Elijah Adebayo has admitted that family issues and sleepless nights had been factors in his 12-game goalless streak, but that after breaking his duck against Huddersfield he’s back to his old self.
The striker bagged a first-half brace in the 3-3 Championship draw with the Terriers as he linked up well with current top scorer Carlton Morris, but saw his side gift their rivals all three goals.
Adebayo, insists the goals show he’s now rediscovering the form that made him such a hot prospect last term.
“I’m an honest person and I know I’ve not been at if for the last couple of weeks,” said Adebayo.
“The international break came at a good time for me, it gave me time to reset, do a lot of work without having a game and then get myself ready for the games coming up.
“I think (against) Hull and Huddersfield, I’ve looked more like myself and I just want to continue that for the rest of the season now.
“I’ve had a few things away from football that have gone on in my life. The gaffer’s been really good with me, telling me, ‘just keep going’.
“He’s given me days when I need to (deal with it), and he just wanted me to be right back at it.
“The international break was good for me. It gave me a chance to clear my head, go away, really work hard and come back firing.
“He (Nathan Jones) just said, ‘listen, I want the Elijah that I had last year.’ I said, ‘I feel much, much better after the break and I’m ready to give it another good go’.
“He’s been fantastic. He knows I’ve been having a tough time, but he still puts me in there because he knows that days like today can come around and I can be how I was.
“This is how I’m going to carry on being for the rest of the season. I feel better. I feel, basically, more like myself now.”
Adebayo said a visit to old friends had helped reset his mind and he added: “The break came at a good time. I’ve had so many sleepless nights over the last couple of weeks because I know I can score goals, it’s just the fact that they weren’t falling for me.”
And the 24-year-old admitted it has been particularly hard to play and live up to the standards he set himself when fans were not aware of his issues away from the game.
“It’s difficult,” he said, adding: “It’s hard to not try to portray that onto the pitch. They’re (fans) not going to know what’s going on.
“Apologies, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I feel so much better now and I’m just ready to continue the season and I look forward to Saturday.”
Last season, in his full breakout campaign in the Championship, Adebayo fired 16 goals, so he knew there would be expectations on him this season.
He said: “Last year I set the bar quite high for myself. The way I’d come to Luton and the good season I had last year, I think it was always going to be the case that people were going to be more familiar with me and were going to expect what I was producing last year.
“For me, it was just about replicating it and the niggles and the stuff that have happened off the field hasn’t helped, but,it’s just about, when people try to stop you, you’ve got to find a different way of scoring.
“I feel like, eventually, it was going to fall. I wasn’t going to keep putting in bad performances, or not the performances I was putting in last year.
“But eventually, I know I’m always going to keep working hard and doing the basics right, in terms of running hard for the team, and the chances would start falling.”
While Adebayo had been enduring his longest barren run as a Hatter, he’s had to watch as summer signing Carlton Morris has hit a rich vein of form, scoring six in his last eight games.
Though the hotshot scored an own goal for Huddersfield last night and claimed two assists, it was Adebayo’s turn to take the adulation of the Kenilworth crowd and he said: “As well as the fans, my team-mates have been phenomenal with me for the last however many weeks.
“Everyone’s put an arm around me to say, ‘listen, you’re a goalscorer, that’s what you’ve done. It’s going to happen, don’t think about it too much.’
“Even Carlton, who’s been on fire, he’s put his arm around me and said, ‘you’re going to score sooner or later’. It’s been good and I’m just delighted the fans got to see me score, and it was at home as well.”
And like London buses, Adeabayo has waited a quarter if the season for goals only for two to arrive in the same game, against Huddersfield.
The 24-year-old said: “I’m delighted. It’s been tough in the last couple of weeks and from the beginning of the season, but in our team you’re always going to get chances and it’s just about keeping going and, eventually, when they come, you’ve just got to take them.
“I’ve been edging closer and closer and I’m just happy to get two.
“As the games go on this season, it’s like a dark cloud and eventually you’ve just got to keep going and you’ll get chances.
“Once one goes in then you know you can relax and go and get more. That’s what it is for me, it’s just about carrying on.”
I have not checked in here for a while since I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are great quality so I guess I?¦ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
Glad to hear that the lad’s getting on top of his off-field issues and looking much more like the Adebayo who did so well last term. It’s easy to forget that, like everybody else, players may have pressures and problems in their personal lives which can affect their performance. Not easy when you’ve got literally thousands of eyes watching you, cheering when you win and bitterly disappointed when things go wrong. Great double last night and, all being well, more to come, but Elijah – like everybody else – needs to be cut a bit of slack.
Keep the faith try listening to a bit of Northern Soul Frank Wilson. Coyh