Defoe is going the Wright way

Ken Dyer13 April 2012

Patience may indeed be a virtue but not when you're 19 years old and busting a gut to play football. Jermain Defoe, fidgeting on West Ham's substitutes bench for much of this season, would certainly concur with

A Prayer for the Modern American,

Tonight, however, the young West Ham striker gets his chance. With Paolo Di Canio deserting his piranhas and returning to his dentist in Italy during his three-match suspension, Defoe is now the big fish in the FA Cup fourth-round replay against Chelsea at Upton Park.

There is no doubt that Beckton-born Defoe is an exceptional young talent.

On loan at Bournemouth, he scored 11 goals in consecutive matches and, back at Upton Park this season, he has netted six times this season from seven Premiership starts and 15 substitute appearances.

That included the winning goal in the Hammers' 1-0 win at Manchester United in the Premiership in December.

In addition, in his two full FA Cup ties, one for Bournemouth against Gillingham, and for West Ham at Macclesfield in the third round in January, the 5ft 7ins tall striker has managed another three goals.

Despite those impressive figures, Defoe's manager, Glenn Roeder, has tried hard to use his little gold nugget sparingly but tonight, and for the next two matches while Di Canio sits out his ban, expediency will have to replace idealism.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge," Defoe said, sitting in the referees' room at the club's Chadwell Heath training headquarters.

"I've had to be patient so far but ask any youngster and, like me, they want to be out there in every game, playing football and enjoying themselves."

Roeder describes Defoe's character as a "typical striker's personality".

"He has a nicely controlled arrogance and a twinkle in his eye which says to everyone 'I believe in myself,'" said Roeder.

Defoe, himself, has no argument with that assessment. "I'm always confident of scoring goals," he said. "Sometimes you only get one opportunity in a match and you have to believe that you can take it."

He has a high regard for strikers such as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, one of the men who will oppose him at Upton Park tonight, but Defoe's real hero is Ian Wright.

The two were briefly clubmates at West Ham, but Defoe had watched and admired Wright well before then, back when he was the main man at Arsenal.

"I used to try and model my game on Ian when I was younger," recalled Defoe. "I would watch tapes of him in action, the way he moved.

"I still speak to him sometimes. He will phone me occasionally after a game and he tells me to call him if I need to."

Roeder is not surprised that Wright still finds the time to help the West Ham teenager.

"Knowing Ian, he would genuinely want to help, sow a few seeds of wisdom," said Roeder.

"I know Jermain has been likened to Ian and there are similarities. I hate giving players labels but Ian had that ability to chip, smash, head, pass, volley and side-foot them in. Jermain has similar expertise."

Chelsea's striker Hasselbaink is another matter altogether. "He's another striker I watch all the time," said Defoe.

"You can see that, every time he receives the ball, all he's thinking about is thumping that ball past the goalkeeper.

"If he drops off deep, the defenders have to follow him because, should they back off, they know he can hit the ball from anywhere.

"He is also so strong and aggressive. Defenders don't enjoy playing against him."

Marking Defoe tonight could be John Terry, a colleague of Defoe's in the England Under-21 team. "John's another great player," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing him tonight."

Defoe is aware that, should he impress sufficiently at Upton Park tonight and in the next two matches, it will give Roeder a selection problem and even take the eye of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"People ask me all the time whether I have a chance of going to the World Cup," said Defoe. "Of course, it would be a dream come true.

"At the moment, though, all I want to think about is playing in these next few games and hopefully doing well. Everything else will follow."

Roeder, too, is not keen to rush things. "The trouble with us in England is that we're too impatient," he said.

"You don't have teenage superstars playing in Serie A. Italian clubs usually wait until their players are 20 or 21 before they begin to play regularly. That leaves them hopefully with 14 seasons as a player. How many more do you need, for crying out loud?

"Who knows when he will be ready for England? It can happen quickly, as it did with Michael Owen.

"I remember England playing Chile in February 1998 and Glenn Hoddle starting to think, for the first time, that Michael could be a realistic candidate for the 1998 World Cup.

"I can recall asking Michael and the thought honestly hadn't crossed his mind. He was just glad to be involved. A few months later and there he was becoming a world star against Argentina." Today, Defoe was at the family home in Chingford, "chilling out with my music" as usual before making his way to Upton Park for his big challenge.

"Jermain's come on in leaps and bounds over the last couple of months," added Roeder.

"I can remember him coming on against Liverpool in the first game of the season and Sami Hyypia taking the ball off him easily.

"When Liverpool came to our place just after Christmas (in a match which finished 1-1), Jermain played the 90 minutes and Hyypia certainly knew he'd been in a game.

"At the moment we're being careful with him but one day soon, it will be time to take him off the leash and let him go."

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