EPL Talk » Emmanuel Adebayor

Emmanuel Adebayor Lectures Arsenal Fans on Loyalty

tyduffy — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:29:53 +0000

Before playing Arsenal, former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor said Arsenal supporters are “not real fans.”

“What is good at City is the fans. They love you. Arsenal have a lot of fans who are not fans,” Adebayor said. “Arsenal have fans from America and Jamaica. Today they are Arsenal fans, tomorrow they will be Liverpool fans, after tomorrow they will be Manchester United fans.

“If you boo your player every weekend, I am very sorry, you are not true fans. It hurt me a lot. That was the most difficult moment of my career.”

Ah, the uncritical ravings of a narcissist.

Football fans are the least judgmental segment of the population. They will forgive nearly everything short of murder and rape. Even rape might be forgiven in time.

They only ask the player to feign loyalty and to give his best effort. Emmanuel Adebayor did neither.

After scoring 30 goals in 2007-08, Emmanuel Adebayor and his agent tried to engineer his departure. He was disingenuous, stating one story on TV, then saying the exact opposite to reporters with the cameras off. He was not loyal.

Adebayor was not transferred. Arsenal doubled his salary to £80,000 per week. He then loafed through the 2008-09 season, scoring only 10 goals in the league. He gave so little effort, the club invented an injury to bench him at the end of the season.

Emmanuel Adebayor complains of fans with tenuous loyalties. Fans could make the identical complaint about him, and unlike Adebayor they have evidence.

Manchester City have good fans, who cheer him now. When they don’t qualify for the Champions League and Adebayor’s agent tries to engineer a move next summer, they will boo him, as good fans should.

Fantasy Premier League: 15 Tips To Get You To The Top

Kevin Coleman — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:30:40 +0000

With four Fantasy Premier League gameweeks already down, managers are starting to get an idea of whose scoring points – and whose not. With the forwards scoring points, the summer transfer window closing soon, and a two week international break upon us, there are a number of factors to take into consideration over the next fortnight.

Read here to find out how you can join the EPL Talk Fantasy League.

Scoring Strikers

Early evidence is showing the more expensive strikers are delivering the most points. The top five forwards currently total a price tag of 52.2, which shows if you don’t have at least one “big” striker your team is missing out. Didier Drogba has been on top form so far, as have Chelsea who sit unbeaten on top of the league table. The Ivorian has netted three goals in the opening four games, as well as making three assists. Drogba’s price tag has risen to 10.8, which shows there are a lot of managers keen to bring him in. If you want to add a top striker to your squad, the Chelsea man should be your number one target.

Alternatives to Drogba may include Manchester City’s £25million man Emmanuel Adebayor. Not a lot of managers expected the former Arsenal forward to do as well as he has done for City so early on, but the Togo international has a new air of enthusiasm and hunger about him. So far he’s scored three goals in his three Premier League games, and could be a snip at 10.0. If you want to go slightly cheaper than that, look no further than Jermain Defoe who has scored four goals this season. His price tag has gone up 0.4 to 8.9, so is certainly a good option if you can’t stretch for the more expensive front men.

The two most expensive strikers are Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres, who as you would expect are scoring goals. Rooney has been immense for Manchester Utd so far in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, and has taken on the scoring duties with four goals to his name. Fernando Torres is also delivering goals with three so far, but at 11.0 and 11.5 respectively, these two might be beyond your reach if you’re squad is without a big forward at the moment.

Transfer Rush

With the closing of this summer’s transfer window rapidly approaching, there’s going to be a raft of comings and goings in the League over the next few days. During the week Everton signed Sylvain Distin from Portsmouth. The defender’s price has dropped to 4.9, so if Everton can steady the ship he’ll be a great scorer and much cheaper than any other of Everton’s defensive options. Stoke City have brought in Robert Huth and Tuncay Sanli from Middlesbrough. Stoke’s defense have been big scorers this season – averaging 21.5 between the four who have played after just five games, so at 4.5 Huth should be able to get quite a few points on the board. Tuncay scored seven goals last season, and has netted twice for Boro in the Championship this season – his 6.0 price tag will appeal to many managers for their midfield.

Aston Villa’s defense hasn’t scored well thus far, but the additions of Richard Dunne (5.0) and Stephen Warnock (4.9) to their back line may keep out the goals. Portsmouth have already added to their team since the takeover with the arrivals of Michael Brown and Tommy Smith, so expect more signings at Fratton Park over the next few days. West Ham have spent big on a new striker from Italy, Alessandro Diamanti. They’re desperately short of fit strikers, so he should get some action up front and might be a surprise signing if you want to take the risk.

International Break

Premier League football is disrupted next week due to World Cup qualifiers and international friendlies. As the argument against international games go, there is always the chance of injury for some players. But it’s also a great opportunity to scout your options, as most will be on duty for their nations. A number of England players will be in action next Saturday against Slovenia, followed by Croatia on Wednesday. If one or two can impress in these games their form might continue into gameweek five and get you points. The Republic of Ireland will play Cyprus, followed by South Africa on Tuesday. Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle and Damien Duff will all in action, so be sure to watch out to see if they impress.

