Mauricio Pochettino stands by his striker

Emmanuel Adebayor has been bad this season. There's no way around it and, while he has done some things well, his string of misses in front of goal have been a huge knock on Tottenham Hotspur. But Mauricio Pochettino isn't going to bail on his striker.

"I believe in Emmanuel Adebayor," the Spurs manager said. "We know always a striker maybe during some periods finds it difficult to score, but he made a lot of effort for the team. The more important thing is that we are convinced that he or another team-mate can arrive at the possibility to score, but I am happy with his performance.

"It is true that he knows he needs to score because a striker always lives to score, but I believe in him and have no problem."

It's only been a month so casting a player aside at this point would be insanely premature. It's also not as if Spurs have a ton of options up top. Roberto Soldado is coming off of a disastrous year and has been injured, while Harry Kane has struggled as much as he's shined. It may be time to give the others a couple more chances, but it's not as if Adebayor is going to be given the heave-ho. He is a part of this team as much as anyone.

That Pochettino went to bat publicly for Adebayor is somewhat notable. He was asked about his striker, but he went above and beyond in defending him. Is he sick of the questions? Does he notice Adebayor's confidence waning and want to give it a boost? There would be a lot of reasons for Pochettino doing what he did.

In the meantime, Adebayor will continue to play. He will have to play better, but so will his teammates if anything is going to change.