the problem with Soldado is himself and the faulty way we use him. As seen in Valenica, Soldado was one of Europe’s finest strikers and of course, played as a lone wolf upfront. Now, I wouldn’t classify him as better with Adebayor by his side or if he was the only striker.
The problem is the team and his conforming skills with respect to the country. By this, I mean that he quite literally knew no English whatsoever prior to his arrival. And trust me on this, that can prove to be a huge, and I mean huge drawback. With respect to our team, its the buying of players at a rapid pace which, in my opinion, loses the cohesiveness of players. Don’t get me wrong, I have complete faith in our world class acquisitions and it might be only a matter of time until the likes of Lamela, Eriksen, Capoue, Chirches and our evolving striker, Soldado, start to shine.
PS: Would love Van Gaal at the club. I see him being more of a sensation that Sherwood will ever be.