http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/942415/DEFOE-CAN-BE-A-REAL-CHAMP-IAN.html
JERMAIN DEFOE can go one step beyond Ian Wright.
The question is: will he be able to change himself from almost a great striker to a great striker?
People who say Defoe has not lived up to his billing as the next Ian Wright are being unfair. With 15 goals for England, he already has more than Wrighty managed at international level.
And Defoe has scored enough as a whole to be considered on the same level as Wrighty.
They are in many ways similar sorts of players. Wrighty was more of a natural poacher, with his movement in the box. But they can both suddenly get the ball outside the penalty area, beat a couple of players and score a terrific goal - something I never did. There is not a lot between them but it's not too late for Defoe to go to the next level.
Defoe has had his moments, like against Bulgaria. The goals have come consistently but not in vast numbers.
If I were to be brutally honest, Defoe is probably just a fraction short of top class.
The Arsenals, Man Utds, Chelseas, Liverpools have never really been chasing him. If I were Defoe now, I would be looking to establish myself as a proper scorer.
Someone who is up there with Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney every year, challenging for that Golden Boot over the next couple of seasons. That would catapult him from almost a great striker to a great striker.
He can do that if he has the drive and ambition.
Defoe's movement in the box has improved quite a bit over the last couple of seasons.
I never used to see those little darty runs. He had been working quite a bit with Wrighty, I gather, and it seems to have made an impact on him. It's taken him from a player that you would think was not quite international standard to one who looks pretty comfortable at that level now.
Defoe is a natural goalscorer. Against opposition like Bulgaria, at home, he's going to be pretty lethal.
But the questions now are: "Can he do it against the best teams consistently in the big competitions?" and "Can he do it away from home?"
The man who made it all tick against Bulgaria was Rooney.
It makes it so much easier as a striker if you've got someone playing in the hole that's on the top of his game, running the show, pulling the strings.
We all know Rooney can play that position. He's brilliant at it.
It's nice that we've got the real Rooney back. And give Fabio Capello a pat on the back.
He's obviously stubborn and doesn't want to go down the route most of us would like to see, with Steven Gerrard behind Rooney.
The thing is when England are at home against inferior opposition, whatever the system, as long as the players are fresh, you win comfortably anyway.
But Capello needs to start preparing a system that is good enough to take on the very best in the European Championships. Dropping Rooney in deeper sort of fills up the midfield, but we're still predictable in the line of four. You see players like James Milner and Theo Walcott get plenty of the ball with their clubs. They got little against Bulgaria because it's really easy to mark them in that system.
If you play an extra man in midfield and allow Gerrard to float all over the place, it gives teams more problems and there's more flexibility, less predictability.
I'm not critical of the performance against Bulgaria. England did as well as you could do in a game like that.
But, as in the World Cup, you could sense that as soon as we played anyone good we would probably be found wanting.
Gerrard in a two-man midfield? He's not disciplined enough to play in that way and he has so many strengths in other areas, it seems a bit of a waste.
I don't change that view just because of one decent victory against a pretty abject Bulgaria.
But Capello has his opinions. He likes 4-4-2 and I imagine he's going to stick with it.
Only time will prove him right or wrong.
summed up nicely I thought.
JERMAIN DEFOE can go one step beyond Ian Wright.
The question is: will he be able to change himself from almost a great striker to a great striker?
People who say Defoe has not lived up to his billing as the next Ian Wright are being unfair. With 15 goals for England, he already has more than Wrighty managed at international level.
And Defoe has scored enough as a whole to be considered on the same level as Wrighty.
They are in many ways similar sorts of players. Wrighty was more of a natural poacher, with his movement in the box. But they can both suddenly get the ball outside the penalty area, beat a couple of players and score a terrific goal - something I never did. There is not a lot between them but it's not too late for Defoe to go to the next level.
Defoe has had his moments, like against Bulgaria. The goals have come consistently but not in vast numbers.
If I were to be brutally honest, Defoe is probably just a fraction short of top class.
The Arsenals, Man Utds, Chelseas, Liverpools have never really been chasing him. If I were Defoe now, I would be looking to establish myself as a proper scorer.
Someone who is up there with Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney every year, challenging for that Golden Boot over the next couple of seasons. That would catapult him from almost a great striker to a great striker.
He can do that if he has the drive and ambition.
Defoe's movement in the box has improved quite a bit over the last couple of seasons.
I never used to see those little darty runs. He had been working quite a bit with Wrighty, I gather, and it seems to have made an impact on him. It's taken him from a player that you would think was not quite international standard to one who looks pretty comfortable at that level now.
Defoe is a natural goalscorer. Against opposition like Bulgaria, at home, he's going to be pretty lethal.
But the questions now are: "Can he do it against the best teams consistently in the big competitions?" and "Can he do it away from home?"
The man who made it all tick against Bulgaria was Rooney.
It makes it so much easier as a striker if you've got someone playing in the hole that's on the top of his game, running the show, pulling the strings.
We all know Rooney can play that position. He's brilliant at it.
It's nice that we've got the real Rooney back. And give Fabio Capello a pat on the back.
He's obviously stubborn and doesn't want to go down the route most of us would like to see, with Steven Gerrard behind Rooney.
The thing is when England are at home against inferior opposition, whatever the system, as long as the players are fresh, you win comfortably anyway.
But Capello needs to start preparing a system that is good enough to take on the very best in the European Championships. Dropping Rooney in deeper sort of fills up the midfield, but we're still predictable in the line of four. You see players like James Milner and Theo Walcott get plenty of the ball with their clubs. They got little against Bulgaria because it's really easy to mark them in that system.
If you play an extra man in midfield and allow Gerrard to float all over the place, it gives teams more problems and there's more flexibility, less predictability.
I'm not critical of the performance against Bulgaria. England did as well as you could do in a game like that.
But, as in the World Cup, you could sense that as soon as we played anyone good we would probably be found wanting.
Gerrard in a two-man midfield? He's not disciplined enough to play in that way and he has so many strengths in other areas, it seems a bit of a waste.
I don't change that view just because of one decent victory against a pretty abject Bulgaria.
But Capello has his opinions. He likes 4-4-2 and I imagine he's going to stick with it.
Only time will prove him right or wrong.
summed up nicely I thought.
