Adebayor Ban: City Blues

September 16, 2009 by kartik · 1 Comment
Filed under: Emmanuel Adebayor 

Emmanuel Adebayor has been banned for a minumum of three games. What does this mean for the club and its ambition of a top four finish?

For starters, Mark Hughes decision this past closed season to loan out a number of potential reserves coupled with an injury crisis has left Craig Bellamy as the only potential striker for the Manchester Derby on Sunday. This means Hughes will need to field a 4-5-1 formation and hope Bellamy can play a full 90 minutes. Roque Santa Cruz and Benjani and both still out, while Robinho and Carlos Tevez are highly doubtful.

A worst case scenario could see the possible use of left footed Martin Petrov as an emergency striker off the bench.

Here is the possible lineup for City:

————Given——————

Richards—Toure—Lescott—-Bridge

——-DeJong——–Barry————

SWP——————————-Petrov

—————Ireland——————

—————Bellamy——————

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Emmanuel Adebayor: The Key For City?

July 28, 2009 by kartik · 1 Comment
Filed under: Emmanuel Adebayor 

Mark Hughes signing of Emmanuel Adebayor has been criticized as one striker too many. But at Arsenal, Adebayor proved he was tactically flexible and could play as a lone striker or even in a hybrid 4-3-3 which Hughes has used for City at times.

We’ve seen Robinho struggle with Hughes tactics while Carlos Tevez may or may not adapt well. That leaves Craig Bellamy with his injuries and volatile personality and Roque Santa Cruz, who works well within Hughes system as strikers that can fit this system. And in fact only Adebayor has previously proven his ability to adjust to different systems seamlessly.

At Bayern, Santa Cruz showed an inability to keep his place in the first team and a steep learning curve whenever a new manager was brought in. He also struggled with injuries. At Blackburn, Santa Cruz showed great quality as he does for Paraguay at the international level, but did not face stiff competition from comparable strikers.

So in fact, Adebayor’s signing could prove to be the most critical of the Blues attack minded purchases this window.

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