Forward Thinking

[mawspurs]

Chris Hughton was left to reflect on 'a tale of two strikers' after Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov fired us to a 3-1 victory against Wigan on Sunday.

source - official site

We were trailing 1-0 with half-time approaching at the Lane when Dimitar fed the ball into Jermain and 'JD' turned on a sixpence to beat Emmerson Boyce and fire home the equaliser.

Within a matter of seconds it was 2-1 as Dimitar picked the ball up from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, beat Matt Jackson and curled into the top corner. Aaron Lennon sealed it from Dimitar's assist in added time in the second half.

"From both teams' perspective, everything changed in that couple of minutes before the break," said assistant boss Chris.

"Both were wonderful finishes, particularly Jermain's - not many strikers can do that, not just the execution of the goal, but the way he turned the lad Boyce, who is a very mobile defender.

"That was the spark we needed and then Berba's goal followed soon after. We've always been aware of the qualities fo the strikers we have and what they are capable of - producing goals out of nothing."

[tommyt]

it really was a great goal. long over due, but that is exactly what the fella is capable of

[LionKing]

I was pleased to see our full-backs (particularly Assou-Ekotto) pushing forward to provide support to our attacks.

[mawspurs]

it really was a great goal. long over due, but that is exactly what the fella is capable of

Scoring a goal like that must do wonders for the confidence. All the goals in this match were good ones, even Wigan's much as I hate to admit it was a good finish.

Its been too long since we had a couple of excellent goals like that in a game. The ones against Chelsea were good but the first two in this game were really top class efforts.

[bigspurs]

I was well impressed with the team effort over all, but did anyone else notice how many times we were beaten in the air? - mostly in midfield of course.

[camaj]

it really was a great goal. long over due, but that is exactly what the fella is capable of

He needs to do it more often though. It's not good scoring a wonder goal but wasting 5 better chances. Defoe is nippy but he needs you use that ability more often

[grittyspur1]

I agree with Camaj on this one. I hate to be picky, but Defoe also missed one or two excellent chances against Wigan. He needs to improve his conversion rate. One of these days (hopefully Saturday, but who knows, Keane will probably start at Cashburton!), Defoe's going to bust out of his 'slump', and just go on a rampage. In the immortal words of Mr T: "I pity the fool who stands in his way on that day!"
COYS!!!

[Marty]

Defoe will get his act together if he gets a good run in the side.

Can't see that happening at the mo though

[Bilko]

Defoe is getting there.I just hope that the rumours of his departure to United are not true and Fergusen finds some other club to pick on.