Jermain Defoe, despite playing 496 Premier League games for West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and Sunderland, never once broke the 20-goal barrier in a single campaign.
The former England international remains tenth in the division’s all-time scoring list.
He is the only one in that top ten, though, who failed to record 20 or more in any of his various seasons across four different clubs.
The closest Jermain Defoe came was in 2009/10, under Harry Redknapp at Spurs. By his own admission, Defoe had a bit of a strained relationship with Hammers fans due to that infamous transfer request, plus the fact he joined their bitter rivals six years earlier.
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So when he saw a penalty fall the wrong side of Rob Green’s post in a 4-1 drubbing at Fratton Park, while playing under Redknapp at Portsmouth, you wouldn’t have found many in the away support feeling any sympathy for their former number nine.
Jermain Defoe just couldn’t beat West Ham United goalkeeper Rob Green
Green actually came out on top against Defoe twice in his Premier League career.
Once in a tense 1-1 draw in 2007/08, when Green guessed right and denied the striker at the death to preserve a point. And while he wouldn’t get a touch on Defoe’s spot-kick a season later, as Gianfranco Zola’s side ran riot on the South Coast, it was his sheer presence which forced his England teammate to aim right into the furthest corner.
His aim, as it turned out, would need some recalibrating.
“He used to wind me up when we went away with England, with his funny fingers,” Defoe smiles, speaking to Midnite Sports about a goalkeeper who spent so many years at the highest level despite a permanently wonky finger caused by so many dislocations.
“Me and Shaun [Wright-Phillips] used to wind him up. He’s different, you know?
“You know when you’re on a plane with England and you’ve got players listening to their music, or winding them up – Wayne Rooney used to do that, messing with people while they’re sleeping – and then you’ve got Robert Green sitting there reading a book with his glasses on?
“He was just so different.
“To be fair, if you miss a penalty against a top goalkeeper like him… he was unbelievable. On his day, he was a top keeper.”
After Nadir Belhadj opened the scoring for Pompey on that Boxing Day afternoon, Zola’s West Ham equalised as Jack Collison nutmegged an unsighted David James. If the Hammers felt they were harshly punished when Lucas Neill conceded a soft penalty, then Defoe’s miss would turn those groans into cheers.
Carlton Cole took full advantage as the visitors took the lead for the first time in the second-half, before a Craig Bellamy brace secured a late Christmas gift for those travelling down from London.
Green would save nine of the 53 penalties he faced in his career. In addition to Defoe, the ex-Norwich City and QPR goalkeeper also denied the likes of Matty Etherington, Alexis Sanchez and [twice] Steven Gerrard from 12 yards.
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A man who spent six years between the sticks at Upton Park was also part of that infamous ‘Great Escape’ season of 2006/07.
Green remembers that heroic 1-0 win at Arsenal; the match which really started to make the impossible look possible. In addition to a supreme solo display in net, Green could have joined a very exclusive party of goalscoring goalkeepers – if not for some desperate pleading from Jens Lehmann.
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“[Tomas] Rosicky, Freddie Ljungberg, yeah there were big names playing [for Arsenal, including Emmanuel] Adebayor,” Green said opposite Cole on the Ironcast podcast, looking back at a game decided by Bobby Zamora at the Emirates.
“I sat in my flat that night, the night before that game. I sat in my flat on my own because we could go home and then report to the hotel. I just sat there and I just thought; ‘Whatever happens, I’m going to be alright. I’m going to be okay as a person, I’m going to be fine.’
“And there’s only probably four or five times in my career where I played carefree. Like, not worried!”
“The only regret I have one regret about that game was right at the end of the game. Cesc went to take a corner, Cesc Fabregas,” Green recalled. “He crossed it in and I went, ‘I’m coming for this’, and I’ve caught it.
“And big Jens Lehmann [the Arsenal goalkeeper] had come up for the corner. I looked, and the goal was open. And just behind me, Jens went, ‘Please, Greeny, don’t.’ Out of respect, I didn’t!
“Partly out of respect, partly this half-niggling bit in my mind [where I was worried], ‘I’m going to smash this and hit you on the back of the head!’.”
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