Emmanuel Adebayor - Officially gone \o/

[Fuego]

^He's definitely capable of that, we know that because he has done it against us in the past. But this season when presented with chances he has finished like a timid kitten and it's so frustrating when you know as a player he is capable of such moments of magic as the above. It's like he and the ball are in slow motion when finishing in recent times yet everything else is going on around him at normal speed. Where has that spark gone? AVB needs to do whatever he can to find it.

For every one of those videos, there are 5 of the other kind. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krQJt1F8LPw for example. That one is from 2006 and UncleMikeNJ has the 2nd most recent comment. It's nothing particularly special, as I said in my other post. Ignore his performances against Spurs and his finishing was more like the one in my video than the one in your video.)

His spark was there against Arsenal, it always is. Just like it was always there against Spurs. He has scored 10 goals against us in 10 or 11 games. (I can't remember how many games he played against us for Real Madrid... His only CL goals were against us.)


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http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/16684/emmanuel-adebayor?cc=5739


Those stats are actually a hell of a lot better than I thought they were. It's too bad that there isn't a "sitters missed" column. He hasn't even had any bad misses for us lately, you guys would go crazy if he had one of the "skys it while alone in the penalty area" type misses he had for Arsenal on a regular basis.

Arsenal, 05/06, 25 shots, 15 on target, 4 goals.

06/07: 81 shots, 41 on target, 12 goals.

07/08 130 shots, 73 on target, 29 goals.

08/09 103 shots, 36 on target, 20 goals.


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You can't use evidence of any Arsenal player against Spurs to give a true reflection of them. Go back a few years and look at an Arsenal vs Spurs game and you'd think all the Arsenal players were Barca players. Look at the games each side of the NLD and the same players can't even play simple passes with no pressure on the ball. The team that plays us has always (as far as I can remember) been a totally different side to the one that plays the other 18 PL clubs.


I'll accept that Ade did occasionally score good looking goals against other clubs, but Torres scored a goal of the month contender earlier this year. The thing about inconsistent players is that you can usually find a highlight, it'll just be surrounded by a lowlight and many things in between.

 

[Spursalot]

He is a player who is currently trying hard, that is obvious to see, however at this level trying is simply not enough.

 

[diego_maradona]

He is a player who is currently trying hard, that is obvious to see, however at this level trying is simply not enough.

So Adebayor is not the required level for a massive club like Tottenham Hotspur. Is it unimaginable in this age that players are susceptible to dips in form, and if they weren't they would be regarded as greats rather than plying their trade with Spurs?

 

[jimmyb]

So Adebayor is not the required level for a massive club like Tottenham Hotspur. Is it unimaginable in this age that players are susceptible to dips in form, and if they weren't they would be regarded as greats rather than plying their trade with Spurs?

This is more than a mere "dip in form".

Ade's form hasn't just gone from very good to just good; or even from very good to average. It has gone from very good to poor.

And this hasn't been the case for a mere matter of weeks. It has been the case for the entire season.

Spursalot is absolutely correct. Trying, on its own, isn't enough for a club with our aspirations. Michael Brown is a trier. We wouldn't want him back. Ade needs to start justifying his exorbitant wages. Controlling the football when it comes to him and then bringing his teammates into play, instead of immediately and persistently conceding possession, would be a good start. Scoring goals regularly would be even better. He's rarely done either this season.

 

[Spursalot]

So Adebayor is not the required level for a massive club like Tottenham Hotspur. Is it unimaginable in this age that players are susceptible to dips in form, and if they weren't they would be regarded as greats rather than plying their trade with Spurs?

Er, strange that you should take that out of what i said.

I was going with the 'He is currently not playing well enough at the level spurs are at'.

Can you really disagree with that? If we had another option he would be sat on the bench.

 

[Jordinho]

But why does Ade get singled out the way he does? Defoe's form has been worse since the goals dried up, his only contributions are shots from distance that go wide. At least Ade is involved in our play and helps set up chances.

