Frontrunner Defoe leads salvage job

ARGUABLY the most important date in Sunderland’s season was October 9, when they made Sam Allardyce their manager.

Allardyce’s reorganisation of this club has seen them assured of Premier League football next season with a game to spare.

Recent history contains another key moment, though, and that was the day in January 2015 when Allardyce’s predecessor Gus Poyet brought Jermain Defoe to Wearside.

Some think Poyet was a better manager here than he is given credit for. Paying Toronto £6million for Defoe and sending USA striker Jozy Altidore the other way was certainly one of his better ideas.

Altidore had scored one goal in 42 games for Sunderland. It makes you wonder why on earth Toronto took him.

Since Defoe’s arrival here, he has contributed 19 goals in 44 league games and, critically, 15 of those have come this season.

It has been a decisive transfer. The former England forward has been the key player in Sunderland’s sprint for safety and once again last night the 33-year- old was fundamental.

He did not score. He was denied twice by Joel Robles late in the game. That will irritate him but no matter. Defoe was involved in the build-up to all three goals and his energy, running and intelligence once again set the tone for this sturdy Sunderland performance.

Top strikers do this. They don’t just put the ball in the net. They lead from the front.

If a defender or a midfield player looks up knowing that he is going to see his team’s centre forward running the opposition centre halves back and forth and dragging full-backs down channels they don’t like, then it gives him options.

It encourages him, lifts him and reassures him.

That is how it was last night. Sunderland were edgy early on. For 15 minutes it looked as though they were going to attempt to beat Everton without having the ball. Risky strategy, that. But soon the momentum changed. Defoe put Everton keeper Robles under pressure by chasing down a back pass that was only marginally short. A sliced, nervous clearance followed.

Then, not long after, Defoe darted between two defenders and was brought down. Robles, still rattled, moved obligingly out of the way of the ensuing free-kick from Patrick van Aanholt and Sunderland were 1-0 ahead.

Defoe played like this in a recent win at Norwich, a game Allardyce identified last night as a turning point. He scored late that day but it was his early work that was more impressive as he stretched the home team’s defence with selfless running. When you play as a lone forward, you have to do this horrible work, otherwise the system does not function.

No doubt buoyed by the first goal and his part in it, Defoe sensed further opportunities. Two minutes later he nipped to the near post to head towards the top corner and Robles tipped the ball over. From the corner, Sunderland scored their second goal.

During his early career, the days when Defoe’s star shone most brightly, some managers believed he only came alive in the penalty area. His appetite for the hard yards that a team need was not always a given.

There has been no evidence of that on his return to the Premier League. Maybe he has felt the need to reinvent himself. Maybe he just has a better understanding of the game.

In the second half, Defoe should have scored. Put through on goal, his lob over Robles was on target but not struck firmly enough. Defoe was annoyed and kicked the perimeter board as he collected the ball.

From the corner that followed the clearance, Sunderland scored again. Make that three assists for their centre forward.

Former Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn suggested last night that Defoe is as instrumental a player as the club have had for 30 years. That may be stretching things a bit.

Meanwhile, there has been talk of an England recall.

In more fallow times for the national team he may have had a chance, but it will not happen, leaving Defoe to spend the summer working on his body without his friend and fitness coach Tiberius Darau, who passed away last summer.

Defoe will certainly not want for motivation, though. He remains a Premier League player. They will thank him for that around these parts.