Player Focus: Sunderland Profit from Infectious Defoe Enthusiasm

After Jermain Defoe scored what turned out to be Sunderland’s winner against Newcastle last month, he wept. He broke down again in the post-match interview. At the time it all seemed a little odd – after all, it’s not as though Defoe was brought up in the north-east or has Sunderland in his blood - but as time has gone by, it’s become increasingly clear that he is a man relishing a chance he thought had gone.

“When you’re a young kid playing football you want to play in massive games like this,” he said after the derby. “The manager said to us beforehand, we were lucky to be playing in a game like this. There are so many young kids who wish they could play in a game like this. To be blessed and to score the winner is amazing.” There weren’t many games of that magnitude, you suspect, in Toronto, not many games played in front of 48,000 fans enacting a ritual stretching back 117 years. Defoe made a mistake in leaving the Premier League for MLS and, at 32, he clearly still feels he has much to offer English football.

It’s Sunderland’s good fortune to have picked up a player operating with such freshness. The deal in total could be worth £14m, but that will seem a bargain if it keeps Sunderland in the Premier League. “It’s a lot of pressure because we’re scrapping for results and it’s not easy, but I’m 32, I think people know now what I bring to a club,” he said after Saturday’s win over Everton. “It was just a case of trying to do what I’ve done throughout my career and that’s work hard and get myself in the areas to score.”

It’s true that almost the entirety of Defoe’s contribution to his goal on Saturday was to be in the right area, Adam Johnson’s shot being deflected onto his thigh and hand before looping in. There was an instinctive flinch of the thigh, it’s true, but essentially the goal was involuntary. In the spectrum of goals, it could hardly have been more different to the brilliant looping volley against Newcastle.

But it’s not just about goals. In fact, given he’s only managed four (albeit in games from which Sunderland have claimed 10 points), it hasn’t even been principally about goals. For a long time the theory about Defoe was that he was a poacher, a centre-forward who needed either a target-man or a creator alongside him, incapable of playing as a lone forward. England managers were urged to take him to World Cups as an impact substitute. Yet since Dick Advocaat took over at Sunderland he has often been used wide in a 4-3-3, called upon to track the opposing full-back. That he has fulfilled the role with such gusto suggests how delighted he is to be back in the Premier League.

At Sunderland, Defoe has averaged 1.1 tackles per game, as opposed to 0.3 in his time at Toronto and 0.1 in his final season at Tottenham. He’s never previously averaged more than 0.7 tackles per game. He’s also dribbling far more, as he has to as a wide man: attempting 2 per game for Sunderland having not averaged more than 1.5 per game in any of his last four league campaigns. Shots per game and key passes are down, but you’d expect that given he is starting further from goal.

There also has to be some context: four goals may not sound like many, but despite making only 14 appearances Defoe is only one behind Connor Wickham as Sunderland’s leading scorer. Only Wickham averages more shots per game than the former England international (2).

Theoretically, Sunderland still need five points from their remaining three games to be safe, although one win would probably do it. Even if they end up going down, though, the gamble on Defoe has probably been worth it: people expected him to inspire with his goals, but it’s his enthusiasm that’s been key.

Will Sunderland be safe and how much is that down to Defoe's impact? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below