Source: Daily_Mail
Manchester City 4 Arsenal 2: Shameful act! City striker Adebayor loses it
As he prepares for Sunday's Manchester derby without his most potent goalscorer, the irony will not be lost on Mark Hughes.
Having spent last season wrestling with players who did not care enough, the Manchester City manager now has one who would appear to care far too much.
Cares so much, in fact, that he is prepared to rake his studs down the face of an opponent. Cares so much that he will run 90 yards just to celebrate a goal exactly where and how he wants to.
By all accounts it took Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger about 30 minutes to accept City's summer offer for Emmanuel Adebayor. Perhaps now we know why.
Immensely talented but equally unpredictable and emotional, Adebayor put all sides of his complex character on brutal display at Eastlands on Saturday and later that evening the apologies came quickly.
First to the Arsenal fans for the act of incitement that ultimately left a match steward unconscious. And then to his former team-mate Robin van Persie for the stud to the face that could have blinded him.
By then, of course, it was too late. The damage had been done: to Van Persie and to Adebayor's own reputation. City, to their credit, have done their best to cool what remains a seriously volatile situation. Hiding behind silence is not the way forward in these instances.
Unfortunately, reading a statement from Adebayor suggesting that he had not kicked out at Van Persie on purpose just seemed a little ridiculous. He claimed he was aiming at the ball as the pair clashed in the second half. One has only to look at the video to realise that the ball was barely in the frame - and rolling in the opposite direction - when boot made contact with face.
Quite simply, it was a malicious and rather vicious act. If the dash to Arsenal fans that followed his goal late in the game was perhaps excusable in the heat of the moment, this was not.
In all likelihood his words will not help his case, nor will those of his manager. The FA, encouraged in no small measure by Greater Manchester police, will act quickly. A three-match ban is the very least Adebayor will expect.
It is to be hoped that Hughes, having seen the video again, will be a little stricter with his player than he was in public. The way that Adebayor's career at Arsenal derailed has already served as a warning as to what can happen with this volatile character if he is not handled the right way.
Certainly Adebayor was reacting to a late challenge from Van Persie when he lashed out. The Dutchman could have been booked for that himself. Van Persie also ran to City fans after scoring his goal, seeming to mouth an obscenity as he celebrated.
These factors should not be overlooked by the FA or Arsenal. Nevertheless, it is Adebayor's behaviour that will provide the lasting images of this game and that is an enormous shame.
Somebody should send Robinho a videotape and tell him he will not find a place in Hughes's team again until he realises there are actually two halves to a football pitch.
Arsenal's efforts were impressive, too, at times. For a period after Van Persie cancelled out City's first-half goal, Wenger's team were imperious.
It is regrettable that memories of Adebayor's own play will fade into the background. His remarkable run down the left side towards the end, leaving his arch enemy Nicklas Bendtner slashing fruitlessly at his ankles, was perhaps the season's best piece of individual skill so far.
Also, it is a shame that the contribution of Craig Bellamy - selfless, industrious and skilful - will not receive more column inches today. The Welshman was playing because Robinho is injured and he was fundamental to this victory.
These days, though, it can take only one moment, one goal, to puncture Arsenal's tyres and so it was here. City's one-two-three - from Bellamy, Adebayor and Shaun Wright-Phillips - dumped Arsenal on the seat of their pants with devastating efficiency. By the time Tomas Rosicky celebrated his return to action with a goal, Hughes's team had marked their arrival as a genuine force in English football in spellbinding fashion.
Adebayor
Picking up the pieces: Police and stewards try and restore order at the Arsenal end after Adebayor's goal celebration
At the end of this week another challenge awaits. United at Old Trafford. The Manchester derby. It is highly unlikely that Adebayor will be present and it is to be hoped not. He must be made to learn a lesson from this.
Hughes and his staff have been impressed by the manner in which he has begun life at City. There has, by all accounts, been no sign of the troubled personality talked about at Arsenal.
The City boss has a reputation as an effective manmanager. Over the coming days and weeks he will certainly earn his money.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-1-4-1): Given 7; Richards 7, Toure 7, Lescott 7, Bridge 8; De Jong 8; Wright-Phillips 8, Ireland 6 (Petrov 73min, 7), Barry 7, Bellamy 9; Adebayor 8. Booked: Adebayor, De Jong.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Almunia 6; Sagna 6 (Eboue 77, 6), Gallas 7, Vermaelen 7, Clichy 6; Song 6 (Eduardo 77, 7), Denilson 7 (Rosicky 72, 7); Bendtner 6, Fabregas 7, Diaby 7; Van Persie 7. Booked: Sagna, Song.
Man of the match: Craig Bellamy.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg.
