EPL Talk » Jermain Defoe

What A Difference A Year Makes At White Hart Lane

Paul Bestall — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:01:34 +0000

With the season starting slightly earlier this year due to the World Cup, most teams in the Premiership have played 8 league games already. Last season, the 8th round of matches was played two weeks later, on the weekend of October 18th/19th. By the end of it, Tottenham were staring up at every other team in the league with a lowly 2 points. A 2-1 loss against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium had left Spurs trailing Newcastle by 4 points and Stoke and Fulham by 5.

A club in disarray, the fans in despair, the players lacking leadership on or off the pitch, things were not looking good. Not since 1988* had Tottenham propped up the table, ironically on Halloween. That season was to shadow a remarkable turn around in events at White Hart Lane as the week continued to get worse as Udinese beat Spurs on the Thursday 2-0 with a implosion in the last 15 minutes. Juande Ramos cut a depressed figure on the touchline in Udine, a man completely at a loss to explain what was happening or it seemed able to arrest the decline.

Daniel Levy’s reign as chairman had seen plenty of ups and downs during the course of the 7 years that had led to this point. Ramos was supposed to be the marquee managerial signing to move Spurs onwards from the work of the underrated and under appreciated Martin Jol. It was fast becoming a disaster of epic proportions as the club lurched from crisis to crisis. After 5 managers in that time, Levy was under enormous pressure to finally deliver, yet here they were, bottom of the league, winless, shapeless and facing relegation.

After the defeat in Italy, Ramos made the usual “We can play our way out of trouble” statements, but they rang hollow in the ears of the Spurs fans. Other than a well deserved point at Stamford Bridge, there had been nothing to cling to in the way of optimism. No-one else could see where the win was going to come from, the team looked beyond help. On Saturday, October 25th as the fans prepared for another inevitable defeat the next day against Bolton, things couldn’t get much worse.

As Match of the Day finished, I flicked over to Sky Sports News, just to see if perhaps anything at all had happened. As the image flicked on, the newsfeed at the bottom of the screen suddenly went in to to overdrive. “Tottenham have sacked Juande Ramos, Gus Poyet and Daniel Comolli with immediate effect…..Harry Redknapp has been confirmed as the new manager of Spurs …. Discussion with Redknapp next on Sky Sports News.” Then the adverts kicked in. Damn it!

I’d had a drink, who wouldn’t when you’re team was bottom of the league and playing like Worksop Town. I rewound the pictures and watched it again. Yep, still said the same. I shot to the PC, went on the BBC football site. It was the top story, Breaking News. The I checked the Guardian, yep, same there. It was true. I ran to the bedroom and woke my better half up, she told me to stop winding her up. I insisted it was true, and probably to simply placate me, she got up and went downstairs with me to see for herself.

Chelsea fans don’t believe a lot, though living with a Spurs fan means you get used to false dawns on a seasonal basis. Sitting down, SSN burst in to life once more, BOOOOOOOOOM went the special effects, WHOOOOOOOOOOSH went the graphics and then it was confirmed by the presenters clearly excited that people would actually be watching for once late on a Saturday night. Redknapp was indeed the new manager of Spurs. I let out a hearty cheer! My other half wasn’t impressed at all, ” Oh no, I’ve always really liked Harry. What has he done that for!” Time for another drink I decided, my despair transformed in minutes to optimism! Ah the joy’s of football eh!

As managerial announcements go, for me, its quite possibly one of the oddest I’ve ever come across, late on a Saturday night, less than 24 hours before a team is due to play a match. I bet every newspaper editor was cursing Levy throughout the United Kingdom. Yet, in the 38 League games Redknapp has managed Spurs in now, his record reads Played 38, Won 19, Drawn 8 Lost 11.With this season’s excellent start, Redknapp has assured that for the first time in 4 seasons, Spurs are not playing catch up after a slow start. 16 points from 8 games is Tottenham’s best ever start to a Premiership season.