Arsenal play Manchester City in a fortnight. Cesc Fabregas may be back by then, so see how he performs as Spain take on Belgium and Estonia in their qualifying campaign. Andrei Arshavin has scored twice in his last two games, he might take that form into Eastlands after playing Liechtenstein and Wales with Russia. Manchester Utd play Tottenham at White Hart Lane, and both teams will have a number of players on duty over the week. Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney and Ben Foster will all be representing England, while Dimitar Berbatov will be keen to impress against his old side after playing Montenegro and Italy.

And of course, there is the chance of one of your players getting injured so watch out for the and icons on your team page.

You can read more from Kevin and others at his new football website, Back Page Football, to contribute get in contact with him there, or add him on Twitter.

New Look Man City Shows Great Attacking Flair, Comical Defending

Dave Warner — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:23:30 +0000

For as many times as Richard Dunne and Shay Given collided today, you might have guessed that they had never played together before in their lives.

Dunne’s defensive woes today nearly overshadowed the lightning-quick start to Manchester City’s season. In the third minute, Emmanuel Adebayor served up a through ball from the center circle that released Shawn Wright-Phillips far down the right wing. Wright-Phillips then served up the onrushing Adebayor, who finished spectacularly. At that moment, it seemed Man City would be worth every penny they spent.

It would be another 89 minutes before Man City would score again and clinch a 2-0 win. As you would expect, Blackburn Rovers refused to lie down on a soggy day at Ewood Park, but this game proved to be as much of an indictment of Blackburn’s finishing as Man City’s defensive issues.

The attacking pressure from Sam Allerdyce’s side often exposed the shakiness of Man City’s backline. Blackburn’s set pieces, including a number of long throws from Morten Gamst Pedersen, kept the black-shirted Citizens scrambling for clearances. Shay Given remained solid in goal, and Kolo Toure did fine work in one-on-one situations, but Dunne’s mistakes — including a very fortunate non-call for a handball in the box at the end of the first half — highlighted why Man City is pursuing Joleon Lescott so doggedly.

Blackburn controlled the tempo of the game for much of the first half. Mark Hughes’ side, however, looked stronger in the second half and showed glimpses of great attacking prowess, serving up classy through balls and attack runs that put players in great position to score. The pace of Craig Bellamy up front and Robinho and Wright-Phillips on the wings put the screws to Blackburn all day, while Gareth Barry looked strong in a more defensive role, Carlos Tevez threatened to score just moments after he replaced Robinho in the 68th minute, and Stephen Ireland’s late game-clinching goal was top shelf stuff.

Hughes deployed a 4-4-2 for this match, rather than the 4-1-2-3 I had predicted he might use, but with attacking players moving off their lines to set up opportunities, it proved effective. Regardless, Hughes clearly has the personnel to be very flexible in his lineup decisions, so we’ll likely see him use different formations to exploit different oppositions’ weaknesses — and to satisfy all the talent on his bench.

After today, however, Hughes’ biggest concern might be getting Dunne and Given on the same page. You’d think two guys who had been playing together for the Republic of Ireland for the last decade or so would have done a whole lot better than this.

Talk Of Manchester City Making A Top Five Is Premature

Paul Bestall — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:55:02 +0000

If I was an Arsenal fan, I’d be fed up already listening to people saying that Manchester City were obviously going to usurp them as one of the “Big Four” sides. It’s amazing what spending money does to peoples judgement when it comes to football and Manchester City have certainly caught more than their fair share of attention over the summer. To all intents and purposes, Manchester City will easily outstrip Arsenal on the pitch and leapfrog them in the Premiership.

So since last summer City have spent over £160 million pounds, but have they really bought the required players to turn them into a major force in the Premiership. In my honest opinion, no they haven’t. It’s easy to simply look at the figures they’ve spent and it all becomes an addiction to money rather than talent. For some, Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson have suddenly lost the managerial skills they’ve earned over one summer due to players going to Manchester City.

How has Ferguson lost his abilities by not signing Carlos Tevez? Whilst the vocal United fans tried to convince Ferguson to sign him up, Ferguson would not be budged. He was quite right to question how a striker who only scored 5 goals in the Premiership was worth £25 million. He consistently failed to deliver in big games time and again, yet because he ran around like a dog chasing a rabbit, he was “world class”. It is such an over rated term, that is consistently trotted out all the time as to make it almost redundant. Would you honestly say he’s a better striker than Wayne Rooney? Really? Even the most blinkered City fan can surely see the stupidity of that comparison.

Not one of Manchester City’s new signings is World Class, that’s a fact. Not one of them. Honestly, seriously, none of them. With the exception of Gareth Barry, Shay Given and Wayne Bridge, there isn’t one player who would be at Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea. Adebayor, Toure and Tevez have all been let go because they aren’t good enough for a top 4 side. City had clean run at every one of the targets they’ve signed because the clubs that owned the players were happy to see them leave, Barry and Given apart.

