Emmanuel Adebayor accuses Tottenham of disrespecting him

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor has accused Tottenham of disrespecting him.

He scored twice on his first Premier League start of the season as Spurs beat Southampton 3-2 on Sunday.

But the 29-year-old forward was not included on the club's official photograph and trained on his own while Andre Villas-Boas was manager.

"It was difficult," said Adebayor. "When I come to train and see the team picture, which I'm not involved in, that shows me a lot of disrespect."

Adebayor spent a season on loan at Tottenham from Manchester City in 2011-12 and scored 17 goals in 33 Premier League matches, before joining Spurs in a permanent deal for £5m in August 2012.

However, he only found the net nine times in 36 appearances in all competitions in 2012-13 and had only played 45 minutes of first-team football under Villas-Boas this season.

"I'm a professional footballer, I had to keep my head up and I did what they asked me to do," said the Togo player.

"They asked me to train with the reserves, which I did with pleasure, and they asked me to train on my own, which I did with pleasure.

"So now everything is paying off. I kept doing my thing and this is my glory time. I'm very happy."

In September, it was revealed that Adebayor could have left Tottenham during the summer.

"There were opportunities for him to leave, but he was not interested in them," said Villas-Boas, who was sacked following Tottenham's 5-0 defeat by Liverpool last weekend.

When Tim Sherwood took over as interim head coach, he instantly recalled Adebayor to the starting line-up.

The forward promptly scored in his side's 2-1 League Cup defeat by West Ham on Wednesday before his brace against the Saints on Sunday.

"I thank the players and the staff," said the former Arsenal striker. "They have given me my confidence back and they said 'we know how good you are'. I didn't want to let them or the fans that believe in me down.

"It was a huge win for the team and for our confidence. The press wrote us off, but we showed character, personality and team spirit."