I think you should go on Spurs TV and watch the highlights from Southampton away before dismissing Soldado.
Now, for a gripe I have. This is not aimed at you in particular, but I'm just brining it up in this post. I think that people are looking at Poch's system in a very static manner. Just cause Rodriguez was given a lot of high crosses doesn't mean that's how we'll score this year. In fact, I would argue that if anything that's the first thing Poch will try to change up, because of the fact that it is slightly predictable. If you go back and look at preseason so far you'll see that the majority of our goals were low/on the ground. I feel as if Poch realizes that he's got a lot more skill up front than he had at Southampton and is willing to let his players dribble into the box more than he was willing to let them last season. I think we're going to see a lot of very quick forward passes in front of goal trying to open up the last of the defense, rather than long crosses. Don't get me wrong, the cross to goal will absolutely still be there, but I don't think it will happen as much as it happened last season.
Granted things could change, but if Pochettino implements the same style he's coached throughout his career then the long ball and crossing will be extremely important to the system. Southampton was second in long balls per game and fourth in crosses per game last season. That is very indicative style of a Bielsa disciple like Pochettino. Bielsa looked at the time teams played in "transition" and tried to eliminate transition completely. In transition, he saw giving the other team time to set up and prepare for your attack. In reality, he managed to implement a tactical system to limit transition time as much as possible. The two ways to limit transition time is to win the ball high up the pitch and to rely heavily on vertical direct passing.
With the vertical direct passing Pochettino looks to have either his two center backs or two pivot midfielders spray balls to whatever attacking player has found the most space. The fullbacks makes the widest runs the space for them to get wide is due at least one of the nominal wingers vacating the wide space (Rodriguez) to come more inside and look to exploit the space in between the opposing centerbacks and fullbacks. The center forward also looks to take any space in behind. The player who doesn't look to get deep is the nominal number 10 (Lallana+Davis last season likely Eriksen and Lamela this year) who slots into the space in front of the opposing back line that is created by the forward, one or both of the wingers, and the fullbacks forcing the opposing defensive backline to drop.
So in a perfect world, if the backline drops deep the centerbacks or midfielders in possession play a quick and direct ball to the creative player in a pocket of space ahead of the back line and then the creative player has plays a ball quickly because the wingers, forwards, and fullbacks should all be in advanced roles and outnumbering the defenders. So with Spurs that is Eriksen and Lamela and they will have to play the ball quickly before space is gone.
If the opposing backline holds its ground and compresses space then the you look for a ball over the top to the winger or forward, or to the center fowards head or chest to play off of and put the defense under pressure. This is why having a strong and powerful hold up player like Rickie Lambert is so important to Pochettino's system. Lambert led Southampton by a good margin in assists last season with ten. This is also why many have opined whether Soldado will be a strong enough hold up man to do the physical labor that a striker has to do in a more direct system like Pochettino's. Personally I think Adebayor is perfectly built for it as he is strong, capable in the air, and on the ground but his motivation is always questionable.
If the runs of the winger and forward are covered then there should be space for the fullbacks to exploit. With time it is exceedingly likely that the fullback will end up being able to pick a cross. Ideally you would want front post and back post runners, I think Kane would be an incredible back post runner for Walker's crosses. While Soldado thrives on lower crosses which he would probably get more as a striker than a winger.
You say that because we have a more skilled team you expect Pochettino to allow his players to dribble more. I would assert that will be patently untrue. Last season, despite the highest possession in the league Southampton completed only the 9th most dribbles per game at 8.9 per game. Spurs averaged 11. Allowing players to dribble too much is the antithesis of the quick strike, take advantage of space, and stretch the defense football that Pochettino will be striving to play.
The caveat as always is that Pochettino could change his tactics to some extent. But coming from the Bielsa coaching tree it seems extremely unlikely that he would alter them too much considering Bielsa is the ultimate football demagogue. Pochettino is likely going to want to play the quick and direct football he has always played. That style requires a good mix of technical ability combined with players who play in a direct and powerful fashion. At Southampton he had ideal direct strong players up front in Rodriguez and Lambert who also had technical ability. While also balancing it with more skilled players behind them like Lallana, Davis, and Ward-Prowse. At Spurs I think Adebayor is an even better version of Lambert while I assert that Kane could potentially fill that Rodriguez hole as a direct winger (Rodriguez had previously been a striker). While Eriksen and Lallana (with Holtby as backup) certainly see like natural fits as the more technical players who look to create quickly and incisively. On the other end of the spectrum, I have a hard time seeing Soldado being effective in Pochettino's system just not a powerful enough player to play up top alone. I bet he'd be gone if we had any interest elsewhere from him, he'll work hard and do alright but he isn't made for it. Townsend also looks a bit of an odd man out, the dribbling doesn't gel well with Pochettino's desire to play quick and directly. Unless he starts bagging loads of goals I don't see his fit. Lennon is effective enough as a presser to maintain at least a bench role.
Here's a good article on lots of the Bielsa/Pochettino stuff I discussed.
http://eplindex.com/37849/marcelo-bielsas-tactical-influence-mauricio-pochettino-tactics.html
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