Above is the photographic evidence of Adebayor's malice. As if there was any more reason needed why he is not missed at Arsenal. Also, to make sure, he left because he was getting more money, so to slag Arsenal fans for his move is pure projection. But that was not the extent of Ade's imprint as he went after Cesc in the first half. In fact, there is a debate whether he should have been there at all to score his goal.
However it is the celebration that is taking away from the serious nature of the fouls that he committed. Mark Clattenburg responded by giving out a yellow card. The rub your face in the mud was not exactly brimming with class. He should be punished for it as one could argue that it was incitement to riot (coming right after what happened between West Ham and Milwall) but there was intent to cause Van Persie harm that should be the focus of the FA. Where did we hear intent before? Oh yes, the Eduardo incident against Celtics for which he was banned two matches.
RVP in his statement makes clear:
"I am sad and disappointed by my former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor's mindless and malicious stamp on me during today's match.
"I knew he was aiming for a collision because he changed the angle of his body to allow contact to be made. He moved backwards when his natural momentum would have taken him forward. I find that deeply disrespectful. He has shown a real lack of class today, to me and the fans.
"I do feel lucky that I have not suffered a greater injury. The contact was only centimetres from my eye. I have not received an apology from him, there were no words exchanged afterwards. He had his own agenda today and that is bad for football. It's bad for the game we all love."
There is no law stopping Ade from coming to play against his former club with some kind of payback in mind. Scoring a goal is as good as it gets. Some form of celebratory crowing is also in order. In fact, it is the right sort of historical statement. Physically harming your former team mates is not. I don't think Cesc and RVP did anything to earn Ade's ire while at Arsenal so it is particularly unforgivable. The FA should take a strong stand against such fouls that go unpunished on the pitch just like the UEFA are targeting diving.
Well, RVP has always been a prickly character and he does get away with some that border on the edge but Ade's foul was particularly egregious. Pepe's example is a good one. If that is considered a 10 on a scale, Ade's infraction merits a 7 game ban.
I absolutely agree with you here. While I think Robin Van Persie has very likely done something to Adebayor during his time at Arsenal to deserve getting kicked in the face, it does not excuse Adebayor for doing it, and I hope he sees a very serious ban. There are replays that show it very clearly, and it was extremely dangerous.
I'd say he deserves a 5 match ban for going after someone's face while they're on the ground, and a further 2 match ban for trying to upset the away fans in the way he did. If Gary Neville was banned for celebrating and kissing his badge in front of Liverpool fans, why shouldn't Adebayor get the same? Furthermore, if Pepe got a 10 match ban for this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHFkYEbwrQ0), then some might consider a 4-5 match ban far too short, as what Adebayor did was even more dangerous.
Still, Van Persie should not act so innocent like he does in his official statement. He was guilty of targeting, and possibly trying to injure Fletcher earlier in the week in the Scotland - Netherlands game. He also had the red card against Stoke where he very cynically attacked a goalkeeper who was carrying the ball.