Jermain Defoe: Good at Scoring Goals, But Good Enough to Start for England?

November 23rd, 2009 | by: Daryl | View Comments

Spurs beat Wigan 9-1 (not a typo) this weekend with England’s own Jermain Defoe backing five of the goals. A hat-trick and two thirds of way to another hat-trick.

My favourite thing about those five is the range it demonstrates in Defoe’s finishing: From movement in the box to close range acrobatics to sniper like accuracy from a wide angle. No doubt about it, Jermain Defoe is good at scoring goals.

But good enough to start for England?

In terms of pure goalscoring, I say yes. But with the system England currently play, there’s still no place for him in the first XI. It’s Rooney behind a big man. And Defoe is not a big man. It’s that simple.

The current system is built around Wayne Rooney. It’s no coincidence that Rooney scored nine goals in 10 World Cup qualifying games. The system works because he has a big man to play off of, and – like it or not – that man is Emile Heskey.

Including Defoe means changing the system. Essentially it means changing the system to suit Defoe instead of Rooney. Assuming we can agree that Rooney is the superior and more complete player, it’s very difficult to argue that building a team around Defoe is a smart idea.

I hope no one reads this post and thinks I’m anti-Defoe. I’m really really not. I think he’s fantastic. But that doesn’t mean I want England to change the way we’ve been playing.

What I do want to see, and what I think we will see, is Defoe on the bench at the World Cup. But also Defoe coming off the bench to either win games or rescue games. There’s no shame in that. Because if you want to go far in a World Cup, then sometimes Plan B is either as important or even more important than Plan A.