Adebayor: from down to clout

IT SAYS much about the emphasis placed on bright young things at Arsenal that Emmanuel Adebayor is considered a veteran at the age of 22, but he has every right to feel older than his tender years.

The Togo forward has already experienced more exhilarating highs and stultifying lows this season than many of his colleagues have tasted in their entire careers. Pilloried in the summer after a series of performances which ranged from the clumsy to the comical, Adebayor has established himself as Arsenal’s second-choice striker behind Thierry Henry.

He is close to indispensable and it is telling that Arsene Wenger felt unable to tackle Tottenham in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final without him. Adebayor rewarded his manager’s faith with the opening goal and a powerhouse performance that propelled his team into the Cardiff final, their first under Wenger.

There is no question that Adebayor belongs at the Emirates Stadium, although it helps that in Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Abou Diaby, he has teammates who can identify with his struggle to feel at home.

“For me, coming to Arsenal as a young player, it was important to feel like I was part of a family,” he said. “We are all young, we go to restaurants together — on Wednesday I ate with Kolo and Emmanuel.

“You feel like the club is your family so you can concentrate on your football and hopefully that comes out on the pitch. My own family is proud and very happy for me. They always call me after the game and they leave about 10 messages for me — my family, my friends. As a footballer, there’s nothing better than people from your own country being proud of you.”

Wenger might not articulate the remarkable progress of his precocious youngsters in quite those terms, but the Frenchman undoubtedly shares Adebayor’s delight. A side with an average age of less than 25 notched notable away victories at West Brom, Everton and Liverpool, and then showed resilience by the bucket-load in seeing off Spurs.

The real challenge will come at the Millennium Stadium, where Chelsea await. If there is one side perfectly engineered to puncture youthful abandon it is Jose Mourinho’s grizzled galacticos, and the fear of potentially catastrophic psychological damage being sustained by his young team in the event of a heavy defeat might force Wenger to review his selection policy.

He pointedly refused to rule out the possibility of Henry being involved against Chelsea, despite the striker having missed every Carling Cup tie this season. But although Adebayor acknowledges his partner’s importance, he has urged Wenger to let his young guns keep their spurs.

“If we can beat Liverpool away and Tottenham, then I think we have a chance to win the trophy,” he said. “We played with a lot of young players against them in the Premiership and we drew 1-1 and could have won.

“I don’t know what is in the manager’s mind but I think he’s going to try to play the young boys because they have done the job up to now. It would be very difficult on them not to play in the final.

“We always need Thierry — he is one of the best players in the world and he can score at any moment. But the boss has confidence in the young players and we have confidence in them as well. We are going to play the final to win it whether it is the big players or the young kids.”

For Spurs, it is 17 matches since they last defeated their great rivals in any competition but, more damagingly, they proved unable to respond to the rallying call of Martin Jol, the manager. The Dutchman had wanted his side to prove they were “winners” but, having frittered a two-goal lead in the first leg at White Hart Lane, they froze in the second.

“It was very disappointing but we are still in two more cup competitions so hopefully we can have a good run and give the fans something to cheer about this season,” said goalkeeper, Paul Robinson.

“I hope Arsenal do not have a psychological hold on us. They are a good team and have a good squad, so every Arsenal team you are going to play is difficult. We took it right to the end but we have to pick ourselves up.”