Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi tried something new against Everton in an effort to extract some goals out of his team, as he called Dominic Solanke back into the starting lineup even though he had hinted that the England international was not yet fully fit enough to start for the team.
But there Solanke was in the XI, with new Manchester City signings Omar Marmoush and Savio flanking him on either side. Solanke got the start at striker once more amidst the backdrop of more Richarlison drama, but instead of making the Brazilian international 100 percent obsolete and staking his claim for a return to the starting 11, Solanke was a miserable flop.
There were a few lousy attacking performances for Spurs in yet another 0-0 draw, but Solanke was the worst of the worst. Instead of offering the great all around play he was touted for bringing to the table when Spurs signed him for a record 65 million pounds from Bournemouth in the summer 2024 transfer window, Solanke created zero chances and was a massive turnover machine, losing the ball at his feet even more frequently than Omar Marmoush or Mathys Tel in recent weeks despite doing very little with it.
Dominic Solanke is not rewarding Roberto De Zerbi's faith
Roberto De Zerbi has been a big fan of Dominic Solanke's since he joined Tottenham Hotspur, but he did not get a chance to use him at the end of the 2025/26 season due to yet another soft tissue injury to the veteran striker.
But now that Richarlison has been discarded and not even registered in the squad, Solanke is messing up his big chance to impress De Zerbi. After De Zerbi called the striker crucial to his plans and then backed him with a surprise start against Everton, Solanke squandered some of that goodwill, and he did not even position himself effectively for those easy goals and tap ins that Roberto De Zerbi has been demanding from his players, specifically the previous starting center forward in Omar Marmoush.
If Solanke wanted to seize his opportunity to take the starting job back from Marmoush in the middle, then he did not achieve that goal at all against Everton. Solanke looked every bit as dreadful agianst the Toffees as he did all of last season, and the doubts Spurs fans about him as a long term solution at striker were not at all quelled over the weekend.
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