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Coming to our Ade

So another window and still no striker. Except of course that we did buy a striker in the summer, and one who many felt could never be brought in.

There can be many justifiable complaints that we left ourselves short of attacking options when this season kicked off, but only one striker can realistically and significantly impact the remainder of the season for us and that is Emmanuel Adebayor. Only ONE!! other striker was more effective than Adebayor last season in the entire league and that was a certain Robin Van Persie, who contributed to an astonishing 52% of his teams goals ( goals scored and assists combined), Ade contributed to 42% of ours.

17 goals and 11 assists in the league (don't forget he also had two or three legitimate goals disallowed), the only striker to reach double figures in both categories, and yet people act like this signing doesn't count, doesn't in any way tackle the striker issue since Berbatov left?!? Yet these numbers are much higher than Berbatov ever delivered. Can anyone really tell me that there are players whom we could have brought in this January who would realistically match this level immediately?

We now have a brief period where we are certainly short of strikers, and this was something that could only have been avoided in the summer. Leandro Damiao was never going to be scoring freely for us in the next few weeks and no January signing will not need some time to adapt and settle. The big question is can we see the Adebayor of 11/12 make a return, because that is the striker we really need now.

The prevailing theory is that Adebayor couldn't care less now that he has his contract. I don't agree at all. 'I'm back!!!! Tottenham here I come!! I'm hungry for goals...Get ready' were the words from the man himself. What he really didn't expect though, was that he would no longer be the main man. Strikers are temperamental creatures and they want to be number 1.

There are mitigating reasons, he was not fit enough, niggling injuries, the red card and then Defoe's form, but the fact remains that Adebayor was very effective for us when played as the lone striker and that is the one thing that he hasn't been given the chance to do this season. Defoe is the worst striker to partner with, he is petulant when not picked, will never pass if you are in a better position and only cares about getting on the score sheet himself. He has frustrated every player he has ever teamed up with and whether he scores or not, his presence is to the detriment of his team mates' performances.

I would also suggest that his attitude does rub off on others too, Bale, Dempsey and Adebayor all shoot more often too rather than look for the pass. What the January window did bring us is the arrival, in Holtby, of the perfect replacement for VDV and perhaps the missing link to a rejuvenated Adebayor. Ade will miss chances, although he was scoring about 1 in 5 last season, but he will bring out the best in the others around him, he holds the ball up pretty well, is a presence in the air, and because he is not in anyway selfish he makes the whole attacking unit much less predictable and much harder to defend against.

It is time for Defoe to sit a bit, be used as an impact sub, and it's time for the star striker we wanted to get on a plane and start from where he left off last season. This is a world class player, he has experience in this league, he has played for some of the biggest teams in the world but both the manager and we fans need to start showing him the love ;) so Come On You Burkina Fasos

Written by Guernman

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Writer: Guernman

Date:Saturday February 2 2013

Time: 10:03AM

Your Comments

although Ade frustrates the hell out of me, that is usually based on what appears to be a lazy way of playing and also often an overplaying when a simply one touch or quick pass is the obvious option. Saying that, I am also frustrated because I know he can be unplayable when he is in the right mood and I dont believe he doesnt care, but as Guernman says, he needs to feel loved and needed. His injury and Defoe's great early form have perhaps made Ade feel like the back up and that has probably but his back up as a result. seeing his return and perhaps getting put back into the side as the lone striker will be somehow seen as a boost as well as an opportunity to make the position his own

oxfordspur

IF Adebayor improves his attitude, IF Defoe regains his form, IF they both avoid injury or suspension..... The problem is if they don't do all of the above, anyway going over old ground here we have what we have we just need to kick on and get Dembele to start contributing more goals from midfield.

MrSpurs

2nd? That's a 1st for me. Totally agree with this & I don't get it with the Ade haters. He is a better target man, better on the ball, better off the ball, holds the ball well, dribbles and passes well. You can also see when he plays that defending against him is different too, they don't know what he's going to do with the ball, whereas JD...we all know what he's going to do don't we? Me striker, me kickum ball at net thing...

GreavesIsGod

The point that Ade and Defoe can't play together is a valid one, and probably the reason that we didn't sign a third striker. If we are only going to play one up top then what is the point? I really hope Holtby can be VDVMkll but Ade needs to help himself on his return with his attitude and appliance in games.

Sebthespur

OK OK I'll settle for 3rd. Please lets now move on and get behind ALL the players to secure 3rd, giving any of them a hard time just helps the opposition. Don't forget that for AVB this season is a work in progress. COYS!

