Tottenham Hotspur had 60 touches in Leicester City’s box during their 1-1 draw on Monday evening — more than any other team managed on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season. They had 15 shots in total and seven were on target.
Ange Postecoglou’s side dominated for nearly an hour at the King Power Stadium until Jamie Vardy sneaked in unmarked at the back post to cancel out Pedro Porro’s header. Instead of starting his second season in charge of Spurs with a win, Postecoglou will be trying to understand how they lost control so quickly at the first sign of resistance from their opponents.
This was the opportunity for club-record signing Dominic Solanke to hit the ground running. The 26-year-old striker joined Tottenham this month and only trained with his new team-mates a few times but he was entrusted to start up front, with Son Heung-min and Brennan Johnson out wide. Spurs paid Bournemouth up to £65million ($84m) for Solanke in the hope he would solve their issues upfront — Son (17) and Richarlison (11) were the only players to reach double figures in goals last season.
Richarlison’s inconsistency and struggles with injury scuppered his claim to the title of Harry Kane’s long-term successor while Son is more suited to a role on the left wing. There were more than enough signs against Leicester to suggest that Solanke will be a success but it is frustrating he missed a couple of good chances and failed to help his team win.
In the seventh minute, Solanke ghosted past James Justin to reach Son’s cross. All he had to do was divert the ball with his head either side of Mads Hermansen but it went straight into the goalkeeper’s arms. The linesman’s flag went up for offside but TV replays suggested he was on. Tottenham were oozing confidence so it did not feel like a significant moment and the theory was he would be presented with more chances.
Maddison, on his first return to Leicester after he left them in June 2023 to join Spurs, looked back to his best in the opening 45 minutes after a difficult end to last season. He fired a raking pass without looking straight into the path of Son, kept twisting and turning away from Leicester’s defenders, set up Porro’s headed goal with an excellent delivery and, crucially, always looked to play the ball into Solanke’s feet. Maddison had to adapt his game to suit whether Son, Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski were playing up front during the 2023-24 campaign. Playing week in and week out with Solanke should bring out the best in both of them.
A prime example of their growing connection came in the 63rd minute when Solanke received the ball in the centre circle and powerfully drove into Leicester’s box. He found Maddison in space on the edge of the penalty area but the midfielder was dispossessed after a poor first touch. On another occasion, Maddison fired the ball into Solanke around the six-yard box. He effortlessly rolled his marker but fell over under pressure before he could shoot. With a few more training sessions and games under his belt, you would expect Solanke to anticipate his team-mate’s intentions more accurately. Solanke’s desire to work hard out of possession was also impressive.
Solanke will be irritated that he wasted another good chance to score only a couple of minutes before Vardy’s equaliser. It was an encouraging sequence of play as Maddison popped the ball off to Pape Matar Sarr, who flicked it around Wout Faes for Solanke. But his right-footed shot was straight at Hermansen. He demonstrated great movement to drop off Faes and receive possession ahead of Jannik Vestergaard.
Solanke spent time with Chelsea and Liverpool earlier in his career but joined Bournemouth aged 21 and there was less expectation on his shoulders. It might take time to adjust to Postecoglou’s unique tactical demands and the pressure of being Tottenham’s No 9 before we see him scoring freely. He did not score in his first season at Bournemouth, despite playing 10 games after joining in January 2019.
Solanke was not the only guilty party on Monday night. Rodrigo Bentancur, who is “conscious and communicating” after suffering a head injury in a collision with Abdul Fatawu, should have scored. Richarlison’s header in the last minute of stoppage time prompted Postecoglou to place his hands on his knees in exasperation.
At the last three clubs where he has stayed for more than a year, Postecoglou has won the title in his second season. There tends to be a dramatic improvement in goals scored, possession, passing sequences and pressing intensity. All of that was on show — apart from the first and most important category. Postecoglou said Tottenham were “really wasteful” and that they “lost composure” after Leicester scored.
“Solanke was good,” Postecoglou said. “He worked hard for the team, he had a couple of chances he will be disappointed he didn’t do better with. The overall performance from everyone was OK but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t turn that performance into outcomes. We had some similar issues last year and we need to improve.
It is important to remember that, according to figures from FBref, Tottenham’s average squad age of 25.2 was the fourth youngest (weighted by minutes played) in the division last season. The departure of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (29) and the signings of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall (both 18) and Wilson Odobert (19) mean that figure could decrease.
They are learning on the job but this was an underwhelming start and they cannot wait too long for Solanke to settle.
(Top photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)