Adebayor vs Cameroon

"Adebayor! Emmanuel Adebayor! A-De-Ba-Yor! Adebayor! Emmanuel Adebayor! Adebayor!"

- the rather excitable commentator of the Togo vs Cameroon match

Emmanuel Adebayor's been out of action for ten weeks because of a hamstring injury. But he managed to fly back to Togo for a World Cup qualifier, and he played well enough to monster a defender out of his way and score the winner. He looks pretty fit to me. 

There are conspiracy theorists out there who suggest Wenger's benching Adebayor to retain his transfer value. According to them, Adebayor's leaving at the end of the season. Wenger wants him out of public view so that interested clubs won't realise how complacent, lazy and mistake-prone he's become. It's the approach Wenger took with Henry before his sale to Barcelona. 

Meh.

I think Adebayor's potentially a world-class striker, but he's been disappointing this year. After the heroics of the 30-goal season last year, he's declined as a player. The old Ade was never a great finisher, but he would contribte so much to the team with his pressing and his work-rate. This season, I haven't seen much of that. He still misses absolute sitters, but he doesn't work as hard off the ball anymore. 

Anyway, things move on. We've been playing van Persie and Bendtner recently, and I like what I'm seeing. Bendtner can't shoot to save himself, but he's got a nice range of passes, good vision, and he'll improve his finishing with time. He offers a lot to the team. Given the choice, I'd rather Bendtner and his lime green boots than Adebayor. If we could sell Adebayor for £25 million, and use the proceeds at the Valencia firesale this summer, I'd be quite happy. There are a couple of Davids in Valencia who would look rather smart in a red shirt with white sleeves.

The News of the World has been really busy with Arsenal news. Normally, I trust the NOTW about as far as I can throw their Sunday supplement, but two stories are quite amusing:

1. NOTW claims that Cesc Fabregas has become arrogant and big-headed since his European Championship success, and wants a transfer to Barcelona. And that since Spittinggate, he thinks the English media have it in for him and want to drive him out of England. I wonder if NOTW editors chuckled at the irony when they printed this story?

2. Wenger's going to bid for Joleon Lescott, the £10 million rated central defender from Everton. Now, I realise we'll need a central defender after Gallas leaves, and I realise that everyone wants us to buy British, but why do we need to buy someone this ugly? 

Quelle horror!

****

P.S. I was checking out Sergio Ramos' Twitter, and found this entry:

"Estoy leyendo El Retrato de Dorian Gray, y es muy interestante hasta ahora. A mi me encant las obras de Wilde."

It's weird to think that, over on the continent, footballers know how to read and enjoy doing so. I could never imagine Ashley Cole snuggling up to Dubliners.