GreavesIsGod

Top article. Very well said.

jerkinmahjurgen

I do like Ade and when back can see us going back to a 4-5-1. Defoe doing what he does best and became an impact sub. I do not like Harry at all but he did get performances out of him. I think he is a player that needs to feel the support of the manager. AVB needs to put an arm around this guy and big up his ego. Then we may have a player. If he can not do this when he gets back then it is goodbye top four and possible top six. I still do not get AVB comments on Damiao. In saying we will not go back in for him in the summer. Surely we will need a striker for next season. Maybe even two and sell Defoe. I would still like to see a director of football brought in. Levy does drag things out and does not want to spend money as some of it is his own.

nothappyharry

It's true that his form this season has been pretty poor, but I don't think this is down to him not caring less because he has his contract now. He looked good in the City game and even more so in the Arsenal game, before the rush of blood to his head. All strikers go through lean spells, which is why, ahem, you make sure you've got enough of them :-/
I fully expect Adebayor to come good again, while all along infuriating with his occasional poor touch and fluffed shots. He is the level of striker that we need. Shame that we don't have two or three more like him.

darkenvai

WOW!!!! I literally couldn't agree more with this article! He's a world class striker, Defoe is ***** and wastes half a dozen chances a game and never picks his head up to look for the pass. We need an in form Ade...his distribution, his hold up play, his goals is what we need!!! COYS!

laughter7

'We love you Ade, come and re-take your mantle as our King!'....that's what he'll want to hear and frankly, if we have any sense, that's what we have to say and make him believe....a force of nature on his day we have no choice but to coax the best out of him...AVB step up with man management!

shedboy2

he'll probably get injured in the next game for Togo and be out for the season...:(

shedboy2

The article and all the posts so far have ignored the fact that there is an issue between AVB and Adebayor concerning his attendance at the ACN. Adebayor has publicly stated he wants to see Levy about this issue, hardly a good start for the return of our so called messiah. I think this could become an issue. But i agree that so much rests now on this one unpredictable, inconsistent, arrogant, nonchalant but on his day brilliant footballer. A pity we are in that position.

jacobslad

oxfordspur also often an overplaying when a simply one touch or quick pass is the obvious option. Come on Ox be realistic we ALL know Ade, in general, has a first touch like a cart horse. I was against brining him in from the start because of his attitude and I was derided because of it. Once again I have to say I told you so. It was so bloody obvious what was going to happen when we got him permanently. He only plays to get a contract and once he has it he knows he's made in the shade. Worst buy we have made in I don't know how many years. Ade will maybe come back and play well for a couple of games, then he will switch off and coast it for the rest of the season. That's how he is and he will never change. We were warned by all and sundry, the proof was there to see for years in the way he acted up in his previous teams. We were warned and as usual never listened. Now there are people on here trying to defend someone who is basically a lazy bas7ard who only cares about doing as little as possible for as much as possible whilst not playing to his best capabilities. Sorry but I never rated Ade and never will. Get rid of him ASAP no matter how "great a bloke" he is. This sort of stuff undermines a team and he is not a team player.

chrishove123

I meant a team player in the broader sense of the word not simply on the pitch.

chrishove123

spot on jacobslad, i dont think they like each other, i also think AVB will pick defoe before ade.

topspur53

SO BORED OF YOU LOTS FICKLE NATURE. One week Defoe is the best and Ade is rubbish, then one decent article later (errrr showing you last seasons stats which were amazing from a great , ex Real Madrid striker) and your totally rubbishing poor Defoe who works his socks off and is our top scorer. Leave the team selection to Mr AVB please (thank god- he sees them train daily you muppets!) . Sick of hearing so called spurs fans slagging off our top scorer. Yes he's a bit selfish but don't jump on his back about it.....aren't all great strikers meant to be a bit selfish? I think he's been dead unlucky in the last few games and could easily be challenging the top scorers in the prem. Ade is world class but don't count out my main man Defoe

willfry

@chrishove...i simply can't agree with ya on that one. If all he cared about was a contract he could have just sat on the bench at City making huge money. was he a knob at Arsenal, yes, but he was also much younger and surrounded by and coached by knobs. If we're honest he was treated very poorly at City(*poorly to the degree that a multi millionaire footballer can be treated) he went to RM and worked hard, came to us last season and worked hard. this season he was injured, when he looked to be getting back on track got suspended(suspended for a red, where he was overly passionate about making a big impact against his old team) and then injured again and off to the ACN. Lastly, he plays up top with a player that nobody would want to have a partnership with. So to say he's uninterested now b/c he got a contract doesn't rest in logic to be fair. Put him up top with Holtby or Dempsey playing off him and BOOM!!!! goes the dynamite. Son!

laughter7

Nice title to the article. We can hope that the real Ade stands up....and that the one we have recently seen was an impostor. There is no point in forcing Defoe to play through injury. We will get by on Ade, Kane, Dempsey. Yes it is a bit like going to a gun battle armed with pea shooters, but they are well backed up, and the rivals have weaknesses too.

