First published in The Pink, September 19, 2009

THERE is no doubt in my mind Emmanuel Adebayor maliciously stamped on Robin van Persie and has got the punishment he deserves.

The Manchester City striker has been banned for three games, and rightly so.

I did the game on television here in South Africa, and we had all the close-ups and different angles of the violent conduct incident.

It was a deliberate act to inflict damage on van Persie, of that I have no doubt.

At the same time, though, I think there was a bit of malice in the Dutchman’s tackle.

It certainly looked as if, during the game, Adebayor was harbouring one or two vendettas towards some of the Arsenal players.

Van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner seemed to be the two in particular.

There was obviously a falling out between those two and Adebayor during his time at Arsenal and it looked as if there was still plenty of hard feelings.

That wasn’t the only area where there was aggravation, though.

Kolo Touré and William Gallas famously didn’t speak to each other for quite a while when they were both at Arsenal, so there was obviously plenty of ill feeling between the camps.

Adebayor clearly tried to inflict some kind of damage on his former teammate with his stamp.

Saying he was trying to kick the ball was a complete and utter nonsense.

This is not the first time A d e b a y o r has come under similar scrutiny.

He comes across as an arrogant player and, even for Togo, he's had his disciplinary problems.

It wasn’t just his malicious stamp that was the point of controversy, but also his celebration after scoring.

People say he ran all the way to the Arsenal fans at the other end to incite them and that, I believe, is exactly what he intended to do.

I know he said the emotion got the better of him, but I think there’s more to it than that.

I think he knew exactly what he was doing.

In my opinion, he is not being honest about either incident.

He has been very short of the truth on both occasions.

It’s easy for players in this day and age to apologise for their actions after a match, saying emotions took over.

But talk is very cheap.

We shouldn’t forget a steward was very badly hurt as a result and taken to hospital.

It’s easy to say afterwards it was wrong and you’re sorry, but players have got to be in charge of their emotions.

Adebayor would have made a much bigger impact if he’d just put his arms in the air and celebrated with the City fans.

The Arsenal supporters certainly weren’t blameless in it all either and they must take some responsibility for baiting him in the game.

But, as we know, that seems to be part and parcel of football for supporters now.

As soon as a player leaves a club it seems the fans have to bait them and get up their nose as much as possible. I would have thought the Arsenal supporters would have been more appreciative for what he Adebayor done at the Emirates.

But that doesn’t seem to be the way these days.

One minute you’re the hero and the best thing since sliced bread, then the next you’re the subject of great abuse.

It’s certainly not the first time we have seen it happen.

Just look at the abuse David Beckham has been taking in the United States after spending some time at AC Milan.

I’m a bit surprised Mark Hughes expressed his support for Adebayor earlier in the week, asking for him to be cut a bit of slack.

Surely he would have seen the incidents on television after the match.

His reaction was very disappointing.

The sad thing about it all is that it really detracted from City’s outstanding performance against Arsenal, which Adebayor played a big part.

The 4-2 win was just the result and the display they were looking for.

We will need to wait and see what happens with the incitement charge, which I think comes up at the end of the month.

Some people are saying the club should be deducted points as a punishment, as a monetary fine for the player isn’t really a deterrent these days.

The clubs certainly wouldn’t be happy with that, but they do have a responsibility to control their players.