There are certain players in football who you know must be a nightmare to train against.
Imagine having to mark Erling Haaland every day or having to go up against Virgil van Dijk for hours on end in a training drill? It must be a nightmare.
Tottenham Hotspur have had a number of players over the years who must’ve been very difficult to train against, and speaking on the Off The Shelf Podcast, Michael Dawson has now named one player he hated to train against during his time at Spurs.
The Tottenham player Michael Dawson hated to train against
Dawson played alongside some fantastic players during his time at Spurs, but when naming his dream five-a-side team, he named Jermain Defoe as a player he really didn’t like to train against.
“Do you know why I’m going with this player, it’s because ultimately he was a goalscorer. It was all about him if he didn’t score and if he scored five he wanted to score six. Whenever I trained against him he was a nightmare. What a player, what a goalscorer, Jermain Defoe,” Dawson said.
Michael Dawson couldn’t escape Jermain Defoe
Michael Dawson just couldn’t get away from Jermain Defoe.
The pair played together at Tottenham for a little while before Defoe headed off to Portsmouth, but within 18 months later, Defoe made a £9 million return to Spurs.
Dawson also received no break when it came to playing football for his country. Defoe was right there with him for the majority of his stint with the England team, no doubt scoring goals behind closed doors during Three Lions training as well.
We’re not at all surprised to learn that Defoe was such a nuisance to play against in training. He was a fantastic striker who could finish virtually any opportunity that was given to him.
Training every day against players like Defoe, Robbie Keane, Darren Bent, and Dimitar Berbatov must have been a daunting assignment for Dawson during his time at Spurs.