TonyRich

Addy..misses Bassong......according to Bale, they were a Duet !..lol

82spursdebut

willfry- defoe is a yiddo! but you have to accept his limitations. Ade gives us a different option and given our lack of striking options Ade would appear to suit the style of play we'll require...

shedboy2

Adebayor has an unfortunate trait, he plays one good season, then either gets bored, loses his motivation, or throws his toys out of the pram. He has been a pain in the rectum everywhere he has been, Arsenal, Man City, Real Madrid, and now with us. Yes he had a good first season (on loan), no doubt in a attempt to secure a contract and a move from City. He then started this season at the end of the window, and unfit, after arguing money for months, and after we had lost at Newcastle. Since then he has had an injury (Christ knows how, he only jogs around), then he gets sent off for a schoolboy challenge v Arsenal so gets 3 game ban, then he returns, and plays like he doesn't really want to be bothered, and then buggers off to Africa. No doubt on his return, he will either be injured, or need a rest, having probably taken an extra week to return via Australia or some such place. He hasn't had a huge impact on our season as yet, and if we are relying on him to cement our 4th place finish, I fear we are in for a rude awakening, he won't be breaking sweat any time soon.

Frank

Sorry Laughter7, I didn't read your post before typing mine, apologies.

Frank

Willfry - from my point of view, neither is world class. I have always maintained that. I give credit when due, and I am am aware of their weaknesses. A world class player has a shot. Ade fails on that score, and as Frank says, he has this alternating good season, bad season thing. As for Defoe, I do not think that he can last a whole season. This hip thing may well be a wear and tear thing... Like Parker, he is not used to playing whole seasons... Plus he was part of England's squad in summer. 14 games left, and we need him to get at least to the 15 goal mark for a decent season for him....but after resting him a bit

TonyRich

I wonder if playing and praising Defoe all season was AVB's way of giving him a fair crack, and then when poor form or injury come's into play we go back to playing with Ade as the main man. Hopefully he will come back match sharp, confident, and buoyed by the fact Togo have had a great tournament

Jantheman

Guernman I agree with you. Abedayor all round ability adds to the teams performance. He is fast, tall, can hold up the ball, link up with teammates and chip in with valuable goals. A big match player. WE must go with Defoe and support him but he has no finesse or ability to find space. I dont mind him being greedy but he should be aware and sometimesd pass to better place teammate rather than always taking a wild shot.

camper

No need to post ,just read Franks post ,Adebayor in a nutshell
spot on .

big cockeral

I would love to know what the Spurs players and coaches think of Ade and a few others. I always new and dislikes players that "cheated" when I played and whatever level you play, I assume the feeling is the same. perhaps they know the player, hew way of dealing with things and also know whether the laid back persona is 100% accurate or false

oxfordspur

the fact remains that last season adebayor was effective as the lone striker with VDV in the hole but it did not work last season either with defoe. This season Adebayor has not started as the lone striker once. If he is given a run in front of holtby then we can judge him IMO

Guernman

Adebayor is a complex fellow. Hard to pin down whether he's an asset or a debit overall. The article makes a good case concerning his assets. 17 goals and 11 assists last season not counting the couple of goals that were wrongly called offsides. Splendid record and it justifies the fact Spurs signed him on for real afterwards. No one reasonably can doubt that the man has considerable talent and a record that he can be world class. We all want a world class striker and he is a world class striker.

---

That being said, I argued at length on VS before we took him on loan from City that he had a record as a malcontent at his previous clubs and was likely to be problematic here eventually. Now we face the question of whether we have arrived at that stage of seeing the problematic Adebayor. Many are saying that the man is a mope on the pitch now, not trying, lazing about in petulance. I'm not convinced that this is true, although I'm not convinced entirely that it's false either. As this article states nicely, he was injured, he's not been playing the same position he played so successfully last season, Defoe's not the easiest man with whom to play, etc. In summary on these points, the jury ought to be out on the question of whether the man is a mope this year. I haven't been reading any reports that he's been lazy on the practice pitch. It may well be that circumstances cruely have conspired to minimize his opportunity for success this season.

---

The proof of the pudding is in the tasting, as the expression properly has it. And in football, the proof is on the pitch on match days. It's close to put up or shut up time for Adebayor if he's to win our hearts. He needs to find his form when he returns from S.A. But to find his form, AVB needs to put him in conditions that are conducive to doing so, perhaps being the lone striker with that German scouser lad we just obtained in the old VDV role (although I deflect to AVB to decide whether that's the best way to utilize Holtby).

