Adebayor Will Fire Us To Champions League

[Wardy]

I'm not wanting to sound harsh, especially to one of our players, but this guy is useless. He offers absolutely nothing to our team.

Defoe did more in 5 minutes of coming on than he did all the time he was on the pitch. I mean lets be honest, he's only playing because there's no other strikers available!

 

[SpurSince57]

You all greatly lack an understanding of tactics in football.

Adebayor and Defoe are doing exactly what they have to do in this team and yet people just slag them off every week.

AVB is a fucking clever manager. He realized after the first half of the season, which went solid, but not great, that our big problem is the lack of a class striker. Instead he turned to our most dangerous player, Bale, and gradually pushed him in the center, and started encouraging more runs from the midfield from players like Lennon, Holtby, Sig, and especially Parker (Dembele has gone defensive since we lost Sandro which is understandable...Scotty is actually far more mobile than Moussa so his surging runs are more potent, he also seems to have more stamina).

Now the striker's role in all this is not primarily to score goals, it's to create them. The striker is crucial in this new system because it is his job to control where the opposing defence goes through his runs, his positioning, his passing, his holdup play, etc. Today you could see clearly that Adebayor was the reason for our two goals. He played high up top in the opening 20 minutes then shortly after Bale began to drop back to pick up the balls Adebayor also started dropping deeper. This meant that Arsenal's backline was a bit out of sorts as they tried to adapt and began pushing higher up, which led to the space behind in the opening two goals. However, most notably on the second goal, you could see it was Adebayor's runs into space which dragged away the defence and created all sorts of havoc and space that Sig/Scotty took advantage of.

Defoe does the same thing now, after it was clear his goals had dried up, AVB switched them into almost likely subconscious playmakers. It's also why JD now seems a different player in the lone striker role, AVB has them studying the game much more (at least I'd assume because they are both markedly better tactically) and making the runs that lead to our goals. Obviously if you get a chance like Adebayor had vs West Spam you'd expect him to put it in and that was frustrating but overall since the start of this unbeaten run we have relied heavily on JD and Ade for the space that Bale (and the other surging midfielders) need to score in. Not to mention Ade in particular (seeing as that's who this thread is about) always puts in a real shift.

Our strikers are doing just fine and it's one of the main reasons we're winning. Adebayor is a smart smart footballer and it's no surprise our run of wins (and not just unbeaten with draws every other game, but a real run of wins) coincides with his reintroduction up top.

I'd rephrase that slightly, but yes to the rest. It wasn't only for Bale's goal that his movement pulled their defenders out of position; he was drawing their CBs higher up the pitch for most of the first half, and despite the claims that Arsenal were 'controlling' the game in the opening 20 minutes we came close to piercing their line on three or four occasions before we actually scored.

He's certainly not been the full ticket this season, but some of the 'criticism' is just hysterical twaddle.

 

[stevenurse]

He simply has the bastard first touch of Ian Huntley and Jimmy Saville. Couldnt trap a wet bag of cement at the moment. Im sure its a confidence thing and when on full form hes immense but when hes bad hes really bad

 

[Spurs2010]

He has been playing really bad. With Defoe in starting 11 we won't miss much imo. We will need to play more on the ground and use speed and it's not like we had any aeiral threat with Adebayor.
Hope that Bale will be able to push on Levy this summer to buy proper striker ( Cavani for CL money?, 35 mil + sale of Defoe/Adebayor should do it imo) as you could see in some games Bales frustration with finishing.

 

[nidge]

His booking yesterday summed up his season for me. Horrendous first touch followed up by a frustrated tackle that led to the yellow.

 

[joelstinton14]

Just seems to be lacking that confidence. We got 10 games left? if we can get 5 goals out of him that would be great. A confident ade is a great player, and his hold up play is a massive plus for us. Just needs to score a scrappy goal.

The run he made for bale goal though was great, took two defenders with him.

 

[deadlight]

Just seems to be lacking that confidence. We got 10 games left? if we can get 5 goals out of him that would be great. A confident ade is a great player, and his hold up play is a massive plus for us. Just needs to score a scrappy goal.

The run he made for bale goal though was great, took two defenders with him.

I'm really thinking he won't. (get 5 goals)

 

[Syn_13]

Just seems to be lacking that confidence. We got 10 games left? if we can get 5 goals out of him that would be great. A confident ade is a great player, and his hold up play is a massive plus for us. Just needs to score a scrappy goal.

The run he made for bale goal though was great, took two defenders with him.

His scrappy goal should've been against West Ham. His hold up play right now is poor, but yes, he did make a good run for Bale's goal.

I think he is still top 4 quality and I will get behind him. But I do think that he needs to up his game a lot if he wants to play regularly next season. Last year's form with this year's team would've been a sight to behold.

 

[Lufti]

You all greatly lack an understanding of tactics in football.

Adebayor and Defoe are doing exactly what they have to do in this team and yet people just slag them off every week.

AVB is a fucking clever manager. He realized after the first half of the season, which went solid, but not great, that our big problem is the lack of a class striker. Instead he turned to our most dangerous player, Bale, and gradually pushed him in the center, and started encouraging more runs from the midfield from players like Lennon, Holtby, Sig, and especially Parker (Dembele has gone defensive since we lost Sandro which is understandable...Scotty is actually far more mobile than Moussa so his surging runs are more potent, he also seems to have more stamina).

