The loss of Cristian Romero to a potentially season-ending injury may have exposed Tottenham Hotspur’s continued defensive woes, but perhaps the bigger concern facing new manager Roberto De Zerbi is the glaring shortcomings up front.
The Lilywhites have never scored more than one goal in a Premier League game since their spectacular come-from-behind draw with Manchester City in early February, and have failed to score in either of their last two games.
No player has reached double figures for league goals, with only Richarlison (nine) scoring more than four, a significant decline from the consistently prolific days of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in north London.
The current set-up of the attacking team looks similar to the pre-Kane era, especially during the tumultuous 2013/14 season.
Spurs’ front line looks like it did in 2013/14.
Tottenham may not have faced the threat of relegation during the post-Gareth Bale turmoil, but they appointed Tim Sherwood in December 2013 to steady the ship with the aim of leading the club back to the Champions League.
Despite a memorable 59% win rate, Sherwood was sacked at the end of the season with the North London side in sixth place, marking the beginning of a fruitful era under manager Mauricio Pochettino.
The squad the Englishman inherited is certainly similar to his current squad, with a significant lack of wide options apart from Aaron Lennon and the injured Erik Lamela, and an overwhelming number of strikers.
Kane, then a relatively unknown emerging talent, only scored three goals in the final stages of the season, while marquee player Roberto Soldado scored just six goals of his own in the Premier League that year.
Surprisingly, the main goal threat after Sherwood’s arrival came in the form of Togolese international player Emmanuel Adebayor, who returned from injury and was the brightest of his interim tenure, scoring 11 league goals between December and May.
Spurs – Top scorer* | |
|---|---|
2013/14 | 2025/26 |
Adebayor – 11 | Richarlison – 9 |
Eriksen – 7 | Van de Ven – 4 |
Soldier – 6 | Romero – 4 |
Paulinho – 6 | Phone – 3 |
Sigurdsson – 5 | straw – 3 |
Kane – 3 | Gray – 2 |
Searle – 2 | |
Saint – 2 | |
Johnson – 2 | |
*Only for PL2 and above | |
However, it would be incorrect to say that type of form is the norm for the polarizing forward. The well-traveled marksman arrived with a great reputation, but most of his time with N17 was flattering and deceptive.
Sound familiar?
De Zerbi needs to upgrade new Adebayor at Spurs
Similar to the 2013-14 season, when Spurs finished sixth despite scoring just 55 goals, this season has been short on goals, with Micky van de Ven and Romero being the league’s second top scorers with four goals each.
New Romero should never play for Spurs again after De Zerbi arrives
Cristian Romero isn’t the only player whose Spurs career could come to an end.
As mentioned earlier, Richarlison is an Adebayor-style man who has scored nine goals, but perhaps the former Arsenal and Manchester City player is better compared to 28-year-old Dominic Solanke. Since the arrival of the new club record, he has not been able to achieve the results he expected.
Adebayor had a fruitful loan spell in 2011/12, scoring 17 league goals, but he only scored 18 in the next three seasons at the top level, with inconsistent results both in terms of finishing and fitness.
Even in that year under Sherwood, the now retired striker missed the first part of the season due to injury and only made his only appearance by late December.
His days have been of high quality, but they have rarely come close enough in terms of Solanke’s time at Tottenham so far.
To many, including Sherwood and fellow ex-Spurs player Jamie O’Hara, he looked like a ‘great signing’ at the time, having just scored 19 Premier League goals for Bournemouth.
Like Adebayor, he had the advantage of having a ‘proven Premier League background’, but was limited to just 28 appearances for Liverpool and Chelsea combined, perhaps due to concerns over failure at other top-flight clubs.
In the case of Adebayor, he too had short-lived spells at the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid, achieving impressive results at each club but failing to find a permanent home for one reason or another.
The 42-year-old currently has just 42 points in 113 total appearances for Spurs, and Solanke is on track to achieve a similar mark given his current trajectory of just 22 points in 62 games so far.
He is available again after being hit by injury in 2025-26, but Sunday’s trip to Sunderland was a disappointing outing for the former Cherries star, with O’Hara cruelly suggesting he “looks like he’s forgotten how to play football”.
Solanke, expected to be De Zerbi’s main attacking force, was outscored by Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani on the wing, registering just 18 touches at the Stadium of Light.
As writer Zac Lowy pointed out over the weekend, and Adebayor’s checkered saga also showed, Solanke is “the biggest proof that signing a ‘proven Premier League player’ is no guarantee of success”.
Twelve league goals in almost two seasons is not enough for a £65m deal, and De Zerbi needs to find an upgrade quickly, whether within Tottenham or on the market this summer.
De Zerbi could unleash the £73m Spurs star in a new role and keep Solanke on the bench
Roberto de Zerbi’s play for Spurs got off to a disappointing start on Sunday, but where has his attacking flair gone?