No Spurs fan thinks that we’ll win the League, or finish in the top 4, but after the year of hell that was the Ramos era, it’s a whole lot better. The oddity of Ramos’ tenure, Spurs won the League Cup, their first trophy in 9 seasons and a 5-1 victory against Arsenal, yet it will always be viewed as a dreadful year. Two shots of sunlight do not make a summer, but at least Harry’s got Spurs fans smiling again.

There is still plenty of work to do at Tottenham, the centre half issue needs resolving due the injuries King and Woodgate now have. The midfield have to learn to be able to play without Modric against big teams and not let Palacios do all the running, Keane needs to keep performing as he did against Burnley and Hull City. Defoe needs keep running and not get downhearted and the players outside the first 11 need to knuckle down and try and force themselves into Redknapps plans rather than whining to the media. Then maybe a top six place wouldn’t be out of the question, anything else would be a bonus.

*Spurs became the first team to be bottom of the First Division on Halloween in 1988 and not be relegated, actually finishing 6th as Gascoigne and Waddle combined to drag them up the table. The following season saw Spurs finish 3rd with Lineker joining the team as Waddle went to Marseille.

Defoe Continues To Shine For Club And Country

Paul Bestall — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:25:46 +0000

Jermain Defoe has had a fantastic start to the new season, with goals for England and Spurs; including his 50th for the club in the 2-1 win at West Ham. His hat trick and all round performance against Hull City was clearly his best performance in a Spurs shirt in either spell. When he rejoined Spurs in January this year, he was welcomed back with open arms as a disastrous season began to show the green shoots of recovery under Harry Redknapp.To be reunited with his mentor at a club that could finally match his talent was a win-win situation for all concerned.

Whilst I appreciate Defoe had already been at Tottenham prior to Redknapp’s appointment, he was always considered a luxury player. Under Santini and Jol, the Defoe and Keane partnership didn’t really seem to pay off. This saw Berbatov and Mido brought in 2006 and to this end, either Defoe or Keane would then partner the bigger man upfront. As time went by, the starting pair was consistently Keane and Berbatov and Defoe became 3rd choice.

Under the hellish reign of Juande Ramos, Defoe felt completely unloved, under rated and unwanted. Strikers, like the lead singers of a band, are in general, very precious, needing to be loved and told as much for them to perform. The chance to leave Spurs to link up with Redknapp at Portsmouth was too good a chance to turn down. In January 2008, Defoe moved to Fratton Park for £7.5 million.

17 goals in his 36 appearance for Pompey is some return, but with the financial difficulties beginning to bite on the South Coast last Christmas, Defoe made no secret of the chance to once again be reunited with Redknapp and return to White Hart Lane after 340 days away. Around the corner however, fate had a cruel twist awaiting Defoe.

After breaking his foot in a training ground accident, Defoe was laid up until April and had just returned to the squad on April 19th when his half brother, Jade was murdered. Defoe was devastated, he was close to Jade and his death hit him hard and given compassionate leave for two weeks by the club, on his return to playing, the Spurs fans gave him a rapturous welcome. He was clearly moved by the fans support that day.

Still finding his way back, fitness wise, Defoe managed to get a goal in the win over Manchester City and a brace for England against Andorra. It was a precursor of what this season had in store for him.

He has continued to find strength in the adversity that has happened to him in the last 6 months and along with his team mate, Wilson Palacios; whose brother was found murdered in May, 19 months after being kidnapped, the pitch is allowing them a place they can get away from it all. It has been to England and Tottenham’s benefit that Defoe is showing such character and feeding of the inspiring humilty of Palacios to deal with life correctly.

Defoe has spent the summer working on every aspect of his game, working on increasing his strength and changing his diet. He now realises he has a club manager that has always had faith in him and an international manager who now has a selection issue.For Tottenham and England fans, Defoe is showing signs of finally realising the potential that Redknapp spotted in him when he was at West Ham.

After Eriksson’s ludicrous decision not to take him to the 2006 World Cup, Defoe should be a shoe-in for South Africa and the only question for Fabio Capello is should he start him Wednesday night, his place in the World Cup Squad already assured. After all that’s happened to him this year, it’s the least he deserves.

Snow Wreaks Havoc on Transfer Deadline, and FA Cup

Johnathan Starling — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 05:29:51 +0000

Don’t you just love the weather?

