Well we have a long trip to Peterborough tomorrow and the preview is coming along later, so an early night it is so we can hit the road early to arrive a the pub to watch Spurs v West Ham…… in the hope that after the Tottenham manager’s comments about us midweek, he yet again has another uneventful season.
Here is a preview, highlighting their very misfiring strikers, one which is pretty well known to us.
Although Tottenham vs West Ham may not be the fiercest of rivalries, their proximity to each other means it can still be considered a derby. Whilst there have been a lot of goals and drama in recent seasons alone, there have also been some misfiring strikers that have played for both teams throughout the year. It’s no secret that West Ham are struggling for goals at the moment, and it has been a while since they signed a goalscoring striker – hopefully the signing of Javier Hernandez will fix this. Although Harry Kane has been firing in the goals in the last few seasons, Tottenham have also had their fair share of misfiring strikers. If you’re a fan who has bet on Spurs to win, you’ll be glad that you won’t be seeing any of these misfiring Tottenham strikers on the pitch:
Roberto Soldado
The best place to start for misfiring Tottenham strikers is Spaniard Roberto Soldado. After selling Gareth Bale for a then-world record fee of £85 million in 2013, Tottenham reinvested the money in their playing squad. One of the incoming players was Soldado who was brought in for a then-club record £26 million and came with high expectations. The Spaniard did manage to get off to a good start at his new club, scoring the winning penalty in the first game of the season, and then scoring a brace four days later in the Europa League playoff round. Although Soldado had an impressive goal-scoring record in Europe, where he scored five goals in seven games, it was in the Premier League where he struggled badly. The striker only managed to score six league goals in his debut season, and only two on them were from open play. His next season was even worse, only scoring five goals in 40 appearances in all competitions. After his two disappointing seasons, Soldado ended up returning to Spain. However, he has yet to gain his goal-scoring form which earned him the big money move to White Hart Lane in the first place.
Vincent Janssen
Although Vincent Janssen only joined Tottenham at the start of the 2016-17 season, it’s safe to say that his time at the club hasn’t gone to plan. During his three seasons of senior football, Janssen managed to rack up an impressive goal tally, especially at AZ Alkmaar, where he scored 27 goals in 34 league games. However, since his £17 million move to Spurs, the Dutch striker has failed to replicate his goal-scoring record that earned him his move to North London. So far he has only been able to score 6 goals in 35 appearances for the club. Following the arrival of striker Fernando Llorente at the end of this summer’s transfer window, Janssen has been pushed down the pecking order and is currently on loan at Turkish club Fenerbahce where he will hope to find his shooting boots again and rekindle his previous form.
Darren Bent
Darren Bent may not have had a bad goal scoring record as some of the other players mentioned, but the former-England international failed to score the number of goals you would expect from a striker who signed for a club record fee. After impressive spells at Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic, where he was constantly hitting double figures in the league a season, Bent earned his move to White Hart Lane in 2007. Unfortunately for the striker, he only managed to find the back of the net six times in the league in his first season (and only eight goals in all competitions). His next season at the club was a definite improvement as he doubled his goal tally. Despite this improvement, Bent moved to Sunderland the following season after Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane returned to the club, as well as a number of high profile misses throughout the season.
Roman Pavlyuchenko
Whilst Darren Bent was at the club, Roman Pavlyuchenko was another striker who failed to make the impact that was expected of him. Although not the deadliest of finishers, Pavlyuchenko had racked up an impressive number of goals during his six seasons at Spartak Moscow – scoring 89 goals in only 189 appearances. This impressive goal scoring tally, and his performances in the 2008 European Championship earned him a move to Tottenham in September 2008. The Russian’s first season at the club was fairy unimpressive, only scoring 5 goals in 28 Premier League games. His performances outside of the league were impressive, but Pavlyuchenko was pushed down the pecking order to fourth-choice striker – a common theme during his time at Tottenham. After four unsuccessful seasons, Pavlyuchenko moved back to Russia where he has continued to struggle to find the back of the net.
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