 

[Spursalot]

But why does Ade get singled out the way he does? Defoe's form has been worse since the goals dried up, his only contributions are shots from distance that go wide. At least Ade is involved in our play and helps set up chances.

He doesn't get singled out. Saying that is laughable. I can recall a number of people, myself included, giving Defoe flack for it.


It's just that it's a pretty redundant discussion for us to go into the Defoe thread and have a go at a player who is currently injured.



Edit: Also Defoe has contributed far more thus far this season. So he gets a bit of lee-way.

 

[Jordinho]

He doesn't get singled out. Saying that is laughable. I can recall a number of people, myself included, giving Defoe flack for it.


It's just that it's a pretty redundant discussion for us to go into the Defoe thread and have a go at a player who is currently injured.

When they were both playing together I seem to recall Ade getting most of the criticism, even suggestions that he was the reason Defoe was playing poorly.

 

[jimmyb]

But why does Ade get singled out the way he does? Defoe's form has been worse since the goals dried up, his only contributions are shots from distance that go wide. At least Ade is involved in our play and helps set up chances.

Ade doesn't get singled out. Your own post proves it.

I disagree, by the way, with the claim that Ade helps to set up chances for his teammates. Not this season, he doesn't - though, obviously, I'd be delighted if he could at least start to show us that side of his game again.

 

[Jurgen the German]

What about all the games this season where w have been wanting I'm to deliver or us and he has consistently failed? You talk as if it is our thought he is not playing well. Ade has had a long time this season to get his brick together, we only have 12 league matches left this season.

I simply cannot remember any other striker in our in our recent or even distant past that has had such a shocking goal return together with so many poor performances and still has so many fans defending him. I really would not mind as much as if other players got the same support after a many sham logic performances.

Last season he was not brilliant but he was good there is no denying that fact. Methins he missed too many chances to be brilliant, but this season, 15 minutes against Arsenal apart, he has been poor. Each time I as Ade on the pitch I keep hoping this s wen he is going to spark his season, but each match alas.......

I get that as Spurs fans, we should be 100% behind all Spurs players, but that doesn't mean we should have to bury our heads in the sand and pretend he is playing great like onlyme believes and invent stats that somehow show he isn't playing badly. This reminds me so much of two seasons ago when some people didn't want to acknowledge that Defoe was playing badly, made endless excuses for him and insisted he would come good.

Let's go through his performances in the last 8 weeks or so:

Swansea (h) Decent performance.
Stoke (h) Put a shift in, but as a team, we failed to break them down so can't pin all the blame on him for that.
Villa (a) Ok
Sunderland (a) Poor, missed some absolute sitters.
Reading (h) Scored a goal, good overall play.
Coventry (h) Shocking quite frankly. The ball kept bouncing off him. Never looked like scoring.
QPR (a) Missed a chance any decent striker should bury, bad performance.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine (h) Not on for long but looked up for it.
Lyon (h) Missed another great chance, I even read a post where it said he was "unlucky not to score"! I don't know how you can be unlucky when you have a relative one on one and miss the target.

A total of 1 goal in those games. People may think I am oversimplfying things, but strikers are paid to score goals. If he had played great or even very good in all of those games, then I would defend him to some extent, but that isn't the case. In a team where the midfielders don't score enough for the most part, we really can't afford to have the luxury of having a striker that also isn't scoring enough. His overall play is important, but I would rather he played crap and score 10 goals in the last 12 then played ok and score 2 in the last 12.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I fully accept the ban that might possibly result in me posting this video but it's the thing that's annoyed me the most about Ade this season.

[video=youtube;06GBPZlmvjM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06GBPZlmvjM[/video]

^He's definitely capable of that, we know that because he has done it against us in the past. But this season when presented with chances he has finished like a timid kitten and it's so frustrating when you know as a player he is capable of such moments of magic as the above. It's like he and the ball are in slow motion when finishing in recent times yet everything else is going on around him at normal speed. Where has that spark gone? AVB needs to do whatever he can to find it.

