talkingOfArsenal.com

Amidst the furore of yesterday's loss to Man City, one fairly fundamental point seems to have gone in under the radar.

Adebayor seems, selfishly, to have put revenge against his former club, above the lofty ambitions of his current club, and Man City may pay for it in a way which will affect them where it really hurts - the loss of points now, and potentially disunity in dressing room in future.

In the build-up to last Saturdays game, we all read the stories in the papers quoting Adebayor about the state of the Arsenal dressing room before he left, with him comparing Arsenal fans to City fans in a negative light, and so for me it was clear that the City striker was on a 'pay back' mission, which is fine by me.

The point though, is how that 'pay back' manifests itself.

A class player, would have scored his goal, run over to his home fans, and celebrated with quiet satisfaction - that would be the best way to 'silence' any critics. It is clear though, that the word 'class' and Adebayor are not really meant to be used in the same sentence.

Whatever you say about Adebayor, he does have a history of bizaare inconsistencies, both in his words and his deeds. Whilst he was at Arsenal, I remember one Champions League night, he gave a number of press conferences in one of which he committed his future to Arsenal, and the very next press conference appeared to invite interest from AC Milan to sign him.

Inconsistent words.

In one of the following games he played, he scored a goal for Arsenal, run to the fans, and kissed the Arsenal badge expecting to be cheered - the Arsenal fans understandably responded negatively which he couldn't understand why.

Inconsistent deeds.

So how will his behaviour against Arsenal last season result in a loss of points in the short term?

It now seems very likely that he will get a ban for his provocative celebration against the Arsenal fans, and possibly additional punishment for the unwarranted and disgraceful stamp on Van Persie. Which will mean that Man City will be without Adebayor, at a time when Tevez and Robinho currently injured.

Without a doubt, it's got to be for these series of reasons that Wenger decided to sell the clearly volatile Togolese striker, and I don't blame Le Boss at all for it, in fact, I'm still quite glad that we got rid of him (I for one have never been fully convincedof Adebayor to be honest). I strongly believe that Arsenal are better, and collectively stronger for it, despite Saturdays' loss.

On the day, we played very well but didn't take our chances - and when it came to defending, a few individual mistakes were punished, which frankly would've happened regardless of what premiership opposition we were facing, such is the high level of quality of our league.

In my opinion, the 4-2 loss at Man City had little or nothing to do with Adebayor - the reason we lost is more down to us not taking our chances and not defending as well as we normally do, rather than some far-fetched notion that we have just sold 'super man' to a club we're competing with for fourth place.

Unfortunately, all the controversy surrounding Adebayor will create a fog around this simple fact.

Adebayors self-indulgent antics on the pitch last Saturday, I believe, was quite simply a personal vendetta dressed up as a fired-up player playing at his best for his new club. It just so happens that his personal ambition dovetailed with what his club required of him in Saturdays game; we shall see how things work out when inevitably, at some point in the future, Adebayor's needs are in opposition to Mark Hughes' requirements.

Longer term, I rather suspect the Man City fans will find out exactly how much the striker will cost them the hard way, as Arsenal fans have learnt. They should take no comfort in Adebayor's taunting of Arsenal, the club managed by Wenger who plucked Adebayor for £3M out of obscurity, and against whom now, the Togolese striker is want to show his 'appreciation'.

If Man City fans want a clearer view of the kind of striker they have acquired, here is but one quote from the link above: "Arsenal put me where I am today. They made me one of the biggest strikers in the world. I have to pay them back."

And Adebayor's self-indulgence knows no bounds - quite aside of the problems he created for Wenger whilst he was at Arsenal, Man City fans should also not forget that he has 'previous' with his national team. This guy is just a can of worms, and apart from the fact that Arsenal lost three points against Man City at the weekend, Wenger must be quietly satisfied that he got £25M for someone who is proving to be distinctly a troublemaker.

On a broader note, unlikely as it is to happen due to their current delight in taking three points off their  so-called fourth position rival, Man City fans will do well to keep an eye on the carrying's on of their new darlings, Adebayor included.

Their squad seems to be gathering quite a few potentially volatile personalities, with a fair number of their players with strong tendencies to put themselves before their club.

Just to name a few - anyone remember the Bellamy incidentregarding golf clubs being taken to Riise during the Welshman's time at Liverpool? And what about Robinho's allegedly petulant trip back to Brazil without Mark Hughes' permission the season when he joined? And what about Tevez' reactionto being substituted by Alex Ferguson when he was a Mancheser Utd player? Not to mention more recently, David Moyes' anger at Lescotts behaviour in wanting a transfer to Man City? And then there are Richard Dunne's statements after his move to Aston Villa about big egos in the Man City dressing room and how it no longer feels like the team he knows.

Mix this all in with Adebayor's over-inflated ego, and you've got there a hot 'stew' bubbling away quietly.

Personally, I'd love to see Adebayor's reaction to being taken to with golf clubs, as opposed to being shown 'the finger'as he accused Bendtner of doing, the night he head-butted his fellow team-mate in the middle of a competitive match against his teams arch-rivals. If that isn't another example of self-indulgence, then my name is Elvis Presley and I live in Graceland.

Whether the Man City 'stew' is going to be just right or burnt, be under- or over-cooked, be tasty or tasteless, we shall see at the end of the season.

Meanwhile Arsenal now have a series of relatively 'low-charged' games to navigate in the next few weeks and in many ways, these are the games where we have kept-up or lost ground against the leading pack.

Last year, Manchester Utd lost more games as compared to Liverpool, came bottom of the top-4 mini league on points, and yet still won the league title.

For me, these next games against the so-called lower table clubs are more of a test of how far we have come, rather than our losses against Manchester Utd and Man City.

The season is a long one, and there will be many swings and roundabouts and premier league points to be taken before the fat lady sings.

C'mon you Gunners!