London, Jan 22 (IANS): Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has defended his decision to make Emmanuel Adebayor his captain despite the striker being booed by some fans when he was substituted before the team established a 1-0 Capital Cup semi-final lead over Sheffield United.

The Spurs manager is keeping faith with the striker despite his limited contribution Wednesday, reports dailymail.co.uk. Adebayor also received a yellow card during the match.

He was replaced by Roberto Soldado after 64 minutes, before an Andros Townsend penalty gave them a first leg victory.

"He was happy to get the armband. I see a lot of qualities in him that make him a good captain. I thought he put in a good performance," Pochettino said after the match.

Pochettino named the 30-year-old Adebayor as one of his three captains at the start of the season, alongside regular captain Hugo Lloris and Younes Kaboul. But the Togolese has played just 32 minutes of football since November and scored just twice in 13 appearances this season.

But Pochettino thinks he just needs confidence to add to his tally.

"For a striker it’s important always to score. But in the end we need to give them the confidence that they can improve their performance and maybe have the opportunity to score. Sometimes with a striker when they score once, they score, score and score again."