Dominic Solanke scored a brace in Tottenham’s 4-3 win over Man United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals
Tottenham Hotspur punched their tickets for the Carabao Cup semi-finals as they beat Manchester United 4-3 at home in a cup classic on Thursday.
The quarter-final clash against Man United saw Ange Postecoglou’s side produce a performance that sum up both their attacking quality and defensive resilience, though not without moments of madness. They nearly allowed a three-goal to slip, however, an extraordinary goal from Son Heung-min from a corner kick settled the deal on a crazy night in North London.
Dominic Solanke got the ball rolling for Tottenham in the 15th minute, finishing at the near post after Man United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir had parried Pape Matar Sarr’s shot in front of the onrushing striker. Dejan Kulusevski doubled Spurs’ lead seconds after the restart, before Solanke punished the visitors again to make it 3-0.
Ange Postecoglou faced the media after the humdinger of a cup tie. When asked to describe Solanke’s performance in such a big game, he stated (h/t Football London):
“He has been outstanding, mate. Scored against Chelsea a week ago so people keep going on about his goals but it’s his work rate. What he gives the team beyond his goals are unbelievable.
“His goals were quality tonight. Good striker’s goals. The first one to react and the second one calm and composed and a great finish. We would love to give him a rest but he just keeps going and going and it is a credit to him and all the boys.”
Solanke has now scored in four consecutive appearances against Man United for both Bournemouth and Tottenham. He had netted home and away in the Premier League in his final season for the Cherries. In a Spurs shirt, the English striker scored in the 3-0 league success at Old Trafford in September before scoring a brace to eliminate the Red Devils from the Carabao Cup.
Before his double on Thursday night, the 27-year-old was struggling with his confidence having netted only once in eight games across all competitions. Truly, Solanke brings a lot more than just goals—his pressing, energy, work rate, link up and hold-up play has been making the North Londoners’ attack tick.
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However, at the end of the day, a striker will be judged by how many goals he scores and Solanke is no different, especially after he cost Spurs a lot of money in the summer.
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Having scored nine goals in 22 appearances across all competitions in a Tottenham shirt thus far, the England international will be raring to hit the double-figure mark by haunting his former employers Liverpool on Sunday.
