The Centre Forward thread

[Muttley]

Some of the comments about Solanke, and his relative worth compared to other strikers, have been a little harsh from my perspective. In the brief period last season where he was available and vaguely sharp, we nearly looked a decent side. Frankfurt away, second half v City. Slim pickings, admittedly. The criticism that he's only had one good season in the Prem can be countered with the fact that at least he had that one good season in the Prem!

But let's remember we live in a world where Gyokores is a £75m player. There are very few available centre-forwards - make that none - in world football who compare with Kane, Berbatov or Klinsmann, and they are the best three I have seen at our club. Solanke's availability, or lack thereof, is a completely valid argument against him. But I think in a team that's playing fluent attacking football, he's as likely to score goals as anyone else we can realistically get. And he played well last year in the brief periods where we played good footballers around him.

I think that if fit, he's a better player than Gyokores, at least the equal of the current version of Sesko, and likely to score as many goals as Joao Pedro/Wellbeck/Watkins in a full season. Is he the main forward in the next great Spurs team? No. But in the immediate term, we might struggle to do better. That's a fairly disappointing sentence to type but unless the club surprise us I can't see where we'd get a massive upgrade.

Great post. The other factor is we've not seen what Roberto can do with him.

We did with Ange, and whilst Dom wasn't high scoring he was high contributing when fully fit. Under Iraola, he was both.

I've not given up on him.

 

[robp135]

I’d be delighted with those 2. I’ve totally flipped on Gakpo, wasn’t keen on the initial rumors a month or so ago but after hearing RDZs preferred tactics for CF I think he’d fit the false 9 position perfectly under an RDZ system and can also contribute in that LW position with end product we badly miss. So fills 2 positions.

Save Savinho for next summer don’t rush that this window…

Your forward options would then be.

LW - Gakpo, Tel
CF - Watkins, Solanke/Richarlison
RW - Kudus, Kulusevski

That’s a lot to rely on the fitness of Kudus & Kulu

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Your forward options would then be.

LW - Gakpo, Tel
CF - Watkins, Solanke/Richarlison
RW - Kudus, Kulusevski

That’s a lot to rely on the fitness of Kudus & Kulu

The Savinho comment was clearly tongue in cheek.. though really in a non Europe season if we can’t rely on 2 RW’s then it makes our mind up and they have to go, with regret.

 

[robp135]

The Savinho comment was clearly tongue in cheek.. though really in a non Europe season if we can’t rely on 2 RW’s then it makes our mind up and they have to go, with regret.

Its 2 RW that are coming off significant injuries.