Tottenham Hotspur produced their best performance of the season against Manchester United as Roberto De Zerbi’s side made it three Premier League wins in a row.
Goals from Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke saw the hosts leave Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points, taking them further up the league table. In fact, it was a superior performance by De Zerbi’s team, who could have easily scored a few goals.
It was another frustrating outing for Dominic Solanke, while many players were impressed. The 29-year-old played 66 minutes against Palace and struggled to find space in a congested penalty area with the Eagles sitting deep after Jean-Philippe Mateta’s red card.
The Englishman managed just 24 touches and one shot on target before being replaced by Conor Gallagher in the 66th minute. He finished the match with 0.36 xG (expected goals). Van Hekke (0.94 xG), Mohammad Kudus (0.76 xG) and Gallagher (0.49 xG) had more results.
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In fact, according to Opta, only Antonin Kinski (18) touched the ball less than Solanke (24) of the Tottenham players who started in the 2-0 win. Gallagher, who came on for Solanke, had 27 touches, no player had more touches than Van Hecke with 160.
Solanke completed six of eight passes and won his only try. The ex-Bournemouth man, who joined Spurs for £65m in August 2024, managed three possessions.
De Zerbi, as you’d expect, praised his side after their performance against Man Utd and scrutinized Solanke for his work off the ball. The Italian footballer said: “I’m very happy with the performance, because we showed that we are a mature team with clear ideas. We didn’t concede a counter-attack, maybe only once in the second half. We created many, many chances.
“If we want to follow perfection, we have to be dirtier, no? It’s a personal thing, because if I’m number 9, if I’m number 10, I want to score. But I can’t say anything. We’re improving our physical condition. Tonali was incredible today, incredible. We played with two more players. Tonali was a double today. Tonali today was Robertson, two defenders, Robertson, two defenders. Very good, to take command of the game.
“Mateus Fernandes, another very good performance. Marmoush, Solanke, very good, especially when we lose the ball. So it’s a clear signal that they are in the game. Kudus, Matys Tel, very good. So I think they are improving and the team is improving. The team is improving.”
De Zerbi is a huge admirer of Solanke, but there’s no doubt the former Brighton boss would like to see the number 9 start scoring more often. Solanke has scored 2 goals and provided 1 assist in 11 games for Spurs this season, with his last goal coming in a 1-1 draw against Manchester United on October 10.
Solanke was handed the captain’s armband against the Red Devils and De Zerbi said as he decided to boost the striker’s confidence.
“After the last game, the criticism, I wanted to make him captain to show my confidence and the team’s confidence, because when I said Domi Solanke was the captain, all the other players were happy,” De Zerbi said. “When one of our players is in a difficult situation, all the other players, the staff and I have to show that we are close to him, as a family, as a team, as a normal team.”
The Spurs boss added: “He deserved everything he did today [against Man Utd]. He’s a great guy, a great player, he suffered because of the criticism because we didn’t score, we didn’t win, we don’t have a striker, no, no, we have a striker and we have a great striker.
“I think we can’t find a better striker for us at the moment than Dominic Solanke, he needs to improve his fitness, his confidence and that’s why he was the captain.”
Next up for Tottenham is Leeds United at Elland Road, with Solanke yet to feature for Tottenham as he missed last season’s matches due to injury. The England international has a good record against Leeds as he has scored twice in two games against the Whites, both coming while at Bournemouth.
Solanke desperately needs to start firing and De Zerbi will be hoping he does against Leeds on Saturday.