Tottenham forward better in 4-4-2, says pundit
Thursday 25 September 2014 14:42, UK
Tottenham must play two up top to get the most out of Roberto Soldado, says Glenn Hoddle.
Spurs came back from a goal behind to knock Nottingham Forest out of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night and book a fourth-round tie with Brighton at White Hart Lane.
However, until the 65th-minute introduction of Ryan Mason and Harry Kane and a switch to 4-4-2 the hosts struggled to break down their Championship opponents, with Spaniard Soldado struggling in a lone role in attack.
Soldado was playing down the middle on his own and in the end I think he’s stopped making runs.
With Kane alongside him, Soldado looked far more threatening and eventually notched his 12th goal for the club, turning in an Andros Townsend shot, inbetween impressive finishes from Mason and Kane.
Soldado – who was prolific for Valencia in La Liga – has scored just six goals in 29 Premier League appearances for Spurs and Hoddle told Sky Sports he needs a partner in attack.
“As soon as Tottenham went behind their energy lifted, they played much quicker and with urgency – but putting the two up top helped Soldado,” he said.
“Soldado had a partner with Kane to play with and they played with the two wide men. That helped them tactically.
“It was tough for Soldado – and it has been since he’s been at Tottenham. He was playing down the middle on his own and in the end I think he’s stopped making runs.
“But this goal was the sort he’s instinctive about - in Spain he was an instinctive finisher and he scores a lot of goals one touch.
“The centre-half dropped deep so there was no offside situation, Townsend’s shot was going wide and that was a finish, when he was in Spain, you saw him scoring lots of. That was a typical goal from him.”
Mason kicked-off the comeback with a superb strike from distance and former Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas was impressed by the 23-year-old’s contribution – and urged boss Mauricio Pochettino to give the former England youth player more game time.
Mason has been loaned out to Yeovil, Doncaster, Millwall and Lorient in the past – but Jenas says he deserves a shot at Spurs.
“Mason is so creative,” said Jenas, who is currently a free agent after leaving QPR.
“Not a lot of Tottenham fans will know him; he’s been out on loan quite a lot but I know he can do this and it was great to see him deliver.
“I just hope he now gets a chance. He played better in 25 minutes than the other two or three that were in there and what a strike his goal was.”
Hoddle also applauded Mason’s performance and praised the midfielder’s forward-thinking style of play.
“It was a fantastic strike for his goal; he took it quick and there was no back lift,” said Hoddle.
“He looks a confident lad and I like the way, in his play, he looks forward. His first thought is ‘can I play forward, can I hurt the other team’ and he did that for the goal, when he struck a beautiful strike.”
