Is there ever? Really?! Well, apparently there is, as rumours this morning seem to be suggesting that the little fella will be starting up front for England’s hilariously important game against Slovenia.
Despite his and Wayne Rooney’s strike partnership being tantamount to a bizarre at arms length piece of folk dancing between two people who despise each other, this is what England will rely on to progress. But, as shown before, it doesn’t work. So it’ll be interesting to see if it does in the biggest game England have player under Capello. No pressure then.
Jermain Defoe, a genuine threat to inflatable defenders.
So if England do start Defoe, what does that do to the team? Well, we’re likely still stuck in the land of 4-4-2, which is a bit awkward as it looks all too clunky and Steven Gerrard is wasted on the left, but what it does give England is that magic thing, goal threat.
Even if Defoe is just a ‘very good’ Premier League striker (not world class, not even close), he still promises goals most of the time he plays. He’s got a very tasty finish on him (when his confidence is high) and he’s got pace and movement that should easily get the collective Slovenian knickers in a twist. Hopefully.
The diminutive Tottenham forward played alongside Rooney in a 4-4-2 formation at England’s final training session yesterday as Capello attempted to jostle his pack into a team that can score the goals needed to progress; a healthy win should see England top the group.
Now, topping the group might not sound like a good idea (Germany could finish second in Group D, this would be very bad news as then England would lose on penalties in the round of 16), but it does put England in the ‘nice’ half of the draw (we stay away from the Spanish).
But can England beat Slovenia? Can they lift the veil of mediocrity that has plagued them for 180 minutes of World Cup football thus far? Can they play like a ruddy team? One player, at least, seems to understand the magnitude of this ‘destiny match’. Step up Mr. Steven Gerrard:
“It was clear to see we weren’t aggressive enough [...] We didn’t play to our strengths. We didn’t press high enough. We didn’t win the ball back when we lost possession. We didn’t run enough. I don’t think we made any big mistakes. We kept a clean sheet and didn’t lose the game. We did OK up until the final third, but then we didn’t have the cutting edge to break that team down. We need to get that tomorrow.”
For me, ‘didn’t have the cutting edge’ is the equivalent of saying ‘unfortunately Emile Heskey was up-front’. Ah dear Emile, with all the striking prowess of a broken toaster. The issue being, that Defoe might not work much better. Capello doesn’t tend to start him with Rooney, and when he does it doesn’t work too well.
Defoe has become the substitute of choice, and he has a decent goal scoring record coming off the bench. The issue here is that Capello clearly sees him as a sub-par Wayne Rooney. And Capello also favours playing ‘different’ strikers (little and large), so how does he get that into his system?
There are a lot of questions to answered, a lot of players who simply must put in a performance, and a team that urgently needs to gel. Ever the optimist, I’m going to go for a 3-0 England win.
One thing is certain, an early goal in this game is going to be key or the nerves of every player in that England team are going to start shredding. England expects.
