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To be fair, we don't run a system that suits him and he's not had a sustained run in the team. Would have been interesting to see how an Ade/Defoe pairing would have fared, but that's water under the bridge.
Hasn't been good enough for us for at least 2-3 years.
His biggest fault, beyond the offside issue, is that he is a selfish player. Defoe requires help from other players to put in a half decent shift. Worse still, when he is not getting that help from other players, he has been seen to have a go at them on the pitch.
Whereas a lot of other forwards, such as Adebayor, are industrious, in that they can drop back, get stuck in with the rest of the team and try and create chances and assists as well as goals for themselves, Defoe just floats around like a headless chicken. I can think of only one or two games this year when he tried to get stuck in and they were cup games. So, quite simply, if the game is not the type where you can get lots of balls easily served to his feet then you are essentially playing with 10 men as he will be ineffective for 90 minutes and add nothing. Poaching goals that are directly served to him is his only stand out talent. But that, by itself, simply isn't gooid enough to be the complete player. Other top managers seem to recognise this, but Redknapp, for some reason, cannot (hence constant starts last season despite four pitiful league goals).
Quite simply, a top four striker does not need "a system that suits him". A top four striker is still capable of getting goals come what may. I can't think recall strikers like Rooney, Drogba, Robin Van Rapist or even Berbatov requiring a system that suited them as badly as Defoe seems to need.
His biggest fault, beyond the offside issue, is that he is a selfish player. Defoe requires help from other players to put in a half decent shift. Worse still, when he is not getting that help from other players, he has been seen to have a go at them on the pitch.
Whereas a lot of other forwards, such as Adebayor, are industrious, in that they can drop back, get stuck in with the rest of the team and try and create chances and assists as well as goals for themselves, Defoe just floats around like a headless chicken. I can think of only one or two games this year when he tried to get stuck in and they were cup games. So, quite simply, if the game is not the type where you can get lots of balls easily served to his feet then you are essentially playing with 10 men as he will be ineffective for 90 minutes and add nothing. Poaching goals that are directly served to him is his only stand out talent. But that, by itself, simply isn't gooid enough to be the complete player. Other top managers seem to recognise this, but Redknapp, for some reason, cannot (hence constant starts last season despite four pitiful league goals).
Quite simply, a top four striker does not need "a system that suits him". A top four striker is still capable of getting goals come what may. I can't think recall strikers like Rooney, Drogba, Robin Van Rapist or even Berbatov requiring a system that suited them as badly as Defoe seems to need.
WindyCOYS
The Fighting Cock
Touched on Defoe (stop it, trunkle) in my latest blog article: http://windycoys.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04 ... ainst.html
'Defoe scored an excellent goal, but was largely a peripheral figure. He played the full 90 but only had 27 touches - fewer than any other player on the pitch who completed the 90; in fact, he only had 5 more touches than van der Vaart who played just 19 minutes. That alone illustrates why, in my opinion, van der Vaart should nearly always start ahead of Defoe (and if he's not there, we should play Kranjcar as the number 10 to maintain the shape with five across midfield).'
'Defoe scored an excellent goal, but was largely a peripheral figure. He played the full 90 but only had 27 touches - fewer than any other player on the pitch who completed the 90; in fact, he only had 5 more touches than van der Vaart who played just 19 minutes. That alone illustrates why, in my opinion, van der Vaart should nearly always start ahead of Defoe (and if he's not there, we should play Kranjcar as the number 10 to maintain the shape with five across midfield).'
I actually think that both Pav and Crouch are better players than Defoe. In addition to what I said above, Defoe also tends to bottle it in big games. Both Pav and Crouch, on the other hand, scored some key goals for us in the league and in Europe. How many key goals has Defoe risen to score in important matches? None come to mind off the cuff.Dru said:
Still think we should keep him as a sub regardless though, he is our ole Gunnar Solskjaer (SP everywhere probably)
and :defoe: did look promising for a bit also as mentioned but as Windy said VDV>>> :defoe:
Plus the 4-4-2 leaves us open at the back
and :defoe: did look promising for a bit also as mentioned but as Windy said VDV>>> :defoe: Plus the 4-4-2 leaves us open at the back
Since the beginning of last season, Defoe has scored more goals from outside the box than any other player in the Premier League - something like 9.tehTrunk said:
Smoked Salmon said:
Agree to an extent, but Defoe's scored the openers against United and Chelsea in the 09/10 season, also scored against City that season and City, United and Liverpool this season. Some of those goals turned out to be more important than others - if we end up winning comfortably/not winning then those goals get forgotten. He's better at breaking the deadlock when the team is struggling against lesser teams - see West Brom home and away, Newcastle away, Stevenage for some examples from this season. These games are just as important and the type we struggled in last season (partially because Defoe was injured/playing shit, admittedly) Yesterday could have been a crucial goal, but because the team lost it will be forgotten.
VdV and Adebayor are better players. I don't deny that. They both get involved in games a lot more. But if you look at recent games against Stoke and Sunderland for example their extra touches didn't result in lots of goals, or even lots of chances. If Defoe has one touch and puts it in the net whereas a VdV has 100 but the team scores only one goal then I don't see the difference.
I don't know why I'm defending him so much (I ended up doing the same with Pav...) but I think anti-Defoe people are just as blinkered sometimes. I think he's our joint top scorer and second top assister or something this season, mostly from the bench.
If we can replace him with someone better then great, if not, no problem. The main issue is whether he's willing to stay. Say he's our 3rd/4th choice striker (behind VdV and Ade, maybe Saha). He's better than Newcastle's equivalent (Ameobi? Leon Best?), Liverpool's (I'm not sure who this would be, but I'd take him over Carroll), Woolwich's (Chamakh?). Even a Sturridge, Torres or Welbeck on current form wouldn't do a better job, which basically leaves Man City.
So in conclusion, Defoe = not all bad :defoe2:
I don't recall any serious talk about a 'top four' club wanting to buy Defoe off of us or Portsmouth. That says it all in my humble opinion.
