Sunderland disappointed in 3-1 loss to Stoke.
BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks has expressed his worry over Jermain Defoe’s performance for Sunderland against Stoke City.
The Black Cats lost 3-1 at home to Stoke City at the weekend, failing to take advantage of a potentially winnable fixture.
Crooks was commenting in his Team of the Week column, in which he selected Stoke City striker Marko Arnautovic, while warning about Defoe.
Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe
He said: “I couldn’t help but notice an air of discouragement about Jermain Defoe’s performance against Stoke.
“The last thing the Black Cats need is a disillusioned Defoe. If they lose him they really are sunk.”
Sunderland are already in trouble, currently sitting in 19th place, and their next two games are tricky ties against West Brom and Tottenham Hotspur.
Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe celebrates scoring their first goal
Defoe has recently been subject of interest from West Ham, with The BBC reporting the East London club had a £6 million quickly rejected by Sunderland.
He scored Sunderland’s goal against Stoke, but the problem was that by time he netted, the away side had already struck three times themselves.
Defoe only managed one other shot the whole game, limited to touching the ball just 29 times.
He is the club’s top scorer by a distance this season with 12 goals in 21 games this season, and if he can continue netting at a similar rate then Sunderland at least have a chance of survival.
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