Paulinho

[Paul Finch]

Quote from Voice:-'You can't argue with that. Only one reservation; they had great expectations for  Emmanuel Adebayor and look what happened to him. Oh, well... second time lucky!!'
 
    I was talking to a Mate of mine regarding Adebayor and he made a good point which I think all of us overlooked, and that was that when we finally signed Ade the season had already started and he hadn't done any pre-season training with anyone and as a consequence he wasn't fit, now as all of you know I am a big fan of Ade, I am not making excuses for him, but I wonder if he has a full pre-season whether we might just see a different Ade to the one we got last season.
      Thoughts please gentlemen(I use that term very loosely  )
 
 
 
 

[RiffHard]

Quote from Voice:-'You can't argue with that. Only one reservation; they had great expectations for  Emmanuel Adebayor and look what happened to him. Oh, well... second time lucky!!'
 
    I was talking to a Mate of mine regarding Adebayor and he made a good point which I think all of us overlooked, and that was that when we finally signed Ade the season had already started and he hadn't done any pre-season training with anyone and as a consequence he wasn't fit, now as all of you know I am a big fan of Ade, I am not making excuses for him, but I wonder if he has a full pre-season whether we might just see a different Ade to the one we got last season.
      Thoughts please gentlemen(I use that term very loosely  )
 
 
 
 

I agree. Adebayor has obviously had a very controversial career and I feel some people try to show him as a bigger villain than he actually is. Adebayor struggled most of the last season with small injuries and lack of fitness.

[pieboy]

If the wage structure allows it , and it doesn't prevent another striker from coming in. Then we should keep him, competition for places is always good and we probably need 3-4 strikers anyway. At 5million max doesn't make great business sense to sell him anyways.

Agree that a good pre season might make a big difference, but AVB will wanna see a upturn in his attitude because Ade performance last season was mostly shockingly poor.

[dimexi]

If the wage structure allows it , and it doesn't prevent another striker from coming in. Then we should keep him, competition for places is always good and we probably need 3-4 strikers anyway. At 5million max doesn't make great business sense to sell him anyways.

Agree that a good pre season might make a big difference, but AVB will wanna see a upturn in his attitude because Ade performance last season was mostly shockingly poor.

Yet he was still picked ahead of Defoe? I think AVB has faith in Ade even when others were calling for his head. I think he offers the side something different so would be happy for him to stay, as long as there were 2 new strikers brought in as well! I think he put a lot of effort in towards the end of the season, but the impact he had on the game was not up to scratch. Although this has as much to do with those around him, who were not providing good service or they were not positioning themselves to support him better.

[Glenn R]

Quote from Voice:-'You can't argue with that. Only one reservation; they had great expectations for  Emmanuel Adebayor and look what happened to him. Oh, well... second time lucky!!'
 
    I was talking to a Mate of mine regarding Adebayor and he made a good point which I think all of us overlooked, and that was that when we finally signed Ade the season had already started and he hadn't done any pre-season training with anyone and as a consequence he wasn't fit, now as all of you know I am a big fan of Ade, I am not making excuses for him, but I wonder if he has a full pre-season whether we might just see a different Ade to the one we got last season.
      Thoughts please gentlemen(I use that term very loosely  )
 
 

I suppose what backs up your argument is his form starting to improve by the second half of the season (or at least the end).

[Glenn R]

If the wage structure allows it , and it doesn't prevent another striker from coming in. Then we should keep him, competition for places is always good and we probably need 3-4 strikers anyway. At 5million max doesn't make great business sense to sell him anyways.

Agree that a good pre season might make a big difference, but AVB will wanna see a upturn in his attitude because Ade performance last season was mostly shockingly poor.

Yet he was still picked ahead of Defoe? I think AVB has faith in Ade even when others were calling for his head. I think he offers the side something different so would be happy for him to stay, as long as there were 2 new strikers brought in as well! I think he put a lot of effort in towards the end of the season, but the impact he had on the game was not up to scratch. Although this has as much to do with those around him, who were not providing good service or they were not positioning themselves to support him better.

I think  AVB was more looking who would fit into his system rather than preferring a certain player. Defoe might be a great player in some peoples eyes, but would he have done better? We've only got speculation to answer that one.