Craig Bellamy, over rated, over paid and has never, ever delivered consistently. A temper that causes more problems than he’s worth, I witnessed one of his strops at Norwich. Refused a decision by the referee, little Craig stomped his feet and jumped up and down on the spot for almost a minute. Pathetic. I wonder how long it will be before he starts texting his team mates spiteful messages?

Roque Santa Cruz, so good that when he left Bayern Munich, he joined Blackburn, no offence Rovers fans. If every major club in Europe wasn’t interested, how has he become such a brilliant striker after one good season and then moping around for a year hoping for a move. In 8 years at Bayern, he scored 38 goals playing for one of the biggest sides in Europe and one that consistently challenged for trophies at home and in Europe. That’s a dreadful record for someone allegedly so good.

Robinho joined Manchester City, then forgot who he’d signed for. Chelsea to be fair, wouldn’t pay over £27.5 million for him and by Christmas, they were probably glad they hadn’t. Another one touted as “world class”, laughably so if you’ve watched him regularly at Real Madrid. A good player, almost really good, but wildly inconsistent, prone to having hissy fits and a strike rate that doesn’t match the amount of chances he gets.

As for the two signings from Arsenal, Toure and Adebayor, Wenger must be laughing all the way the bank with his £40 million transfer kitty. He has, thanks to Manchester City, made a fortune from Arsenal’s two biggest troublemakers who were simply not at the races last season. If anything, Arsenal are stronger without spending a penny. The issues that those two caused in the dressing room and on the training ground had caused fractures through out Wengers squad in the last two seasons. Arsenal are better without those two at the Emirates, no question.

Adebayor famously attacked a team mate during a match because he didn’t pass to him, Toure got his gang to ignore William Gallas because he couldn’t be captain. Once again, childish, immature and bringing tons of baggage with them.Good riddance, I don’t know one Arsenal fan who is sad to see them leave. Not one. That tells you everything you need to know about those two.

This rag tag bunch of egotistical, money driven mercenaries are now all nicely tied up on 4 and 5 year contracts, earning more money than they ever believed they possibly could. Do you really think they’ve come to win trophies or count their cash? All this talk of “ being excited by the project” makes me laugh, it’s jibberish. It’s all about the money, nothing more, nothing less. Now somehow this team will be bonded and formed into one the best teams in England within weeks? It’s crazy to expect such results so soon.

How long before the cracks appear at Eastlands and the dressing room becomes a pit of ego clashes and cliques. If they’re not in the top 7 come Christmas, the pressure will be really on Mark Hughes. Rome was not built in a day and Manchester City could end up being more like Sodom and Gomorrah than the Eternal City next season. They will have all to do to keep up with Everton, Tottenham, Villa and Fulham, never mind crack the top 4 and worry Arsenal.

What Will Arsenal Do With the £39m from Manchester City?

tyduffy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:03:47 +0000

Manchester City are spending their way into the Premier League top four. Paradoxically, the club most amenable to their ambition is Arsenal, whom they wish to supplant. The Gunners sold City striker Emmanuel Adebayor for £25m. Less than two weeks later, they are prepared to sell them defender Kolo Toure for another £14m, as the 28-year-old Ivorian has been turned by the £100,000 per week wage offer.

If Toure’s deal goes through, Arsenal will receive £39m from Manchester City. If Fiorentina buy Emmanuel Eboue for the rumored £8.5m that would be £47.5m in sales. Their only buy thus far has been £10m defender Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax. Arsenal would, theoretically, make a £37.5m profit over the summer, enough to buy one spectacular player or two borderline great ones. Despite the influx in cash, however, Arsene Wenger has already issued his tired refrain about being satisfied with the squad and not needing to spend.

The situation is curious. It indicates serious financial trouble, or serious delusion.

Arsenal have their zealots, pointing out that Arsenal already have their summer signings, Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky returning from injury. They also have the young players stepping forward. This justification sounds familiar, because it was the same exact justification given last summer, when Hleb, Flamini and Gilberto left. It also resonates with excuses made in the two trophy-less seasons previously.

Injuries are another common claim. Arsenal had serious ones last year, most crucially Cesc Fabregas’ knee. Had players not been injured, the season could have gone differently. True, but what squad has no injuries? Certainly not Arsenal in the past few seasons. Clubs that win have squads that withstand injuries.

Chelsea have stayed pat. Manchester United lost Cristiano Ronaldo. Liverpool may lose Alonso, Mascherano or both. Arsenal, with wise investment, could propel themselves to title contention next season. Instead, they jettison more players from an already perilously thin squad, content to be relevant rather than dominant, proud to be a few points off the pace.

Arsenal are receiving £39m from Manchester City, but, if the club does not reinvest at least some of the money, they could lose nearly that much by not qualifying for the Champions League.