Why does everybody think Defoe is sh*t?

[Bing]

Its a funny thing, I laways liked JD as a player but it seems over the last few seasons a general apathy towards him has creeped in amongst Spurs fan. Its funny because at times I almost find myself getting caught up in it all but when you look at it, I think he is a fine player and very important for this club.

Fact of the matter is he scored 17 goals in 38 games for us last season In the PL he scored 11 in 25 games (only 11 starts). Thats bloody good imo.

I know people will level the critiscm at him that he does nothing except score those goals but I think dont think thats true!!! He has a great work rate imo and he pulls defences all over the place and creates space.

I think sometimes you have to take a step back and look at what you've really got and I am very happy we have a player of the calibre of JD in the team...am I alone?

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I don't think people think he is sh*t. But he is very much the old 4-4-2 striker that plays with a big man up top, feeding off the knockdowns. If everyone else plays that way, it's fine, but when you are trying to break down teams with incisive movement and passing, which is the more modern way it would seem, he is rendered pretty much useless. He doesn't draw defenders away from their positions or create space for anyone else, doesn't pull wide, doesn't hold the ball up etc.

 

[camaj]

Can you provide some evidence that "everyone" thinks Defoe is "shit"? I don't think 100% of people think he's shit, it's probably less than 5%. There might be a lot of people that don't think he's good enough and there's probably a lot of people who, inexplicably, think he's the bees knees

Defoe did well last season and I think he works well as a super-sub. When he started he didn't do as well. It says something that he did better in a season when he was mainly a sub

 

[mattdefoe]

england international who scores goals for them, if we played him and adebayor with a strong midfield we would hardly lose in my opinion, shame 4-4-2 isn't fashionable anymore.

 

[Khilari]

I really like JD
He is stronger now than he was before, can hold it up better (but not well enough to play alone) and makes good runs with a great shot on goal. What he perhaps doesn't do as well as he used to is pick the ball up a little deeper and run at defenders, but he can't as he's been playing up top alone. Agree with above that he's far better in a 442.
Against W Brom, there were countless times when he'd have the ball up front and there really was no one near him to provide him support.
Rafa did a good job but was spent a lot of time deeper (where Luka would have been pulling the strings) to try and get us going.
He did fantastically well last season given the number of times he was on the bench.
I have no doubt AVB will start with Adebayor most games, but JD is a valuable asset for us to come on and give us more cutting edge up front. He won't be happy with this though.

 

[dontcallme]

Saying everyone thinks he's shit is over-the-top.

People are frustrated about Defoe. When young he scored a lot of goals and looked very dangerous. He had a hard shot, a quick turn and good acceleration.

When we were a mid-table club pushing for top 5 having Defoe and Keane competing for one place was a good thing for our club. But as we progressed and moved to becoming a top 5 club Defoe hadn't improved his all-round game sufficiently and he found himself being on the fringes of the squad.

If we sold Defoe none of the clubs around the top 6 would even think about signing him. He never reached his potential which frustrates people and starting the season with him as our number 9 was disheartening.

I like Defoe and know he'll get goals but we've moved on and should be aiming higher.

 

[Real_madyidd]

We lose possession so often as a result of him being offside that he really breaks up our play. When he came back from Pompey he seemed to have really improved the timing of his runs, but it has slipped again. Could be great, but isn't.

 

[Legend10]

It's fashionable to pick out one or two players, criticise everything they do and then the sheep will jump on the bandwagon.

Defoe isn't top draw but he does get goals and he does carry a threat in behind and anywhere from 25 yards in. It's easy to spout the old crap about never gets 20 goals a season etc but in reality for the playing time he does get his goal ratio to minutes is very good.

He's not ideally suited to being the one up top but when he does play it he is mobile and he does work the line, one thing that he gets criticised for which is definitely not the case is that he's lazy, IMHO that's just lazy posting as you can see he loves his football and is always looking to get involved.

But when people say he's not good enough to lace Jordan Rhodes boots you just have to hang your head in despair at that type of criticism.

 

[Legend10]

We lose possession so often as a result of him being offside that he really breaks up our play. When he came back from Pompey he seemed to have really improved the timing of his runs, but it has slipped again. Could be great, but isn't.

