Interested in your views . . . Defoe, should he be in the England squad?

[rejected]

What do you all reckon??

[Steve1956]

No chance..we need to be looking at kids not pensioners!

[Colburn_Claret]

No.
What he does he does better than most, which is give him the ball in front of him and he will stick it on the net.
He can't hold play up or play with his back to goal, that means not good enough for England. Still a great player though.

[ClaretTony]

Agree with Colburn_Claret

[Bin Ont Turf]

Instead of Vardy? Yes.

[JarrowClaret]

Hard one for me on pure Goal scoring ability it would be a resounding yes, not sure he offers enough outside of that that and his age together would count against him for me. Would've took him to the Euros though.

[Croydon Claret]

Not sure about this but he certainly should be ahead of Jamie Vardy in the pecking order!

[Saxoman]

He's the best natural goalscorer in the English game that qualifies for england. Yes from me, and I've been saying it since before last years euros.

[SalisburyClaret]

Definitely

[Winstonswhite]

Biggest mistake Sven ever made was gambling on a 16 year old Walcott instead of Defoe to Germany.

I think his time has gone though.

[rejected]

No.
What he does he does better than most, which is give him the ball in front of him and he will stick it on the net.
He can't hold play up or play with his back to goal, that means not good enough for England. Still a great player though.

Genuinely interested by your post and thanks for replying. It is definitely a myth that he can't hold the ball up. He has shocked me immensely since we signed him at how good he is at doing exactly this. For long periods over the last 2 years he has played up front alone.

[Inchy]

Age is a number

Stick him in the Chelsea side and he would bag 20/30 a season

[rejected]

Age is a number

Stick him in the Chelsea side and he would bag 20/30 a season

30-40 I'd say.

He may well get more than 20 this season for US!!

[Diesel]

If it was the World Cup final tomorrow, then yes but it isn't, so no.

[CleggHall]

Defoe is an odd guy, has never really settled at any one club, decision to play overseas when at his peak was bizarre and he appears not "to fit in". A very good goal scorer nevertheless.

[rejected]

Defoe is an odd guy, has never really settled at any one club, decision to play overseas when at his peak was bizarre and he appears not "to fit in". A very good goal scorer nevertheless.

Oh. He has well and truly found a home now. To actually physically cry in the pitch, not once, not twice but three times tells you what it means to him!!

[Blackrod]

Depends on the system. Great finisher but doesn't offer much else. Hardest thing in PL is taking chances which he does and why he is paid obscene amounts of money.

[iw1961]

Definately still England material. In my opinion he is the best finisher around. Would have him at Burnley in a heartbeat. Don't care about age, it is about scoring goals and that is what he does.

[Sidney1st]

His best season ever was last season and he's carried that on into this season.

Before then he was averaging 9 goals a season I think it was, in the PL.

Should he be playing for England?
Not now, no point in stepping backwards and blocking other players from showing what they can do.

[Saxoman]

How old is is that guy who plays for Spain? Aziz or something? Striker..

[EarbyClaret]

Thought Sunderland were dead and buried the day we beat them 4-1 but not so sure now. That was a huge result today.

Defoe is something else. Not only his goal scoring ability but his presence alone should create opportunities for team mates to exploit - if they are good enough to do it - and that's something that seems to be happening at last.

His record over the past two seasons probably merits a place but there doesn't seem a lot of point introducing him into a team that should easily qualify for the World Cup when he's not going to make the squad for the finals.

If I was a Sunderland fan I wouldn't want him anywhere near the England set-up. I'd want him entirely focused on scoring the goals that might mean PL survival (again).

[Formerbfcmanager]

Never been a big fan of his and 12 months ago I would have said definitely no...
...however his record is pretty hard to ignore, he's the 2nd highest scoring Englishman in the Prem, only one behind Kane and playing for a struggling team. Will score 20 league goals this season and let's be honest there's not really anyone else knocking on the door is there. Sturridge has looked woeful this year and I'm absolutely convinced that Vardy's taken the year off and is paying that lookalike chap to turn up to training and play matches. It would be worth having Defoe in the squad just to give the rest of them a masterclass in finishing

[Dyched]

He was banging in the goals when he was younger and wasn't good enough for england. Why would he be now?

[Goobs]

If you had to pick 5 English Strikers for the squad for the next match then would he be in your top 5? Yes, definitely, if it was an important game / tournament starting in the next few weeks.

