Lineker expresses what most Tottenham fans already know

Football FanCast guest columnist Jim Brown agrees with Lineker’s view that Jermain Defoe should partner Wayne Rooney.

There is nothing that Gary Lineker doesn’t know about goalscoring and when he talks about strikers and their attributes you should take note as there are few that are better qualified to discuss this particular craft, than the MOTD presenter. Lineker believes that Jermain Defoe not only is the Premier League’s best signing this calendar year, but should be a regular starter for his country alongside Wayne Rooney.

I have to concede that I don’t often agree with all that he says from time to time, but there hasn’t been one of his columns for the Daily Mail that I haven’t found myself agreeing with and his latest has proved no different as he concedes that Jermain Defoe has been an absolute sensation for Tottenham and how his whole game has improved dramatically in the past 12 months. It is fair to say that has been the case and Defoe returned a far better player than the one that had left for Fratton Park the previous year; however it was Lineker’s view that he should be partnering Rooney that struck a chord with me, as it is a view that I, and I am sure a lot of Tottenham supporters share as well.

There is this great fallacy in English football that you need to have a little and large act upfront. I never quite understand that view and when you look at International football in particular there are very few teams that actually adopt such a tactic, as they prefer to go either one upfront, or someone playing in the hole behind an out and out striker. Lineker is probably drawing upon his own experiences in 86 and 90 when he and Peter Beardsley played a similar style and sees Rooney playing the role that Beardsley did, while Jermain taking his role as the out and out front man tasked with scoring the goals. There is no reason it can’t work and I am surprised that Capello hasn’t look to experiment. At the end of the day goals win World Cups and we have more chance of doing that with Jermain upfront oppose to someone like Emile Heskey; I only hope that Fabio will agree.