Emmanuel Adebayor: I would love to play for Spurs in the Champions League

[The Watcher]

I might be harsh considering the season he has had, but I expected more from him. I expected him to dominate defenders like he dominated us for years. I always thought he was overrated at Arsenal and City, but he always pissed all over us. He was always a physical handful. He doesnt do that for us though. He doesnt play the commanding CF role. I thought he'd be our Drogba, focal point of all atttacks. But he has played differently to how I'd imagined he would. He drifts so much more than I ever thought. Gets involved in play far too deep and far too wide.
If he stays, I'd love Harry or whoever is in charge to tell him to lead the line, stay central more than he does, get on the end of much more of Bale and Lennons crosses. He should be scoring more, in more games. Did he manage to score in every 1 in 3 games? Doubt it, as he ended up with 5 braces I think.

B+ for me this year. More goals next season required.

I know what you mean, but think you're being a little harsh all the same.
In the Premiership he made 32 (and 1 sub) appearances, scored 17 goals and contributed 11 assists. That's much better than 1 in 3. Has he not had 5 goals wrongly disallowed for offside as well?
Either way - the stats are still good, he's a proven Premiership goalscorer who requires no further time to bed in (should we be lucky enough to sign him) and for the money our club are prepared to spend I'd say they're a pretty good return.
There will be no shortage of people after him this summer, make no mistake.

 

[werty]

I know what you mean, but think you're being a little harsh all the same.
In the Premiership he made 32 (and 1 sub) appearances, scored 17 goals and contributed 11 assists. That's much better than 1 in 3. Has he not had 5 goals wrongly disallowed for offside as well?
Either way - the stats are still good, he's a proven Premiership goalscorer who requires no further time to bed in (should we be lucky enough to sign him) and for the money our club are prepared to spend I'd say they're a pretty good return.
There will be no shortage of people after him this summer, make no mistake.

Not to mention he didn't really have a pre-season last year. It's no wonder that he had a couple of injuries and went off the boil for a bit. A full pre-season + an extra year playing with the majority of the same squad and I can see him getting 20+ goals next year.

 

[RJ1882]

I know what you mean, but think you're being a little harsh all the same.
In the Premiership he made 32 (and 1 sub) appearances, scored 17 goals and contributed 11 assists. That's much better than 1 in 3. Has he not had 5 goals wrongly disallowed for offside as well?
Either way - the stats are still good, he's a proven Premiership goalscorer who requires no further time to bed in (should we be lucky enough to sign him) and for the money our club are prepared to spend I'd say they're a pretty good return.
There will be no shortage of people after him this summer, make no mistake.

Agreed. His stats are great. But he had some serious baren spells. Considering he had 5 braces, that leaves 7 goals in the other 27 games. Not great is it? I know stats can be made to look like anything, and i am not knocking him. He just didnt perform the role I thought he would. And I think he and we would score more if he was more disciplined and played more central.

 

[archiewasking]

I love Ade and would love to see him playing in the Champions League for us. And I agree, given a full pre-season and with a year behind him with us, he would be imho be nailed on to bag 20 plus goals for us.

 

[Spurs-USA]

He is by far the best available, realistic option at striker. We need to find a way to get it done permanently, but as others have said, if PSG/Malaga want him we're fooked.

 

[hybridsoldier]

In some ways where adebayour is not as clinical as Falcao or as dynamic as Lavezzi, he is a low risk option. He has been here a year and fit really well in the system, he gets on with everyone - all the players love the guy.

I think he would be a good signing because if you are realistic look around a the strikers and they are expensive as hell and risky. Where ade is fairly expensive but the risk is really reduced

 

[jonathanhotspur]

This is a tough one. He's by far and away the best we've had in years but I agree with a lot of what RJ1882, ajspurs and Spursh are saying. I thought he'd provide more of a physical threat. I thought he'd be a much better aerial threat. If you launch the ball at him, he hardly even bothers to compete in the air. How often does he win a header from one of our corners? I don't know that he can turn a game on his head and I don't think he's bringing the best out of Rafa. I think his form is highly erratic, I think he's disappointingly inefficient in front of goal but we still miss him desperately when he's unavailable.

I think we have all sorts of problems with our team, though. And I think we see that against the bus parkers, in particular. I don't think our fullbacks offer enough going forward, I think Adebayor finds himself isolated and roams too much, I don't think we have enough runners breaking from midfield and I think Bale's gallivanting has had a detrimental effect on us.

 

[Kingellesar]

We need him to pgoress to be honest, he has been the difference this season that we have lacked in recent years. If we don't get him, we will struggle to find someone who can do what he did for us this season cheap.

 

[ravo]

He is the best we can get, but he needs to understand that he is not worth twice Rafa's wages... Simple as.

 

[C0YS]

His movement has been key to our increased fluidity this year. People complain about him dropping deep and going out wide but he is mighty effective

 

[Ionman34]

Still not entirely convinced he compliments our wingers and especially VDV all that well.

Ofcourse I appreciate his excellent link-up play, but it's that link-up play that has adversely had a negative affect on players like VDV and Balennon.

This is because he drops off far too much into VDV's position, taking up space there and not in the box, and I think this has gone someway to discouraging Bale to stay out left and whip crosses in, simply because there is no one there to finish them off.

Ade is far more of a creative player than he is a goal scorer, so in this way he is more similar to VDV than he is to Defoe or Saha for example. If we didn't have VDV I'd be all for signing Ade, but we already have VDV, and I'd rather our wage space goes to a striker who suits our team more.