As none of the above is applicable though, I guess the emphasis should be more on younger players who are likely o be around for a minimum of 2/3 years to come.

Would depressingly be something along the lines of:

Kane
Sturridge
Walcott
Rashford..... wow I'm struggling
Welbeck / Carroll?

[KRBFC]

How old is is that guy who plays for Spain? Aziz or something? Striker..

Aduriz is 35 I think, he scored close to 40 goals in all competitions last season, a bit different to a 10 goal a season striker.
Defoe should be nowhere near the England setup, what would be the point? I'd rather the England setup looked to the future and developed Rashford who is better than Defoe right now despite being like 15 years younger.

[Inchy]

I think hes probably got another 4 years in him at the top level. He's super fit and has not lost any pace over th years


He also scores goals that the likes of Kane and Walcott don't score. Those scrappy goals where it's all about position and reading the game. He always seems to be there when the keeper spills a shot.

[rejected]

Aduriz is 35 I think, he scored close to 40 goals in all competitions last season, a bit different to a 10 goal a season striker.
Defoe should be nowhere near the England setup, what would be the point? I'd rather the England setup looked to the future and developed Rashford who is better than Defoe right now despite being like 15 years younger.

Aduriz wouldn't score more than defoe if he was unfortunate enough to end up at Sunderland!!

[Sidney1st]

He was banging in the goals when he was younger and wasn't good enough for england. Why would he be now?

No he wasn't banging them in, have a look.
He's usually a 10 goals a season striker, with the odd season where he hits 15.

Just some people seem to be ignoring that and he's suddenly become the answer to England's problems

[Colburn_Claret]

If you had to pick 5 English Strikers for the squad for the next match then would he be in your top 5? Yes, definitely, if it was an important game / tournament starting in the next few weeks.

As none of the above is applicable though, I guess the emphasis should be more on younger players who are likely o be around for a minimum of 2/3 years to come.

Would depressingly be something along the lines of:

Kane
Sturridge
Walcott
Rashford..... wow I'm struggling
Welbeck / Carroll?

I know its all about opinions, but Sturridge is ****.
One of those players who scores a brilliant goal, people enthuse about him, then he does **** all for the next 6 games.

The difference between a good player, and a great player is consistency, which gives us Kane........









No I still can't think of anyone else.

Walcott would probably make the grade if Wenger would play him as a striker and leave him there, but he continually moves him from the centre, to the wing, to the bench, to the sick list. He's never been given the chance to show what he could have become.

[KRBFC]

I know its all about opinions, but Sturridge is ****.
One of those players who scores a brilliant goal, people enthuse about him, then he does **** all for the next 6 games.

The difference between a good player, and a great player is consistency, which gives us Kane........









No I still can't think of anyone else.

Walcott would probably make the grade if Wenger would play him as a striker and leave him there, but he continually moves him from the centre, to the wing, to the bench, to the sick list. He's never been given the chance to show what he could have become.

Sturridge just needs to get fully fit and be given a solid run of 10-15 games to re-discover his form. That season with Suarez, Sturridge was immense.

[Colburn_Claret]

Suarez made him look immense. He could probably have made AG look immense as well.

[HatfieldClaret]

Never do really understand why such a good player ends up as such a journeyman.

Should have been an England regular.

[MT03ALG]

No Defour is Belgian

[what_no_pies]

Defoe has never scored 20 league goals in a season.

[uwe]

Too much hi-falutin' rubbish talked about long-term etc etc. This leads to depending on players who are injured (you can go back to Bryan Robson for that), and picking players who are not playing well, because apparently class is permanent .... a very long list indeed. We also pick on record. So, Rooney is a cert, because of all the goals he's scored ... and yet Bobby Charlton never gets a sniff these days.

Pick on form.
Right now, that gives you Defoe, Carroll and Kane. This time last year, Vardy would've made that list. But he isn't playing well, and isn't scoring (thankfully).

If Arsenal can get a season out of Welbeck, it wouldn't surprise me to see him make that list. Sturridge is a greedy bugger, who drops too deep so he can get the ball, then fannies around too long trying to create a potshot chance for himself. i.e. not a proper centre forward, finding space up top and looking for chances .... which is what the aforementioned Defoe, Carroll and Kane do.

[ShabbaRanks]

Squad definitely.

Show me an English striker you would rather throw on for the last 15 minutes when you need a goal.

[uwe]

last 15 mins, right now .... Andy Carroll.









Because Sam Vokes is Welsh.