Defoe, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko or Gudjohnsen? (Or Keane?) Tottenham’s Striker Conundrum
If one thing became crystal clear over this last Premier League weekend, it is that Tottenham Hotspur fans have a certain affinity for Roman Pavlyuchenko.
The clamour from Spurs supporters wanting to see Pavlyuchenko’s name on the teamsheet has grown into a mini-terrace revolution over recent weeks, with the Russian’s name being chanted out ever more passionately with each passing game. There appear to be two main causes for this growing ‘Pav’ campaign:
1) Peter Crouch’s continuing goal drought (now six games without a goal and counting), and
2) Harry Redknapp’s perpetual overlooking the Russian striker.
Pavlyuchenko’s two goal haul in Spurs’ 3-0 win at Wigan made a promising statement both to Tottenham fans and manager Harry Redknapp that, if given the chance, he remains a goalscorer with plenty of ability. It took the 28-year-old’s goal haul for the season to 4 from just 9 appearances, 7 of which have come from the subs bench.
The extent of Redknapp’s continuing disregard for Pavlyuchenko can be seen in the striker’s appearance record this season. To date, Pavlyuchenko has started just 2 games all season, both in the League Cup, and incredibly the Russian has not started a single Premier League game for Tottenham in 2009/2010. An amazing statistic for a player signed for £14 million just under 18 months ago.
In the meantime, Peter Crouch continues to walk into the Spurs starting lineup despite his recent woes in front of goal. Crouch has scored just 5 league goals in 27 league apperances for Tottenham this season, 10 in 33 appearances overall. Redknapp’s faith in the England striker however is unwavering, and in direct contrast to his regard for Pavlyuchenko: Crouch is more or less an automatic starter for Spurs right now, starting 9 of their last 11 league games.
Against Wigan, Redknapp brought on Pavlyuchenko but in place of Jermain Defoe rather than for Crouch, whose aerial ability on a shoddy pitch was perhaps considered a more favoured weapon. Nonetheless, the constant chants for ‘Super Pav’ and the boos from travelling fans as Defoe was taken off suggest that Tottenham supporters are crying out for a Pavlyuchnko/Defoe partnership to be given a run-out. “They (the fans) love him,” Redknapp admitted after the Wigan game. “He has got ability and when he wants to play and wants to work he’s great.”
In the meantime Eidur Gudjohnsen has only featured for 62 minutes of league football since joining in January while former captain Robbie Keane is off scoring goals for boyhood club Glasgow Celtic.
The question on Just Football then is, which two should feature in Spurs’ first choice strike partnership?
I would imagine that, with 16 league goals to his name so far, Jermain Defoe walks into one of the two available striking roles. But with Crouch, Pavlyuchenko, Gudjohnsen and, when he returns to White Hart Lane (if he does), Keane all vying for another of the forward positions, who is the best man for the job?
pic via Tottenhamhotspur.com
English Premier League, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Tottenham HotspurShare This Post!
About Jonathan F
The boss of this here... Creator and Editor of Just-Football.com and world football analyst, watcher, freelancer and all-round enthusiast. Write for FourFourTwo, have also written for ITV, When Saturday Comes and others. Open to offers.
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It's a hard question really for a 1st team partnership. I have gone with Defoe and Crouch but its really would be interchangeable with Pav if one of the strikers is under form such as Crouch at the moment.
Peter Crouch is such a handy person to have in your attacking set up as his presence alone can determine a game. If he is on form then a good game from him can be what is needed to turn the game around while a bad game is usually in my view a 60 minute sub opportunity.
Defoe is really the top striker there in my view as with his elecric pace and calm finishing style is a must starter for me.
Robbie Keane is an interesting one and I have to admit in FM10 I sold Keane as soon as I took control
. But I find he may have a usefullness partnering up with Defoe prehaps as kind of one strong and one light and quick partnership. But then thats probably my inner FM tactical genius speaking.
Can't say anything about Gudjohnsen really so I'll move on to Pav. I think he is really a solid striker and can be relied on by Harry but I just can't seem to classify him a regular premiership striker. Thats probably due to his lack of experience but I see him as being used with nothing extra special happening.
Certainly a dilemma for Harry…
Sax
I find it interesting, judging by the polls, to see Pavlyuchenko so highly rated and Crouch so overlooked (and to a lesser extent Keane).
Like you say Sax, Crouch offers a lot, but being out of form as he is it'd be interesting to see how Pav does with an extended run in the team, whether he can cut it up top with Defoe (who is obviously the number 1 striker at Spurs).
Jonathan
I am not a fan of Defoe – Crouch partnership. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was on Goals on Sunday last weekend, and he said that Gudjohnsen was his best EVER strike partner – but not necessarily the best player he has played with. When asked about whether they worked on the partnership – he said no. It just happens – you know where they will be, and it is instinctive. I don’t sense that AT ALL with Defoe & Crouch. Crouch doesn’t often win the ball, but when he does, Defoe is never there to receive it. Is Crouch off form? I don’t know – I think he needs good service. When Lennon was fit, Keane was playing instead of Crouch. Only now is Crouch getting good service from Bale. I like Defoe – Pav. Defoe is not my favourite striker in the world, but he is slowly answering my questions of him: Can he score 18 league goals in top flight? (one more, and he’ll finally do it). Can he score away? (he is doing it regularly now). Can he score against the big boys? (He did vs Man Utd, again please…) Can he score from a variety of scenarios (he has been scoring from all angles now). Can he take a penalty…?
The’s no conundrum at the moment! player get sick others get to play plus there are 2 competitions to play for!