With The African Cup of Nations set to deprive the Premier League of some wonderful players for the majority of January, The Spoiler thought it absolutely necessary to compile a team of the most brilliant Africans who won’t be representing their clubs for a hefty chunk of the New Year.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on the XI in the form of a comment…
Goalkeeper, Richard Kingson (Wigan Athletic and Ghana)
Kingson did so well in the 2008 African Cup of Nations that he was named in the All-Star Team directly after the tournament. Over at Wigan, however, barring a crippling injury to Chris Kirkland - who conceded nine against Spurs, by the way - he probably shan’t be missed too much.
Right Back, John Paintsil (Fulham and Ghana)
West Ham fans might remember John Paintsil as the energetic defender, incorrectly dubbed “Pantsil” on the back of his shirt, who used to spring into action from the bench. Thankfully, over at Fulham he’s had a much more productive (and correctly spelt) time of things, and shall leave behind a big gaping hole at the back. The fans really adore it when he does his laps of honour, so they say. They’ll miss those.
Lying in 6th, the table might show Man City are still in with a chance to crash the Big Four’s tedious party, but their fans seems to think otherwise.
Boos rang out on full time at City’s 3-all draw with Burnley - the club’s fifth successive draw in a row. After a £120m spending spree in the summer, taking five points from Aston Villa, Wigan, Fulham, Birmingham and Burnley might indicate a slight derailing of Manchester’s Emirati revolution.
So, with a post-suspension Adebayor decidedly quieter than he was at the start of the season, Lescott playing as if - surprise, surprise - he wasn’t worth £24m after all and Mark Hughes being increasingly found out as lacking the tactical acumen to change a game, are City still favourites to drag Arsenal Liverpool out of the Premier League’s elite?
The private beef which caused Emmanuel Adebayor to moonwalk over Robin van Persie’s face a fortnight ago has been revealed to be the same reason he fell out with Nicklas Bendtner last season - an unhealthy shoe obsession.
According to the News of the World, following Arsenal’s final day win against Stoke last season, Emmanuel knee-slid into the Gunners’ dressing room with an extra-strength bin liner and (as one club rep put it) ’swept the place’, bagging as much of his team-mates’ kit as would fit - including a pair of boots Robin van Persie had planned to give to friends - before hauling ass.
A member of the Arsenal backroom staff was left break the news to the players:
“We never saw him - or the boots - again. Robin was going mad.
Hampered somewhat by his ex-captain showing off the battle scars he allegedly inflicted in Arsenal’s hot-tempered clash with Man City last Saturday, Emmanuel Adebayor is making a belated attempt to win some friends back.
In a exclusive ‘heart to heart’ with The Sun, Adebayor has asked fans to empathise with his decision to kick a former team-mate in the face and then run a full 90 yards to incite the mini riot which left a steward hospitalised.
Clutching a tear-soaked hanky, Ade told the paper:
‘People talk about us as being football players and the money we earn, but just because we are fortunate it does not mean we need to take abuse.
‘If you were to abuse a man in the street for over an hour he would react and it would be a worse reaction than a goal celebration!
Much has been made of Emmanuel Adebayor’s irresponsible reaction to the torrent of abuse he received from Arsenal fans at the weekend, but Roma’s Daniele De Rossi was also subjected to offensive chants on Sunday. The Italian, however, dealt with the crowd banter a little differently.
After a mistimed tackle, Siena fans started singing a song about his father-in-law (i.e. the daddy of his not-unattractive WAG Tamara), who was apparently executed in a mafia hit last year. When the whistle blew, the midfielder’s reddened eyes quickly turned into full-on waterworks, as his teammates tried to console him.
Siena manager Marco Giampaolo offered an apology on behalf of the callous fans:
“To De Rossi, I express my solidarity as a man and as a footballer for what has happened.”
Loading ...