Dominic Solanke has only been at Tottenham for three weeks and played once, but already the £65million signing from Bournemouth feels crucial to the club's hopes of a successful season under Ange Postecoglou.
The 2-1 defeat to Newcastle on Sunday was achingly familiar for Spurs. They dominated possession and chances - peppering Nick Pope's goal with 20 shots - but were undone by a pair of defensive lapses against the run of play, either side of half-time.
As Spurs pushed for a winner after a Dan Burn own goal had cancelled out Harvey Barnes's opener, Joelinton's pass sliced them wide open and Jacob Murphy ran clear before unselfishly squaring for Alexander Isak's 78th-minute tap-in.
It was easy to blame the visitors' defending after they switched off from a throw-in for Barnes's smart finish and were caught flat-footed by Murphy, but if Spurs had been more clinical in front of goal they would already have been out of sight (and probably not playing such an aggressively high line with 12 minutes to go).
Really, this defeat - just like the frustrating 1-1 draw at Leicester on the opening day - felt like a centre-forward issue as much as a defensive one.
With Solanke and Richarlison both injured, Dejan Kulusevski led the line as a 'false nine' in the first half with limited impact before Postecoglou introduced Brennan Johnson for Pape Matar Sarr at the interval, and moved captain Heung-min Son to centre-forward.
Jacob Murphy 🤝 Alexander Isak
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 1, 2024
Newcastle are back in front! ⚡ pic.twitter.com/v6ZYpdbTJw
Spurs had marginally more threat in the second half, with the lively Johnson reacting quickest to Pope's spill to force the own goal, but they continued to squander good openings or make poor decisions in the final third.
At least twice in the first half, Son flashed dangerous balls across the box from the left, but no-one was there. Johnson did similar from the right flank after the break, with Son and Wilson Odobert guilty of failing to attack the six-yard box (when Odobert did attack the far post, he sent a glorious chance over from close range).
Postecoglou's Spurs are coached to send low crosses across the six-yard box - "Don't even look. Bam. Every time. The corner of that box, that's your target," coach Ryan Mason tells the players in recently-released training footage - but these balls count for nothing without a centre-forward attacking them.
Spurs finished the game with a lower 'expected goals' metric than Newcastle (1.30 to 1.61, despite having 11 more shots), illustrating that for all their possession and territory, they fashioned low-quality chances.
Indeed, of their 20 shots, only two were worth more than 0.10 xG and they had 49 touches in Newcastle's box, the fifth most of a top-flight team so far this season.
"Fair play to Pope, I thought he had an outstanding game," Postecoglou said. "But we could have tested him a few more times with just some better decision-making.
"It's not just the opportunities we did create. I thought there was another probably six to 10 moments where we could have created even more opportunities.
"That's been a constant theme for us that we're trying to break through."
Odobert, Johnson, Kulusevski and Timo Werner are all, as it stands, talented but inconsistent wide players, lacking the game-changing qualities of Son - Spurs' only genuine world-class forward.
What Spurs really need up front is an instinctive and reliable centre-forward, who can convert their territory and dominance into clear-cut chances, and put a high percentage of them away. Without this type of player, Spurs will struggle to mitigate the inevitable defensive shortcomings which result from Postecoglou's approach.
Last season, Richarlison did not look capable of being the consistent finisher Spurs needed up-front, not least because of his ongoing fitness problems, while Son and Kulusevski offer useful versatility but are not natural No9s.
It all comes back to Solanke, who is expected to be available to face Arsenal after the international break and will have to add bite to Spurs' toothless attack.
