The one ingredient often missing from Tottenham Hotspur last season was goals. Their three main strikers from last term Jermain Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Peter Crouch only managed 18 league goals between them, a poor record for a team chasing a top four place. When you consider that Manchester City, who were one of the teams to pip them to a Champions League spot, had Carlos Tevez who scored 20 goals alone, Spurs’ problem becomes even clearer. But after their new look strikeforce of Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor made a good first impression against Wolves at the weekend, has Harry Redknapp found his dream partnership to fire Spurs to success?
Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Wolves at the weekend can be seen as a real turning point for Redknapp’s team. They can put the heavy losses to the Premier League’s early leaders Manchester United and Manchester City behind them and take great encouragement from the fact that both Adebayor and Defoe got on the scoresheet. Building a formidable strikeforce is essential for teams across the leagues, especially those chasing honours and trying to compete against the best in the country.
On paper Adebayor and Defoe are the perfect big man, little man combo that has generated so much success in the Premier League before. Adebayor’s strength, speed and ability in the air should be the perfect foil for England striker Defoe, who should now have the freedom to drop deep or play off the last man. Having a successful season is crucial for both players, for Defoe he needs to put the woes of a bad campaign behind him whilst Adebayor will be keen to banish the doubters and win over the Tottenham faithful. Defoe also has a history of working with a big strike partner, most notably with former teammate Peter Crouch at Portsmouth and then Spurs. When both were fully fit and confident the partnership looked deadly and Defoe must look to recreate that success with Adebayor.
The key for success when it comes down to Adebayor and Defoe as a strike partnership will be consistency. There was a distinct lack of consistency amongst Tottenham’s strikers last season as all three failed to find the target on a regular basis. Defoe and Adebayor will need to be given the opportunity to gel as a unit so both can fully profit from having a partner next to them.
Adebayor and Defoe as a strikeforce will obviously only be utlisied when Redknapp opts for a 4-4-2 formation, so Redknapp’s tactical choices will play a big part as to whether the pair can be a success. Adebayor’s mobility as a lone striker means he can play up front on his own but the movement and link-up play with Defoe in a 4-4-2 would be the better option for Spurs.
The only problem holding back the partnership may be Rafael Van der Vaart. The Dutch international is currently suffering with a hamstring injury whilst his outburst over his omission from Tottenham’s Europa League squad has left a slightly black cloud over a player so readily loved after his arrival from Real Madrid last summer. Tactically though when he returns from injury Redknapp may look to deploy him behind a lone striker, ruling out any partnership between Defoe and Adebayor.
There will obviously be times when a variation in formation will be required but Redknapp should look to utilise his new strikeforce to its full potential, which for me means playing both Defoe and Adebayor (whilst trying to find the optimum position for the amazingly talented but sometimes slightly troublesome Van der Vaart).
One thing after last season was clear, Tottenham needed goals. Redknapp has gone a long way to address that problem by bringing in Adebayor on loan and the striker’s arrival at White Hart Lane should also give Defoe the boost he needs to help rebuild his place in the Tottenham attack.
Do you think Adebayor and Defoe will work well together? If you want to read more of my bite size, 140 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5
Written by Jenny Kerwood for FootballFanCast.com
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As we’ve watched today, Defoe is currently the only weak link in the team.
He has scored twice but he destroys eight out of ten attacking attempts of the team.
He is slow-witted and he should be replaced by a striker who has the same level of intelligence, ability and efficacy as the other players of the team and he doesn’t need so many chances to score or he doesn’t ruin so many attack efforts.