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So farewell Soldado, Spurs' £26m 'good guy' who never really fitted in

Tottenham blogger Chris Miller looks back at the expensive misfit's two-year largely fruitless stint at White Hart Lane

Roberto Soldado misses yet another chance
Roberto Soldado misses yet another chance

So it turns out that Roberto Soldado was basically Sergei Rebrov with social media skills. He is just the latest in a long line of failed forwards at Tottenham Hotspur. Rebrov aside, there’s been Helder Postiga, Mido, and Darren Bent - all relatively expensive signings that provoked optimism, and who subsequently flopped at Spurs.

The more cruel among you may wish to include Fraizer Campbell, Bobby Zamora, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Louis Saha or Emmanuel Adebayor in that list too, although all had either mitigating factors on which they could call, or periods of quality in the case of the latter three. Is it us? Are we doing this to them?

There have been periods in Spurs’ recent history where the addition of a high-quality striker could have propelled us to the next level - to Champions League and possibly beyond. I don’t need to list the many, many forwards linked with us over the years who might have given us that edge had they signed. Instead, we are left wondering what might have been had Soldado found some sort of scoring form, or had we signed someone else in his place.

The signing of Soldado was greeted by almost universal optimism, but Colin Trainor - a writer from popular statistics-based football site ‘Stats Bomb’ - saw the signs before pretty much anyone else.

Roberto Soldado on the bench at Spurs - now he can try his luck back in Spain
Roberto Soldado on the bench at Spurs - now he can try his luck back in Spain

He wrote in August 2013 that while Soldado’s conversion rate was excellent on the surface, when considered in conjunction with the "shot quality", it became only average. Trainor wrote "He didn’t score any more goals than the average player would have done if they had been lucky enough (or perhaps good enough) to be presented with those opportunities."

Soldado had acquired a knack throughout his career of being in the right place at the right time to sweep home from crosses, or to volley home tee-ups in the penalty area. This is, in itself, a highly valuable skill and one that Charlie Austin, for example, has created a Premier League career from.

But, at Spurs, Soldado had very few crosses or tee-ups and neither swept nor volleyed them home when they did come.

The two issues are troubling in different ways, and open further questions. Did we not create as many chances for Soldado because of Soldado? By this I mean that we could question his all-round game and ability to work with his teammates to create openings. And why was he not finishing? Confidence mostly, I suspect.

Soldado's goals were expensively bought and he never really fitted in
Soldado's goals were expensively bought and he never really fitted in

Soldado struggled to make an impact in general play. He’s not especially good with his back to goal unless he can play a first-time flicked pass, which is not always possible in the Premier League. Sometimes you need your striker to hold on to the ball to relieve pressure, or to allow others the opportunity to break forward in support.

He is not one to make an intelligent run into the channels in order to draw defenders out of position, or to keep opponents on their toes with endless pressing - he only really comes alive in the penalty area.

Naturally, then, when you are there primarily to put the ball in the back of the net, you need a team full of players who don’t need a striker to help them build a platform from which to create. Unfortunately, he did not have that luxury at Spurs.

The team has had very few players over the past two years able to create opportunities from nothing, instead requiring a functioning forward who can hold the ball up, move defenders around, and draw opponents into areas that creates space for others - Harry Kane is a perfect example of how this can work.

It is difficult to know what Franco Baldini, the outgoing technical director at Spurs, had in mind with Soldado; clearly he misjudged the player and his fit for the team. Baldini’s job was difficult - despite having the Bale money near enough in the bag, we were still shopping for "second-tier" players – albeit some of the most coveted second-tier players around. Spurs simply were not and are not able to compete for elite-level players, due to wage demands and due to the players’ desire to play Champions League football. Were we able to, perhaps Bale wouldn’t have left.

Roberto Soldado after his missed penalty against Manchester ity
Roberto Soldado after his missed penalty against Manchester ity

That being said, I raised concerns at the time about the fit, writing "we have effectively paid £25.8m for a striker who finishes exceptionally well, but who doesn’t tend to involve himself much in general play. For me, a player who costs that much simply has to be more of an all-rounder". Somewhat ashamedly, though, I thought that he would nevertheless score goals.

Perhaps he would have done if he had got off to a better start. His confidence was shattered by some early misses, and personal tragedy off the pitch certainly didn’t help him re-find his lost mojo.

He took eight matches to bag his first goal from open play and that seemed to weigh heavy on his mind. Every time he took a step forward he would miss a chance and look visibly low once again.

There are two moments that most fans would cite as the moments where they finally lost faith in Soldado. Firstly the drop to his knees on the goal line having missed a straightforward chance against Burnley in January. On that occasion he was picked out by Andros Townsend at the back post and contrived to hit the crossbar from inside the six-yard box.

His reaction was one of shame, which backed up his comments when interviewed a month before ("I feel ashamed at not being able to satisfy them [the fans]. I hear them chanting my name and if I miss a chance, I feel bad.").

And secondly, Fiorentina. I will personally never forgive him for that one having had such a great trip until that moment. Erik Lamela swept a left-footed through-ball into his path, he advanced on the goalkeeper with not a defender in sight and, with Nacer Chadli breaking forward alongside him, he attempted to find his teammate, but under-hit the pass so badly that the goalkeeper was able to pounce on it.

The shirking of responsibility in that situation was a symptom of his broken confidence - the poor pass likewise.

So we say farewell, Roberto. If only you had been as prolific in front of goal as you were on Twitter and Instagram. Nice bloke you may be, but now it is time to go and be nice elsewhere - we need someone to rely upon.

Chris Miller
@WindyCOYS

Spurs blogger with some focus on the Academy. Hear me on @lovetheshirt. Read me at WindyCOYS.com