Aye, drop him for the derby Sam! There is a lad in your ranks with a Geordie accent. Right up your street! Good at bringing the ball down for others I hear
Fair point. But I can't see any easy way out of it. Defoe has never been much more than a 1 in 3 games striker. And if he can't get more goals he's going to have to adapt his game to other requirements. At this (fairly late) stage in his career, I can't think that's going to be easy.
Sunderland’s Sam Allardyce lays it on the line to misfiring Jermain Defoe please log in to view this image Sam Allardyce has warned Jermain Defoe the days of specialist goal-poachers are long gone. He will also tell the former England striker that Sunderland’s position near the foot of the Premier League dictates he cannot wait for the forward to play himself back into top form. The 33-year-old was Sunderland’s major signing from FC Toronto in January but has struggled to establish himself. Dick Advocaat tended to field a player who has scored six goals in his 20 appearances in wide roles in a 4-3-3 formation before omitting Defoe from his final games in charge. Now Advocaat’s successor faces the challenge of making the most of the former West Ham and Tottenham forward. “There is always a place for a goalscorer but you cannot just be a goalscorer today so I don’t know if that’s something we need to address with Jermain,” Allardyce said. “He came here and has not played as much as he would have liked.” The role he chooses for Sunderland’s highest-paid player promises to be intriguing. “That really lies with performance analysis, doesn’t it?” Allardyce said. “You analyse everyone’s performance and you look at the contribution they make on a game-to-game basis and you can judge with your eyes as well with your experience. Then you come to a decision on who is best equipped at that moment in time of playing in your team. “Players who don’t play generally don’t play because they drop themselves, not because you have dropped them. “If a player has not done as much as he did at the top of his game, then you talk to the player and say: ‘Look, be careful. You are not quite playing. Is there any problem? And if you have a problem, can I resolve it for you? Is it stopping you playing as well as you have been playing because you are not quite there?’” After the compassion, comes the manager’s warning. “I tell the player: ‘There are not many opportunities for me to wait for you to come good,’” Allardyce added. “When I played I used to say: ‘A few more games and I’ll come good,’ but here at Sunderland, we ain’t got a few more games. We have got this week to try to win the first game [at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday] and after that it becomes ever more difficult to win it if we don’t.”
I think DeFoe is a player we would have probably benefited more in the past but at the moment and the position we are in I don't know. The other problem I think doesn't help Defoe is that his striking partners are Graham and Fletcher......enough said....lol?
Other option are Toi (who is 6"2 and already played as a CF) or Mandron (who cant be a worse option than Graham)
As sad as it is - on current form, Fletcher is a better player with a better goalscoring record (and was excellent against West Ham) SO I'd be playing him tomorrow but I haven't seen him in training and SA has FWIW - 1 in 3 is an excellent return in the PL - over the last 3 or 4 seasons, a 1 in 3 sriker has sold for around £30m (Lukaku, Bony etc.) obviously in their pomp rather than nearing the end of their career. I'm just not sure how Defoe fits in a formation with one striker - 2 strikers is he's fine but not with a single striker system. Only time will tell I suppose
On recent form? He was excellent against West Ham and Defoe was poor the previous week - Fletcher has more goals this season than Defoe as well? Not sure where the argument is really. Overall I don't rate either as an answer for us - I don't think Defoe suits a one striker system as he's more of a poacher - I thin k Fletcher has ability far more than he shows 95% of the time and application is his main problem!
Marcus. I will agree that Defoe may not suit a one striker system. Thats why i fully expect fletcher to play there IF we play that system. But i cant accept that over all fletcher is a better player than defoe. Thats just my opinion.
I never said that though commo - I said on current form (and this season generally so far) as he has more goals per game than Defoe this season - his recent performances for club and country (well - his last 3 games) have been better than Defoe's last few for SAFC. I personally don't think either are what we need and don;t think that either are currently better than the other!