Now the striker's role in all this is not primarily to score goals, it's to create them. The striker is crucial in this new system because it is his job to control where the opposing defence goes through his runs, his positioning, his passing, his holdup play, etc. Today you could see clearly that Adebayor was the reason for our two goals. He played high up top in the opening 20 minutes then shortly after Bale began to drop back to pick up the balls Adebayor also started dropping deeper. This meant that Arsenal's backline was a bit out of sorts as they tried to adapt and began pushing higher up, which led to the space behind in the opening two goals. However, most notably on the second goal, you could see it was Adebayor's runs into space which dragged away the defence and created all sorts of havoc and space that Sig/Scotty took advantage of.

Defoe does the same thing now, after it was clear his goals had dried up, AVB switched them into almost likely subconscious playmakers. It's also why JD now seems a different player in the lone striker role, AVB has them studying the game much more (at least I'd assume because they are both markedly better tactically) and making the runs that lead to our goals. Obviously if you get a chance like Adebayor had vs West Spam you'd expect him to put it in and that was frustrating but overall since the start of this unbeaten run we have relied heavily on JD and Ade for the space that Bale (and the other surging midfielders) need to score in. Not to mention Ade in particular (seeing as that's who this thread is about) always puts in a real shift.

Our strikers are doing just fine and it's one of the main reasons we're winning. Adebayor is a smart smart footballer and it's no surprise our run of wins (and not just unbeaten with draws every other game, but a real run of wins) coincides with his reintroduction up top.

Any post which starts with a self-righteous comment such as "You all greatly lack an understanding of tactics in football" gets a dislike regardless of what follows.

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Any post which starts with a self-righteous comment such as "You all greatly lack an understanding of tactics in football" gets a dislike regardless of what follows.

I agree that sounds stupid in retrospect and I apologize if I offended someone but I wrote the post directly after reading pages on pages (also in the match thread) of one sentence displays of genius along the lines of "Ade is a twat he aint scored nun innit." He's been doing great and his play up top is part of the reason why we are winning.

 

[Lufti]

I agree that sounds stupid in retrospect and I apologize if I offended someone but I wrote the post directly after reading pages on pages (also in the match thread) of one sentence displays of genius along the lines of "Ade is a twat he aint scored nun innit." He's been doing great and his play up top is part of the reason why we are winning.

Haha, it's fair enough. But I still believe Defoe is better up front. While I agree with what you say about Adebayor opening up space for others, I don't think there are enough goals in our midfield (Bale aside) for us to continue using this strategy. I know Lennon, Dembele and Sigurdsson have all scored in our last 3 but we do still need a striker who can make those runs as well as score a few of their own! And IMO Defoe is the man to do that

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Haha, it's fair enough. But I still believe Defoe is better up front. While I agree with what you say about Adebayor opening up space for others, I don't think there are enough goals in our midfield (Bale aside) for us to continue using this strategy. I know Lennon, Dembele and Sigurdsson have all scored in our last 3 but we do still need a striker who can make those runs as well as score a few of their own! And IMO Defoe is the man to do that

Agreed there, if Adebayor had the finishing touch he showed last season I'd stick with him because his hold up play and physical presence seems a bit better but as of right now Defoe is the better option, and now that it seems like he has things such as outside of the left foot through balls in his arsenal (like we saw yesterday) I'm excited for his return.

 

[senseispab]

Just seems to be lacking that confidence. We got 10 games left? if we can get 5 goals out of him that would be great. A confident ade is a great player, and his hold up play is a massive plus for us. Just needs to score a scrappy goal.

The run he made for bale goal though was great, took two defenders with him.

While he's undeniably having a very poor run right now, I'm in the let's get behind him camp

He needs a goal, any goal, but his movement is good and he allows bale and lennon to do their thing in a way that defoe still can't

 

[jonathanhotspur]

The run he made for bale goal though was great, took two defenders with him.

Or maybe he was just running away from the opportunity to find himself in a 1v1. Every chance he'd make a balls of it and he knows it.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Or maybe he was just running away from the opportunity to find himself in a 1v1. Every chance he'd make a balls of it and he knows it.

That's obviously not the case though is it?

 

[kungfugrip]

Those wanting Berbatov need to remember the sort of player he is, lazy arrogant striker who expects the perfect pass otherwise goes on a strup blaming those around him.

People have short memories because he left Spurs for ManU is a horrid way.

Adebayor is going through a period of poor form but he is when on form a fine striker.

Short memories maybe.......almost 5 years ago though. I reckon a half arsed Berba is still better than what we're seeing from Adebayor.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

That's obviously not the case though is it?

I am not saying this off the back of one passage of play.

 

[Super Tottenham]

Just seems to be lacking that confidence. We got 10 games left? if we can get 5 goals out of him that would be great. A confident ade is a great player, and his hold up play is a massive plus for us. Just needs to score a scrappy goal.

The run he made for bale goal though was great, took two defenders with him.

I wonder how long it will be until defenders don't even bother to follow him, not like he is going to do anything if he gets the ball.