Let me begin this post by heralding Daniel Levy for completing what I thought was a longshot deal for Emmanuel Adebayor. It was a masterstroke that arguably has us as favorites to return to the Champions League next season. Adebayor has seamlessly fit into our side and our ability to go forward against Liverpool was nothing short of stunning.
However, with the physicality of the EPL, the one thing that could derail our top 4 ambitions is an injury to our Togolese superstar up front. With Crouch having been sold, and Defoe not able to lead the line, our only back-up is apparently Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Thus far this season, Pav has been utterly dreadful. He was poor against Hearts, terrible against PAOK, and apparently, even worse tonight versus Stoke. This isn't about the penalty miss, either. It's about the totality of his game, and the lack of passing ability, link up play, and general fire to inspire us up front. We simply cannot rely on him as cover for Adebayor.
With minimal investment in the past few transfer windows, and with a good amount of cash coming in from the sale of Crouch and Palacios, surely we will be bold and bring in another striker in January? My preference would be for someone in the mold of either Leandro or Papiss Cisse, who could actually play with Adebayor for stretches, or on their own up front leading the line. Huntelaar would also be excellent cover at a decent price.
I think in the end, it's imperative we bring in another striker in January. We can thrive until then, because our schedule isn't that difficult, but we faded late last year due to injuries and a lack of goals as the going got tough. I think this side has the talent to put us into pole position going into January, but we could potentially use a bit of a "freshening up" then as Harry would put it.
The nice thing is, I think given Harry's comments in the past about Pav, he isn't likely to back him for a contract extension, and would potentially want an upgrade in January too. Hopefully he'll be less cautious than last year, and sanction a move for an upgrade.
However, with the physicality of the EPL, the one thing that could derail our top 4 ambitions is an injury to our Togolese superstar up front. With Crouch having been sold, and Defoe not able to lead the line, our only back-up is apparently Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Thus far this season, Pav has been utterly dreadful. He was poor against Hearts, terrible against PAOK, and apparently, even worse tonight versus Stoke. This isn't about the penalty miss, either. It's about the totality of his game, and the lack of passing ability, link up play, and general fire to inspire us up front. We simply cannot rely on him as cover for Adebayor.
With minimal investment in the past few transfer windows, and with a good amount of cash coming in from the sale of Crouch and Palacios, surely we will be bold and bring in another striker in January? My preference would be for someone in the mold of either Leandro or Papiss Cisse, who could actually play with Adebayor for stretches, or on their own up front leading the line. Huntelaar would also be excellent cover at a decent price.
I think in the end, it's imperative we bring in another striker in January. We can thrive until then, because our schedule isn't that difficult, but we faded late last year due to injuries and a lack of goals as the going got tough. I think this side has the talent to put us into pole position going into January, but we could potentially use a bit of a "freshening up" then as Harry would put it.
The nice thing is, I think given Harry's comments in the past about Pav, he isn't likely to back him for a contract extension, and would potentially want an upgrade in January too. Hopefully he'll be less cautious than last year, and sanction a move for an upgrade.
