The Many Faces of Emmanuel Adebayor
55 comments September 19th, 2006
When Emmanuel Adebayor arrived in January 2006, it was in the shadow of a teenage boy by the name of Theo Walcott. Both he and Abou Diaby were relatively unknown quantities: largely subsitutes in the French league, Adebayor was the elder at just 21. His signing was greeted with derision by some, who weren’t happy about another seemingly obscure signing with a £7m price tag. Others were delighted that a striker with physical presence and aerial prowess had finally arrived. Adebayor started as he was set to continue: dividing opinions.
His Arsenal career got off to a very promising start. After his debut was delayed by his involvement (or not) in the African Nations Cup, he finally made his first appearance away to Birmingham on 5th February. The Togolese forward headed a scrappy goal in a 2-0 win, and was heralded as one of the missing ingredients to a side who had been bullied off the park more often than not.
Further goals against Fulham and Charlton meant it was three goals in seven appearances, and the Arsenal community was beginning to warm to the lanky front-man. A goal and two assists in the thrashing of Aston Villa, and Adebayor was suddenly flavour of the month.
But in amidst these goalscoring performances, there were darker patches. A clumsy display against Bolton was a precedent to what was in many people’s eyes the turning point for Ade: the game away to Portsmouth. In this critical fixture, Adebayor missed two unbelievable chances as Arsenal slumped to a 1-1 draw. Suddenly his reputation slumped from goalscoring hero to “Ade-Akin-Bayor”. Any player can miss one sitter, but missing two? In the same game? Even Arsene was moved to say:
“You don’t miss chances on purpose, but of course he is very disappointed.”
More disappointed were the Arsenal fans. Adebayor didn’t score again last season, and his diminishing confidence and Champions League ineligibility hindered his progress hugely. A fantastic assist as a substitute against Tottenham halted some of the criticism, but doubts were beginning to creep in about him, to say the least.
An indifferent World Cup and another bad miss at home to Zagreb meant that this season started in much the same vein. However, all that changed yesterday. Asked to plough a lone furrow up-front, he ran himself into the ground, won a penalty, hit a post with a header, and scored the vital late winner. He’s since been lauded by Arsenal fans worldwide for his excellent performance, and the man himself is feeling more confident than ever:
“Scoring is my job and I am happy to have achieved it. I’m sure that Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie are watching at home, and today I played for them. Now I hope for an opportunity to prove my worth alongside Thierry.”
The problem is, of course, that he’s just as likely to miss an absolute sitter against Sheffield United on Saturday. Yes he scored the crucial goal against United, but he also sidefooted a shot softly into the chest of their goalkeeper when set free by Eboué.
Emmanuel Adebayor is a walking contradiction. Dubbed by Wenger on his arrival as “a bit of a Kanu type”, he idolises the Nigeria trickster. He shares the same squad number, lanky frame, and continent as the Portsmouth front-man. But part of Adebayor’s problem is that he labours under the illusion that he is Kanu. Kanu is one of the most insanely skillful players in football: we as Arsenal fans know that he is capable of the nigh-impossible. However, Adebayor is not. As good as his performance on Sunday was, it was marred by several attempted backheels and flicks that simply did not come off.
What Adebayor needs to do, is focus his game around his strengths: primarily, his physical conditioning. Remarkably fit, fairly quick and superior to Kanu in his upper-body strength, it could be argued that Adebayor’s erratic touch and imposing form liken him more to Didier Drogba of Chelsea than Kanu.
Adebayor is Thierry Henry’s favourite partner up-front, and why? Because his sheer size draws defenders in. The physical threat posed by the Togolese is matched amongst our strikers only by Julio Baptista, who does not share the former’s burst of acceleration.
Their record together is excellent, and for that reason alone the 22-year-old deserves to keep his place when Henry returns. One only hopes that Sunday’s starring role will inspire Adebayor to match the goalscoring exploits we witnessed when he initially arrived in North London. If he does that, then we could have one hell of a player on our hands.
