Dominic Solanke has urged his Tottenham team-mates to consistently produce displays like they did against West Ham after he rubbed shoulders with the club’s record scorer Harry Kane over the past fortnight.
Spurs bounced back from a humbling 3-2 loss at Brighton before the international break with a scintillating 4-1 thrashing of West Ham on Saturday.
A second-half collapse against Brighton denied Tottenham a sixth consecutive victory and Solanke, fresh from his second England cap, hopes that defeat can be a lesson for Ange Postecoglou’s squad.
“It was huge. Before that Brighton game we were on a good run of form. We started that game well, maybe got a bit complacent so it was important we bounced back and showed we had learned from it,” Solanke said.
“Speaking to a couple of the boys after, I think we need to play like this as much as we can because we know we can do it.
“Like I said, the last game before this we showed we can do it in one half and not in the second half, but we need to do this consistently.”
Summer recruit Solanke failed to score against West Ham, but produced an all-action display akin to that of predecessor Kane with his non-stop pressing causing the visitors’ back four numerous problems.
A minor injury for Kane gave Solanke the chance to make a second England appearance – his first since 2017 – off the bench against Greece earlier this month.
On comes @DomSolanke for just his second #ThreeLions appearance 👊 pic.twitter.com/8KqZeVqqNf
— England (@England) October 10, 2024
While Solanke was an unused substitute for the 3-1 win in Finland, with captain Kane fit enough to start, he managed to pick the brains of the ex-Spurs forward.
Solanke revealed: “Yeah, of course we spoke a lot while we were there together and we have this (Tottenham) in common now so we spoke and he is a great guy. A great lad to learn from.
“Not really (any advice). We were just speaking about his experiences and stuff like that. Obviously he has done so much in football and it’s nice to pick his brain.
“I feel like I helped the team (against West Ham) and it is important we all contribute in different ways.
“I didn’t get the goal, which is obviously frustrating for me personally, but it was a great game and if we keep playing like this we’ll be in a good place.”
Even though Solanke impressed against West Ham, Dejan Kulusevski was the star of the show.
“He is a great player,” Solanke said of the Swedish attacker.
“This season he has been phenomenal for us and we need players to be on top form, especially in the Premier League because we want to do as well as we can.”
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