View: Manor Solomon proves that he is more than a squad player at Tottenham
When Tottenham announced the signing of Manor Solomon on a free transfer, very few supporters would have expected that he would be a starter for the club this season.
With Richarlison ready to take over the number nine role from Harry Kane, who left to join Bayern Munich, and Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski the club’s obvious choices for the starting spots out wide, that left Solomon as a squad option.
And that is exactly how the season started. Richarlison, Son and Kulusevski all started together, although it wasn’t the most effective forward line that has ever played alongside each other at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Between them, they managed just one goal in their opening three Premier League games starting together, with Brazil ace Richarlison in particular very poor throughout the first few games of the campaign. As a result, Ange Postecoglou decided he had seen enough, and opted to shake things up against Burnley.
Richarlison was dropped and Son was promoted to play through the middle, and it worked wonders, as the South Korea international scored a hat-trick in Spurs’ 5-2 rout in Lancashire on Saturday (2 September). Nonetheless, for the system to work with Son playing through the middle, someone needed to take his spot out wide.
Richarlison demonstrated last season that he is ineffective as a winger. Up stepped Solomon, with the 23-year-old impressing during his first start in the league, and only second for the club, showcasing that he can fill in to accommodate for Son playing through the middle.
Against Vincent Kompany’s side, he provided two assists, both for his captain, in what was a very assured performance considering it was his first league start for the club.
For his first assist, as shown in the image above, he found space on the left-hand side having drifted infield and spotted the run of Son, picking out his striker with a perfectly weighted pass.
For his second assist, he made a positive run down the left-hand side and once again showed a telepathic connection with Son, spotting his run through the middle and cutting it across. His ball had just the right amount of pace on it for the striker to stroke home comfortably.
In addition to his two assists, the Israel international completed 91 per cent of his passes, with five of them being key, and was successful with three of his five attempted dribbles. He also chipped in defensively out wide, winning five of his seven ground duels, making two tackles and one interception (Sofascore).
His performance was incredibly important as it proved to his manager that he can be trusted to play out wide, and there is no need to dip into the market in January to sign a new left winger in order to accommodate for Son playing through the middle.
Solomon is here, and he is ready to be more than just an option off the bench.
In other Tottenham news, the Under-18s kicked off their Premier League cup defence with a victory.