Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has defended striker Dominic Solanke from early criticism.
Solanke has played only three games for Spurs since joining from Bournemouth back in August. He has made starts against Leicester City and Arsenal in the Premier League as well as Coventry City in the Carabao Cup, but is yet to register a goal for the Lilywhites.
The 27-year-old’s beginning to the season was disrupted by an ankle injury sustained on his debut, and he only made his return to training shortly after the September international break.
Ahead of Saturday’s visit of Brentford, Postecoglou was asked whether Solanke’s £65m price tag and the expectation that came with it was weighing heavy.
“I don’t know because people are just so quick to judge, mate. It’s a small sample,” he replied.
“The guy has played less than two [full] games for us. If he has gone 15 games without a goal then I can answer that question or 15 games where he hasn’t contributed, but I just think ‘take a breath, do a bit of yoga. Think about the world for a second and make an assessment after that.’
“We don’t have to rush to make judgement all the time because the alternative is he may have got off to a great start, he is fit, scored in all four games, is flying and then he goes through a patch like all strikers where he doesn’t score.
“I just don’t look at those things. What I look at is he has come in, fitted really well and quite logically has picked up an injury that has disrupted the way he wanted to start his career, but he’s still got plenty of time for that.”