Perhaps things would be different if we'd have got him earlier in the summer as I guess the lack of pre season meant it took him longer to get up to speed and then with the injuries, African cup of nations with the issues it seems to bring along, tinkling away our chance of getting a result at the Emirates and questionable comments to the media there has been a bit too much drama and not enough of him doing what he's meant to be good at.

As said though, he's our best option and we should be getting behind him for the rest of the season in the hope that he'll return to form.

Did he ever miss a chance against Spurs when he played for Arsenal?

 

[Jurgen the German]

Just like your user name you can never make your mind up.

Looking through your posts I see you describe Arsenal as superb so now it is clear.
You are obviously a gooner. It must really wind you up that one of your ex players who so famously wound the Arsenal fans up with his sliding celebration is doing so well and helping Spurs on our current winning run. Were you at the game when Ade did the sliding celebration? Is that why you hate him so much?

As for the other guys here who don't like Ade I will ask a simple question..do you want him dropped?

I predict he will score 2 goals in the next 3 games and will reach at least 10 total goals for the season despite being unfit for half the season, banned for several games and going away for the ACN and playing a completely different role to last season.
We have been winning while he is playing and long may both continue.

We are winning in spite of his play at the moment, not because of it. Bale is doing the striker's jobs for them.

How long ago was this injury and how long will it be an excuse for? The same leeway isn't given to Parker or any other player so I don't know why Ade deserves special treatment.

The ban was a result of a stupid challenge BY ADE, no one to blame but himself there for getting sent off and having to sit out 3 games.

 

[onlyme]

I get that as Spurs fans, we should be 100% behind all Spurs players, but that doesn't mean we should have to bury our heads in the sand and pretend he is playing great like onlyme believes and invent stats that somehow show he isn't playing badly. This reminds me so much of two seasons ago when some people didn't want to acknowledge that Defoe was playing badly, made endless excuses for him and insisted he would come good.

Let's examine his contribution to team success in the last 8 weeks or so:

Swansea (h) WON 1-0
Stoke (h) DREW
Villa (a) WON 4-0
Sunderland (a) WON 2-1
Reading (h) Scored a goal, good overall play WON 3-1
Coventry (h) WON 3-0
QPR (a) DREW
Saudi Sportswashing Machine (h) WON 2-1
Lyon (h) WON 2-1

A total of 1 goal in those games. People may think I am oversimplfying things, but strikers are paid to score goals. If he had played great or even very good in all of those games, then I would defend him to some extent, but that isn't the case. In a team where the midfielders don't score enough for the most part, we really can't afford to have the luxury of having a striker that also isn't scoring enough. His overall play is important, but I would rather he played crap and score 10 goals in the last 12 then played ok and score 2 in the last 12.

People might think something else.

 

[diego_maradona]

Many posters in this thread are absolutely typical of today's football fans who put unrelentless pressure on the players to perform at the very highest level for every minute for every season. We are hungry for success and simply don't tolerate any dip (and yes it is a dip) in form, and demand for the player in question to be dropped. I myself can be guilty of it. But Ade's season hasn't really got off the ground. He needs an opportunity to build some momentum.

Perhaps we can't afford this luxury but we also don't have too much of a choice. I think we are completely unrealistic in our expectations most of the time. Yes I won't disagree he needs to better but some of the garbage I read on my twitter feed from friends, or fellow spurs fans about him not giving a dam, only playing for himself, and a contract is silly. Even Gary Jacobs was saying the same. The pressure is unreal at this level.

We are lacking VDV and Luka, we have a team who take too many touches of the ball before releasing it, making it incredibly difficult for out strikers to find that space in which to operate.

