Alex Keble looks at the qualities Manor Solomon can bring to Tottenham Hotspur.
Player analysis: Manor Solomon
Spurs supporters researching Manor Solomon don’t have much to go on.
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Ange Postecoglou’s fourth signing of the summer had a quiet debut season in England, amassing only 572 minutes of Premier League action at Fulham and starting only four matches.
But sitting out much of 2022/23 was hardly his fault. Solomon suffered a serious knee injury in a behind-closed-doors friendly only days after making his Premier League debut and was out until January: a nightmare start to life in a new country, particularly after having been through a challenging 2022 with Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.
It reflects well on the Israel international, then, that he was able to impress the Spurs hierarchy in such a short period of time.
Solomon scored four league goals for Fulham and one in the FA Cup, all five coming in consecutive matches between February and March, when the 23-year-old was finally fit enough to make his mark.
It is that flurry of action that Spurs supporters will find in highlights packages announcing his arrival, and indeed his role during this period – as an impact substitute, breaking quickly past tired legs – mimics how Postecoglou likely anticipates deploying his new signing.
A fast dribbler and clinical finisher
What Spurs are getting, first and foremost, is a winger renowned for his speed, dribbling, and shooting - with his right foot, cutting in from the left.
As is often the case with traditional wingers in the modern game, Solomon will be a threat on the counter-attack and a useful alternative option when Spurs are faced with a stubborn defence. He will offer a direct route to goal, breaking up the rhythm of Postecoglou’s football and disrupting the opposition defence by giving the full-back a different challenge.
In that respect he is predominantly a replacement for - or an upgrade on - Lucas Moura, whose contract was not renewed at the end of the season after managing just 153 minutes of Premier League action in 2022/23.
Solomon’s stats from last season reveal just how good he is at squaring up an opponent and taking them on.
Across all Premier League players to have played at least 540 minutes (six matches), Solomon ranked 10th for attempted take-ons (5.78) and fifth for successful take-ons (2.97), behind only Kamaldeen Sulemana, Julio Enciso, Allan Saint-Maximin, and Noni Madueke.
In fact, attempting to dribble past players is Solomon’s go-to action, so much so that last season he attempted a take-on with every 7.9 touches of the ball.
His season peak, for take-ons attempted and as a percentage of total touches, came in a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa, when he attempted six take-ons (completing three) from just 18 total touches.
Solomon's take-ons v Aston Villa
One thing all of the top five dribblers from last season have in common is their tendency to come off the bench, reflecting the value of having someone willing to run straight at, and past, weary opposition legs in the final minutes.
But Solomon has something none of the above names can match: a clinical goalscoring touch. His four goals in 2022/23 meant he averaged one every 0.63 matches, putting him ninth in the Premier League charts among players who played at least 540 minutes.
It’s rare to find a quick dribbler and an impact sub who also has an end product, and the data suggests last season was no fluke. Solomon averages 0.42 goals per 90 across his whole league career, scoring 16 goals in 70 appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk.
Pick Solomon in your 2023/24 FPL squad
Finally, Solomon is a hard worker off the ball, with his defensive numbers comparing very favourably to the rest of the division.
Last season he averaged 7.19 recoveries per 90, the second-most among wingers or forwards (behind Pablo Fornals), and 3.13 tackles attempted per 90, topping the charts for wingers or forwards.
In this regard, as in most categories, Solomon outperforms the player he is replacing (when compared to Lucas’s 2021/22 statistics, his most recent impactful year at the club).
Lucas v Solomon
| Statistic | Lucas Moura (2021/22) | Manor Solomon (2022/23) |
|---|---|---|
| Appearances (sub) | 34 (15) | 19 (15) |
| Goals | 2 (0.1 per 90) | 4 (0.6 per 90) |
| Attempted take-ons/90 | 4.9 | 6.3 |
| Successful take-ons/90 | 2.8 | 3.0 |
| Progressive carries/90 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Tackles/90 | 1.3 | 3.4 |
| Recoveries/90 | 4.8 | 7.4 |
Some have questioned the logic of signing a left-sided forward when Spurs already have Richarlison and Son Heung-min capable of playing in this position, but a closer look at Postecoglou’s tactical ideas reveals why Solomon has been brought in.
The new Spurs head coach believes in fast and hard-pressing attacking football. That means sharp counter-attacks, holding possession high up the pitch, and asserting a progressive attitude wherever possible. That’s Plan A. Plan B is to go even harder on Plan A.
That’s why Solomon’s superb defensive numbers make him particularly attractive, although more important is the specific role the 23-year-old can play as a wide and vertically-inclined footballer in Postecoglou’s unusual formation.
Assuming consistency with his tactical ideas at Celtic, Postecoglou will deploy a 4-3-3 formation in which both full-backs invert into central midfield, in turn releasing the No 8s to move higher and wider, which – in a domino effect – puts the wingers higher and wider still, until they are playing with chalk on their boots.
In other words, the Spurs head coach wants 1v1 wingers - like Jota, the player who most often played on the left for Celtic last season. Note how close to the touchline he took his touches in a 4-0 win over St Mirren last season in the graphic below.
Jota touches v St Mirren Jan 2023
Son and Richarlison both prefer to drift into the half-spaces (the thin column of the pitch that lies between full-back and centre-back), whereas Solomon will happily maintain width, drawing the opposition full-back out of a narrow defence to isolate them on the touchline.
By squaring up the defender and looking to dribble past them, Solomon will help to stretch the opposition, in turn creating more space infield for the Spurs No 8 roaming that left-hand side.
“I spoke with the manager and understood what he wants and what he demands from the team, from the wingers in particular,” Solomon told the club website in his first interview as a Spurs player. “I know he wants to see attacking football, to see pressure, to have the ball, to play really attacking football that will entertain our fans.”
Incidentally, this is just the kind of football Solomon was coached under Roberto De Zerbi at Shakhtar, and there is no doubt Spurs will have given consideration to that fact. The Israeli’s popularity with the current Brighton head coach suggests tactical astuteness.
Not that we necessarily need to think so deeply to understand his talents. More obviously, we can simply take a look at that purple patch in the spring and the quality of those four goals: the high-intensity running, the purposeful movement, and the brilliant finishing.
Solomon is still a little raw, still a little unproven at Premier League level. But there is more than enough evidence to suggest he has the quality to be a valuable super sub - at the very least.