SF: I think I wasn’t clear enough about my assertions earlier. I will try to give my response.
I like ALL 3 players myself. I am focused solely on team functioning as a whole and not individuals but by so doing people think that I am slugging off the individuals.
Flamini:
His contribution to the team was huge and I am by no means undervaluing it. The only thing I could see with Flamini was that it was almost at his peak, if not his peak. He had energy(motivated), tons of it, but I challenge anyone to name our MF with less skill(not energy) than Flamini. The point here is energy/motivation can be aquired easier by an athlete than the technical stuff. I still have the opinion that he may not be able to sustain the same level for long, and the way he played he was more susceptible to injury, and does not give me encouragement as a long term solution. Saying that he brought the best out of Cesc in my opinion diminishing Cesc’s involvement in his own achievements last season. Cesc is a top player and the way I see it Cesc would have been Cesc, Flamini or no Flamini. Lets give Cesc his deserved credit. If that is the case Cesc will be poor this season, and I seriously doubt it. The man happened to play alongside Cesc when Cesc was being Fabulous. If anything, a DM who ventures upfront more often like Flamini would make his CM partner not want to go forward all the time since you someone has to man the MF. Cesc was hungry getting into the season and in my opinion he would have benefitted more having a solid. No-nonsense and un-adventurous DM like Gilberto. But the partnership “Achilles heel “ was negated by the hunger in both players and the fact that Hleb, and even Diaby when he played, would also naturally drift into CM, covering up for Flamini and even Cesc when they both maraud forward.
Since Flamini was in a way of more talent and better future prospects(I take skill any day over energy), his loss(after showing the likes of Diaby and Denilson of what might be if they applied themselves) will sort of have give them the opportunity after having been given the “Flamini lesson”. In it’s own it has already got them to apply themselves more, case in point, Denilson starting to add “steel” in his game(could also be attributed to Cesc, or Denilson himself).

Hleb:
A very good player. I have observed in my past postings that when he had “too much ice-cream” or “ice-cream sick” we were not playing well and whenever he came back to life we were superb. Here is the hidden “blessing”. As long as he was in the side with Ade, AW prefered a playing him as a support striker for Ade. His unwillingness to shoot would have benefitted a more lethal striker than(hold your horses) Adebayor, say Eduardo, or even young Bendtner than Adebayor(I will come to this in Adebayor section). Most of his good work were wasted at the end, by someone else. I prefer Rosicky(when fit) to be able to play as a support striker as well as, and more effectively than Hleb simply because the guy can shoot, and score(remember his dance around L’pool defense @ Anfield? and he scrored!). Since AW didn’t preffer anyone else there before Hleb, we couldn’t see what it might have been with Rosicky in that role. With Vela and Nasri coming, Rosicky and Diaby face a realistic chance of losing the LM battle and both are left to vie for a CM role, or a support striker role, and Hleb is firmly in the way of that. After watching Rosicky’s performances, even goal celebrations, he commands more respect from other players in the team and is a natural leader. I think we might see some adjustments to the roles of Rosicky and Cesc this season and Denilson to throw in a wrench in the mix.
Adebayor:
Thanks for the goals and work rate.
Arguably the least skilled in out strike force(anyone objction, have a go at me. I stand behind that). He has energy, power, size(Bendtner seems bigger than him though) and Workrate of the highest order. He is perfect for a second/support striker in my opinion, and not the main striker. His work rate left him more often outside of where a target man should be. He was probably one of our very important Defender though. What I won’t miss with his departure are, for a man with his pace he could afford to delay his runs and start a yard back and still beat defenders instead of drifting offside needlessly, wasting others good work. He wasted chances because I believe he had pre-decided where he is going to place the ball in the net “30 seconds” before he can do it, and could not adjust for any other changes(defender/keeper anticipation, teammate in position) within that period. Shooting at the wrong spot, or missing an open teammate. This can make you “predictable” to skilled defenders and keepers.
He couldn’t play well with a striking partner mainly because he was both the second and the main striker ending up where the other should be at times, and when the other striker adjust by being where Ade should be, Guess what?, Ade is there too. You end up having 2 strikers where you need only one, and the other position is vacated. When playing with nimble strikers who can shift positions, like Eduardo and VanPersie, and a “non striker” like Hleb, this was compensated and not more evident, but it ended up becoming an “Adebayor show” upfront. When he plays with Bendtner(a corky striker who wouldn’t let you take his pos and just drop it whenever you wish, while he covers for you), obvious clashes ensues and they seem to be in each other’s toes all the time. Our Strike force became “who can play with Adebayor’s habits” and not “Adebayor playing with others”. The way to defend a guy who runs alot is NOT to run with them, but let them run while you wait in a space they will eventually run into, and that space is fixed, that is why defenses like Milan’s could deal with him effectively, even L’pools to some extent, maybe bacause they were too old to run as much, or they are just “experienced”. Most EPL defenders like to match his runs and that would have been worse for them if the guy was clinical. Ade for the most part played with players who themselves would rather play in different positions (out of position?) who were willing to let him come into their positions and will use that as an excuse for themselves to move somewhere else. All except Bendtner, who will stick to his assigned task and expect Ade to stick to his.
How do Adebayor and Hleb tie together?
Since when they were on the field, almost always they were the preferred front 2 in a 4-4-1-1, and their combination left us blunt upfront. If the pairing could have changed and NOT BOTH Ade and Hleb at the same time, I could have worked.
Simply put, I can’t see too much room for improvement with Ade and Hleb as a striking partnership and would gladly give Adebayor another seasong to give me hope that his footballing intelligence will improve, something I am not going losing sleep in anticipation.
Let me hear your thoughts…

Also, there’s a new post up and with the risk of sounding like a twat, it’s quite a provocative one. Enjoy