Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Solanke is Gareth’s go-to guy
2017-18
GARETH SOUTHGATE sees Dominic Solanke as the solution to his striker crisis – but is worried about his lack of game time.
Liverpool’s Solanke, 20, has yet to make the bench for Jurgen Klopp’s team this season, a familiar problem for emerging stars.
England boss Southgate lacks back-up to first-choice centre-forward Harry Kane, with Manchester United kid Marcus Rashford and Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck starting against
Switzerland this week.
Southgate has made it clear that he would rather look to the future than call up Watford’s Troy Deeney, Brighton’s Glenn Murray or Theo Walcott of Everton.
And he regards Solanke as a more likely prospect than Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham or Everton’s Dominic Calvert-lewin. think that they agreed.”
Pochettino revealed Dele suffered his thigh injury only 20 minutes into the Spain game – but the midfielder still played the full match.
Heung-min Son is back from his Asian Games heroics, but is not yet ready for full club service. Kane finally scored in August, but is lacking more than goals after a pointless appearance from the bench against Switzerland on Tuesday.
But for all the potential pitfalls, a display to match last season’s 4-1 Wembley win over Liverpool would provide the launchpad for the rest of the season.
“We are always confident we can beat any team,” Pochettino added. “But this will be completely different.
“For me, Liverpool are one of the best teams in Europe, not only England. It’s going to demand a very good performance from us, if we want to be close to winning.”