THE NEW HENRY?
Adebayor has modeled himself on Thierry Henry. Inspite of the fact he was the central striker for Arsenal you often saw him drifting to the left in a Henry-esque way. He did not have the electric pace of Henry but was reasonably fast. Moreover he was a great aerial threat that Henry never was. He was a menace to opposition defenders on corners and free kicks.
2006-2007
In his first full season at Arsenal in 2006-07 Adebayor was in the shadow of Henry. Every player at Arsenal was. You could see the pressure Henry put on them to pass the ball to him. He never really got the chance to express himself fully. But I think he learned a lot from the way Henry played the game during this time. In Henry's absence Adebayor even scored to beat ManU at Old Trafford. This showed he could lead the line for Arsenal
2007-2008
The almost season for Arsenal. Adebayor was a giant in this season - scoring at will. It helped that he was getting great service from Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Flamini and co. In PL 36 games he scored 24 goals - an excellent tally. Moreover most of the goals he scored were of the highest quality. None more so than the goal against Tottenham at White Hart lane - a brilliant volley from outside the box. He scored with headers, left foot, right foot, volleys, low shots, all kinds of goals. In Europe Adebayor was not as good. He missed chances as Arsenal went out to Liverpool in CL quarters. But overall it was a brilliant season for the Togo striker. He won the PFA player of the year and his wonder goal against Spurs was the Goal of the year!
However Adebayor got into a fight with Bendtner on the pitch during the Carling Cup match with Spurs. An ugly moment which was totally avoidable.
2008-2009
Just before the 2008 season began Arsenal were in turmoil with experienced playes leaving left right and centre. Flamini began the rot as he decided to go to Milan. Hleb followed by leaving for Barcelona. Now these moves were linked to Arsenal's lack of money and the players wanting to leave London. Fabregas was heavily linked to Barcelona and Adebayor to Milan and Barcelona. He made the mistake of coming out and commenting on these links and apparently being in favour of the move to Milan. Now if players were leaving Arsenal and none were coming in Adebayor was within his rights to feel that he too should leave the club. He however made the mistake of slagging his mouth off and this would cause problems later. He was not sold and signed a new contract that his performance deserved.
The season began badly for Arsenal as we went down to Hull City, Stoke, Fulham and Man City in quick succession. All Arsenal players were performing badly and Adebayor was totally off colour. However he found himself to be the subject of Arsenal fans' ire who were angry after his comments in the pre-season. Infact in this season most fans were looking for players to boo and criticize as frustration at the team's performances rose. Eboue and Bendtner were heavily booed for some average performances. Adebayor was not playing badly - he just did not have the right service. Plus the team spirit that characterized the 2007-2008 season was missing. Gallas was stripped of captaincy after an ugly incident. van Persie made disparaging comments on his team mates. Arsenal were unlucky with injuries as Fabregas, Rosicky, Walcott and Adebayor himself were out for long periods. Arsenal seemed to be a lost club to us supporters and also the players at times.
HIS PERFORMANCE - QUITE GOOD!
Adebayor did try. He played well after coming back from a 2 month layoff in early April especially in Europe. He scored an excellent goal in the away leg against Villareal which sealed Arsenal's progress to the Semi finals. 9 games in CL saw Adebayor scoring 6 times! In 27 PL games he scored 10 times.
All in all he did well and deserved some credit for Arsenal's progress especially in Europe.
2009-2010 - SOLD OFF
This summer he was sold to Man City for a tidy sum of 25 million pounds. We saw Arsenal fans welcoming the move. Why were fans rejoicing when their top goal scorer for the last two seasons was leaving the club ? I always felt an Arsenal side with a fit and firing Adebayor was almost impossible to beat.
The negative appraisal by the fans and some wrangling within the team was the possible cause of Adebayor leaving. Was it justified - I think not. He deserved his place at Arsenal and the fans were wrong to critisize him because of one statement made at a time when it seemed Arsenal were falling apart. You can't blame him for wanting to jump ship when it seemed everyone else was. Maybe he was told Fabregas was leaving too and Wenger to Real Madrid or some place. He is an emotional man so instead to staying mum like the other players he made some candid comments based on hearsay and rumours. How many times have we all done such things? He is only human!
MAN CITY and THE ARSENAL MATCH
After moving to Man City Adebayor has showed great goal scoring form. Unfortunately his behaviour at the match with Arsenal was very bad. Deliberately stamping on van Persie was not on. However when he played football during the match he was excellent and scored the decisive goal. The celebration before the Arsenal fans was wrong too. I think someone needs to talk to him - he is young and aware of his great ability - maybe that is getting to his head. That can happen sometimes but that does not make him a bad player or a dishonest man. There are worse offenders than Adebayor - Wayne Rooney for once is guilty of stamping 4-5 times in the season. Paul Scholes as well.
Here's wishing all the best to Adebayor - except against Arsenal!
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