But let's face it, it would be pretty damned difficult for us to have brought in a new striker during the window with more promise that Adebayor brings back from S.A. If he produces in the rest of this season in the same way that he did last season for us, we will have found the right man at the position. Will he do it? Can he do it? The proof of the pudding will be on the pitch.

Total knobhead

Oh, and sorry that I was writing a post that failed to live up to being a total knobhead. I'll revert to type another time. But the job of a Fool in the Royal Court in the middle ages was to get serious on occasion, mixed in among the times that he played the role of the Fool.

I remain, the Total Knobhead

Total knobhead

Hate to admit it, but Demba Ba just was cheated out of a penalty call for Chelsea vs. some team they keep telling me is Newcastle on the broadcast. Took a boot square on the nose deep in the box. The presumed Newcastle team was dead lucky on that one.

Total knobhead

Newcastle 1 x 0 Chelscum

Total knobhead

I honestly believe that we were at our best when jd was on fire was when we played 1 upfront. It was ade coming back from suspension/ injury and having to accommodate him that messed up defoes form. This has lead to his recent drought in the 4-4-2 ...and particularly recently since ade being away defoe has been unlucky that apart from injury that against Leeds we were playing long mainly due to huddelstones off pace , poor engine and trying to do his killer passes to compensate that didn't come off and then everyone tried to do it! That was the worst half I've seen of ours this season we were dire against a team clearly more up for it than us. Norwich first half wasn't much better, we were bullied badly and frustrated , Norwich had clearly watched that first half against Leeds and were adopting the same tactics of closing is down like madmen and direct balls over the top causing us problems as that ape hoult found it easy holding it up and bullying our defence. Thankfully when holt by came on, his quick thinking and quick releasing if the ball and ability to be a pass ahead was very much needed (so glad we have him) norwich must have been tired because they couldn't close us down like the first half which allowed us to use the ball more without losing it. This intelligent play from holtby will in my opinion benefit Defoe if he plays upfront on his own and he will be able to recapture early season form. Ade whatever you say holds the ball up well , is a handful, and brings in other players , runs alot on the channels, scores a few goals and aerial threat. I would love to have got Damaio in but he would have had time to settle and when ade back that would be 3 players for 1 position and Defoe seems to be ok now, Spain won with no strikers. Dempsey can play there last resort I think the key is holtby and his link play is what we have been missing and we will be more likely to win striker or not. Coys!

Smiley1matty

"Spain won with no strikers," Smiley1matty.

Ah, a nascent IV VI nulla advocate. We don't need no strikers! Wave of the future is strikerless formations! Let's bring in Messi. Barça will sell for 500,000,000 euros. Go for it, DL.

Total knobhead

"Spain won with no strikers," Smiley1matty.

Ah, a nascent IV VI nulla advocate. We don't need no strikers! Wave of the future is strikerless formations! Let's bring in Messi. Barça will sell for 500,000,000 euros. Go for it, DL. tic (tongue in cheek). perhaps tfic (tongue firmly in cheek).

Total knobhead

I'm not saying we should play with no strikers just making a point about Spain . I believe although we didn't get a striker in like we all wanted I think holtby is the big signing and the key to making ade and Defoe perform better. I think to many times we have possession the other team puts all their players behind the ball , we then don't seem to know how to combat this and start hitting balls in the air into Defoe ..holtby is intelligent with his passing and one twos and releases the ball very quickly. If we play him behind 1 striker then ade & defoe plus Dempsey in emergency is enough cover really. I think we will be alright. :-)

Smiley1matty

I think we should just get behind the team now. I listened to talk sport for 24 hours and was left feeling let down and frustrated , arsenal signing the Spanish left back for 8m seemed to make it worse also. Jenas leaving made me feel slightly better. Newcastles capture of sissoko was bewildering to me why we didn't go for him, with Parker ageing and Huddelstone way way off the pace and the mediocrity of Livermore sissoko a French intl for 2m I knew he was near the end of his contract. We in theory could have got him and diame for 5.5m and sold Livermore for 10m!? ...anyway Damiao is 2 farsical to talk about Brazil's centre forward top scorer at the olympics available for 20m and his club said he can go ..we bid a pitiful 13m which I bet wasn't all up front either! Grrr , frustration is not the word! All that money we have made from player sales over the last few windows, and I love the way they conveniently announce we are at a loss for this year ..yeah right! ..let's move on tho, what's done Is done, w have thenquality to finish 4th and I think holtby will make the difference and looks like the player we have been missing. Let's just hope there's no more injuries. Would have preferred to loan Jenas and Bentley rather than Townsend.

Smiley1matty

Hell Yeah Guernman. My sentiments exactly.

thenuge

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