New Soldado: Frank must bin Spurs flop who had fewer touches than Vicario
Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario did not enjoy his best evening in North London during the team’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday.
It was his significant error when trying to clear the ball near the corner flag that ultimately lost the Lilywhites the match, as Harry Wilson’s long-range finish turned out to be the winning goal.
Per Sofascore, Vicario had 30 touches of the ball and conceded two goals from three shots whilst making one error that directly led to a goal for the Cottagers, which was the error in the clip above.
Whilst it was a disappointing display from the Italy international between the sticks, Thomas Frank’s goalkeeper was merely one of a number of poor performers on the night.
Ranking Tottenham's worst performers against Fulham
Vicario, because of the nature of his error and the fact that he only made one save, was the team’s worst performer on the night. It is hard to get away from that conclusion.
Destiny Udogie, though, rivalled him with a disappointing showing. The Italian full-back lost four of his five ground duels, per Sofascore, and deflected Fulham’s opener past his goalkeeper as he failed to block Kenny Tete’s shot from distance.
1
Guglielmo Vicario
2
Destiny Udogie
3
Richarlison
4
Pedro Porro
5
Archie Gray
As you can see in the table above, Archie Gray, who won one of his four duels in 60 minutes on the pitch, and Pedro Porro, who was bailed out by Micky van de Ven after a Vicario-esque error, were also among the worst performers for Spurs.
Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Bergvall, who linked up for a brilliant goal in the second half, were the only players who did anything of note offensively for the Lilywhites as they looked to get back into the match.
That is why Richarlison was also among the worst performers on the night for Spurs, as the Brazil international is becoming the new Roberto Soldado in North London.
Why Thomas Frank must drop Richarlison
The Spurs boss must ruthlessly bin the former Everton centre-forward from the starting line-up for the trip to St. James’ Park to face Newcastle United on Tuesday night, due to his dismal showing on Saturday.
Per Sofascore, the Brazilian forward failed to register a single shot on goal from his 21 touches of the ball, fewer touches than Vicario had in goal, and he did not create a single chance for his teammates.
Richarlison has scored six goals in 21 appearances in all competitions this season, including some stunning strikes like the ones against Burnley and Arsenal, but that is still an underwhelming return for the money that was once spent on him.
Tottenham paid a whopping £60m to sign the striker from Everton in 2022, which made him the club’s most expensive striker signing since they broke their transfer record to sign Roberto Soldado from Valencia for £26m in 2013.
The Spanish marksman scored 16 goals and provided 11 assists in 76 appearances, per Transfermarkt, which worked out as a goal contribution every 2.8 games on average. That was a solid return in front of goal on paper for the attacker, but it was not worth the club-record transfer fee.
Games
111
76
Goals
26
16
Games per goal
4.3
4.8
Assists
12
11
Games per assist
9.3
6.9
Games per G/A
2.9
2.8
As shown in the statistics above, Richarlison currently has a worse goals per goal contribution rate in his Tottenham career than Soldado managed during his time in North London.
This speaks to how underwhelming the £60m signing has been on the whole for Spurs, even if he has had his moments of magic, which is why the Lilywhites should be looking for a long-term replacement in the number nine position.
With this in mind, Frank should give Randal Kolo Muani, who scored twice against PSG in the Champions League, a run of matches as a lone centre-forward to see how he fares in that role.
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1 ByEmilio Galantini Nov 29, 2025