When Gareth Bale was sold to Real Madrid in the summer there was a contingent of the Tottenham fanbase who were starting to sweat in terms of how they replace him. Instead of splashing the whole lot on one player, Andre Villas-Boas decided to spread it across a number of outlets – one of those being Roberto Soldado, who has caused mixed emotions in north London.

The Spaniard’s scoring record at previous club Valencia is outstanding. Over the last three seasons he has scored 25, 27 and 30 goals respectively, and he has already scored six in 12 since his arrival in the Premier League.

So why would anyone suggest dropping the former La Liga man? I’ll tell you why.

Soldado is an out and out goalscorer. The way that Villas-Boas sets his side up with one striker isn’t doing him any favours as he enjoys playing off people. Stick him in the box and he will score goals, it’s as simple as that, but Spurs aren’t creating anything up top right now so he’s struggling to score from open play – three of his four league goals have been penalties.

With a number of new faces coming into the club over the summer it was always going to take time to bed them in, but until the creative talents find their groove then I would suggest that Jermain Defoe is the stronger option right now.

Deploying a rejuvenated Soldado down the line could also prove beneficial to Spurs’ aim of a top four finish.