Jermain Defoe (from Transfer Rumour to Transfer Done)

[gibbs131]

My problem with Bent and Defoe upfront:

FRUSTRATING TO WATCH.

They would probably score almost as much as Keane and Berbs over a whole season but who the hell wants to watch them two squander, offside, disappear etc etc for 50 games?

I always said Bent will get you goals, but he seems to be on the losing team more often than not because he never creates and means we lose a lot of balls and have to deal with counters when we try and slip the ball into his path.

This is going to be a long, hard scramble back up the table and so far I am impressed with Harry but not the Defoe and ubiquitous Downing link.

 

[Kendall]

Knee jerk reactions to our plight mean people are yearning for Defoe and simultaneuosly wanting rid of Bent.

It will certainly be interesting if Bent goes in the summer. I can see him going somewhere like Villa and them totally rinsing us next year.

 

[dirtydave]

is defoe the cheapest easiest premiership striker we could have possibly got, considering pompys money situation?

 

[piedpiper]

Aah well, welcome back Offside Defoe. Can't say i'm filled with excitement at his return.

 

[truespur]

Aah well, welcome back Offside Defoe. Can't say i'm filled with excitement at his return.

hmm im sure you are very pleased with the contribution of darren 'pre season' bent who has touched the ball 5 times in his last 5 games

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I have to agree with the majority of the Defoe sceptics in here, I just don't know why we would bring him back tbh. Maybe he is the only epl striker that wanted to join us, but seems like a panic buy and long-term he will not help improve team play. With Bent, Pav, Defoe and Campbell up front we are very physically lightweight. While Pav has showed some good touches and is improving, he doesn't seem to be too strong on the ball.

In Campbell, Bent and Defoe we now have 3 one-dimensional strikers, albeit they may vary slightly, but essentially do the same job in a team. Just seems like we're going backwards, literally. It would have made much better sense to bring in a player that can hold the ball up and bring the more creative players into play. A striker that could give us the option of playing one up top with attacking mids behind, and could also play in a 4-4-2.

I will support Defoe as he's a Spurs player, but I don't understand why some people are getting soo excited about this. I won't go as far as to say it is a mistake signing him, but I feel the money would have been much better spent elsewhere.

I'm disappointed, however I hope he does well.

 

[nicdic]

 

[kishman]

 

[duffman22]

I have to agree with the majority of the Defoe sceptics in here, I just don't know why we would bring him back tbh. Maybe he is the only epl striker that wanted to join us, but seems like a panic buy and long-term he will not help improve team play. With Bent, Pav, Defoe and Campbell up front we are very physically lightweight. While Pav has showed some good touches and is improving, he doesn't seem to be too strong on the ball.

In Campbell, Bent and Defoe we now have 3 one-dimensional strikers, albeit they may vary slightly, but essentially do the same job in a team. Just seems like we're going backwards, literally. It would have made much better sense to bring in a player that can hold the ball up and bring the more creative players into play. A striker that could give us the option of playing one up top with attacking mids behind, and could also play in a 4-4-2.

I will support Defoe as he's a Spurs player, but I don't understand why some people are getting soo excited about this. I won't go as far as to say it is a mistake signing him, but I feel the money would have been much better spent elsewhere.

I'm disappointed, however I hope he does well.

Odd post, as judging by your username he's as good as Shevchenko :wink:

 

[SpurSince57]

is defoe the cheapest easiest premiership striker we could have possibly got, considering pompys money situation?

What other options were there? In many ways (especially in creating chances for others) Bellamy would have been a better bet, but he's somewhat injury-prone and has a reputation for being a total arse. Owen? Big wages, major concerns about his fitness. Crouch has pledged his future to Pompey, I believe, and Heskey doesn't do goals, or not many of them, anyway, although he'd be a good foil for Bent and Pav—and he's also a bit injury-prone.

Other than that, apart from heading into the realms of fantasy with Tevez or Santa Cruz, you're scraping the barrel as far as the EPL goes, or taking a flyer on someone like Kevin Doyle. Would we really want to take a chance on a striker from Europe who might take a couple of months to get into the groove?

 

[piedpiper]

hmm im sure you are very pleased with the contribution of darren 'pre season' bent who has touched the ball 5 times in his last 5 games

Actually no, whilst Bent is limited, he has scored more PL goals than Offside Defoe in the last 4 years???? He is moreclinical than Offside Defoe. Honestly speaking i rate neither and would have been happy to bide our time until the summer and sold Bent and got new strikers.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Clearly this is quite a divisive transfer, and a lot of reputable names on this forum are distinctly underwhelmed by his return and put forward good points why.

