Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has admitted he was almost "brainwashed" into believing Jermain Defoe could not play up front by himself.
The 33-year-old former England international has scored 16 goals in all competitions this season, most of them as a lone frontman since Allardyce restored him to a central role after predecessor Dick Advocaat had used him as a wide man.
Defoe's goals - he scored his latest in last weekend's 3-0 victory at Norwich - could yet get the Black Cats out of Barclays Premier League relegation trouble, but Allardyce has revealed he might not have had the opportunity.
He said: "He's been brainwashed - and I was almost brainwashed - into the fact that he couldn't play up front on his own, which is a bit of a nonsense, really.
"The number of goals he has scored since he has played up front on his own... Long may it continue.
"He's probably played more regularly for us than he has done for clubs in recent years, and most of those now up front on his own, which I am glad to say has borne us 16 goals in all competitions.
"I know some of them came by playing somebody else up front with him, but we were clearly a team, when I first started, that couldn't play 4-4-2 on the basis of how many goals we were letting in.
"Jermain might score, but we let in one more than Jermain or whoever scored, so if we scored two, we'd lose three if we scored one, we'd lose two and so on and so forth.
"We had to stop that - and still have to stop it."