So makes you wonder why we bought Adebayor as he is offside more than Defoe?

 

[CosmicHotspur]

He needs support, needs to be fed the ball in front of goal where he's always dangerous to the opposition.

I suppose "goal poacher" comes to mind, a label often unfairly given to Jimmy Greaves who could dribble around several men from the halfway line and score as well as positioning himself perfectly when the ball was played to him in front of goal.

That's the difference. Goalscorers like Jimmy only come around once in a blue moon: perhaps the mould has been broken.

 

[Legend10]

Defoe isn't a goal poacher, I wish he was but he isn't. The majority of his goals are his own work and usually very very good goals! How I wish he was more of a poacher!

 

[Real_madyidd]

So makes you wonder why we bought Adebayor as he is offside more than Defoe?

Yeah, I think the main difffrence is that Ade is a "hold up" player so should be as far forward as possible, while Defoe is famed for his "shift and shoot" so needn't be beyond the defender. I think anyone being offside is just giving away possession cheaply though, it's just not needed.

 

[mpickard2087]

I don't think people think he is sh*t. But he is very much the old 4-4-2 striker that plays with a big man up top, feeding off the knockdowns. If everyone else plays that way, it's fine, but when you are trying to break down teams with incisive movement and passing, which is the more modern way it would seem, he is rendered pretty much useless. He doesn't draw defenders away from their positions or create space for anyone else, doesn't pull wide, doesn't hold the ball up etc.

Pretty much this.

 

[Boots]

To be honest my only qualm with him is that he is too one track minded. If he's played the ball its turn and shoot on sight, no matter from where or how much support he has. He's very accurate with his shooting but he'd get himself more chances if he tried to bring others into the game.

 

[talkshowhost86]

england international who scores goals for them, if we played him and adebayor with a strong midfield we would hardly lose in my opinion, shame 4-4-2 isn't fashionable anymore.

It's 'not fashionable' any more for a good reason. 4-4-2 loses out to 4-5-1/4-3-3 in the majority of cases because the team with more in central midfield dominates the possession and therefore the game.

Defoe isn't shit but he is pretty useless in a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation. He lacks the strength to play as a lone striker and he lacks the versatility and technique to play on either side of a front three.

If he goes somewhere that plays to his strengths then he'll score goals...he's always shown that. He's in a very similar vein to Darren Bent, who would also probably do poorly in our current team.

 

[Legend10]

Darren Bent has played most of his career as a lone front man though.

 

[minimike]

He's not shit, he's an exceptionally good player, just very limited in the sense that he's mainly suited in a 4-4-2 and clearly can't hold up the ball in the same way a striker like Adebayor can. In addition, we are probably going to be playing 4-3-3/ 4-2-3-1 for the most of this season and he clearly doesn't compliment those formations because he can't lead the front line.

 

[teok]

He's a good player he just has never really made that step up. I get the feeling people still want to say he has "potential" because he can be brilliant at times, but he is 29 not 19.

 

[lenny7]

I don't think he's shit per se, but I do think his problem is being a bit one-dimensional and a little bit greedy at times too, which has held him back over the years and it's not something he's rectified, which is a shame. He is capable of some spectacular performances and playing outside his normal game, but like Jenas really, it's a bit few and far between and that's where the frustration from the fans comes in I think.

 

[Adam456]

I don't think people think he is sh*t. But he is very much the old 4-4-2 striker that plays with a big man up top, feeding off the knockdowns. If everyone else plays that way, it's fine, but when you are trying to break down teams with incisive movement and passing, which is the more modern way it would seem, he is rendered pretty much useless. He doesn't draw defenders away from their positions or create space for anyone else, doesn't pull wide, doesn't hold the ball up etc.

Yep agree

We have improved as a club and find ourselves in possession and up against park-the-bus defending far more than we used to and he doesn't have enough guile and movement to unlock defences and is near useless in the air.

And when we're not and we break if you give him the ball then 9 times out of 10 he simply receives and shoots, even if there's a much better-placed player 5 yards left or right or where a player is blatantly playing a 1-2 e.g. Lennon against Newcastle. Infuritating !

He's not sh*t but his best attributes are pace and shooting power (I used to say finishing) and there's so much more to the game than that