The worry up top: Are Spurs overlooking their striking options?

Written by Sai Reddy https://x.com/ttid_reddy?s=20

Tottenham fans have all the reasons to be optimistic for the upcoming 26/27 season. With a narrow but crucial escape from the drop last season, Spurs now have a manager in Roberto De Zerbi who seems to have an understanding of what he wants from his players, and has somehow managed to make the board step up to make significant acquisitions early in the summer market. Starting right from the net with the experienced Martin Dubravka as a backup keeper, defensive reinforcements in Van Hecke, Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertseon along with the big money acquisitions in the center of midfield with Tonali and Mateus; RDZ looks set to launch Spurs back into Europe next season. And judging by his pre-season pressers we might still welcome some new attackers/wingers soon, with the likes of Savinho, Kroupi, Leao, Morgan Gibbs-White and Antonio Nusa routinely linked to the football club.

What about the problem up top?

With Kane leaving right before Ange’s era, and Son the makeshift number 9 having now departed, that’s 340 premier league goals leaving the club in just under 3 years. Kane left Aug 2023 and it took the club a year to sign a proper no 9 replacement. For the 23/24 season, Ange rotated amongst the likes of Son, Richarlison and Timo Werner (remember him?) as the focal point and even a false nine at times. While Son netted a respectable 17 goals that campaign propelling us to Europe, Richarlison and Werner combined for a meager 13 goals between them before the club eventually decided to sign a replacement in Dominik Solanke for a then record-breaking 65mn pounds in the summer of 2024. With Son gone last summer, the problem looks further exacerbated with Brennan Johnson also departing earlier this year, who with 18 goals was the top goal-scorer in the 24/25 season across all competitions.

But what does RDZ look for in a striker?

Judging by the activity in the transfer market thus far, or lack thereof for a proper striker, it seems that De Zerbi has decided to stick with the existing options within the squad for the number 9 spot. While some reports do suggest Richarlison may be available for the right price, there isn’t an urgency to sell. So let’s break down how the gaffer might look at both him and Dom to fit into his system.

During the manager’s Brighton days, he deployed a solid 4-2-3-1 with strikers like Welbeck, Joao Pedro and Evan Ferguson offering the hold-up and link play for willing runners from the midfield. The role colloquially known as “the moving wall” perfectly fits into both Big Dom’s and Richarlison’s play style who have a high defensive workrate, are adept at pressing from the front to win the ball back and can swiftly lay off to a creative player like Madders/Xavi for willing runners like Tonali and the wingers to profit. Their aerial ability would also aid in this setup helping them occupy the center backs thereby making the team move up swiftly in transition whilst being a threat in the opposition box themselves.

More recently for De Zerbi at Marseille, he routinely utilized a 3-1-3-3 or a 3-1-5-1 with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Elye Wahi making sacrificial striker runs dragging the center halves out of their natural positions. This “pinning agent” setup, where the striker with their selfless play, pins the center backs around the center circle thereby creating spaces in behind for the more dynamic inverted forwards/wingers to move into and pose a direct threat to goal, is something that can be easily replicated in the upcoming season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Solanke’s physicality and hold-up play, could create spaces for the likes of Kudus, Kulu, Tel and any potential new winger to find grass in behind the rival defense and take the game to the opposition. However, judging by the end of last campaign and the short pre-season thus far, it seems unlikely he will move away from the tested back 4.

So is Solanke the answer?

While his contribution in the europa league winning run can’t be overlooked, his availability and output across the last 2 seasons has been average at best. With 12 goals in 42 appearances across the two campaigns in the league, Solanke is yet to hit the ground running and justify his price tag in a Spurs shirt. Thankfully, there have been significant contributions from other areas over the past 3 seasons with wingers like Brennan (who has now left too), Deki (when fit) and the center backs, if Spurs are to make it back in the premier european competition, RDZ needs to find a striker who is firing on all cylinders. With just one game a week for the 26/27 campaign, not being in Europe might well be a blessing in disguise for a set of players constantly struggling with injuries.

What seemingly are the alternatives?

Finally, the striker market as apparent is saturated, with the likes of Julian Alvarez seemingly out of reach and lesser exciting names like Saibari, Goncalo Ramos and previously Viktor Gyokeres or Rasmus Hojlund moving for big money coups; there is a shortage of quality strikers in the modern game. While the club has struggled to replace the gaping holes in the squad after the top scorers in the previous campaigns have routinely left (Kane, Brennan, Son and now maybe Richy), and fans still dreaming of a Kane return (who is touted to sign a new Bayern deal), it remains to be seen if Solanke (when fit) and Richarlison (if he stays) can step up and be that spearhead of the attack. Or would RDZ instead depend on the wingers to provide more goals as they did in Ange’s second season or do Spurs have to look elsewhere again to find a potent goal threat that guarantees a 20 goal season from the offset? And to complete the roulette, does life come full circle with Dane Scarlett after his opener in pre-season?

No matter how this transpires, after 2 woeful seasons masked under a European trophy, RDZ has managed to instill a sense of pride and optimism both amongst the fans and the group of players. And there is every reason to be buzzing as a Tottenham fan come the new season away at Brentford on opening day.