Vincent Janssen vs Roberto Soldado: Comparing the two strikers’ first few months at Tottenham

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Both forwards didn’t have the easiest of starts at Tottenham, but who was better statistically?

Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen in action with Middlesbrough’s Calum Chambers

Tottenham Hotspur’s Vincent Janssen has made a decent start to life at his new club after his move from AZ this summer, but looking at the last striker to make a big money switch to North London offers encouragement or concern depending on the statistics considered.

Roberto Soldado scored four goals in his first eight games at Spurs, up to the October international break in 2013. That’s three more than Janssen has managed even though the Dutchman has nine appearances in that same time frame. Both have an assist to their name.

Tottenham’s Roberto Soldado, Federico Fazio and Jan Vertonghen

However, both have benefitted from penalties, with Soldado’s two league goals coming from the spot and the other two in a Europa League qualifier against Dinamo Tbilisi, while Vincent Janssen’s lone goal came from a spot kick against Gillingham.

While this is not an article to poke holes at either player, it is an admittance that striker’s can often struggle to find their feet in a new league. However, of the two players, Janssen is very much in a better position to adjust, given his age, his playing style, and his performances so far.

Soldado struggled to fit into the way Spurs played under Andre Villas-Boas, and subsequent managers, when he signed for the Lilywhites. His confidence didn’t look particularly in question in those early months, it was more a case of him struggling to hold the ball up and benefit from the ball being played to him in the box.

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The Spaniard’s game at Spurs would develop into that of a more tenacious and selfless centre forward than he was when he arrived at White Hart Lane and Villarreal have reaped the benefits of this stronger all round play after he moved back to La Liga last summer, with the 31-year-old scoring eight times but assisting 15 time to help the Yellow Submarine make the top four.

Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen in action with CSKA Moscow’s Igor Akinfeev

Janssen’s natural game was already that of a hard-working and powerful forward when he made the move to North London, and so it is no surprise that he has impressed the watching Spurs supporters whenever he has taken to the field, even if the media are determined to make the most of his limited goal return.

Though Janssen has more appearances than Soldado at this stage in their Tottenham careers, the Spain international had many more minutes on the pitch than the Netherlands star. Janssen has started four matches across all competitions, with 453 minutes in total. Soldado, by comparison, had seven starts to his name, and 599 minutes – a match and a half more.

Below is a break down of their Premier League stats for the first few matches of their Spurs careers.

Premier League form Janssen’s first seven games vs Soldado’s first seven games

With Soldado boasting almost twice as many minutes in the league than Janssen has managed, it is interesting to see that Janssen’s total scoring attempts is already two thirds of what the Spaniard managed, suggesting he has posed more of an attacking threat in his first few matches.

Total attempted assists, touches and accurate passes are all very similar when comparing the two players, but while Soldado assisted chances more regularly than Janssen, the current Spurs man took less minutes to get a touch or to make an accurate pass.

Soldado was better at taking players on, but only marginally, beating three men compared to Janssen’s single successful dribble.

Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen in action with Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren

Two areas where Janssen is significantly stronger is duelling for possession, winning ground duels for the ball nearly twice as often as Soldado managed and also winning tackles by around the same ratio.

So having looked at the Opta stats there is certainly empirical data to back up the perceived view that Janssen is performing more impressively than Soldado did initially, even if the one stat that mattered, goals scored is lacking somewhat.