Jermain Defoe's goals steered Sunderland clear of relegation after Sam Allardyce unlocked the quality that allowed him to get the best from the veteran striker.
The Black Cats had struggled before the former England boss' arrival on Wearside, with Dick Advocaat playing the nippy front man in an uncustomary winger role.
The Dutch gaffer felt that Defoe could only operate with a strike partner but Allardyce realised that the veteran was more than capable of the role with the right sort of tactical adjustments.
In a similar move to the one that saw Steven Gerrard decide he needed to bring Scott Arfield further up the pitch to get close to the forward, Allardyce noticed that Defoe's best work comes when on the shoulder of defenders.
He told The Athletic : “Dick Advocaat had trouble playing Jermain as he had him playing in a wide position in a 4-3-3. They said, ‘He’s not going to play up front unless it was with someone else’. I asked him, ‘Why does everyone keep saying you can’t play up front on your own?’ He said, ‘I can’, so we did.
“From there on, we shaped the team to play in a way that we could get him enough of the ball in the right areas.
"Jermain isn’t the type of player who comes to feet. He lives off the shoulder, so we had to work out a system to get the ball up the pitch as quickly as possible and into the box.
“His hold-up play is OK, but it’s not his strength. His ultimate strength is reading the situation and getting on the move, playing a quality ball down the side between the full-back and the centre-half because he’s past them before they’ve adjusted. In the box, he was just electric.
“That’s his brain. It’s so sharp. Even though he may be getting on and slowing down a little, his brain is still faster than most people’s."
So impressed was Allardyce that he rates the Rangers striker alongside Nicholas Anelka as the best striker he worked with, no mean feat considering Defoe was past his peak - and the manager's long career in one of the world's best leagues.
He said: "In terms of goal-scoring ability, he and Nicolas Anelka are the two best I’ve worked with. He’s got an instinct when to take the shot or what type of finish he needs.
“A lot of his stuff would be first-time finishes and that’s what makes him so good. Defenders can’t get near him and goalkeepers can’t get set.
"I used to say to the academy lads, ‘Watch how Jermain works the defenders.’ He wasn’t temperamental. There were no problems. Just a professional who did all the training and did all the conditioning work.
"He was everything you want from a footballer and that’s all he wanted to do - to keep playing for as long as he can.”
