Not playing Defoe more is costing us

[Danishfurniturelover]

Some or all of it may be true, for me only some, but -

We have been off form for a while , have gone to chasing the title to a scrap with Chelsea and Saudi Sportswashing Machine for 4th at present we are about the 10 the best team in the country on current form.

So something is wrong.

VdV has just not done enough - I would rather have a player who is " not good enough " , but who scores and looks more dangerous.

For me , I just feel Defoe always looks dangerous I don't get that feeling of expectation when VdV has the ball.

It is funny becuse except for the first few months when vdv came in he has not been that great, the have been patches when he has been good and come up with a few goals, but the best period he has had at spurs were the first few months. When you consider that the season before that we got 4th with defoe and crouch i do not think i would consider vdv a major success.

He has been decent, but i feel people have focused on the name and the fact that we got to sign him rather then what he has done on the pitch. Do not geet me wrong he has not been bad at all, i think he is a decent squad member but he has had to be fitted into the team when it would have been better to leave him out at times. I feel we could get a good fee for him and look to the next the big thing.

 

[Rossi22]

Sell VDV and Luka. Get JJ and JD back in the side and watch us flourish!

 

[colin fishwick]

VDV has chipped in with two important goals in the last few matches, plus his set pieces have improved dramatically since the Stoke game. I was actually surprised Defoe didn't get more of a run against Sunderland. Adebayor is always going to start as VDV and Defoe can't play together so it's either start VDV or Defoe.

IMO VdV and Defoe can play together, they played against City and did OK.

Over the whole season VdV has not got enough assists and goals, he has not been bad , but not enough , on balance I feel that we would have more goals and more points had Defoe played more and VdV less.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

Sell VDV and Luka. Get JJ and JD back in the side and watch us flourish!

depending on who the manager is next year it might be wise to sell luka and bale and give the new guy time to mould a team in his image.


If jenas gets anywhere near the first team i will cut my wrists and you can come round and clean the mess up.

 

[Jurgen the German]

IMO VdV and Defoe can play together, they played against City and did OK.

Over the whole season VdV has not got enough assists and goals, he has not been bad , but not enough , on balance I feel that we would have more goals and more points had Defoe played more and VdV less.

My opinion, Defoe's poor run last season probably sticks in his mind, he's always been streaky, getting goals in patches rather than say goals in 7 straight games.

Another thing that sets VDV apart is he's a winner and has played for massive clubs, similar to Gallas. You can see how tinkled off those players are whenever we don't win, much more so than the other members of the squad except maybe Dawson who had the major hump and gonaded Sandro when he came on in the NLD at the Emirates.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Largely anonymous must mean 87 passes. He passed the ball more time that any other player on the pitch except Parker. And he didnt even play the full 90 minutes.
Defoe managed 0 passes in his 10 minutes on the pitch!

Meaningless passes in non dangerous positions. He was coming deep and picking the ball of the back 4, something Modric or any of the other players should be doing. He plays so deep and isolated Ade whom he should be playing just behind. When the ball went into the box yesterday there were so many times Ade was the only player in the box

 

[Lily White]

Because we are short of goals and Defoe is our top scorer on a mins per goal ratio.

He should get more playing time but not in VDV's place. Perhaps get him on earlier as a sub.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

My opinion, Defoe's poor run last season probably sticks in his mind, he's always been streaky, getting goals in patches rather than say goals in 7 straight games.

Another thing that sets VDV apart is he's a winner and has played for massive clubs, similar to Gallas. You can see how tinkled off those players are whenever we don't win, much more so than the other members of the squad except maybe Dawson who had the major hump and gonaded Sandro when he came on in the NLD at the Emirates.

VDV is a winner fine, but does that mean he should continue to play when he is not doing it. And talking about Defoe's poor form last season would be fine if not for the fact that this season he has a better goal return than VDV when you take into consideration minutes played per goal

 

[braineclipse]

VdV has 8 goals and 5 assists, that is not very good, especially considering he takes the corners and the free kicks.

Just on the stats Defoe would have contributed more, ergo we would have more goals and maybe more points. It is not that straightforward of course but, what else does VdV offer that Defoe does not and is it enough to keep the greater goals threat out?

VdV has 9 goals and 5 assists from what I can see. 14 total goals and assists
Defoe has 9 goals and 1 assist. 10 total.

Now, VdV has obviously played more, but he has also played in a deeper role and quite a few games even as a wide player. Even "just on the stats" it's not clear. Would VdV have scored more in Defoe's position? Quite possibly. Would Defoe have scored less playing VdV's position? Almost certainly.

The answer to "what else does VdV offer?" is to me "just about everything". Other than goals there are very few things Defoe does better than VdV.

 

[Hootnow]

Meaningless passes in non dangerous positions. He was coming deep and picking the ball of the back 4, something Modric or any of the other players should be doing. He plays so deep and isolated Ade whom he should be playing just behind. When the ball went into the box yesterday there were so many times Ade was the only player in the box

That is something we were always terrible at. Obviously Defoe isn't the perfect lone forward by any means but last season, when we would play him ahead of VDV, his deficiencies were made even more obvious when we would whip in crosses from Bale or Lennon and Defoe would be the only Spurs player in the box. We need to get more men into the box, consistently.

 

[braineclipse]

Meaningless passes in non dangerous positions. He was coming deep and picking the ball of the back 4, something Modric or any of the other players should be doing. He plays so deep and isolated Ade whom he should be playing just behind. When the ball went into the box yesterday there were so many times Ade was the only player in the box

"Meaningless passes in non dangerous positions" is a massive mis-characterization, VdV rarely plays sideways and backwards passes just to pass it, he almost always looks up and tries to pick someone out in a better position.

