AVB says Adebayor holds key for Spurs
Basle stunned Spurs in last week’s first leg, racing to a 2-0 lead inside 35 minutes. The Swiss champions then wasted a series of opportunities to effectively kill the quarter-final off, but Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson scored to leave the tie delicately poised.
Adebayor followed up his strike against the Swiss with another well-taken goal against Everton, and, had it not been for the woodwork, his tally would stand at three in his last two.
His recent form is marked improvement on that which he displayed at the start of the season. After signing a permanent deal at White Hart Lane, Adebayor struggled to break in to the team, and he then drew the ire of the Spurs fans by delaying his return from the African Nations Cup even though he was Villas-Boas’ only fit striker.
Villas-Boas admitted he was struggling to “unlock” the former Arsenal frontman’s potential two months ago but, after watching him salvage two draws within the space of four days, he is upbeat about his progress.
“He’s a player who is really enjoying his football; he is driven by his last goals and last performance and he is doing extremely well.
“His link-up play has improved tremendously. He’s been much more involved in the build of play and assisted and created so much, allowing others to flourish. He has helped Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale improve their game.”
Spurs will be more reliant than ever on Adebayor tonight as star trio Bale, Lennon and Jermain Defoe are all out through injury.
Yet the idea of reaching the last four of a major competition, and Spurs’ superb away, form left Villas-Boas in an upbeat mood as he addressed the media in north-west Switzerland.
“Football is a surprise,” said Villas-Boas.
“What we have to do is get focused tomorrow to win the game, play with ambition to reach a prestigious semi-final after so many years for Tottenham.
“That should be motivation to drive us through.”
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