Good morning.
Of course some of you will have known this, but my guess is that some/many won’t. I only noticed this morning for what that yardstick is worth. The Midget Gem, the Master Swordsman himself has equaled the goalscoring achievements for Spurs of Robbie Keane. Both men have burst the onion sack 122 times from the same number of appearances for the mighty Tottinghams.
By complete chance I was comparing the two in conversation with ODM last night. By comparing I mean I was comparing the similar way I felt and the way fans felt about both.
You tell me what you think.
My view is that while both individually have their ardent supporters, there is a third section of fans who respect both but have never had complete and utter confidence or faith in either. Now this isn’t being churlish, because a 100+ goals are a 100+ goals anyway you slice it. More a case of never quite being able to ignore the weaknesses of both men.
Pointy Shouty Bloke for me invariably under hit his shots. Whenever he hit the ball there always seemed to be enough time to cross yourself and genuflect before you found out if the ball had gone in. Whilst he wasn’t the fastest striker on the planet he had a superb understanding of the game and contributed far more than just goals. It’s no coincidence that Berbatov never played as well or scored so many as when he was teamed up with Robbie.
Defoe for me has rarely offered more than a receive, turn, ping it, wince/cheer (delete as appropriate) merchant. He has never really had a foil a such and it isn’t unfair to say that he has spent the majority of his career in the Lilywhite elating and frustrating fans in equal measure. Forever offside, frequently accused of being selfish he’s also saved our bacon and you have to respect him for that.
The bottom line I guess is there isn’t such a thing as a bad goal – both men deserve their place in the Club’s all time top ten but it’s highly unlikely either will be revered much outside of N17. If I wanted to really maudlin I’d pause to rue the fact that we just can’t seem to land a striker who offers the lot.
I like Defoe coz when he scores he looks gunuinely delighted and doesn’t try to do any clever celebrations.
Kean was a far more skilful player than Defoe but don’t forget his goals tally included lots of penalties whereas Defoe’s are vitually all from open play.