Defoe: I was born to score

Patrick Davison sat down with Jermain Defoe to chat about the pressure on his shoulders at Sunderland, how he learnt from Ian Wright, and his relationships with Dick Advocaat and Sam Allardyce…

There’s always a food bus at Sky Live games. A double-decker where everyone can sit and eat a few hours before kick-off.

It was on the bus ahead of Tuesday night’s game between Newcastle and Manchester City that conversation, predictably, turned to who might stay up.

There was a variety of opinions, but only one player from any of the three teams fighting for their lives got a mention – Jermain Defoe.

When I met with the man himself at Sunderland’s Academy of Light training ground a few days later, it was the first thing I put to him. I wanted to know what it’s like, having the pressure of everyone expecting you to score, knowing you’re the one team-mates rely on, that the club’s future might very well rest in your hands.

He didn’t look worried. Defoe loves being the main man.

“The goals now are more important than ever,” says the striker who already has 141 of them in the Premier League.

“But it’s good pressure. I want to be the one who makes the difference, who wins us games which are so big.

“I keep that in my mind when I’m out there on the pitch and I wait for my chance.”

He’s been like this for as long as he can remember. As a kid, endlessly watching and re-watching video tapes, just to see goals. Never happy, even when playing in the playground, if he didn’t score.

“The boys used to laugh about it. ‘JD’s not going to pass it round the edge of the box’. But if I …

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