I'd sign a proper goal scorer/centre forward for next season, to allow VDV to play high up the pitch and link-up play, but also allow Balennon to get crosses in with someone determined to get on the end of them.

It's a good interview, nice words, and I know I will be in the minority with my views on Adebayor

Actually I think you make some excellent points here, particularly regarding the lack of a target for wingers to cross to, although I don't think this has had the effect on Bale that you suggest, he's just expanding his skill set.

Additionally, I think your point about his adverse impact on VDV is pretty much bang on.

Having said that, 18 goals and 11 assists in his first season is pretty shit hot by any reckoning.

I guess the question that really needs to be asked is which of the two (VDV & Ade) would be more effective off a pure No 9, as that seems to be the thinking here. This is assuming we get the option on Adebayor. My gut feeling is that it would be Adebayor as others appear to feed more off of him whilst VDV seems to be the opposite. Having said that, I see your point about VDV linking up play if Ade isn't there, it's just that i feel we'd be using a striker to provide avenues for VDV rather that using him for the primary objective of scoring goals whereas Ade, with his movement across the back 4, would provide more scoring opportunities for a strike partner.

 

[MrWoolley]

I'm slightly surprised by that interview (in a good way!), I never thought he'd speak warmly about us considering the history there's been.

I'm all up for keeping him, but the price and wages has to be right.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

His movement has been key to our increased fluidity this year. People complain about him dropping deep and going out wide but he is mighty effective

Totally agree and our other players around him need to learn how to play off that better. It should improve if we are able to keep him and get a good preseason with those guys practicing playing off him, going beyond him etc. Let's be honest it must be completely different to playing off Crouch or Defoe.

As for keeping him, we may have even more chance with City's apparent desperate need for a striker . Reports have them in pole position for Van Persie, triggering Llorente's £28.1m release clause and offering Ibrahimovic £300,000 a week. So that will leave them with Van Persie, Llorente, Ibrahimovic, Aguero, Dzeko, Tevez, Balotelli and Adebayor... If they are willing to offer Ibrahimovic £300,000 a week, I am sure they can supliment Adebayor's wages by £50k a week to get rid of him.

 

[The Apprentice]

The numbers just don't add up for a permanent deal. Can't see Levy sanctioning it, especially when you take in to account Ade's age and lack of sell on value.

 

[Spursh]

Actually I think you make some excellent points here, particularly regarding the lack of a target for wingers to cross to, although I don't think this has had the effect on Bale that you suggest, he's just expanding his skill set.

Additionally, I think your point about his adverse impact on VDV is pretty much bang on.

Having said that, 18 goals and 11 assists in his first season is pretty shit hot by any reckoning.

I guess the question that really needs to be asked is which of the two (VDV & Ade) would be more effective off a pure No 9, as that seems to be the thinking here. This is assuming we get the option on Adebayor. My gut feeling is that it would be Adebayor as others appear to feed more off of him whilst VDV seems to be the opposite. Having said that, I see your point about VDV linking up play if Ade isn't there, it's just that i feel we'd be using a striker to provide avenues for VDV rather that using him for the primary objective of scoring goals whereas Ade, with his movement across the back 4, would provide more scoring opportunities for a strike partner.

This is it, we have a weight up situation between Ade and VDV, and we have to chose one.

And seeing as VDV is a Spurs player already, I'd rather wages go on that No.9 than sign Adebayor. Plus I think VDV's movement (though he isn't the quickest) is still the best at the club, along with his instinct and finishing. His passing and link up play is also superb in and around the box, but we haven't seen in this season because of Ade's constant dropping off into his space.

For me, the perfect scenario would be for us to sign a top 'no.9' striker, and also sign Sigurdsson as VDV's understudy

 

[Mr Pink]

His movement has been key to our increased fluidity this year. People complain about him dropping deep and going out wide but he is mighty effective

This, absolutely this.

 

[Misfit]

The only problem with Ade is the wages. It's not just that we're not guaranteed an extra £20m-£40m from CL every season. It's that were to sign him on high basic wages - say ~100K, that's it; we've commited over £5m a yr on him for the length of his contract.

What if he, and I'm not saying this will happen but forgive me for considering the possibility, has another huff. It's happened at assnal and citeh. Clubs where he wasn't exactly an outcast and had flying starts. He couldn't keep that up. We simply cannot afford - not just in the figure of speech manner - to have £5m+ every season not being used efficiently, especially when it's all going on one individual.

It would impact us far more than it did assnal or citeh.

 

[Mr Pink]

The only problem with Ade is the wages. It's not just that we're not guaranteed an extra £20m-£40m from CL every season. It's that were to sign him on high basic wages - say ~100K, that's it; we've commited over £5m a yr on him for the length of his contract.

What if he, and I'm not saying this will happen but forgive me for considering the possibility, has another huff. It's happened at assnal and citeh. Clubs where he wasn't exactly an outcast and had flying starts. He couldn't keep that up. We simply cannot afford - not just in the figure of speech manner - to have £5m+ every season not being used efficiently, especially when it's all going on one individual.

It would impact us far more than it did assnal or citeh.

I honestly believe he's more mature now...

 

[mattyspurs]

I honestly believe he's more mature now...

I agree Mr P.

Everything about him says to me that he's matured. He interviews much better nowadays, and comes across as much more grateful for everything that he gets out of football, whereas before it was all about "me, me, me".

I don't know if it was the shooting or not, but he's changed.

 

[Misfit]

That's lovely. I'd love him here permanently. On the right contract though. Didn't Levy have a very nice contract sorta/kinda laid out. Hefty basic wage and generous bonuses?