In an article today by Espn Soccernet the Professional Footballers’ Association Chief Gordon Taylor tries to play middle sibling. I want to call attention to a few particular excerpts from the article.
“Of course no one can condone what happened with Adebayor, and I am not going to condone it, but there was a lynch mob mentality with Eduardo, and now one with the former Arsenal player.
“We all need to be careful that we are just attacking another player rather than making general, but important points about the game.”
Here are some general statements. Hard tackling is hard tackling. It’s a part of the game. But when a player sets out to hurt another player whether it be spur of the moment or meditated beforehand it deserves action. If it happens once maybe, you get a card or a pass. But if it happens on two occasions followed by a riot-inducing celebration emotions have nothing to do with it. How does a supposed dive have anything to do with malicious intent?
So I agree with the first point on Eduardo. But lynch mob away on Adebayor. Hey, they did it to Joey Barton.
“When I say there has to be understanding, there is mitigation, there is a history to this; there was the abuse he suffered, and everyone is human, and he felt the emotion of the day when he was out to prove something after what happened to him at Arsenal. And he was aware of what had been said at Arsenal, that the atmosphere had improved after he left. The emotion got on top of him.”
So is emotion an excuse for cutting a player’s face and almost breaking a player’s leg?
“But I fear it was an accident waiting to happen, the way the two lads [Adebayor and Kolo Toure] left Arsenal and were keen to prove a point. I wonder whether anything was said to them about cooling it.”
Mind you that Kolo did nothing. This has nothing to do with how they left Arsenal it has everything to do with the classless act of a single player.
“Players do have a responsibility, and they must learn to count to ten, because none of us want to return to the crowd trouble of the 80s. Neither should players have to put up with such vindictive crowds making it so personal.”
You blame the fans for this? You blame the people who pay money to see the games? You blame us? Come on. I’m sorry sir, but these players are paid millions to play a game and to play it respectfully. After two attacks on two separate players, his own words in the press and his absolute dysfunctional behavior at the end of the season last year you blame the fans. Look, I get it. Don’t take it personally, but when the league does nothing when the player is talking, when his team does nothing, when the ref does nothing, what do you expect?
Look at the tapes a few more times chief. It’s one of your footballers that you should be giving lessons to. If there’s anyone to blame outside of Man City or Adebayor itself, it’s you.
Here’s the article by Harry Harris at ESPN Soccernet: http://bit.ly/S68x0
Filed under: Adebayor, Arsenal, Man City, Van Persie | Tags: Adebayor, Arsenal, Man City, Van Persie
If you haven’t heard yet Emmanuel Adebayor is a face stomping, money grubbing, showboater.
Adebayor is a Face Stomper
Let’s start with the face stomping of Robin Van Persie.
Van Persie Bleeding After Being Stomped by Emmanuel Adebayor
If you haven’t seen the video, check it out here. It would be easy to pass this off in real time, saying he was just following through with his run, so it is of no surprise that the ref missed this during play, let alone the ref was not in a good position to view it. Look closer and you will see that Adebayor looks down at Van Persie’s face, not the ball, and purposely scrapes it across his face, also trying to step on his hand on the way down.
Even Robin Van Persie, himself, says it was intentional.
“I am sad and disappointed by my former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor’s mindless and malicious stamp on me during today’s match.”
“We are both professional footballers and I know that the game is physical, I too have made hard and sometimes mis-timed challenges but never with the intention of hurting an opponent. He set out to hurt me.”
You would think Adebayor would apologize profusely after something like this, if not to just appease the FA and get a lesser ban. Adebayor said; “To be honest, I’m very sorry for all this. Sometimes, the emotion takes over. That’s what happened. I was very happy to score the goal. Before the game, people have been saying and writing things and the emotions took over.”
Yes emotions take over, but you must be responsible for those actions. Not only does he not give a good apology, he goes straight into how he scored. If we had insight into Adebayor’s inner thoughts I believe they would go something like this; “Look at me! Look at me! Oops, oh well. LOOK AT ME!”
The FA need to take action and follow through with a severe punishment for Emmanuel Adebayor. He intentionally hurt another player. Not only is that classless, it has no place in the beautiful game.
Adebayor the Money Grubber
Man City’s spending spree has been well documented. They spent over $175 million during the summer transfer period. Adebayor received a nice pay increase last year from Arsenal and his play diminished. The fans turned on him. How delicate is one’s ego to think that you shouldn’t be booed after a hefty pay raise and getting less results?! Not only did his play fall off, it seemed at times that he wasn’t even trying and was already looking towards the transfer window.
Adebayor the Showboater
This I have the least problem with of the three things I’m accusing Adebayor of. Sorry to end that sentence with a preposition, I’ll try not to do it on the next. Oops. Anyway…I don’t have a problem with celebrating after goals, I enjoy it. After all, one of the best things about FIFA 2009 is doing the reverse worm celebration after you score against the computer on amateur difficulty, but Adebayor’s pitch-long run to celebrate in the other corner wasn’t needed. Yes, you just scored against your former squad and the fans that (rightfully) began to despise you due to your poor form last year. If I were Adebayor I would have ran to the corner flag and made a simple gesture of my finger over my lips. He wanted to silence his critics, but instead he has inflamed them with his repeated classless acts.
I hope the FA give him a stiff penalty. Will he listen and clean up his act? No. He will serve his punishment and carry on.
When you think of world class footballers, let the antithesis be Emmanuel Adebayor.
