Midos a bit injury prone

Thank God he's back! It would be great if BMJ played Keano, in the hole, behind Defoe and the Berbinator. Don't think it will happen any day soon, though.

good news...keeps defoe on his toes...but out of the two I would choose Defoe...

Am i going to hell if i suggest that we have been doing better without him?...

Totally agree with DOX, Keano behind Berba and the little man, would be awesome!!!

Keane is a very good at coming on as sub, Defoe isnt as good. We cant play all three because this weakens the midfield. Keane will have his chance im sure

Would love to think that Berbatov, Defoe and Keane could function together but assuming Aaron Lennon also plays (as he must) this team would be overrun by Prem teams who flood the midfield with power players. Would love to see Robbie Keane as back up to Berbatov and Defoe but in my book he can't be first choice until they lose form. For me it is absolutley vital that Jermaine Defoe in particular feels that he is in the side as the manager's first pick. As I say loss of form or attitude is a different matter.

The sooner Robbie is fit the better, but Defoe has to be first choice at the moment and should remain so while he is playing well.

Jol has to quickly make the decision of whether its keane or defoe who plays alongside berb on a reg basis. I would personally go with defoe. He's the perfect foil for berbs with playing on the shoulder of the defence with berbs winning headers and linking up play it gives the opp defence more to think about (see both goals against villa)
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Keano is an essential player to have in the squad but I feel that given an extended run in the team together, defoe and berbs can form a formidable partnership.

At the end of the day, we should play whoever is on form. So right now Defoe. If Defoe doesn't do so well for a couple of games, bring in Keane and give him a couple of games to impress. If he takes his chance, keep him in. If not bring back Defoe. This is squad rotation. Not this stupid 'you didn't play last week so I'll pick you this'.

Are you talking about our own situation? If so I don't think that is what bmj was doing. Neither of our strikers were scoring and the only one playing well was berbo and even he was not scoring in the league. Whenever a player is playing well and scoring bmj tends to play untill he stops scoring or needs a rest etc

I totally agree with that quote:clap:, we obviously have 4 very capable strikers, and one who excells should never be out of the starting 11, unless:-
1- he does nothing for 2 consecutive games!
2- fixtures jamming, and needs rest

as for Mido, i hope he gets more input in the second half of the season: many injuries, tough competition and sometimes poor performance kept him in the shadow for too long! i miss his wild celebrations!!:roll:

COYS!

Guys - here is a player who we should be looking to bring in in January - young Mexican lad already played for the national side at the WC. Left sided midfielder - currently with Atlas. Guardado:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe7HMUkSbtQ

Some seriously good goals.

I'm not sure we'll be buying a leftie this window though. I expect to see Murphy exit with Gardner, and a versatile defender bought in.

When Lennon plays, we almost don't need a left winger as the midfield sinks back and Lennon adopts a AM role and I think this works beautifully. I would welcome an attacking left full-back to support this formation.

I also think that JD should be guarenteed a starting place when fit, with Robbie Keane playing behind the front two. I know this brings up the old 'width' argument, but with Chimbonda more and more willing to stretch his legs, a similar player on the other side would give us ample wide options.

Fully agree with that.
He can turn a game extremely well.
Before the opposition has prepared themselves to his game he has already taken advantage of it cause he uses different spaces than Defoe usually does.
I'm glad we have both of them!

I'm a big fan of Robbie's, but I'm very doubtful if we can play all 3 'strikers' together - on a regular basis -

For all his midfield attributes - I think RK is best up front - and at the moment the 'D' men rightfully take those 2 places

Things can change of course, so let's see what happens.

I disagree that "1- he does nothing for 2 consecutive games!"

Only 2 consecutive games - its that kind of tactic that stops both robbie keane and jermain defoe finding form. I think it should be more like 6/7 games. Strikers need rhythim, consistency and service...then judge - what if the 2 games are away from home against manu and ars and lennon, hudds, malbranque are injured - hard tough teams, no service and you drop him - thats so wrong in my opinion.

You have to be ready to substitute a striker if things are not going their way .

Although Defoe got the late goal against Southend and his workrate was good he was completely inneffectual for 110 minutes and would rightly have been subbed if Keano had been available .