I must say it has taken the wind out my sails a bit, and put my initial excitement back into perspective. All of a sudden the thought of him being caught offside every minute, missing the odd sitter and trying those chips all the time(which worked once) fills me with a sense of frustration already!

But...I'm determined to look at this in the most positive of lights. He is a good premiership striker, with a good record of scoring goals. Not up there with the best true, but still more than adequate. With us being undergunned in the striking department reinforcements were needed, and Pav desperately needs a good strike partner as he and Bent appear to be incompatible and Campbell will be off soon and has hardly set the lane on fire. Will Defoe and Pavs work? Who knows? Could Defoe and Bent work? Again who knows.

All I know is that in our current predicament I doubt we could have done much better than JD. He clearly loves this club too which could give him that extra edge to perform consistently and this time he has the added bonus of not having to fight the superior Keane for a place every week.

People on here seem to still be holding on to this grand top 4 delusion too, i'm afraid that boat has sailed and we are where we were before Jol came. We have good players but we are unbalanced and have little quality cover. I think therefore Harry is doing the right thing. We suddenly are interested in decent, solid premiership players who could be moulded into a strong top half challenging outfit. Defoe, Downing etc, they don't set the pulses racing no, but few of our signings under Jol and around that time captured the imagination. Steed, Tainio, YP Lee, Chimbonda, Mido, Dawson etc to name a few but we enjoyed a good few years with those players. It's about creating a team and Harry has a track record of doing that and getting the most out of every player.

It's back to square one for me, and am glad that Harry seems to agree. We need to build again, devlelop a spine to the team, give ourselves options and hopefully create a team again that plays watchable football. The last time we were in the top half was in 2007, thats a long time ago so talks of Champions league qualification to me sound arrogant and churlish.

Defoe may not be a world beater but he played a part in the upward curve we enjoyed not so long ago so I fully welcome him back, despite his ability to frustrate the death out of me. It's a good sensible signing as far as I'm concerned.

 

[riversmonkey]

Finally Defoe has come back to White Hart Lane!!!

I'm amped for this.

 

[duffman22]

Actually no, whilst Bent is limited, he has scored more PL goals than Offside Defoe in the last 4 years???? He is moreclinical than Offside Defoe. Honestly speaking i rate neither and would have been happy to bide our time until the summer and sold Bent and got new strikers.

We can hardly bide our time. You realise we're 16th at the moment, haven't won a league game for nearly a month, and have scored just 1 league goal since then?

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Odd post, as judging by your username he's as good as Shevchenko :wink:

haha yea I know, at the moment he is BETTER than Shevchenkoe :wink:

I don't know how to change username actually

 

[VegasII]

Welcome back JD!

I'm pleased we've got 4 strikers again.

 

[truespur]

woooooo

 

[Adamspurs]

Well I'm happy he's back..

 

[Stoof]

Handball.

 

[walworthyid]

I think you've again proved your own point - by giving him a hard time, unjustifiably.

When you sign a player like Darren Bent, you're not going for glamour in a striker. You're going for goals. I don't give a fuck if he scores 49 tap-ins, if he scores the goals, he's doing a job. And that is the point you repeatedly gloss over - you even admit as much "yes, Darren Bent may score goals" - that's my point!!!

I can talk about him not being as quick as Defoe, or not making as many good runs, yet he still outscores someone like Defoe just because he does the basics and just finishes clinically. Isn't that better?

Or would you rather choose someone that scores one outrageous goal and then misses countless chances?

Because it seems like you're happy to choose a striker that is less clinical than one we already have without the addition of creating for others, which where I come from, means you're crazy in the face.

We are going round in circles here mate tbh but I think you show a limitation in your understanding of football or it could be that you just have a very different way of assessing the qualities of players within a team.

Defoe clearly doesn't miss countless chances because he scores about as much as Bent, and this is really beside the point. For me, both players are limited, but they both have a skill for scoring goals, the essential component of winning football matches. However, you need to do loads of other things in order to convert those goals into points, Bent does absolutely nothing to contribute to those other things, in fact he makes those things more difficult.

His poor technical skill and general lack of awareness and movement means that the ball is constantly coming back and we are constantly under pressure. But Defoe is even worse I hear you say, yes, but Defoe can play with a partner so we can buy a player, or hope that Pav can do it, to hold the ball up.

Look, Defoe is no Berba, but he is better than Bent and gives us more options. For whatever reason Bent has never looked, or probably felt, like a Spurs player, and imo never will.