There are very few places happier than White Hart Lane when Spurs score a goal against their rivals. The sheer impact of noise and celebration sweeps across the stands pushing every single thought from your mind, even in some cases the name of the goal scorer. You know something great has happened, you know its […]
Spurs and Soldado Need Adebayor
There are very few places happier than White Hart Lane when Spurs score a goal against their rivals. The sheer impact of noise and celebration sweeps across the stands pushing every single thought from your mind, even in some cases the name of the goal scorer.
You know something great has happened, you know its important but at that split second you can’t quite grab the magnitude of it. Its like an having the Theory of Relativity downloaded straight into your brain, its just a bit too big. As Glyfi Sigurdsson swept the ball home, bedlam erupted in White Hart Lane.
The gentleman a couple of seats down from me, turned around looking for his mate, when they finally made eye contact he pointed down towards his leg, his blue jeans had a massive rip down them, from groin to knee.
“How’d that happen?”
“I don’t know, I have no idea!!”
The thing about going one-nil up to Chelsea is that nagging feeling that tugs at you. You know we need a second goal, your whole body craves it, yet it doesn’t arrive. Ripped jeans man, euphoria slowly settling on him is left pondering how he going to get home with half his crotch exposed, the rest of us wonder where that second goal is coming from.
[linequote]As Glyfi Sigurdsson swept the ball home, bedlam erupted in White Hart Lane.[/linequote]
Paulinho sprints into the area, beats Petr Cech at his near post but the post deflects behind. From the Park Lane lower crouched and poised to erupt into more celebration it looked like the Brazilian shanked it, TV later reveals we were inches from more ecstasy. The game, unbeknown to everyone turned at that very point.
The killer second goal didn’t arrive, our dominance was converted into nothing more than a slender lead. With a defence apparently as impregnable as ours, this may have been enough, but against Chelsea, a team who bathe in luck, it was never going to be.
So why didn’t we ram home our superiority as a title challenging team would normally? Were we at our maximum? Are we only one goal better than Chelsea?
There has been an obsession amongst Spurs fans, since Dimitar Berbatov took his Café Crèmes north, for the perfect striker. This season it seemed that the quest for a 9 was ended when we signed a man bought for what was at the time a club record fee.
Roberto Soldado, is a Spanish international good enough to keep the face scratching Chelsea number 9 out of the national squad. His arrival was heralded as the sign of things to come, yet six games in he remains on two Premier League goals, two penalties.
It’s a worrying statistic and one that if it continues will soon become one to beat us and him with. The truth is Soldado needs to start scoring, for his confidence, for the team and because he is a £26 million investment, 100% of which was based on his ability to score.
I am not starting to question his talent, but if this run continues then it’s a question that will be asked. Proof that he is a class striker is the fact that he plays for a international team quite capable of operating without a number 9, I just wish he would start scoring for Spurs. Of course he needs time to adjust, but at 28 and a full international, how much time do we afford him?
[linequote]There has been an obsession amongst Spurs fans, since Dimitar Berbatov took his Café Crèmes north , for the perfect striker[/linequote]
The biggest fear I had when we switched tact from Christian Benteke to Soldado was the fact that if he doesn’t score what does the former Valencia man do?
Thankfully it was Soldado that helped create Siggy’s goal on Saturday, but bar that he was anonymous. Against Cardiff his chances were snatched, yes he did brilliantly to be at the right place at the right time, but there is no point being there if you aren’t tucking them away.
One player who’s absence was sorely missed on Saturday, was the much maligned Emmanuel Adebayor. I believe that Adebayor is the key to getting the best out of our Spanish striker.
Soldado has spent a career attempting to prove himself worthy, first to Real Madrid after they cast him off on loan to Osasuna then sold him to Getafe. When he arrived at Valencia, he then spent his time attempting to prove himself the best Spanish number 9.
At Spurs for the first time in his career Soldado is in a position of comfort as the clear first choice striker for both club and country. Adebayor can be the spark to ignite the Spaniard back to his most clinical form.
Whilst Defoe and Soldado are similar in their style, Adebyor offers the opposition a different conundrum. When AVB switched one small goal-getter for another, the pattern of anonymity continued.
[linequote]At Spurs for the first time in his career Soldado is in a position of comfort as the clear first choice striker for both club and country[/linequote]
Never before had I hoped that Adebayor would come smiling down the tunnel saying he was fit to play. His goal in the away fixture of this game last year, is a lasting memory that whatever his faults, Ade offers something totally different and game changing to our other strikers.
When he regains full fitness, it will be his ability and different approach to being the focal striker that will drive Soldado to better performances and a goal scoring record.
[author name=”ARLombardi” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000190788876/b1d0a1120760e39338a815ea5827d7f8.jpeg” twitter=”ARLombardi” website=”arlombardi.com” tag=”ARLombardi[/linequote]
All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
14 Comments
Would you like to write for The Fighting Cock?
