Defoe + Keane: Will it work?

[alfiespurs]

in the stoke game i thought pav and defoe were starting to link well together

I think Defoe loves playing with a taller guy ... look at Defoe and Kanoute and Defoe and Crouch !!! :grin::grin::grin: I think we will have the pace to rip anyone on their day ... Having Defoe and Keane back has delighted me ! :grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin: I wish we have a natrual LW come on down Downing !!!

 

[southlondonyiddo]

36% of the supporters on this topic need help. They must be the same supporters that thought Zokora was doing a great job for us in Central Midfield

Do people not remember when the two dwarfs last played together.

It was a bloody disaster with those 2 upfront in a 442

:bang::bang::bang:


......more chance of Fat Frank and Stevie G gelling.

 

[Seanson]

I assumed that "Defoe + Keane. Will it work?" meant playing together at the same time, and voted NO. It never has. Don't see why they should suddenly click.

However, with both of them in the squad as direct swaps Spurs always had the highest scoring squad of strikers in England. It was just a pity our midfield at the time didn't know where the net was. We'll need to get back into Europe to keep them both matchfit and sharp. Hopefully 7th will be ours.

 

[Alec_spur]

when your on life support

 

[AdelaideSpur]

Its not like bent plays a holding role at the moment, all the ball he gets is from runs and a lot of his work is closing down and making opponents hitting faster harder passes, Defoe can do both of these.
I cant see why they cant work together, they just haven't in the past. Mebbe Arry will show them a thing or two, he seems to have done the right thing with the rest of our first team.

 

[Yid-ol]

They can work together is we play the right way for them, in the past we have just stuck long balls up for them to both chase after which is as usefull as a cheesegrater for a condom! and without a midfield behind them working to get the ball back we were basicly fucked and under preasure all the time.... but now things have changed, we no longer just punt the ball upfield all the time and have a midfield that are working well together at passing and closing down players and winning the ball back.

So they could (not can) work together now that we keep the ball on the floor more or put the correct balls into areas for them to run onto and just just a hit and hope :up: times change and so do players, something that didnt used to work can work at other times

 

[johnmc]

I think it can work, but not for every type of opposition. I can see a big target type of forward coming in. This would give us more options than we have at present. A lot of rotation coming for the forwards I think. Can Harry keep them happy I doubt it really. It is becoming more and more of a squad game, it's just that most players seem to refuse to accept it.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

For those who question the partnership on the last time they played together, the argument is a bit lost in time. The last time they had a particularly decent run in the side together was during the 03/04 season when Defoe first signed. At that time Defoe was just 21 and Keane was 23... two very young strikers! And guess what, Defoe happened to score 16 goals altogether that season, most of which were in the second half of the season after recovery from injury, and in just that second half of the season Defoe scored 9 goals I believe. Hardly a partnership lacking potency, and that was when both were young and Defoe especially lacked experience.

Any appearances they had together afterwards were when one (usually Keane) was ahead in the pecking order so the other would have been playing more for himself and perhaps be low on confidence. These occasions were also few and far between, so they had little opportunity to gel and work out a partnership as they knew that it was preferred to have a big man in the side.

Right now we are playing quite open football which heavily relies on the space created by Modric and Lennon, who are both doing a bloody good job of it. If this continues, there is no reason why the two of them, more experienced, stronger and more intelligent as players, cannot strike up an understanding. Yes, there will be games that require a big strong battering ram, but by playing the right sort of possession based football, the target man will not be a necessity.

Oh, and for those who think I'm clutching at straws, tomorrow evening there will be some beautiful football on show in the form of argentina, playing a team who's attack will almost certainly look like:

..........Tevez Aguero
..................................Messi
Maxi Maschernano Lucho

Other than the fact that the players are better (excepting Maxi, who is not that great these days and probably beneath Modric), is it really so unlike this?:

...........Keane Defoe
...............................Lennon
Modric Palacios Jenas

Yes, international football is a different monster, but at the end of the day football is football whether played on a hard pitch in the sweltering heat of the land of the bull, or on a broken up pitch in the windy muddy wet marshlands of the north east

 

[ShelfSide18]

For those who question the partnership on the last time they played together, the argument is a bit lost in time. The last time they had a particularly decent run in the side together was during the 03/04 season when Defoe first signed. At that time Defoe was just 21 and Keane was 23... two very young strikers! And guess what, Defoe happened to score 16 goals altogether that season, most of which were in the second half of the season after recovery from injury, and in just that second half of the season Defoe scored 9 goals I believe. Hardly a partnership lacking potency, and that was when both were young and Defoe especially lacked experience.

