Jermain Defoe

[COYSacrossthepond]

Agreed, he hasn't been. But my point is, what makes Ade a top-class striker is that when he's not scoring, he still brings stuff to the table.  Defoe does not.

Do you believe that Adebayor will be here next season ? I do not.

I don't care whether any of them will be around next season or not. We need to worry about NOW.

I like Defoe, I think he's very good at what he does, which is score goals. But the real difference between Defoe and the other players discussed here is that Defoe ONLY scores goals. Both Adebayor and VdV also get a fair number of assists; in all competitions so far this year, Defoe only has 3, and only 1 of those is in the league. You can complain about lack of time, but in that same time he's scored 8 league goals, 13 total. So it's not that he hasn't had time to produce; it's that he doesn't create chances for other players.

Which is fine; I'm not expecting Defoe to be a creative influence. But for a striker who is 30, is clearly unhappy coming off the bench (has said as much) and is probably one of our higher wage earners... We should be looking at selling him off for 10m or so to get younger players.

Riff; I agree that 442 is a good idea, but if you look at the league games where Defoe has started next to Adebayor, you'll see that when that happens, we either are bunched in the box where we can be easily defended (Defoe isn't exactly the tallest lad) OR, because Defoe likes to play so far up the pitch, we end up in situations where Adebayor, looking for space, drops off to the top of the 18 and plays where VdV usually is.

If JD is willing to be an off-the-bench striker who plays late in games and starts when we have injuries, great. But then we should pay him accordingly and he should accept his minutes, not complain about his time.

[ugs]

Agreed, he hasn't been. But my point is, what makes Ade a top-class striker is that when he's not scoring, he still brings stuff to the table.  Defoe does not.

Do you believe that Adebayor will be here next season ? I do not.

Riff; I agree that 442 is a good idea, but if you look at the league games where Defoe has started next to Adebayor, you'll see that when that happens, we either are bunched in the box where we can be easily defended (Defoe isn't exactly the tallest lad) OR, because Defoe likes to play so far up the pitch, we end up in situations where Adebayor, looking for space, drops off to the top of the 18 and plays where VdV usually is.
 

If Adebayor is playing where Van der Vaart normally plays it's because Defoe is further forward...... then Van der Vaart isn't playing !!!!!!!!!
 
Owen, Fowler, Greaves, Crooks, Yorke, Cole...... etc etc etc all they do or did is score goals there was nothing wrong with any of them !!!!!
 
Jermain Defoe remains an extremely valuable member of the squad and unless we can find someone better to replace him then don't sell him ...... simples !!!!
 
 
 
 

[YankSpur703]

Agreed, he hasn't been. But my point is, what makes Ade a top-class striker is that when he's not scoring, he still brings stuff to the table.  Defoe does not.

Do you believe that Adebayor will be here next season ? I do not.

Riff; I agree that 442 is a good idea, but if you look at the league games where Defoe has started next to Adebayor, you'll see that when that happens, we either are bunched in the box where we can be easily defended (Defoe isn't exactly the tallest lad) OR, because Defoe likes to play so far up the pitch, we end up in situations where Adebayor, looking for space, drops off to the top of the 18 and plays where VdV usually is.
 

If Adebayor is playing where Van der Vaart normally plays it's because Defoe is further forward...... then Van der Vaart isn't playing !!!!!!!!!
 
Owen, Fowler, Greaves, Crooks, Yorke, Cole...... etc etc etc all they do or did is score goals there was nothing wrong with any of them !!!!!
 
Jermain Defoe remains an extremely valuable member of the squad and unless we can find someone better to replace him then don't sell him ...... simples !!!!
 
 
 

COYS was specifically referring to the games earlier this season where we played 442 with Defoe and Ade when VDV was injured, ugs.

You'd really put Defoe in the class of Owen, Fowler, Greaves, Crooks, and Cole? Talk about having a laugh...

I agree that we should only sell Defoe if we're going to be able to bring in someone who better fits our system, and is younger, and cheaper.

[ugs]

Agreed, he hasn't been. But my point is, what makes Ade a top-class striker is that when he's not scoring, he still brings stuff to the table.  Defoe does not.

Do you believe that Adebayor will be here next season ? I do not.

Riff; I agree that 442 is a good idea, but if you look at the league games where Defoe has started next to Adebayor, you'll see that when that happens, we either are bunched in the box where we can be easily defended (Defoe isn't exactly the tallest lad) OR, because Defoe likes to play so far up the pitch, we end up in situations where Adebayor, looking for space, drops off to the top of the 18 and plays where VdV usually is.
 

If Adebayor is playing where Van der Vaart normally plays it's because Defoe is further forward...... then Van der Vaart isn't playing !!!!!!!!!
 
Owen, Fowler, Greaves, Crooks, Yorke, Cole...... etc etc etc all they do or did is score goals there was nothing wrong with any of them !!!!!
 
Jermain Defoe remains an extremely valuable member of the squad and unless we can find someone better to replace him then don't sell him ...... simples !!!!
 
 
 

COYS was specifically referring to the games earlier this season where we played 442 with Defoe and Ade when VDV was injured, ugs.

You'd really put Defoe in the class of Owen, Fowler, Greaves, Crooks, and Cole? Talk about having a laugh...

I agree that we should only sell Defoe if we're going to be able to bring in someone who better fits our system, and is younger, and cheaper.

My point is they did little else but score goals, Jermain Defoe is a highly rated striker in this country by many football piudits, commentators and managers.
 
