Dominic Solanke insists Ange Postecoglou’s playing style suits Tottenham
Hotspur Solanke Stadium Dominic At Walton/pa) Tottenham (john Celebrates
Dominic Solanke says the Tottenham squad love Ange Postecoglou’s unique style of play and are convinced it can end the club’s trophy drought.
Solanke starred for Spurs in Thursday’s 4-3 win over Manchester United in the Carabao Cup with a brace, but a dramatic finale sparked more debate around Postecoglou’s bold front-foot philosophy and relentless attacking approach.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has repeatedly stated Postecoglou must change and cannot play the same way for 90 minutes, which was echoed by Jamie Redknapp even though injury-hit Tottenham set up a last-four showdown with Liverpool in midweek.
Ahead of a semi-final dress rehearsal with Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, summer recruit Solanke lauded his head coach.
“Ange is very unique in the way he plays and we love it. The way he plays, it suits us,” Solanke told the PA news agency at Tottenham’s One Hotspur Junior Christmas party earlier this week.
“It is a great style, especially for me being a striker to play in. Like I said, we haven’t been consistent enough this season. We’ve just come off not the greatest run but I feel we’re building towards that consistency.
“We’re like a family, we all want to achieve the same thing and every day we’re on the training ground working towards our goals. Ultimately we want to win stuff and we’re all on the same wave length.
“We all back each other, all believe in each other, like I said, we’re all on the same page.
“In football there is always times when you are on top and when you have a bit of dip, but it’s about working on the negatives to get that steady flow going. I think it will definitely come.”
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Sunday will see Solanke back at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the third time this week after he was joined by Son Heung-min, Timo Werner, Richarlison, Pape Sarr, Pedro Porro, Will Lankshear and Alfie Dorrington for Tuesday’s Christmas party with junior Spurs fans, where various festive activities were put on.
While the 27-year-old has only been at the club since August, the £65million forward has quickly developed into an integral player and is eager to become a leader for a young squad which features several of teenagers in Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Mikey Moore and Lankshear.
Solanke added: “We have a lot of young boys and players like me, the more senior players with a bit more experience, definitely need to help the younger ones.
“It’s something you need in football. You need everyone you can to be a leader and help each other. That’s something I definitely want to do more.”
Across five-and-a-half years at Bournemouth, Solanke developed into a talisman with 21 goals in all competitions during the 2023-24 campaign.
It earned the former Chelsea academy product a big-money move to Spurs and despite being able to improve his goal tally to nine on Thursday, Solanke wants more and is desperate to win his new club a first trophy since 2008.
“I always want more goals no matter how many I score. I would have liked to have a few more by now, but that’s always the mindset, you always want more. I think the main point is trying to get the consistency in the team right now and working towards some trophies,” Solanke insisted.
“I feel like I am where I wanted to be but I feel like I have still got a lot more to give though, so I will keep working and improving. And our main goal here is to win something now.
“The manager speaks about it all the time, we all obviously want to win something as well and that’s the dream of the football club. Like I keep mentioning, that is the wave we are on and hopefully we can achieve it.”
Spurs’ immediate priority is Sunday’s visit of Liverpool where the hosts’ will target a third consecutive victory despite being without eight players.
The fixture will carry extra significance for Solanke after he spent a difficult 18 months at Anfield before he left to join Bournemouth in 2019.
Solanke reflected: “I was still very young and it might have been a bit too young for me going there, but I learned a lot and I was thankful for my time there.
“Every game you want to win and do well. Obviously when it’s an old club, it always means a little bit more because you see familiar faces and want to get the better of them. It will be another tough game but we’ll take that challenge.”