We find out today whether we're likely to lose Assou-Ekotto and Adebayor for this season's tournament. Cameroon are attempting to overturn a 2-0 away loss to Cape Verde, with the game at 1-1 after about half an hour. Tough for them, now. Togo kick off at 4.30pm against Gabon, having drawn the away leg 1-1. Decent chance of them going through. There's a chance that either player could fail to be picked or choose not to go, even if their sides do qualify. Both have had a bit of a mixed history with their international sides. Adebayor witnessed the horrific ambush of his countrymen that left 3 dead and 9 injured. Assou-Ekotto's far more pedestrian problems have mainly involved coaches failing to pick him.
Looks like we'll lose Adebayor in January, then. We definitely need to bring in another striker in the next window.
Gabon pulled one back towards the end, but it's not enough and Adebayor will be beaming like a Cheshire cat tonight. Ex-Rangers and Hull forward Daniel Cousin was the late goalscorer and he's currently out of contract. Sign him up! Sadly I'm only half joking. Obika it is, then...
Goodness knows how they can justify it happening every two years! Just about every international competition you can think of happens every four years.
In fairness we haven't really missed him the last few weeks with Defoe being in form and the goals from midfield while i prefer if he was here what are we looking at 3-4 weeks, I know its a vital part of the season but hopefully we dont miss him too much
With the games coming thick and fast over that period (more depending on cup involvement) I'd prefer to have more than one recognised striker (presuming we aren't counting Dempsey, though I know he can play there)
Hoping DL has learned the lessons of the last few January windows where we were left vunerable and stumps up for a striker early as canary says one striker one injury we would be in big trouble
we have got Defoe! i think he can do a job for that month or so.....for all his criticism,of which i give a plenty...id say he has done well to help us get where we are in the league after 7 games.
Defoe's done very well Dona, but what if he gets injured, suspended, knackered or loses form? Obika to the rescue? Simon Dawkins back from the MLS?
We missed him big-time at the start of the season when we let slip some stupid points, we also missed Ade in two crucial EL games. So I would say overall we have missed him a lot, he's our best striker so no surprise there. I'm glad he' s back, but sad we'll miss him again the New Year, I hope we get another striker in to compensate.
You'll still lose Mikel and Moses DL, but you used to lose half your side. I don't think it's a coincidence that teams have generally limited the number of African players that they sign in recent years. Having a bunch of your players buggering off halfway through the season every couple of campaigns is just to much trouble for the majority of sides. The odd player is worth it, but it's too risky otherwise. I still think that the whole thing would massively benefit from being moved to the summers between the Euros and World Cup. It would obviously cause problems with the weather and possibly disrupt the local leagues, but the competition itself would benefit massively in terms of viewers and the players would be less likely to retire early. European sides would sign more African players too, safe in the knowledge that they weren't going to lose them mid-season.