02/10/2013 @ 3:55 pm
Do you really think he’ll turn up,he didnt most of last season,nah get rid, he’s had his chance and ignored it.
02/10/2013 @ 4:20 pm
Totally agree
02/10/2013 @ 4:05 pm
As i watched this game unfold from the comfort of my living room here in the US at 7:30am, one thing stood out.
Why don’t our players pass the ball to Soldado ?
Paulinho should have squared for an easy tap in by Soldado
Townsend instead of shooting the balls in to the upper reaches fo the lower stands could have passed it.
Soldado unfortuantely is suffering lack of service due to the large egos of some of our players
I would love to see Ade and Soldado play side by side – i would relish the replay at Stamford Bridge
We need the imperiousness of Ade – that challenging, snarlingfront line would be fun to watch.
02/10/2013 @ 4:58 pm
Why is it that Dempsey having scored 14 goals (and no I’m not a Dempsey defender before anyone asks) gets slated to the earth by absolutely everyone yet Adebayor, who we’re supposed to believe is this kind of “Balotelli-esque” character who just needs motivating to bang in 30 a season, who manages 5 goals along with being absolutely dreadful all season gets off scott-free.
I am sick to death of all these Adebayor defenders, with the same old excuses of “Oh he works hard” or “Oh he had a good season 2 seasons ago” or “Oh he’s a nice guy”.
I hate slating our own players, you know he may be a nice guy in real life with his charity donations and working in Togo but at the end of the day our position isn’t determined by a friendly face.
02/10/2013 @ 5:40 pm
I agree with you and maybe i should have not said the article is crap but I will stand by my comment that the statement that Ade could be the saviour is crap. You’re absolutely right why slag of players who give their everything to a team scoring goals, playing hard for the team and the fans. I am sure Ade is a lovely person and great character but if you bring him in who do you lose. To me Ade is not the saviour
02/10/2013 @ 5:50 pm
Townsend did`t shoot once in the whole Chelsea match are you shure you actually watched it
02/10/2013 @ 6:27 pm
To be fair it can be quite hard to tell with townsend lol shame really he has so much pace and ability but similar to lennon with end product which can sometimes be a bit poor. I think if we need someone like Ade to be our answer whose qualities are mainly for his height and strength then spurs should have bought Benteke or some one of that ilk but Ade in my opinion had is chance took his money and delivered nout.
02/10/2013 @ 7:40 pm
He has some really good matches against Chelsea and some awful ones aswell
02/10/2013 @ 4:16 pm
What a Load of Crap. AVB needs to play the striker who is banging in the goals and who is on fire. Defoe, not give him 14 measly minutes like he did against chelsea, it takes players about that time to get into the tempo of the game. Personally I think at home AVB could play 2 strikers and away play just one. Strikers need quality service in to the box from wide areas or balls cut back or chips to the far post. Much too often under this system the ball is recycled time and time through the middle of the park which basically misses out the strikers. If you look at most of our goals so far it has been from central areas from advancing midfield players. We dont seem to get the ball wide and get to the by line and get in quality balls in to the striker/s. Because we have so many attacking midfielders in attacking positions eg 4 attacking midfielders and soldado there is 1 in 5 chance of the main goalscoring striker getting the ball often it doesnt find the striker as there are too many options and we simply look for the easy ball rather than trying to look for the sneaky runs of soldado and defoe. It is also quite congested with all our players plus there players in such a small area of the park. All you see is players shooting from long range rather than trying to spot the runs of soldado often because shooting is easier than threading the eye of the needle. Personally you need less attacking midfielders and more width with them taking on players and trying to get the ball into the forward with the attacking central midfielders making late runs into the spaces looking for half cleared balls, knock downs or getting on the end of crosses their selves. Also if have 7 attacking the goal you know there are going to be at least 9 players defending the goal which then becomes congested its hard to see these intricate passes to give one on ones so it all breaks down recycled and starts again. If you have 4 attacking players then there will be 6 defence players to break down so on and so on. By getting width and getting late runs into the box quite often especially against less disciplined sides not all the runners are picked up which often leads to having players unmarked in the box. As far as Adebayor is considered I dont think he works hard enough and does only when it suits him. Defoe gives 120% time and time again scores important goals then gets dropped and now idiots talk about bringing Ade back. People moan about Defoe moaning can you really blame the lad. I feel sorry for him but you bring up Ade what a joke
02/10/2013 @ 5:05 pm
1st of all you are bang out of order calling another spurs supporter’s article ‘crap’. have your own opinion by all means, but don’t try and use it like a neandethal with a wooden club. i like to think that we are better than that.
my ‘opinion’ is that defoe has the blinkers on and rarely brings the midfield into play, as he wants goals and glory. with a midfield as strong as ours, we need someone who isn’t all about shoot on sight. defoe never would have set up siggy for the goal against chelsea. defoe has got some goals, but who were we playing? some micky mouse team from norway and a 2nd string villa side. with that outlook we might as well buy the top scorer from the 2nd division on the strength of his scoring record and then wonder why he’s shit in the prem. ade’s good when ade is good, but those moments are few and far between, but in agree that he offers something different.
soldado’s moment is coming. have faith and love the shirt.