Thanks to snow that has been unkind to transport within the UK, the five pm transfer deadline got extended. Now obviously the catch to that was deals had to already been agreed and loose ends tied up, but just the fact the transfer window had to be extended makes me question the 5 pm ending to begin with. Yes I understand having the window end on a Sunday wouldn’t have been so friendly, however who in their right minds decided that a 5 pm deadline was the right choice?

Deadlines are always going to be arbitraily set, but setting it at 5 pm wasn’t wise. Historically the deadline is midnight, and it would have been wise to have kept it that way. Just because Sunday wasn’t smart for a transfer deadline, having to ask permission to extend the deadline was equally not wise. Had the deadline been set at midnight, like every other transfer deadline, everything would have been just fine. Yes the weather was bad, but setting a bad deadline only made matters worse. I just hope the reason 5 pm was set as the deadline was because the Premier League would be spending Tuesday going over bids for the UK TV rights.

Now obviously the big story of the day was the will it/won’t it happen between Arsenal and Zenit St. Petersburg over Andrei Arshavin. From headlines of “Arsenal ‘fail’ in bid to sign Andrei Arshavin” to “Arshavin deal collapses as Arsenal target heads back to Russia” back to “Confusion over Arshavin move”. It continues with headlines of “Arshavin’s a Gunner! Arsenal get their man on the cheap after day of tense negotiations” and it finally ends up with this one “Arshavin conclusion on hold“. Now I’ll admit, I didn’t think this deal would end up happening. If we want to get into technicalities, the deal still isn’t finalized. Fact remains that all the FA are going to do tomorrow is green light the deal. And for Arsenal, it could be just what the doctor ordered.

Here is this January by the numbers, and here is a list of players who went on deadline day (until 8 pm)

Now the other story of the night is also snow related, and it’s something I happen to agree with. Due to the weather and the uncertainty of it, the FA and Football League have already called off games for Tuesday night, including Arsenal’s FA Cup replay with Cardiff City. If the weather continues, Wednesday’s games aren’t entirely safe either.

This is a good idea. With the number of fans that would be on the roads traveling, and public transport operating at limited capacity (or not at all in some spots), it’s best to give as far in advance notice about postponements as possible. Let’s hope Wednesday’s games aren’t affected as the games Tuesday night have been.

Other Stories
Thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Paul Birch, former Aston Villa and Wolves midfielder, who died Monday after a long battle against bone cancer.

Well Joe Kinnear is admitting he pressed Shola Ameobi was more or less forced into playing last weekend against Sunderland.

Well Mike Riley is admitting he got it wrong, cue me going ‘WHAT A SHOCK!’. I do however have to thank Sam Dalton for taking the words right out of my mouth with regards to Jose Bosingwa. Sorry, but saying sorry doesn’t cut it Jose.

Remember the source on this one, but Tony Adams might have only three games to save his post at Portsmouth.

Sam Allardyce will be without Brett Emerton for the rest of the season.

Graham Poll has his take on Mike Riley and leaves some interesting thoughts in his path.

Jermain Defoe will be spending between 2-3 months on the sidelines after undergoing surgery for a stress fracture on his foot.

Could Mike Ashley be looking to sack Dennis Wise?

Manchester United’s Pride Park Night, The Busy Day in Newcastle and Other Various Musings

Johnathan Starling — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:11:32 +0000

Congrats to Derby County. On a day where Cricket was the headline in England throughout (thanks ECB), Derby County came up with another dozy…technically being 180 minutes away from European competition.

However that’s where the hyperbole stops for me. Sir Alex Ferguson obviously had a plan in mind for tonight’s game, damage control. While yes the 1-0 scoreline could be considered flattering for the number of chances Derby County had, Derby were unable to really punish Manchester United and the lighthearted nature they took this first leg. When the ninety was up, the scoreline should have read at least 2-0.

