I entirely see that point of view and agree to a point, but I also feel like, despite the fact you are being facetious, it is almost like that. Of course this is all a lot of speculation like most of what we do as fans, but I believe that there is a great impetus put on the captain leading a team than other senior players, although they obviously play a part. I'm sure Fonte does organise a lot of the defence and is a voice in the team, but I feel like that voice would be stronger and more important if he was wearing an armband, both from his point of view of having complete control of the organisation of the team on the pitch, and from others point of view hearing his words as a captain's words and not a teammate's.
If that is how it works, then it's a flawed design - shouldn't everyone respect the views and advice of teammates, armband or no, and players be unafraid to voice themselves despite no "official" position? With no captain in the backfield to be the vocal one, I would hope a senior player like Fonte would take it upon himself.
I agree with that. The armband must make a difference, even if certain players are vocal with or without it. The opinions of ex-players seem to suggest that they prefer their captain to be a vocal guy somewhere in the spine of the team. I can't remember who said that, so you'll just have to trust me that I'm not making it up. I reckon if Fonte was given the armband he'd be more inspired to encourage the team, and the team would be more inspired to listen to him. I seriously doubt that alone would turn our form completely around, but it'd be a start on organising the defense better. We also probably need better defensive coaching and better players, but yeah it might be something.
The captain in a football team is of little significance, as CBK has pointed out above. Its nothing like cricket where the captain certainly does matter and has a major decision making role throughout the course of the game. Adam Lallana is doing ok - shouting at your teammates as he runs back after scoring is just an adrenaline rush and got sod all to do with galvanising the team. They should be galvanised to push on as it is.
Of course I'm sure every player is respected by their teammates, but that doesn't mean more importance is not placed in a captain's words than a teammates. I would hope too that with Lallana not a defender, that someone would take control of the defence and organize it, but it simply hasn't looked like that. That could be for many reasons, because Fonte has been trying but it's been a lost cause, it could be because Fonte isn't doing it at all and he isn't actually the influential figure we think he is, it could be anything and like I said, I'm purely speculating. And whilst I'm almost sure Fonte knows he has a place as a senior member of the squad from which he can add to the leadership of the team, if Lallana is saying one thing, trying to get the team going and organised, however uninspiring it may be, Fonte isn't exactly going to overrule him. I just think that with the armband given to someone else, and a clear message sent that this player is the leader of our team, that that player may have a greater impact on the organisation and leadership of our team.
Fair enough - perhaps captaincy has more importance than I credit it with. Then again, I don't think that without being out there, none of us are in position to judge how motivational (or not) Adam is as captain. On a related note - shouldn't it be a very important duty of a goalkeeper (regardless of captaincy) to organise the defensive line in front of him? With this in mind it can't be helped by our keeper-go-round. Kelv would be the best at this, I assume - with the young and experienced Gazza, and Boruc who probably doesn't even know his defenders names yet. Hopefully that can be sorted.
And perhaps it's less important than I credit it with, but yes as you say unfortunately none of us spend our day-to-days around St. Mary's and Staplewood or on the pitch on gamedays so we will never really know with any certainty, just like most things. That is unless we have some sneaky Saints players or officials hiding in our ranks, personally I am working on formulating a theory that gomarchingin is De Ridder, completely useless, doesn't speak very good English, and very critical of Nigel's team selection... Suspicious... But probably on fair on Steve as he seems a good lad despite his lack of any consistent footballing ability. The more compassionate and nostalgic part of me wants Super Kelvin back in team, but in reality I think Gazza and Boruc are both better options. One thing is certain, regardless of who it is, we need someone to have a good run of games unless they make some real howlers. Same with the defence. Would be a huge difference-maker I feel.
Haha that's a strangely believable theory. Falls apart a bit because I think De Ridder actually speaks better English.
That is one of the major points against, but I still feel like I'm on to something and believe me, I will follow this investigation right through to it's conclusion and will use all the resources at my disposal.
I can not confirm or deny that at this time in my investigation, all information will be disclosed in due course once the investigation has reached it's conclusion. Please respect that and allow the procedural process to work as these things need to be kept behind closed doors and not released into the public domain. This is another possibility that is being explored along with SDR and other such as Rupert Lowe, Harry Redknapp etc., but I'm confident that the truth can come out eventually.
The captain should ideally be a CB or defensive midfielder, because they can see the whole game in front of them. Pre-season, I`d have gone for Fonte. Now, it should be Fonte or Spider.
Lallana is incredibly vocal and is constantly organising the team. Watch a friendly and all you can hear is adam shouting at the lads.