 

[COYSacrossthepond]

Owen, Fowler, Greaves, Crooks, Yorke, Cole...... etc etc etc all they do or did is score goals there was nothing wrong with any of them !!!!!
 
Jermain Defoe remains an extremely valuable member of the squad and unless we can find someone better to replace him then don't sell him ...... simples !!!!
 
 
 

Owen, Fowler, Greaves, Crooks, Yorke, Cole... all could also score with their heads and be target men up front. JD can't/ doesnt, and he's 29. At 29, Owen put in 32 appearances and scored 10 goals at Newcastle, and was sold to Man U to fill in, not start. At 29, Fowler had 21 total appearances and scored 9 goals in all competitions, moving from Man City to Liverpool mid-year. At 29, Yorke had 37 appearances and 12 goals, but at 30 only logged 12 apps and 1 goal in all competitions. At 29, Andy Cole had 35 apps and 18 goals... and was sold from Man U to Blackburn. The year Jimmy Greaves turned 30, he had 33 apps and 11 goals in all competitions for Tottenham, and it was his last year at the club.

My point with all of this is that he's clearly at the end of his career, and so we shouldn't be paying him high wages, listening to him whine about not getting regular appearances. I think you hit the nail on the head without realizing it...

...Jermain Defoe remains an extremely valuable member of the squad...

I agree. He's a valuable squad member, but he's 29. We shouldn't be putting up with his whining about playing time and he shouldn't be among our highest earners. If we CAN line someone younger up, we need to pull the trigger and let him go.

EDIT:

My point is they did little else but score goals, Jermain Defoe is a highly rated striker in this country by many football piudits, commentators and managers.
 
 

Yes, but they also played in a different system that didn't ask any more of them. We have plenty of people who can score goals (Ade, VdV, Bale, even Lennon, Mods, Krancjar (if 'Arry would play him), Walker, the list goes on.) We need more than just a pure goal scorer now. JD is a great super sub because he's still fast and provides a good spark off the bench. But he's clearly not happy being just a super sub, and he's clearly not good enough to be an every-game striker.

[RSS61]

When JD joined I think a lot of us older supporters thought " the new Jimmy Greaves " for there were lots of similarities, but as has been rightly pointed out, he's now 29. Greavesy was long finished by then as a top striker.
Unfortunately JD never lived up to his potential. When on fire, he is nearly as good as Greaves was. However, Greaves could play crap for 90 minutes, but score a hatrick. He was also in a different league beating defenders, and 1 on 1 with the keeper.
We signed Greaves aged 21 for a British record. Maybe if we could sell a few more of the underperformers we could do something similar again. Somehow I doubt it.

[Metalanimal]

I have never been a fan of Defoe and many times would love him to prove me wrong.

He feels he is better than he actually is and warrants a starting place week in week out!  No chance!

Remember his first stint here, the public moaning and crying as he couldnt get into the team and break the Berba/Keane partnership.  We sold him at a decent price then brought the f**ker back again.

He is handy to have as a sub as he may be able to do sumin useful, if he wants to stay as an impact sub then great but I think we would be better off selling while we can still get 10 or so for him.  But we do need an assured replacement first!

[spursjoolz]

I think that his miss in the dying minutes of the City game just about sums up his capabilities.
Whilst Bale could have crossed earlier, Defoe should have been further up front. In fact he didn't seem in a hurry to get in line with the last defender. Had he stepped the pace a bit more, he would have scored!

[Yiddite]

I say sell him in the Summer  whilst we can still get a good
price for him and get a younger replacement/
Good player he is without a doubt but time to move on.

[RiffHard]

I think that his miss in the dying minutes of the City game just about sums up his capabilities.
Whilst Bale could have crossed earlier, Defoe should have been further up front. In fact he didn't seem in a hurry to get in line with the last defender. Had he stepped the pace a bit more, he would have scored!

Lineker had exactly the same situation at Mexico '86 against Argentina...

[Metalanimal]

I think that his miss in the dying minutes of the City game just about sums up his capabilities.
Whilst Bale could have crossed earlier, Defoe should have been further up front. In fact he didn't seem in a hurry to get in line with the last defender. Had he stepped the pace a bit more, he would have scored!

Lineker had exactly the same situation at Mexico '86 against Argentina...

Also during that famous match we discovered the Peter Shilton couldnt jump as high as Maradona even though he was a few feet taller lol

[taimedowne]

I think that his miss in the dying minutes of the City game just about sums up his capabilities.
Whilst Bale could have crossed earlier, Defoe should have been further up front. In fact he didn't seem in a hurry to get in line with the last defender. Had he stepped the pace a bit more, he would have scored!

Lineker had exactly the same situation at Mexico '86 against Argentina...

And Gazza in the Semi Final of Euro 96

[OL'BOLTY]

Coiuld've, should've......come on chaps, Defoe is still one of the best strikers in the league..it's just unfortunate that our current 'system' means his opportunities are limited.....Apart from City, I believe any PL club would love to have him available either as first choice striker or as impact sub....Natural born striker!

[RiffHard]

Coiuld've, should've......come on chaps, Defoe is still one of the best strikers in the league..it's just unfortunate that our current 'system' means his opportunities are limited.....Apart from City, I believe any PL club would love to have him available either as first choice striker or as impact sub....Natural born striker!

I'm pretty sure that if the club would put him on sale, he would end up in one of the top clubs.