02/10/2013 @ 5:33 pm
I have faith and love the shirt but dont think Ade is the answer and the crap bit was referring to the one player who didnt turn up last year. I cannot believe how the writer of the article can state ade is the answer. I never said the article was crap, just ade being the answer is crap. As far as your thoughts on defoe i would rather have faith in a player who gives 100% to the club to the fans and to his team mates than a self absorbed fair weather player like Ade, but thats my opinion. I dont give a toss if you think villa are not a great team and defoes goals are not important. Goals give wins, wins build confidence in the player and in the team, do the maths. I just think you play the guy who is scoring. The article talks about soldado needs to start scoring goals for his confidence and the teams confidence but defoe who is scoring goals and building confidence in himself and the team and then is dropped. How does that build confidence. After my comment about the the crap bit i went on to make good valid points on our style of play and how to involve the striker more. The article is written very well and discusses things well but the concept of Ade being the answer is a joke. People should be picked on merit. I still feel the answer is playing with flair and width as the majority of my comments were.
04/10/2013 @ 11:51 am
firstly, harry kane is not good enough, even for the bench.(at least for now,just look at townsend).
Yes we need Ade BUT not to start alongside Soldado. I think our current formation 4-2-3-1 is solid. so no place for Ade to start. He started most games last season and all he bagged was 5 measly goals. He should be brought in to fight for his place by scoring goals every playing opportunity he gets, the way defoe has.scoring, not just working hard.
honestly, this is the formation i’d like to see.
………………………………….lloris……………………………..
walker…………..Dawson/kaboul……….Jan…………..Rose
………………….Sandro……………Paulinho…………………….
Lamela……………………Holtby………………..Eriksen
…………..Soldado………………
eriksen would play that left wing better than siggy.
this ain’t FM tho. sigh*
04/10/2013 @ 2:11 pm
Our service to Soldado has been woeful. Hopefully, Lamela can change that from the right, and Eriksen/Holtby can establish a relationship in the middle.
Long term, I don’t know if we need a striker. If we can get a front three who can all bag 15-20 a year and create interplay which can outfox a defence, we don’t need one guy to just score goals. We’re not there yet, but if our younger players can develop to their potential then I wouldn’t mind seeing a 4-3-3 with the front 6 being:
Sandro/Capue————Holtby/Eriksen————-Dembele/Paulinho
Lamela/Townsend——Eriksen/Siggurdson——Siggurdson/Chadli
05/10/2013 @ 2:55 pm
In my opinion Adebayor should make a huge difference this season to Tottenham’s chances of success. Last season when he departed to play for his country and came back later than intended it took time for him to get back in and then he got injured fro an extended period. Were it not for the fact that that he got back onto the team Tottenham would never have got within a point of Arsenal. Though he had a couple of poor games after he came back he wasn’t the only player who did just that and he did much to improve the team for many games and scored some important goals to boot during that run in. Defoe scored some of his goals playing alongside Adebayor up until Adebayor went off to play in the Africans nation’s Cup.
It took a while before in seemed to sink into AVB’s make up that he had to drop Defoe and replalce him with Adebayor. Adebayor understandably took time to get going on the each of those three occasions he got playing again. At the start of the season, after playing in Africa and after he got injured. But when he returned Tottenham played better as a team. The teams were poor enough particularly where creativity was concerned and the wide players had no pace left side while Bale adjusting to playing centrally was often ineffective despite his extraordinary season for scoring individual goals. Chances created for a lone striker were few and far between and yet Adebayor managed to score some important goals during that final period. Defoe as a lone striker hadn’t hit the net for about fifteen games in the Premiership prior to Adebayor’s late introduction. And the contribution of Defoe to the team was minimal whereas Adebayor’s was substantial goals or no goals.
So, to those who say Adebayor is not the answer for Tottenham I say he is the best option up front Tottenham have as a lone striker or preferably alongside Soldado. Either are better than Defoe. Time and time again Defoe scores a bunch of goals and dries up. He is next to useless to his team on too many occasions. This is a trend that has been recurrent ever since he signed and resigned for Tottenham. Jol, Redknapp and of late AVB have all learned that and far too often the hard way.
Some Tottenham supporters simply hate Adebayor. They over emphasise his couple of poor performances and understate his reasonably good ones and even begrudge his very good ones. They trumpet Defoe and rarely have the honesty or objectivity to pronounce his multitude of shortcomings as a lone striker, his remarkable ineffectiveness his lack of contribution to team efforts to function well. Adebayor helps his team mates to function much better. What’s more he is capable of extraordinary performance and can play various roles well either with another partner striker of alone in any top side. Defoe cannot do that and never could.