[Paul Finch]

     We definitely need two more strikers, but we also need cover for injuries, suspensions etc, it would also allow AVB to employ a rotation system which would also aid us with fitness and form tailing off at the business end of the season, plus competition for places is a good thing.
 
 

[Paul Finch]

Quote from Pieboy 'Agree that a good pre season might make a big difference, but AVB will wanna see a upturn in his attitude because Ade performance last season was mostly shockingly poor.'
 
   Was his attitude bad? I didn't think so, he worked his backside off, but just couldn't find the back of the net, I will agree that his overall form was bad, but I don't think you could fault his effort.
 
 

[RiffHard]

It is difficult to play as a lone striker and that is why Villas-Boas preferred Adebayor who despite his poor form is a tall and powerful player. Defoe is a small striker who poses little threat aerially or physically. What some people are not seeing is that unless there is some service from midfield we could play with two or three strikers and still struggle. Bale managed to score a lot, but he didn't create many goals if you look at his stats. Maybe Paulinho is the key here. It seems he could create and pop up with a few goals himself, as our other midfielders seem to score rarely.

[pieboy]

Probably a bad choice of words on my part. What I mean is that come pre season, maybe the decision to keep him on not depends on the desire and hunger he shows in preseason. Maybe a bit like Teves last season when he started off looking really trim and raring to go.

I actually like Ade as a player and yes , when he is playing well he chases down players as well as anyone and does his fair share of defensive work. However it seem to me that there was prolong period of last season when he just looked disinterested.

Not sure if Ade is the sort that will fight for his place. Look disinterested at Man citu when the going got tought and there were a lot of rumours ( and maybe it was just newspapaer gossip) at the start of last season when Defoe was bangin them in at the start that he was unhappy being on the bench and was looking for a move.

[Glenn R]

     We definitely need two more strikers, but we also need cover for injuries, suspensions etc, it would also allow AVB to employ a rotation system which would also aid us with fitness and form tailing off at the business end of the season, plus competition for places is a good thing.
 
 

I agree. It is no good having all those great players if they are suddenly hit by injuries. We need good cover. That is why the likes of City, United and Chelsea can consistently and constantly challenged for the title. They have a strong squad. Not just eleven players.

[Glenn R]

It is difficult to play as a lone striker and that is why Villas-Boas preferred Adebayor who despite his poor form is a tall and powerful player. Defoe is a small striker who poses little threat aerially or physically. What some people are not seeing is that unless there is some service from midfield we could play with two or three strikers and still struggle. Bale managed to score a lot, but he didn't create many goals if you look at his stats. Maybe Paulinho is the key here. It seems he could create and pop up with a few goals himself, as our other midfielders seem to score rarely.

I'll go along with that. I remember when Clive Allen was up front and we had a good run, but as soon as the team changed he wasn't getting the service. One man up front is only good if you've got the team to support it. That is why AVB preferred Adebayor over Defoe.

[yidmafioso]

Sandro , dembele , bale and paulihno/lennon would be a superb midfield .They`re all capable of scoring and sandro would also be the anchor man .AS for up front , i still rate defoe but you`d think after being with us all this time he`d have worked out how to stay onside .Adeybayore is brilliant when he wants to be and absolutely useless when he doesn`t . I agree with some of the posts that say we should keep him as a back up but i`m not sure he`d have that .We definately need two decent strikers and a full back .As for parker , he`s been great for us . Never stopped trying and running and he chips in with a few assists but i don`t think there`ll be room for him .Shame

[Glenn R]

Sandro , dembele , bale and paulihno/lennon would be a superb midfield .They`re all capable of scoring and sandro would also be the anchor man .AS for up front , i still rate defoe but you`d think after being with us all this time he`d have worked out how to stay onside .Adeybayore is brilliant when he wants to be and absolutely useless when he doesn`t . I agree with some of the posts that say we should keep him as a back up but i`m not sure he`d have that .We definately need two decent strikers and a full back .As for parker , he`s been great for us . Never stopped trying and running and he chips in with a few assists but i don`t think there`ll be room for him .Shame

What I've read our current strike force won't be here this season coming. But what we do need is a strong squad.

[RiffHard]

"Brazil international midfielder Paulinho has confirmed he is leaving Corinthians to join Tottenham in a £17million deal." Full story on SkySports.