Shearer rips into ‘awkward’ Tottenham star after Man Utd draw – ‘Nowhere near good enough’
Alan Shearer insists Dominic Solanke has been “nowhere near good enough” as the BBC pundit hit out at the Tottenham star’s “awkward” display in their 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Saturday.
It was Solanke’s flicked header in stoppage time that secured a point for Spurs at Old Trafford, but the striker missed two earlier chances as Roberto De Zerbi was again let down by his side’s finishing.
Tottenham dominated the hosts and should have been out of sight before Bryan Mbeumo gave United the lead against the run of play.
READ: 16 Conclusions from Manchester United 1-1 Spurs: Carrick sack, De Zerbi, Fernandes no-show, Savio
Solanke’s smart 92nd-minute header was his first Premier League goal of the season and just his 13th in 48 appearances for Spurs, and Shearer insists the 29-year-old needs to be more productive.
Shearer said on Match of the Day: “It’s nowhere near good enough, only once in double figures when you consider the money they paid for him [£55m].
“Just watch how awkward and how little confidence he has here, because of his desperation to get it onto the right foot here. Naturally, you move the ball out three yards on your left foot and hit it, if he had the belief.
“The lack of movement here: a goalscorer gets himself into the middle of the goal; where’s he going? When he says they need to be more clinical, he needs to be more clinical.”
‘We need this Dominic Solanke’
But De Zerbi was full of praise for Solanke after the games he explained why he gave him the captain’s armband for the trip to Old Trafford.
De Zerbi said: “Dominic deserved to be a captain today, because he suffered maybe too much, because Tottenham didn’t win, Tottenham didn’t score, who is the striker of Tottenham, Solanke is not good enough.
“It’s not true… Solanke is good enough to play, maybe he is the best striker for us because he is a complete player, he has personality, he has to feel good in terms of physical condition, but he is a great player and I wanted to show my confidence, the importance I give him in this team.
“I decide who is the captain. Today, after the last game, the criticism, I wanted to put him captain to show my confidence and the confidence of the team, because all other players were happy when I said Dominic Solanke captain. When one player of us is in a difficult situation, all other players and staff and myself, we have to show to be close with him, like a family, like a team, like a normal team.
“If you analyse the behaviour in the goal area when he scored today and in goal area in the last game against Villa in our stadium, you can see totally different behaviour, totally different energy, and we need this Dominic Solanke, because Dominic Solanke is able to make the difference in this team.”
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