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Emmanual Adebayor
Where did it go wrong? Emmanuel Adebayor reflects on Arsenal's end-of-season collapse

Adebayor: We need to find the killer instinct

Ken Lawrence, Evening Standard
14 Apr 2008


Emmanuel Adebayor today admitted Arsenal's title bid fell apart because they relied too much on playing beautiful football and not enough on taking their chances to kill off their rivals.

And the player who fluffed at least two golden opportunities at Old Trafford yesterday has promised fans that the Gunners will learn from their mistakes and bounce back next season as a stronger team with a predatory instinct.

The striker said: "Next season we have to come out like a killer and hope to go and win something. We have to turn into killers. We have the quality, we have the confidence to play our football, now we have to show something else."

Manchester United's 2-1 win over Arsenal effectively ended their title challenge, meaning manager Arsene Wenger will finish trophy-less for the third season in succession.

But Adebayor talked up the Gunners for the next campaign and admitted that merely playing the most entertaining brand of football is no longer enough to satisfy the squad, the fans or him.

He said: "The way we have played this year has been unbelievable. A lot of people have called us one of the best teams in the world. We have also learned this season. We know better how to achieve things, we know how to play football, we know how to enjoy ourselves.

"We have to make sure that if our opponents score three we can score four to make sure we win. This is what we must do now. Yes, decisions have gone against us in the past few games. But that is in the past.

"It is much better to have full concentration on what we are going to do to get better in the future - how we can improve in certain things. This is the time when you have to show whether you are a man or not; show character, show personality."

To that end, the striker even made a personal commitment to bring success to the Emirates next year.

He added: "Somewhere my mum will be watching the telly, looking for me to show that I can play and that I have character to keep going.

"So I have to do that for my mum, for my family, for all the fans who love Arsenal. I'll want to do something better than I have done this year for them and the club. I want to bring something home, I want to win trophies. Those are the things that I am fighting for, because I know everyone has taken me to their hearts and I want to give them something back for that."

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