Any appearances they had together afterwards were when one (usually Keane) was ahead in the pecking order so the other would have been playing more for himself and perhaps be low on confidence. These occasions were also few and far between, so they had little opportunity to gel and work out a partnership as they knew that it was preferred to have a big man in the side.

Right now we are playing quite open football which heavily relies on the space created by Modric and Lennon, who are both doing a bloody good job of it. If this continues, there is no reason why the two of them, more experienced, stronger and more intelligent as players, cannot strike up an understanding. Yes, there will be games that require a big strong battering ram, but by playing the right sort of possession based football, the target man will not be a necessity.

Oh, and for those who think I'm clutching at straws, tomorrow evening there will be some beautiful football on show in the form of argentina, playing a team who's attack will almost certainly look like:

..........Tevez Aguero
..................................Messi
Maxi Maschernano Lucho

Other than the fact that the players are better (excepting Maxi, who is not that great these days and probably beneath Modric), is it really so unlike this?:

...........Keane Defoe
...............................Lennon
Modric Palacios Jenas

Yes, international football is a different monster, but at the end of the day football is football whether played on a hard pitch in the sweltering heat of the land of the bull, or on a broken up pitch in the windy muddy wet marshlands of the north east

Excellent post, there's no reason these two can't function together with the right team behind them who play football to suit their needs.

I remember the back end of the 05/06 campaign when Mido got injured and Defoe and Keane were paired together out of necessity and we played some beautiful, incisive football, especially away at Everton and Arsenal. The reason - we kept the ball on the deck, moved the ball around and created space for those two to work with. They are both intelligent footballers, especially Keano and I remember them being perfectly in sync.

Those who say they can't function aren't looking closely enough and have a distorted vision of those two together when we decided to pummel a few too many long balls their way. Actually when we did pass through teams they looked as good as anybody. It's always useful to have a good hold up player in the ranks who can relieve a lot of pressure on us in some circumstances, some teams like Bolton/Stoke et al often force the odd lump forward.

I think the question is not can Keane and Defoe work together, but does the defence and midfield play the right way to suit Keane and Defoe's game, and at the moment with Modric pulling the strings that is a definite yes.

 

[kungfugrip]

They've hardly played together in the past........

Defoe arrived in January 2004 and for the next couple of months Keane and Defoe did play a few games together under Pleat(!). But, after that, Kanoute arrived in the summer and Keane and Defoe very rarely played together. The following January Jol brought in Mido on loan to bring the striking compliment up to 4. After that Keane and Defoe hardly ever played together........once i remember was at home to Charlton (3-1) in Jan 2006.

So, to say that 'we all know it didn't work in the past' doesn't make sense to me. Having said that, do I think they can play together? ......yes, but not very well.

 

[DC_Boy]

Grimsby 1 Spurs 0 is engraved in my memory and i think it was in jol's too -

cos he rarely played them together after that, unless he had no other options (i'm going from memory as usual) and he certainly kept repeating the mantra about how they didn't work well together (I can't remember the exact phrases he used - but they quite often popped up when asked why defoe/keane was on the bench)

 

[Coyboy]

He did but when he used them together at the end of that season we played some great football.

 

[mattyspurs]

I think that they can and I have put my views on this in another thread, but it is similar to BBLG's views.

But, do you know what, I cannot wait to find out. The football that will be played, to make these two guys play together will be breathtaking.

 

[bubble07]

It will work

 

[donny1013]

All depends on what type of football we play. A target man would be a good signing in the summer as it is always good to have a plan B. But Bent who works well with Keano is only 5ft 11, Defoe is 5ft6 and a half, i hardly think that makes any difference in making us a 'small side'. When JD is fit he will play

 

[west indie]

the season we finished 5th the 1st time i saw a game they both played together against charlton where they took them apart, i think defoe got 2 keane the other if my memory's correct. it was all on the floor and the off the ball movement was fantastic..

 

[paul_1979yid]

Nope. Just you wait and see

 

[The Apprentice]

Depends if they decide to actually pass to each other this time around.

 

[THOWIG]

Nope. Just you wait and see

But they won't mate. They will keep very quiet. Then the "Which target man should we sign in the summer" threads will start slowly appearing.

 

[sunnydelight786]

In a word, NO!