SOMETIMES, football can really be quite simple. You can talk about tactical niceties and fancy new styles until the cows come home, but they won’t really count for anything unless you can put the ball in the back of the net. Which brings us neatly to Jermain Defoe.
Previously written off by Sam Allardyce as an unaffordable luxury whose presence required a major shift in the make-up of the rest of the team, Defoe increasingly looks like the one player capable of salvaging Sunderland’s season.
Forget what he can’t do, such as linking-up play and pulling defenders out of position to enable midfielders to surge into the box, and concentrate on what he does best, such as scoring five goals in the space of two matches to help secure critical victories over Aston Villa and Swansea.
Defoe’s performance at the Liberty Stadium on Wednesday was the perfect encapsulation of the goalscorer’s art. He was in the right place at the right time to stab home the rebound for his first goal, displayed a clinical composure to break free and roll home his second and timed his run into the six-yard box to perfection to convert Patrick van Aanholt’s late cross and claim the match ball.
You can’t put a price on that kind of finishing, or at least you can, and as a number of Sunderland’s rivals are discovering this month, it tends to be prohibitively expensive. Defoe has already scored nine Premier League goals this season – if, as looks eminently possible, he adds another five or six to that tally in the remainder of the campaign and ensures his side do not miss out on the lucrative new television deal, he could well prove the Black Cats’ £100m man.
It is worth remembering that the 33-year-old arrived in what was effectively a swap deal with Toronto FC for Jozy Altidore. Lee Congerton has been somewhat derided since he left his position as sporting director, but in pulling together the deal that brought Defoe to Wearside, he might well have engineered the coup that saves Sunderland’s top-flight status.
For all that Dame N’Doye is set to complete a season-long loan from Trabzonspor, it is will surely be Defoe that is charged with the task of leading the line in the 17 games that remain. Having stumbled upon a formation that works, and that also has the added bonus of successfully accommodating Jeremain Lens in his best position, it would be madness for Allardyce to start tinkering again now.
Defoe has proved that his talents endure, talents that were once good enough to earn him a regular place in the England side. The rest of the clubs in the relegation battle must be casting envious eyes towards Wearside and wishing they had the veteran in their ranks.
Mike Ashley wouldn’t have signed him of course – too old, no sell-on value – yet Defoe is exactly what Newcastle United need this month, and it is becomingly increasingly clear that they are going to have to spend a fortune to attain anyone even remotely comparable.
The Magpies have already spent more than £16m to acquire Jonjo Shelvey and Henri Saivet this month, and after years of underinvestment, their willingness to supplement last summer’s outlay with further spending is commendable.
Given the tensions between Steve McClaren’s assessment of the squad and Ashley’s continued desire to recruit bargain buys from overseas, it is also refreshing that, in Shelvey, they have recruited a proven Premier League performer with experience of English conditions and the requirements involved in battling at the wrong end of the table.
Yet for all that both Shelvey and Saivet have the capability to significantly improve Newcastle’s midfield set-up, it is hard to claim they play in positions that should have been at the top of the club’s ‘to-do list’ this month.
Neither is a natural winger, something the club have been crying out for all season, and neither is the type of natural goalscorer that could prove so crucial in helping Newcastle extricate themselves from the bottom three.
For all that the Magpies scored three goals against Manchester United on Tuesday, their failure to find the net in their previous four matches highlighted the chronic lack of goalscoring threat that has hampered them all term.
Aleskandar Mitrovic clearly has promise, but he is raw, unrefined and lacks a clinical instinct in front of goal. Take the ball that spun off his knee at West Brom as proof of that. Ayoze Perez is similarly talented, but the Spaniard is not a penalty-box finisher and continues to rush some of the efforts that come his way. His scuffed shot from the edge of the area at Watford highlighted his weaknesses.
You would have fancied Defoe to convert both chances, but will Ashley really be prepared to come up with the funds that will be required to sign a similarly effective finisher this month? Especially when he’s already sunk £16m into his side’s midfield?
Newcastle quickly ascertained that Alexandre Lacazette and Bas Dost were out of reach once the transfer window reopened, both in terms of finance and the strikers’ unwillingness to join a Premier League relegation battle. Michy Batshuayi would have been similarly unattainable, even if he hadn’t opted to sign a new deal at Marseille.
Perhaps the long-discussed Charlie Austin deal will finally come to fruition, although you feel that if Newcastle were really serious about signing the QPR striker, they would have done so by now.
That said, with the clock ticking, if they don’t sort something out in the next week or so, they could head into the final few days of the transfer window without any other choice.
Manolo Gabbiadini has been mentioned as a potential target in Italy, while Loic Remy could well re-emerge as an option as the list of other realistic candidates shrinks. Newcastle know they have to do something up front, but it is hardly going to be easy to secure quality and value – things that remain important to Ashley – in the next two-and-a-half weeks.
Sunderland don’t have that worry. They have concerns elsewhere, but in Defoe, they have a proven Premier League performer, bang in form. Will that prove the difference come the final reckoning in May?
CHAMP OF THE WEEK
Jermain Defoe
THE Sunderland striker won this award when he scored twice against Aston Villa earlier this month, and he’s the obvious selection again in the wake of his hat-trick at Swansea. His finishing remains as polished as ever – might he even have an outside shot of making England’s Euro 2016 squad?
CHUMP OF THE WEEK
Louis Van Gaal
THE Manchester United manager increasingly looks like someone who has lost the plot, with his latest decision to brand a journalist in Newcastle’s press room as “the fat man” providing further proof of his unravelling. With the fans becoming more and more restless, how long can Manchester United allow the current situation to continue?
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Middlesbrough's 1-0 win at Brentford
BORO have produced better displays this season, but Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at Griffin Park was the type of performance that helps a team win the title. Difficult conditions, a Brentford side willing to give it a go, and a few players not quite at their best – it would have been easy for Boro to slip up. Instead, they forged further ahead of the top of the table.
CHARITY BET OF THE WEEK
NOT quite a winner, but 2016 begins in profit after Woodford County (16-1) justified each-way support by claiming a place in the Welsh Grand National. Last year’s charity money, plus a little bit more on top, is being readied to go to The Northern Echo’s DLI appeal – the presentation should take place next week – so let’s hope for more success this weekend. Follow @Scottwilsonecho on Twitter. Running total: £2.50
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