View: Tottenham will be worried about 33% ace after he failed big int'l audition

Tottenham Hotspur won’t have been impressed by Dominic Solanke’s audition for England.

Solanke started the Three Lions’ 1-1 friendly draw with Uruguay at Wembley Stadium on Friday night, but was not able to score before being replaced before the hour mark.

It has been eight-and-a-half years since he made his debut for his country, but, in truth, his international career has never taken off. Now, his World Cup hopes are hanging by a thread.

While he was the only England player to have a shot on goal in the opening 45 minutes, having silkily nutmegged an opponent, he could not grab the match by the scruff.

Tottenham will rely on Solanke in their relegation fight after the international break, but judging from this latest performance, the goals won’t exactly be flowing.

What did Dominic Solanke do vs Uruguay?

Not too much, was the criticism from many of the papers on Saturday morning.

While he received a respectable 7.1 rating from Sofascore after the final whistle, Solanke’s outing was a case of what could have been – an all-too-common issue for him at Spurs, too.

He registered two efforts on target, but neither troubled Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. The ace also completed just 12 of his 15 passes, for an 80 per cent success rate.

Taking 27 touches, Solanke was isolated as the No 9, shown by his frugal pass tally, and the fact that he surrendered possession eight times proved he was roughed up too easily.

Capping off a display that will simply shrug shoulders, the 28-year-old won two of his five ground duels and only one of three in the air (33 per cent).

That, in a nutshell, is simply not enough.

It was far from a miserable performance, but it did reflect too many of his issues at club level – specifically, an inability to muscle his way into matches and deliver the decisive blow.

Both Tottenham and England have been guilty of not supporting him enough with runners and bodies in tight spaces, but Solanke has to do more to become Harry Kane’s understudy.

Does Solanke have a future at Tottenham?

At £65m, he has been a decent buy, but Solanke remains an issue for Tottenham. A string of injury woes and inconsistent displays haven’t helped on that front.

His tally of just six goals this campaign is poor and will likely trigger Tottenham to dip back into the transfer market once they have decided their Premier League fate.

Whether that could lead to Solanke being placed on the chopping block remains to be seen, but he would do well to view Spurs’ final seven matches as an audition.

The ace will just hope that it goes better than his latest England bow.

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