Tottenham are riding high, propelled by the outstanding form of Harry Kane. Fresh off of his match winning brace against Arsenal, Spurs will be hoping Kane can keep up his superb level of play to fire them into a top four finish. However, manager Mauricio Pochettino will know it could all come crashing down if Kane picks up an injury. A real lack of other striking options in his squad will surely be nagging at the back of Pochettino’s mind even as he watches Kane light up the Premier League.
If Kane cannot lead the line for any time during the rest of the season, it could be a disaster. However, even if he remains fit, it was a strange decision by the club not to bring in another forward heading into a huge run of fixtures in the next couple of months. From now to the middle of March, Spurs will have played four times in the league, had a date with Chelsea at Wembley and faced a two-legged tie against Fiorentina in the Europa League.
Even if he never scores another goal for the club, Spurs fans will still adore Roberto Soldado. But it just isn’t working out for the Spaniard in England. He’s like a neutered puppy. He still runs around a lot, gets involved and people love still him, but something is gone. You can see it in his eyes. For a player with that big a price tag and one who was so prolific in Spain, he just hasn’t been scoring enough goals. As a striker it’s as simple as that.
With Soldado’s confidence shot, that only leaves Emmanuel Adebayor to pick up the slack if Kane is unavailable. The Togolese striker’s history is very well documented. He can be good, very, very good but if he isn’t fired up, he might as well not be on the field. This season so far, he just hasn’t looked interested. In his 11 league games this season, he’s only scored two goals and even those contributions haven’t been monumental. One came as the final strike in a four goal drubbing of QPR, while the second against Newcastle was cancelled out as Spurs threw away the match.
Adebayor has a fantastic all-around game, with plenty of tools to excel as a top striker. He’s big, quick and strong with plenty of ability on the ball which allows him to score a variety of goals. But throughout his career, he’s only performed in bursts. If his head isn’t in the right place, he just doesn’t perform. He started against Arsenal at the Emirates earlier in the season, the one fixture you’d expect him to be fired up for. Spurs might as well have been playing with ten men.
While Harry Kane gives his team a boost with his energy and drives his teammates forward, Adebayor tends to do the opposite. His lethargic approach slows down the rest of the team as well. Former Tottenham gaffer Tim Sherwood was able to get the best out of Adebayor when he took charge in the middle of last season. Sherwood recently stated the key to doing so was to make him “feel like he was the main man.” That certainly doesn’t fit in with the current boss’ philosophy.
Source: tottenhamhotspur.com
While Pochettino chose Adebayor as his leading man for the start of the season, the Argentine prefers a strong team mentality to a group of talented individuals. It is integral to making his high energy game plan work. Having to fall in line with the rest of his teammates, rather than be told he was the star for everyone at the club to look up to, may have rubbed Adebayor the wrong way.
Although it would be have been ridiculous to be left with just the two strikers if Adebayor was sold, there was a lot of interest in his services. Besides obvious links to a string of Premier League clubs, there was also reported interest from Paris Saint-Germain and the Middle East. Surely the club could have brought in a replacement with the confidence that Adebayor would have been offloaded. Chairman Daniel Levy apparently stepped in to stop the striker’s move to West Ham on loan at the last second as he saw them as rivals for a top four place.
But, even in January, West Ham were slipping down the table and don’t look up to a sustained push for a Champions League place. Tottenham might feel unlucky that Sherwood didn’t take on the Aston Villa job a few weeks sooner, as he would have been very keen to take the Togolese striker off Spurs’ hands.
Source: tottenhamhotspur.com
If Emmanuel Adebayor is motivated, he can do incredible things on the pitch. However, judging from his performances this season, he doesn’t look up for it anymore in a Spurs kit. If Pochettino can get the best out of him, it could be one of the most important things he does in his first season in change.
Having someone in the squad who can ease some of the pressure off of Kane and keep momentum rolling in three separate competitions could make all the difference come the end of the season. The former Real Madrid, Arsenal and Manchester City man is certainly capable of it. But don’t be surprised if Spurs look back on the opportunity to replace Adebayor in January with tremendous regret.
Lachlan McIvor
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