But let’s be honest about this game. Manchester United have a big tie Sunday against Chelsea at Old Trafford and they host the return leg to this tie in two weeks time. Sir Alex killed one bird when tonight’s game ended 1-0. He was able to rest key players and with the damage held to a minimal, should be able to turn over a Derby County side that will have the post manager change glow wearing off in a fort night. So let us all not over blow this result. While yes it’s a bit of a shock, let’s put this into perspective first. If Derby manage to hold on at Old Tafford for the Wembley final, then we can wonder about the what ifs of this night.

Busy day at St. James Park. First we find out Shola Ameobi signed a new 3 year deal. Let’s hope he gets healthy to play a large part of those 3 years. Secondly we find out that Obafemi Martins is off to see the hernia guy in Germany. See ya in six weeks. However if I was Martins, I’d tell his agent to shut up about blasting the club and the medical staff saying ‘The Newcastle medical staff is woeful’. Why state the obvious when at any time you can look at their injury list and go ‘is this West Ham from last season’? And finally we find out that Alan Smith looks to be sold from the club. For some odd reason that will probably come to me later, that surprises me.

Other Stories
Mark Hughes believes in an open door policy. I guess his players just don’t want to take him up on that offer. If players are taking up their grievances in player only meetings and with chairmen, then in my mind the players have either revolted or no longer care about you as a person.

We have a new leader in the club house in the Richest Club Owner Invitational, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Manchester City. That’s what happens when you have more money than everyone else. Roman Abramovich falls to third.

Tell me if I’ve got this nightly Jermain Defoe update correct. 1) The story comes out that Defoe made his own deal. 2) Bitter ex agent who is suing Defoe over breech of contract makes claim that Defoe’s mother helped broker the deal. So would that make 3) Bitter ex agent is trying to get both Defoe and Tottenham in trouble? Now I just want this story to end!

So John Terry is disappointed to see Wayne Bridge go. I guess they must have become great friends on the Chelsea medical tables.

Major League Soccer bust Denilson is on trail with Bolton. Hey Gary, you can’t be that desperate for players.

Here’s our daily warning from Middlesbrough saying Stewart Downing isn’t for sale.

Giovani Dos Santos: The Forgotten Man

The Gaffer — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:30:32 +0000

When Jermain Defoe walked on to the hallow turf of White Hart Lane Tuesday night, the former Portsmouth striker was met with a rapturous applause from the faithful Tottenham fans. One man who was unlikely to cheer Defoe’s arrival was Tottenham colleague and fellow striker Giovani Dos Santos.

While Defoe was paraded in front of his fans, Dos Santos sat on the bench for the entire 90 minutes of Tottenham’s 4-1 win against Burnley in the Carling Cup semi-final. For the Mexican international and son of a Brazilian footballer, this has been a common occurence for Giovani. In the season thus far, he’s started only two Premier League matches, and made just four Premier League substitute appearances. A dismal record indeed for a player Spurs paid Barcelona £4.7 million for his services.

Granted, Giovani has been hampered by an ankle injury since October, so he hasn’t had a chance to shine at White Hart Lane, but with the arrival of Defoe, the continuous improvement of Roman Pavlyuchenko and the insurance policy of having Darren Bent available on the bench, there isn’t room for a player of Giovani’s salary at Spurs. Then there’s Manchester United loanee Fraizer Campbell who, to illustrate how low Giovani is on Harry Redknapp’s pecking order, played against Burnley instead of the Mexican striker.

Even though Defoe is in the limelight and Dos Santos is a fading memory, the Mexican striker has generated interest with Mexican club Chivas who have enquired about securing Dos Santos on a loan for the remainder of the season.

There’s no doubt that Giovani can regain his form and match fitness at a different club than Tottenham Hotspur. The 19-year-old has the skill necessary to succeed whether it’s as an attacking midfielder or second striker. He is, by far, a lightweight player, so the wisdom that Damien Comoli showed in signing the starlet has to be questioned especially in a very physical league such as the Premiership.

Over the next week as Defoe is paraded in front of the national press and on television, spare a thought for one unlucky Mexican striker. A man who came to Spurs at the wrong time under the wrong manager, and who now finds himself under the tutelage of a manager who doesn’t believe in him. He is the forgotten man, another in a series of players who are overshadowed by new signings in the January transfer window.