My point is, yes he can do better, but it isn't as simple as him just going off the boil, there is psychology behind a lot of factors as to why maybe a player doesn't perform. The team dynamic. And even a bit of fortune. He just needs to keep working hard and doing what he's good at. Bringing others into the game and being involved himself

 

[onlyme]

Let's examine the results while Ade was in Africa

DREW 1-1 UNITED
LOST 1-2 LEEDS
DREW 1-1 NORWICH
WON 1-0 WBA

Last game was absolutely appalling to watch and we could have been spanked in the first half.

 

[jimmyb]

Many posters in this thread are absolutely typical of today's football fans who put unrelentless pressure on the players to perform at the very highest level for every minute for every season. We are hungry for success and simply don't tolerate any dip (and yes it is a dip) in form, and demand for the player in question to be dropped. I myself can be guilty of it. But Ade's season hasn't really got off the ground. He needs an opportunity to build some momentum.

Perhaps we can't afford this luxury but we also don't have too much of a choice. I think we are completely unrealistic in our expectations most of the time. Yes I won't disagree he needs to better but some of the garbage I read on my twitter feed from friends, or fellow spurs fans about him not giving a dam, only playing for himself, and a contract is silly. Even Gary Jacobs was saying the same. The pressure is unreal at this level.

We are lacking VDV and Luka, we have a team who take too many touches of the ball before releasing it, making it incredibly difficult for out strikers to find that space in which to operate.

My point is, yes he can do better, but it isn't as simple as him just going off the boil, there is psychology behind a lot of factors as to why maybe a player doesn't perform. The team dynamic. And even a bit of fortune. He just needs to keep working hard and doing what he's good at. Bringing others into the game and being involved himself

Unrelentless pressure for every minute of the season? An oxymoron, surely?

And, no, this isn't just a "dip in form". It's much longer and much deeper than that.

I would say that, on the whole, the fans at games have been fairly patient with Ade. Criticising his performances on internet message boards is fine. More importantly, justified.

 

[Rossi22]

Our two top earners are Gareth Bale and Emmanuel Adebayor. One has been our best player, the other [arguably] our worst. It's no surprise that he's getting criticised and it's justified. If he doesn't start contributing then we're seriously at risk of losing out on the CL again.

 

[jimmyb]

Let's examine the results while Ade was in Africa

DREW 1-1 UNITED
LOST 1-2 LEEDS
DREW 1-1 NORWICH
WON 1-0 WBA

Last game was absolutely appalling to watch and we could have been spanked in the first half.

Rather than concentrating on the results, why not concentrate on Ade's performances instead? If we've been winning games, it has had little to do with Ade's contribution. If we have been losing or drawing games, it has had little to do with Ade's absence (on current form).

No one could say, with a straight face, that Ade has been playing even remotely well. It's not a crime to say it. Or to admit it. In fact, it's healthy to do so. Much better to admit the truth than to deny it and carry on regardless.

 

[onlyme]

Rather than concentrating on the results, why not concentrate on Ade's performances instead? If we've been winning games, it has had little to do with Ade's contribution. If we have been losing or drawing games, it has had little to do with Ade's absence (on current form).

No one could say, with a straight face, that Ade has been playing even remotely well. It's not a crime to say it. Or to admit it. In fact, it's healthy to do so. Much better to admit the truth than to deny it and carry on regardless.

Slight flaw in your argument-opinion is NOT truth.

 

[diego_maradona]

Unrelentless pressure for every minute of the season? An oxymoron, surely?

And, no, this isn't just a "dip in form". It's much longer and much deeper than that.

I would say that, on the whole, the fans at games have been fairly patient with Ade. Criticising his performances on internet message boards is fine. More importantly, justified.

you know what I mean!

Of course criticisms are good and I'm just countering your view. I think Torres is more than just a dip. Ade missed a fair portion of the season and then has been either sent off or ACN duty. So whilst he's not been great its not so easy just to come in and perform in demand unfortunately. I think the team aren't playing as fluently as last season either