Dominic Solanke made his Tottenham Hotspur debut on Monday night against Leicester City in a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium.
Before the game, many questioned if Ange Postecoglou’s new signing would start because he hadn’t featured for them in pre-season, but he did play for Bournemouth.
Postecoglou made the call to throw Solanke straight in and he would have been excited by his team’s start because they were all over the newly-promoted side.
Leicester couldn’t cope with Tottenham‘s all-action style and speed of play, with and without the ball, with right-back Pedro Porro opening the scoring with a deft header after 29 minutes.
But just like last season, the London club were dominant in the first period, they didn’t take their chances, and in the end, they were watching Jamie Vardy wheel away in celebration after he headed in the equaliser in the second half.
The chances for Tottenham and Solanke began to diminish, with Leicester’s 37-year-old veteran stealing the headlines, including missing the chance to score the winner when he was put through one-v-one.
It’s understandable if Spurs fans were annoyed with their team’s performance and dropped points because it was a reflection of last season.
But Micheal Owen thinks Tottenham’s club-record signing Solanke will be ‘reasonably happy’ with what he produced for his team.
The 26-year-old played the entire match, but captain Son Heung-min was subbed and slammed for his Tottenham performance.
You sense much more time is needed here and there shouldn’t be an overreaction to this result, with Owen adding that Tottenham have ‘needed’ Solanke after seeing him for the first time in Spurs colours, as he told Premier League Productions (19/08/24 at 10:20 pm).
Leicester City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
“He will be reasonably happy for his first game, he made his debut and you want to have a fast start, a good start and win the game,” said Owen. “It’s not gone quite perfectly.
“But he’s done fine. I think Tottenham have needed that type of player. They missed a lot of chances. They do create a lot and they do score a lot. But they miss a lot as well.”
Tottenham’s top four chances
With Solanke’s arrival, fans will hope he can be that extra edge to them returning to the Champions League because they may need extra goals to paper over their defensive cracks.
Gary Neville changed his mind on who will finish fourth between Tottenham and Chelsea after last night’s result, with the West London club losing their opening match against Manchester City.
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Win, lose or draw. The opening game of the season always needs to be shunned aside. Just look back to Aston Villa losing 5-1 to Newcastle United last season and then finishing fourth.
There is a long way to go and it won’t be too long before Solanke is hitting the back of the net. The race for the top four is expected to be the most competitive and Spurs should back themselves to get it.
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