The ball clearly bobbled, the political unrest affected the atmosphere, the presence of Harry Kane was unsettling or lady luck has cut him loose. There are many possible excuses that we can wheel out in defence of our Spanish striker, but the truth of the matter is, something has gone wrong. From being a free scoring striker, the man who was set to make La Furia Roja’s false nine very real, Roberto Soldado has gone beyond being a funny joke, it’s now close to being offensive.

Go back to the warm month of August, a time when we were still very much in love with AVB and Gareth Bale was a Spur and listen to The Fighting Cock’s early season episodes.

In there amongst the tactical musings and political dissections, you will hear four united voices, four voices expressing in various states of climax the fact that we had finally signed a striker. The missing piece, the lost half of AVB’s Rosetta Stone had been unearthed by Daniel Levy and to our delight transported by Ryanair.

We laughed, we boasted, we professed our love, 30 goals this season? Straight into every single Fantasy Football team? A song within two minutes of his first appearance? Most def.

We had a international class striker. We had hope. We had summer fling to blow anything Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsen could sing about, but now with the smell of summer completely washed away, we are left little more than fractured memories.

Soldado, the missing piece, the lost half of AVB’s Rosetta Stone had been unearthed by Daniel Levy

For the last five months I have clung to the hope that all he needed was a chance, a stroke of luck, a double deflection, anything to break open the floodgates, last night he had that chance and last night he snatched at it.

In his anger he turned and kicked the goal post, it was a futile reaction though. Like attempting to live up to your drunken whispers in your girlfriend’s ear after you have spent the last 10 hours drinking your own body weight in Jaeger.

So what went wrong with Soldado? What transformed him from a potent striker into the flaccid number nine we now see fleetingly?

The single biggest issue that faced Soldado was the fact he was deployed as the central point of a strike force that was full of strangers that didn’t know or understand him or even each other.

In previous years the forward players have been part of the Luka Modric, Gareth Bale or VdV orchestra, this year they found themselves without a conductor. With no inspiring figure to lead them they relied more on the tactics of AVB and less of the brilliance of individuals. Soldado should have inspired them, but that is not his role and never has been.

He is the chef, the man who stands at the pass and adds the finishing touch. He has never been the man to roll up his sleeves and chop the onions or baste the meat. He is a finisher, and as we have seen in the last few weeks, a totally different player to Emmanuel Adebayor, who has been our most successful striker since Dimitar Berbatov was whisked off to Man United in the boot of a Lexus.

In Spain, where only CR7 and Leo Messi outscored Soldado, he was the benefactor of creative brilliance from Esteban Granero and Football Manager semi legend Juan Albin at Getafe, whilst at Valencia he had a plethora of stars ready to hand the ball to him exactly when and where he wanted it. His support at Valencia over three years where he scored 59 goals in 101 games, rolls off the tongue. Joaquin, Vicente, Jordi Alba, Juan Mata, Ever Banega, Pablo Piatti, Sergio Canales and Pablo Hernandez. For any professional penetrator, this is a serious fluffer cast.

At Spurs under AVB it immediately became clear he would be expected to do more. Arriving to the squad late, after his exploits at the Confederation Cup, the season started with some well taken penalties, but little else. As Spurs laboured, Soldado floundered.

Moving to a new country, adapting to a new role, working with other new players who had yet to settle themselves threw the Spaniard as off-course as his ancestors had been in 1588. Nerves have now taken root in Soldado, a man who was instinctive has become pensive.

Arriving to the squad late, the season started with some well taken penalties, but little else. As Spurs laboured, Soldado floundered

There were moments during the first few months were it seemed the block on Soldado was lifting. At Villa Park he scored a second goal with a Matador’s flourish, under the gaze of 1882 he bagged a hat-trick against Anzhi, but since then a penalty is all he has to show for his efforts.

The biggest problem was Soldado being asked to play a role unnatural to him and the effect of his ineffectiveness has broken him. What has accentuated this break is the rise of Adebayor. Since AVB was cut loose from his man-made downward trajectory, his replacement has brought back Adebayor.

The Togolese had been nothing more than a bored bystander under AVB, but with Sherwood in charge, his return has been seamless. Originally deployed alongside Soldado, he is now operating even better alone. He is the man that Soldado should have been but could never have been.

Adebayor is suited to the solo role, Soldado isn’t. This isn’t a fault with Soldado, it is simply a reference on what kind of players the two are. Our team should have been planned around Soldado but it wasn’t. For 18 months we were convinced that our team was evolving as part of plan, now it seems we were making it up as we went along. There are now £56 million pounds worth of talent wasting away in the wings as proof of this.

So what now for Soldado? Will he take his place alongside luminaries such as Sergey Rebrov, Helder Positga, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent? Is there a chance his Spurs career can be rescued?

For 18 months we were convinced that our team was evolving as part of plan, now it seems we were making it up as we went along

Personally I hope so. The affection I had for him on his arrival still stands today, I want him to succeed, but as we saw with AVB, what you want and what you get are a million miles away from each other. Soldado has the talent to succeed, but who is appointed this summer and whether or not lady luck returns to him, will be the defining factors. I just hope the damage to his confidence and self belief aren’t terminal.

Under Sherwood I don’t see Soldado shining, but I have been wrong countless times before. I do have a niggley though that Thursday the 27th with 1882 in attendance at White Hart Lane will be the night the soldier gets back to firing.

Optimism. It’s a curse us Spurs fans are well acquainted with.