Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor credits his superb form this season to the man he was signed to replace - Barcelona ace Thierry Henry.
"I came in for a lot of criticism when I first came to London. People said I'm not good in front of goal. The man who helped me come through all this was Thierry Henry.
"He was the club's talisman and it was very difficult. I kept wondering if I was going to play or not, whether it was me or Robin Van Persie who was going to partner Thierry. I was concentrating on that rather than scoring goals and I started to lose confidence.
"Thierry was fantastic with me. He talked to me, taught me to do things in training. Most importantly, he told me to take risks. He said, 'Don't be in two minds when a ball comes, just make your decision and hit it'.
"It doesn't matter if it goes into the crowd, like a lot of my shots were doing. When he left it was good for him but also good for me. It gave me a chance to show what I can do and now people know that there is a player called Emmanuel Adebayor. Thierry was a talisman, but now we are happy not having any talismans at Arsenal.
"Thierry said that my confidence would come back if I kept working and training and learning and he was right. So I want to thank him for helping me."
