Just looking through the ST book that came today. There is zero mention of Barton and Ferdinand has a column at the end where youd expect the captain to speak. Looks like he will be named captain at some point and maybe this is confirmation they want nothing at all to do with Barton.
Not for me. Ferdinand was 4th choice CB at Sunderland for a reason. He was patchy this season. IMHO we need to be lloking at better than him. OK for a squad player. Not captain.
Ferdinand plays to the level of his CD partner, put him in with Fitz Hall and were all at sea, put him next to Hill and hes very solid. We need 1 or 2 CBs and I see Ferdinand being the captain unless we bring in a natural leader. Ferdinand also made the 2nd most clearances in the league last season so he was doing something right.
No need to throw a wobbly, I said we need to strengthen and I have no problem with another captain so who would you have out of the players who would play every game.
Think you are right about Ferdinand, but find it difficult to get too excited about this. The fact that Adel and Barton have been our last two captains tells me we don't take it that seriously.
That was Warnock though, I think Hughes is more professional than that. This is the 1st chance he will have to name his captain. I think the reasoning for the last 2 captains was that they would sort out their own behaviour if they had the responsibility and that completely failed with Barton.
Thats a good question Flyer. The answer is i am not overly impressed with many of our players. I really felt that one of the main reasons why we were so bad last year was the lack of real leadership on the pitch. This also might explain our terrible away form, because away from home, you need your leaders to stand up and be counted. Derry has great leadership qualities but unfortunately does not have the skill set to match his determination and attitude. His age also means he may have one more year as a squad player at best. Hill for me, is exactly the same. Great attitude and heart but slow as the titanic at turning. His age also goes against him. That leave 3 possible candidates for me. Mackie, Diakite and Onouha. Mackie may not start all our games next season as we may be in the market for a pacey right winger. I would consider making Mackie our Club captain. Great attitude and also gives 100%. He would be a fantastic rep for our club. Diakite (if signed) and Onouha would IMHO offer the best chance of giving our captaincy to somebody who will be at our club for the next 3-4-5 years and should be guaranteed first team football. Just my opinion, would love to hear what others think.
A captain just has to lead by example, one good look/stare at another player can say a thousand words.
Faurlin could be an option in the future. We arent blessed with too many natural leaders. Hill and Derry are 2 but Im sure they wont play every game and they arent a long term solution. Diakite is out for obvious reasons so I dont see any other option than AF unless we sign someone like Huth whos a natural leader or some top class player. Id have liked Gorkss to have stayed, Hill has proved you dont need great pace at CB and Gorkss is captain for Latvia and is a great example to follow.
Yep Faurlin could be a very good option. Lets just hope he comes back strong from this injury. For me Ferdinand was another "panic buy", not wanted by Sunderland. If we have the funds we need to buy a top class CB. I would hope that Onouha could develop into another pretty solid CB. Just think Ferdinand is not consistent enough. Diakite, Faurlin and Onouha would all be decent bets IMO. Agree that MH will want to put his stamp on the team and name his own captain. It will be a no-nonsense type player who leads by example.
I think he wasnt consistent enough because his partner changed every week. We looked very solid at the back once we had a settled CB partnership. I dont think he will name Faurlin as theres doubts over when he will be back. I think it will be AF but I hope we get someone whos a natural leader.
I'm hardly Warnocks biggest fan Nuts, but even if a panic buy Ferdinand has to have been a better choice than Connolly, Gabbidon, Hall or Perrone at CB, especially as Colin didn't think Hill could play there.
Exactly, SWP and Bartons were panic buys because they were no better than what we already had. Would one person choose SWP over Taarabt or Barton over Faurlin? Ferdinand improved our defence.
