MY God - how many Bent debates have I read in my life? They all say the same thing. As for Defoe - he's a great player to have on the bench if you need a goal. He cannot play as a lone striker. He has never, ever had a successful game with VDV (has he?) and I did not expect us to score when I saw that this was our line-up yesterday. We were right to sell him when we did (and we were a weaker team then). We would be right to sell him now IF we get upwards of £10m for him AND sign two/three top strikers, at least two of which are capable of playing on their own. So looks like we should keep him, then. Yippee. Top striker? No. Good enough to do a job for us? Well yeah - just about. If used correctly and played with a partner.
Bent puts in a day's work when he is new at a club or playing for his contract. A man with his skill set (undeniable) should score in the high 20's most seasons. He has scored 25 goals in one season only. He will be gone from Villa as soon as McLeish is replaced. Defoe is a natural finisher, who I thought looked set for a good season having worked hard during the summer, however with VDV seemingly having a "played if fit" clause to his contract, he just does not fit. He is too small to be a target man but if played WITH a target man, or as part of mobile pair, would be a just what we need.
I'm inclined to agree MT, and nobody released from the Strikers Retirement Home either. If Newcastle can find 'em why can't we?
Any 'striker' who doesn't have the skills to play as a lone striker doesn't have the skills to be in the team at all in my opinion.
I'm with HIAG...no! not literally! , but JD is useless. I shall steer clear of DB comparisons, but JD is a one trick pony. PNP says play him to his strengths...well thats ****e for a start, strengths?, he only has one! Play him with a target man you say, and resort to hoofball, backed up with stats from a year he scored 5 in one game and a bit of a purple patch. Well there you have it, JD in a nutshell, short spells of selfishness that come off now again, so lets not get excited. Other than that, no team play, no hold up play, no aerial threat, can't play wide, always offside, can't play with another striker unless its a tall twat for knockdowns. He gets the majority of his goals exactly the same way, making him easy to defend against by any half decent PL CB...yet he has scored the most goals. Analyzing that, how many are winners against decent sides? A goal in a 4-0 win or a consolation in a 3-1 loss, doesn't do it for me. However missing in the last minute against City sums up perfectly...top scorer by default. His biggest problem is consistancy, he doesn't even do what he does well with any regularity.
Defoe is a natural goal scorer and excellent finisher, he cannot however play the loan striker role as his hold up play is ordinary and he is useless in the air. If he plays, he has to play alongside another (powerful) forward like Crouch or Ade for eg. He brings little to the team except goals, but goals are hard to come by and our current style of play / tactics dont suit Defoe. I would keep him as a squad member but at his age if a good offer comes in then we would have to seriously consider letting him go.
If he does go, he will score a hatfull if used (and managed) properly. To say he is not a proper striker because he has not got the attributes of Drogba is a little simplistic. I don't recall Linekar being a real physical presence; Was he not a striker? What about Sheringham? He made even Daws look like Usain Bolt; Not a striker? Surely a striker has to have pace to get behind, or run beyond defences? The problem is, unlike the other two, Defoe's physical attributes, which make him ideal to play in a pair, do not fit into the formation we play right now, just as Sheringham would not fit into a fast moving counter attacking side or Linekar could not play as a target man for the likes of Stoke. Defoe is the best, most natural finisher, Englandwise at least, since Fowler (who incidentally, I don't recall playing up front on his own very often.) Granted, his attitude may be questionable at times, but as far as strikers go, he is not alone there. I still maintain he has been used poorly by us for the most part.
Defoe, like Bent, is too one-dimensional. He's great if the other side play one-dimensional football, but he becomes anonymous if they don't.
This really is becoming cliche, if we actually look at the words, he's not a good finisher at all, some of his shots go in thats all...big difference. If he was such a great, consistant finisher, many things would happen. Firstly, he wouldn't be playing for Spurs, he'd be at a top side (who incidentally have never been interested), he would be a 'first on the teamsheet' name for his country...he's not and never has been. So quite frankly I'd like to know who tagged him with this label and why everyone believes it.
Lineker scored a goal every second game almost throughout his career at all levels. Defoe is about a goal every third game. That is six more goals a season, and probably about six more points. This matters! Also if you are going to play two strikers they need to keep three defenders busy so that we don't get outnumbered in midfield. Defoe just doesn't do that. Lineker played for Barcelona - when could Defoe hope to do that. Sheringham could play the van der Vaart role fine, made loads of assists and still scored more goals per game than Defoe. My quote was a bit harsh, but Defoe is well short of the standard we need.
Talking about Lineker...i forgot how fekin good he was! more than a bloody goal poacher! [video=youtube;bSxPHqHIzeg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSxPHqHIzeg&feature=relmfu[/video] if only we had a Gary!!!!!
