Jermain Defoe delays surgery for Tottenham, but not England
Club v country rows are commonplace in football, and sometimes the player in question just can’t win.
Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe could become the latest to find himself embroiled in a dispute between his employers and his international side after it was announced that he will undergo surgery on a groin injury, but not before he plays in Spurs’ Champions League play-off against Young Boys.
As a result, Defoe will be out for up to a month - meaning the 27-year-old will miss England’s first Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland on September 3rd and 7th.
The striker is desperate to play in Tottenham’s crucial European match at White Hart Lane this evening, as the club bids to reach the Champions League group stages for the first time in their history.
But England manager Fabio Capello will have every right to question the timing of Defoe’s operation. The gap between the Three Lions’ Word Cup elimination and the start of the season was approximately six weeks, which would have given the forward plenty of time to make a full recovery.
Instead, Spurs and Defoe have opted to wait until the Champions League qualifiers have reached their conclusion before pencilling in the operation.
Tottenham are aiming to overturn a 3-2 first-leg deficit against Young Boys this evening and believe that even with a half-fit Defoe, they will stand a better chance of qualification. If they manage to win and progress to the next round, then their first group stage match will take place in mid-September, around the same time that the striker will return to action.
Although Capello may be unhappy with Defoe’s decision, it could well be a blessing in disguise for the England manager. In South Africa this summer, England’s system clearly had its faults. The 4-4-2, with Wayne Rooney and Defoe upfront, failed to flourish and it was obvious that changes needed to be made.
With Defoe out injured, one avenue that Capello may explore is utilising the 4-3-3 formation – as he did in England’s first match after the World Cup finals against Hungary. With James Milner and Adam Johnson performing so well from wide positions for Manchester City against Liverpool on Monday, the England boss may be tempted to play Rooney as a lone-striker against Bulgaria a week on Friday, with the two wingers assisting him in the final third.
Defoe may have been the only striker to get his name on the scoresheet at the World Cup, but persisting with the indisputably talented Rooney will pay dividends for Capello.
And along with Milner and Johnson, the likes of Theo Walcott – who scored a hat-trick for Arsenal at the weekend – Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips, all tend to produce their best displays in advanced positions on the flanks.
It’s not only England who may benefit from a seemingly bad situation either. Tottenham’s left-winger Gareth Bale has been sensational so far this season, while Lennon is a constant threat from the right. With Giovani dos Santos now beginning to break back into the Spurs setup, the Mexican will have a chance to show the club’s faithful exactly what he’s capable of by playing in a more natural advanced role behind one striker - either, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Robbie Keane or Peter Crouch.
A more continental 4-2-3-1 may suit Tottenham, particularly in Europe, and Redknapp could regret not sending Defoe for an operation sooner if his decision to play the England international backfires this evening.
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