Jol Sucks Up To Defoe as Tottenham try to ward off Manchester United and Newcastle
Jermaine Defoe is very naive if he thinks Martin Jol is sincere when he talks him up.
Defoe turned from being guaranteed a starting birth at Tottehnham to coming off the bench for most of last season, a situation which not only cost him his form towards the end season but may have cost him a berth in the England World Cup squad.
So to have Martin Jol talk Defoe up after he scored 3 goals in 3 games in the pre-season tour may be seen as a vote of confidence, but when you consider that both Manchester United and Newcastle United are interested in signing the striker (and Liverpool could jump in too if the Kuyt deal doesn’t work out) and you start wondering if Jol isn’t doing this just to keep the striker at White Hart Lane.
Is it hypocritcal? You decide. Earlier, Defoe’s agent made a statement about how Defoe was happy at Tottenham and hadn’t thought about leaving. Well, considering that no one’s made an offer yet, how the hell you do you expect him to leave? Everyone’s waiting for the mess in Serie A to sort out, and then we’ll have a much better idea of who’s going where. Manchester United in particular are also waiting for the Ruud deal to finalise, plus they have their eyes on Torres as well.
Defoe is on the list for a lot of people, but not first choice for any Champions League club. And to think that this is, after Rooney, the most talented striker in the Premiership and you wonder what he did wrong to miss out on the World Cup.
Credit to Jol though - he’s building a kick-ass side for next season, even if Nedved might decide to stick around in Serie B to help out the Old Lady.
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i don’t think jol is like that.
he says what he thinks and defoe is on fire at the moment so he has said it
you dont know Martin Jol - he is probably the most sincere and HONEST trainers in the premiership!!
A strange article, you speculate and make assumptions made on (imo) no facts or quotes, very poor.
Fact…Jermain is having a great pre-season.
Fact…Jol doesn’t play games he is playing well so he gets complimented…simple.
Fact…He himself has stated more than once his intention to say.
Fact…His agent supports this view.
Fact…Tottenham have already made some excellent pre-season aquisitions and other clubs such as Newcastle and EVEN Man Utd look short on strength in depth in their teams so why would most people want to leave an up and coming, youthful, European bound team with a whole host of International players ?? Champions League…maybe…I THINK NOT.
I agree with your last statement though…
Jol is often very positive about his players, and has been endlessly positive about defoe over the last two years.
Spurs have spent a net total of £0 on transfers for in the last two years until this summer - and with an estimated £15mil available each year, that leaves them with about £15mil to spare after spending around £20mil so far this summer.
So if Defoe goes it will only be for top dollar, and only if he asks to leave.
I agree with andy. Anyway, if Jol didn’t rate defoe then why would he appear so keen to keep him - surely he’d just try and cash in?!
MJ is definitely not the type to “suck up” to a player.He had no qualms about leaving Robbie on the bench when he wasn’t scoring goals,likewise with Defoe. He’s a great coach and will always play his strongest team.
A slightly cynical article, and there are two slightly different issues raised here.
Firstly is Jol sincere? Like Andy I don’t doubt it. Defoe has scored 3 goals in 3 games and all Jol has said is that he played well.
Secondly, is he hoping to keep Defoe happy by saying so? Well, which manager wouldn’t want to try to keep their players happy? It would clearly not be in Spurs interest to have Defoe unhappy, so any opportunity to praise him and build up his confidence after the last few months would be taken by any manager worthy of a job in the Premiership, whether or not there was any transfer speculation.
Jol has never done anything but praise defoe. He was only dropped because robbie was scoring and JD wasn’t. if JD starts the season in better form he’ll get the starting place instead of robbie. Simple really.
I’m sure Jol is being sincere. But he’s a very shrewd man, and I wouldn’t put it beyond him to use the opportunity to both praise Defoe publicly and to show him that he’s wanted at the club. Nothing wrong with it, but let’s be honest - if you had a choice between sitting on the bench as 3rd striker at Tottenham or sitting on the bench as 3rd striker at Manchester United, which one would you pick?
Okay, mostly Spurs fans here
so I guess I know what your answer is. Defoe needs some loving this summer, and he’s getting it. Once again, nothing wrong with it, just wanted to point it out.
For the record, I have a lot of respect for Jol and for what Tottenham has accomplished. Most of you, it seems, didnt read the article (or the article I linked to) in any detail.
Whateva Ahmed! The Big Man (Jol) is an honest lad, I’m sure he’s bigging up Jermaine as well, possibly for the simple fact that we’ve only got 3 strikers, 2 of which are under 5 foot! However I don’t think its what you said in your article, rather the way in which you said it, ‘Jol sucks up to Defoe’. Whatever way you look at it you’re bound to incite some wrathful comments when you talk down on the mighty Yids.
jol is a truthful in wat he says.
if a player plays bad hell say hes dissapointed with them, if a player plays good hell praise them.
hes not afriad to drop big players if they perform well, though tbh i dnt understand why he was playin stalteri instead of kelly, wen kelly was a much greater defender then he goes and sells kelly.
i can see jol goin onto great things in the future….maybe a future england manager???
(he can at least speak english unlike tht scolari tht england tried to get dear god i dnt understand why they tried to get him :S)
Ahmed are you a Arsenal fan by any chance?! Most clubs in England would love to have some of our players Carrick/Defoe are constantly linked to other clubs, so it shows the great job Jol has done with these young players.
For all you Tottenham fans, here’s a treat:
Thierry Henry and Diving
enjoy.