Tottenham would have been wise to sign a player who put them to the sword on Saturday - Nicolas Jackson. Spurs finally managed to score in the Premier League, netting twice against Aston Villa, but it was already too little, too late for Roberto De Zerbi's men, who trailed 3-0 going into the final minutes.
The result means Tottenham remain winless in the Premier League despite spending more than £300million to improve their squad during the summer. Roberto De Zerbi maintains the faith of the club for now, but there is only so much time he will get if the current form continues after the international break.
Tottenham's new signings are not performing, with the defence looking all too clumsy, while Sandro Tonali looks like he has never played Premier League football before, and Omar Marmoush is non-existent. And it is the latter who is sparking the biggest conversation, with most feeling Tottenham needed a true striker to lead the line, while Marmoush is much more of a false nine, perhaps more suited to playing off the striker or out wide, even if he does regard himself as a centre-forward.
The on-loan Manchester City star is not a reliable goalscorer, and Spurs did have options to sign a goalscorer during the summer, which included Villa striker Jackson, who scored against Spurs with a brilliantly taken strike on Saturday.
Unai Emery said after the game:
“Today, we made a clear step forward in improving. Zion (Suzuki) is maintaining the performance he showed before, and Jackson clearly improved from the previous matches. This is the way and how he played was an example.”
Villa ended up paying £65million for Jackson, but there were suggestions he would be allowed to leave on loan weeks before Villa committed significant cash to sign him, replacing Ollie Watkins.
Spurs need someone who can get in behind and be a constant threat, both inside and outside of the box, and they certainly don't have that in Solanke, while Marmoush seems to lack the instincts needed for a true striker. Jackson is not an elite striker, but he is in the bracket just below that, having been a relatively reliable source of goals for much of his career.
Nicolas Jackson's league stats by season
There was a big fuss made of Jackson before he joined Bayern Munich on loan last summer, with the media blowing up two red cards he received in the space of a few months, turning it into a debate about bad discipline, but those who see past the headlines will know the striker has not had issues with discipline through his career, and those at Bayern Munich back that up, only highlighting how hard Jackson worked on and off the pitch to remain useful for the Bundesliga champions, even with Harry Kane always going to be ahead of him.
Emery knows it, too, hence he signed Jackson on the back of working with him at Villarreal, and Tottenham should have known it.
A club must understands what it needs, and not to say Jackson was the only option they should have considered, but Saturday was a timely reminded that he was one of them.