"Modric or any of the other players should be doing." Well, sure if they were actually doing that it would be a fair complaint. They weren't, so someone had to come get the ball and bring it from the back to the front, cause Parker and Sandro sure weren't doing it and asking Modric to do it on his own might be a bit too much to ask.

 

[colin fishwick]

VdV has 9 goals and 5 assists from what I can see. 14 total goals and assists
Defoe has 9 goals and 1 assist. 10 total.

Now, VdV has obviously played more, but he has also played in a deeper role and quite a few games even as a wide player. Even "just on the stats" it's not clear. Would VdV have scored more in Defoe's position? Quite possibly. Would Defoe have scored less playing VdV's position? Almost certainly.

The answer to "what else does VdV offer?" is to me "just about everything". Other than goals there are very few things Defoe does better than VdV.

Defoe offers an important defensive contribution, he works very hard , he and Lennon close down all the time. He has pace , which frightens defenders,just the threat of his pace puts pressure on the other teams and stretches them more

Contrary to popular opinion he is a good passer, rarely gives it away.

Offside too much ? Yes. No arguments there.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

The answer to "what else does VdV offer?" is to me "just about everything". Other than goals there are very few things Defoe does better than VdV.

Firstly, Defoe defends and tracks back better than VDV, secondly at this time in the season goals are extremely important so I think Defoe deserves more minutes in place of VDV

 

[parklane1]

He should play more often without a doubt, not saying he is better the VDV but according to the stats he has 11combined assists and goals compered to VDV who has 13 but has played more often.

 

[braineclipse]

Firstly, Defoe defends and tracks back better than VDV, secondly at this time in the season goals are extremely important so I think Defoe deserves more minutes in place of VDV

VdV is better defensively than Defoe in my opinion. He has had at least a couple of games this winter where he had the highest ground covered stat of any of our players and a several times where he's been quite disciplined defensively when he had to be. Defoe might "run around" more, but ultimately can't be trusted to get back and be a part of a unit defensively. VdV isn't great at that either, but better than Defoe I think.

Are goals more important now than the rest of the season? And of course we're talking about who would provide the overall highest contribution to the team, resulting in better scorelines.

Defoe offers an important defensive contribution, he works very hard , him and Lennon close down all the time. He has pace , which frightens defenders,just the threat of his pace puts pressure on the other teams and stretches them more

Contrary to popular opinion he is a good passer, rarely gives it away.

Offside too much ? Yes. No arguments there.

Same as above about defending, just wanted to add that against Swansea I think we played one of the best pressing games of the season, VdV was very much a big part of that and he did very well.

When was the last time Defoe used his pace to beat a man and run in on goal to score? I don't think he's all that fast myself, he is faster than VdV for sure. but his pace is nothing special for a forward and not something that brings us a lot in terms of chances.

A 4-4-2 can stretch teams more than 4-4-1-1 formations, sure. And against some teams that might be our best option, or at least give us a different option.

So, if you describe Defoe as a 'good' passer. How would you describe VdV Your question was about comparing the two, surely VdV is a much better passer than Defoe?

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Offside too much ? Yes. No arguments there.

Does Defoe get caught offside more than he should, sure he does, but still not the worst in the league this season, I think that honour goes to Ade

 

[Rossi22]

This is too funny, fans not appreciating a player like VDV who is one of the best players to have ever played for this club. But sure, obviously the way forward is to sell him and play Jermain head down and shoot Defoe, I mean, it's not like we've already sold him once before for not being good enough or anything. It's not like he's put in countless passenger performances where you'd come away from the game forgetting whether he was actually on the field or not. I don't want to slag him off here because I actually like Defoe, he's never going to be top level but he can be useful. It's funny that we have three real top tier players at this club yet they're the ones seemingly getting the most criticism, talk about not knowing when you have a good thing. Just get rid of Modric and VDV, play Hudd and Defoe and lets watch us fly.

 

[colin fishwick]

This is too funny, fans not appreciating a player like VDV who is one of the best players to have ever played for this club. But sure, obviously the way forward is to sell him and play Jermain head down and shoot Defoe, I mean, it's not like we've already sold him once before for not being good enough or anything. It's not like he's put in countless passenger performances where you'd come away from the game forgetting whether he was actually on the field or not. I don't want to slag him off here because I actually like Defoe, he's never going to be top level but he can be useful. It's funny that we have three real top tier players at this club yet they're the ones seemingly getting the most criticism, talk about not knowing when you have a good thing. Just get rid of Modric and VDV, play Hudd and Defoe and lets watch us fly.

Not that simple - VdV seems to be an automatic pick precisely because of his reputation before he came.

" One of the best players to play for the club " Not quite , not on performances so far. He's been good though.

 

[braineclipse]

Not that simple - VdV seems to be an automatic pick precisely because of his reputation before he came.

" One of the best players to play for the club " Not quite , not on performances so far. He's been good though.

I don't think you're giving Harry enough credit here. Harry benched and got rid of Keane despite his reputation and the fact that Harry brought him in and even gave him the armband at times if my memory serves me, he also benched Dawson who was (is) our team captain to keep Kaboul playing not long ago, he now seems to perhaps be benching King for Gallas, although time will tell I suppose.

Agree or disagree, but it seems to me that Harry thinks VdV is better for us than Defoe.

 

[Modric THFC]

Because we are short of goals and Defoe is our top scorer on a mins per goal ratio.

He's actually behind Saha and Pavlyuchenko but that doesn't play into your argument.

As for the general comparing VdV to Defoe stats wise. Its completely unfair to players who has spend most of his time stuck out wide.