'The shirt is too big for me': Dominic Solanke explains how to become a threat after Tottenham's struggles

Wearing the Tottenham shirt is currently too big a prospect for Dominic Solanke amid his recent struggles.

That is the view of talkSPORT's Gabby Agbonlahor, who has called The forward to rediscover his Bournemouth form in North London.

Spurs signed Solanke from Bournemouth this summer in a club-record deal worth £55m plus £10m in add-ons.

Despite being the Premier League's fourth-highest scorer last season with 19 goals, he is yet to score for his new club.

Solanke failed to make an impact in his third outing for Spurs on Wednesday night in their 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Coventry City.

As a result, talkSPORT Agbonlahor believes he needs to regain his composure and repeat his goalscoring success at Bournemouth.

“You know, with Solanke, Solanke just has to have a chat with the manager and calm down,” he told Alan Brazil on Breakfast.

“It seems like… the shirt is too big for him right now.

“Just think back to what you did last season with Bournemouth, you were exceptional, think about the things you were doing last season.

“Keep the ball, make runs, be strong, be aggressive, get into the box because you don't want to be that player who goes two or three games without scoring.

“When you're at a new club, the pressure is on. He was brought out again last night, he had a perfect game at the weekend against Brentford at home (live on talkSPORT 2 on Saturday) and hopefully he can get off to a flying start.”

He added: “The big piece of advice I would give him is that you are a top player and there is a reason why you were bought for so much money.

“At Bournemouth he was a threat, intimidating defenders and putting his body in the way. Don't think that you're at a bigger club now at Spurs and the pressure is on you.

“Now he just needs to score his first goal. Ange needs him to keep playing.”

Former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood also offered words of encouragement to Solanke and believes that once he finds his first goal, he will “be on his way”.

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“Just keep playing, you know? You're going to play. I was like, 'Who else is there right now to play ahead of him?'

“I paid a lot of money for him, I just had a chat with him and said: 'No matter what happens today, you'll be in the team next week. I'm going to stick with you, I want you to score goals, to be yourself, to be like you were when you played at Bournemouth.'

“He's been at big clubs, he's been at Chelsea, he's been at Liverpool, he's never had the chance. It's easy to play at Bournemouth, with respect, you know, the teams that are in the middle of the Premier League table.

“It's a lot harder to play for big clubs, but I think he has the ability, he certainly has the tools to be able to do it, he just needs a goal, gain some confidence and that's it.”

Solanke, who scored 77 goals in 216 appearances for Bournemouth, produced an encouraging performance on his Spurs debut in a 1-1 draw against Leicester City.

However, he missed the 3-0 win over Everton and the 2-1 defeat at Newcastle due to an ankle injury.

The 27-year-old returned to the starting XI for the 1-0 north London derby defeat to Arsenal, as well as their midweek trip to Coventry.

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Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou opted to replace him with Heung-min Son in the 62nd minute before his side turned the tie around.

The championship hosts took the lead through Brandon Thomas-Asante and came close to sealing a surprise victory.

Spurs levelled in the 88th minute through Djed Spence before Brennan Johnson scored the winner in stoppage time.