Roberto De Zerbi has made a bold claim about Dominic Solanke after the Tottenham striker scored his first Premier League goal of the season against Man Utd.Dominic Solanke has dealt with multiple injuries over the last 12 months, and the striker looked extremely lacking in sharpness in the club’s 3-2 loss to Aston Villa.On the back of that performance, many would have expected the England international to be benched against Man Utd, but De Zerbi not only gave him the nod to lead the line, but also made him captain for the day.While the former Bournemouth man missed a couple of big chances to score, he had the last laugh, netting the all-important equaliser in stoppage time after overpowering Lisandro Martinez.Credit: @thefrederikkejensen / InstagramRoberto De Zerbi says Dominic Solanke may be the ‘best striker’ for Tottenham’s systemDe Zerbi previously said he will stick with Solanke until the end, and the Tottenham boss has now reiterated just how much he believes in the 29-year-old’s qualities.The Italian suggested the centre-forward had come in for a lot of unwarranted criticism, and insisted that he is capable of being the reliable goalscorer that the Lilywhites need upfront.When asked about Solanke’s display against Man Utd, De Zerbi told Football.London: “He deserves to be a captain today, because he suffered maybe too much, because ‘Tottenham didn’t win, Tottenham didn’t score, who is the striker of Tottenham? Solanke is not good enough’, it’s not true. Solanke is good enough to play, maybe he is the best striker for us, because his qualities.“He is a complete player, he is a good guy, he has personality, he has to feel good in terms of his physical condition, but he is a great player, and I wanted to show what is my confidence, and what is the importance I give him in this team.”De Zerbi admits Spurs players were pleased when Solanke was made captainIt appears that Solanke is a popular player in the changing room, with De Zerbi revealing that his teammates were pleased for the striker when he was given the captain’s armband.The Tottenham boss also suggested that his goal against United could be vital to boosting the former Cherries star’s confidence.When asked why Solanke was made captain over Archie Gray, De Zerbi said: “Yes, because I wanted to show, yes, but I decide who is the captain, no? Today, after the last game, the criticism, I wanted to put him as captain, to show my confidence and the confidence of the team, because all other players were happy when I said that Domi Solanke is captain.“When one player of us is in a difficult situation, all other players and staff and myself, we have to show to be close with him, like a family, like a team, like a normal team.”When asked about the importance of Solanke scoring his first league goal of the season, the 46-year-old responded: “It’s important, but it was very good. If you analyse the behaviour in the goal area when he scored today, and in the goal area in the last game against Villa in our stadium, you can see totally different behaviour, totally different energy, and we need this Domi Solanke, because Domi Solanke is able to make the difference in this team.”READ MORE: Five things we learned as Tottenham draw 1-1 with Man United and Bentancur sees redThe post 'He suffered too much' - De Zerbi hits back at criticism of 'complete' Tottenham player appeared first on Spurs Web.