Jermain Defoe has hailed the impact of Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham and insisted he will be fully recovered to face Chelsea on Saturday.
The striker claimed former Chelsea boss Villas-Boas has been "good for everyone" since replacing Harry Redknapp at White Hart Lane during the summer. Defoe has been impressed with the ideas and flexibility of Villas-Boas in inspiring Tottenham to recover from an uncertain start to the campaign.
Defoe said: "It is a massive game but, at the club, it has been fantastic. The manager has been great with all the players. "What I like about him is that every game has a different approach. "You know how exactly we've got to play, when we've got the ball and not got the ball. "Has he been good for me? He has been good for everyone. If you speak to any of the boys, they will say he has been fantastic. "Every player knows their jobs and he has been brilliant."
Defoe worked tirelessly on a heavy pitch in Warsaw to help England to a 1-1 draw in a World Cup qualifier against Poland which was moved from Tuesday to Wednesday night because of a waterlogged pitch. He will have just over two days to overcome any tiredness with the derby taking place at Saturday lunchtime.
Defoe said: "I'm 30 now. It was quite heavy out there on your legs, but I'll have a good recovery session and hopefully I'll feel all right at the weekend. "I did a lot of running on Wednesday, but you've got to do it. It is important to be professional. The first thing is you've got to work hard for the team. "I don't want to make excuses because both teams had to play on the pitch and maybe it was a fair result in the end.
"You've got to concentrate on the first touch even though there were a few bobbles. "It was difficult, but at this level you get games away from home where the pitch isn't the best and you've got to deal with it." Defoe felt England achieved a positive result in Warsaw and is now looking forward with relish to pivotal games such as the one in March with second placed Montenegro. He said: "Poland are a good side. I don't think many teams will come here and beat them quite comfortably.
"They are tough opponents and it was always going to be a difficult game even if the pitch was good. "People are now talking about the Montenegro game being pivotal, but it is exciting because they are the games you want to play in, the big games that matter, games where you know you've got to win. "We all look forward to that and it is never going to be easy. We've got a good team spirit, fantastic players, I think we'll be fine.
"If you look at the players we've got, experienced with loads of caps, I can't see why we can't get the results we need." In-form striker Wayne Rooney has made it clear he wants to play in next month's friendly international with Sweden in Stockholm.
Head coach Roy Hodgson fielded an experimental side in England's last friendly against Italy in Berne in August. But Rooney said: "I want to play all the games if possible including the one in Sweden and hopefully I can stay in good form for Manchester United and the manager will pick me. "We have done it for so many years, playing Saturday-Wednesday, Saturday-Tuesday at club level. "A game for your country is not something you don't want to do."
Source: team_talk
