Do anti-Defoe brigade now see why Redknapp will not sell him ?

[Luka Van der Bale]

I like him too.
I am however still confused as to how his pass to Lennon on Saturday is an assist, is any pass an assist just because it was the last one before the scorer scored.

Assists are a very poor statistic representation imo. Good fun for a fantasy league but nothing to build a logical debate upon.

 

[Reado]

Agreed. Essentially, an assist could be whoever passed to Maradona before he proceeded to go round the whole England team, but really, that's not an assist as he did feck all!

 

[Dharmabum]

Seeing how Defoe never passes thats not too bad for him, seeing how Ade doesnt have a great record himself of assists, these stats are just found so if not correct then ignore this, but can only go on what i can find so heres adabayors assis record.

no assists in 144 games from 2001 until 2006,

2005-06 13 games 4 assists
06-07 44 games 4 assists
07-08 48 games 5 assists
08-09 38 games 8 assists
09-10 31 games 3 assists
10-11 34 games 0 assists
11-12 11 games 6 assists

so in the last 4 seasons so far, defoe has 19 assists, Adebayor has 17, and he has had the advantage of playing in better teams than us in past years.

Ade, though not assisting, often pulls 2 defender with him and can hold them both off holding on to the ball; and defenders also have to keep an extra eye one him in case of crosses, plus he wins tackles. Ade does a lots of "dirty" work off the ball while Defoe just "poach" around.
When was the last time anyone saw Defoe win a tackle or even go for a 50-50 tackle? He mostly chickens out. And he's not much of a holder of the ball either.
Even against Bolton, when so many praised him, he should have passed to ball at least twice to much better placed team mates (and he tried to pas the ball once when he should have shoot) and he's too 1-dimensional in his approach: the goalie knows that once Defoe is close to goal he'll blast the ball in 95 percent of the cases, which means the ball will come hard yet close to the goalies; so he doesn't need to worry about eventual passes nor about the ball being placed far away from him. As Defoe does this so often it makes it much easier for the goalie to do his job.

 

[Yid-ol]

Ade, though not assisting, often pulls 2 defender with him and can hold them both off holding on to the ball; and defenders also have to keep an extra eye one him in case of crosses, plus he wins tackles. Ade does a lots of "dirty" work off the ball while Defoe just "poach" around.
When was the last time anyone saw Defoe win a tackle or even go for a 50-50 tackle? He mostly chickens out. And he's not much of a holder of the ball either.
Even against Bolton, when so many praised him, he should have passed to ball at least twice to much better placed team mates (and he tried to pas the ball once when he should have shoot) and he's too 1-dimensional in his approach: the goalie knows that once Defoe is close to goal he'll blast the ball in 95 percent of the cases, which means the ball will come hard yet close to the goalies; so he doesn't need to worry about eventual passes nor about the ball being placed far away from him. As Defoe does this so often it makes it much easier for the goalie to do his job.

So Ade does alot of work moving defenders around, so will VDV by dropping deep.... yet without someone pushing on the last man then its pointless as the defence would just step up.....

Defoe this season has tracked back more than i have seen before, so he also does the dirty work also. Defoe could have past afew times, Ade could have scored more if he hit the ball and didnt hit it so weak, so he could have past then to someone who may have been better so score.

 

[StartingPrice]

Assists are a very poor statistic representation imo. Good fun for a fantasy league but nothing to build a logical debate upon.

This

Agreed. Essentially, an assist could be whoever passed to Maradona before he proceeded to go round the whole England team, but really, that's not an assist as he did feck all!

And this

The example I always give is when Gudjohnsen dummied the ball for Krankjar to score at Stoke a few years ago (it was Stoke, wasn't it?). It was a superb piece of vision by Guddy, but he didn't touch the ball at all, so he doesn't register an assist. BAE on the other hand (I think it was Benny), played a rather standard pass than didn't even look like it was intended for Krankjar, but registers an assist. Go figure :shrug:

 

[Chinaspur]

Some of the posts in this thread are so painful. I can't believe how many are queuing up to criticise Defoe. He's playing exceptionally well for us right now, and deserves the full support of the fans. For a 'limited one-dimensional' player he's scoring very well. For a player who 'offers nothing but goals' he's getting involved in our build up play (pass for Lennon's goal, pass to put Ade through the week before - just off the top of my head). Even then he's just going through a hot spell, he'll be rubbish in a few weeks (do those that have posted that not remember VdV last season?). You don't have to think he's better than VdV or Ade, I don't! But please stop posting shit about him.

 

[Yid-ol]

His finishing is a little frustrating, sure, but he's scored 7 goals in his first 11 league games for us. Contributing 6 assists. That suggests that he's doing his job. And in those 11 league games, we've won 10 and drawn 1.

Thats a post about Ade...

.............Starts/Goals Sub/Goals
Defoe -...... 2/2................ 2/1
Ade -..........4/4

thats just from the last 4 league games

and defoe has afew assists this year also, so why does Ade get praised for scoring and assisting roughtly the same as Defoe when Defoe normaly plays less time in the main team?

To me they both have been doing great and scoring which is what they are there for, both can be frustrating with not putting the chances away or passing, but if they keep scoring and we keep winning then why complain?

 

[WhiteHart4Ever]

Thats a post about Ade...

.............Starts/Goals Sub/Goals
Defoe -...... 2/2................ 2/1
Ade -..........4/4

thats just from the last 4 league games

and defoe has afew assists this year also, so why does Ade get praised for scoring and assisting roughtly the same as Defoe when Defoe normaly plays less time in the main team?

To me they both have been doing great and scoring which is what they are there for, both can be frustrating with not putting the chances away or passing, but if they keep scoring and we keep winning then why complain?

I agree with the general shut up, open your eyes and see they're all playing well notion, but can't agree they're just here to score, I'm afraid. Ade in particular is in the team to lead the line, hold the ball up, bully the defenders and create space for others just as much as he's there to score, and his massive presence is creating space for the other attacking players; which at the end of the day will be the final argument in a Ade vs. Defoe argument IMO.

But can't see why we discuss them anyway. For me Ade is both better and more important, but Defoe's done a tremendous job this year. His goal and assist record is excellent considering the limitations he's had with VDV ahead of him in the pecking order.

 

[saintlyspur]

some of the posts in this thread are so painful. I can't believe how many are queuing up to criticise defoe. He's playing exceptionally well for us right now, and deserves the full support of the fans. For a 'limited one-dimensional' player he's scoring very well. For a player who 'offers nothing but goals' he's getting involved in our build up play (pass for lennon's goal, pass to put ade through the week before - just off the top of my head). Even then he's just going through a hot spell, he'll be rubbish in a few weeks (do those that have posted that not remember vdv last season?). You don't have to think he's better than vdv or ade, i don't! But please stop posting shit about him.

well said