Off Topic World Cup Thread

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No Kane No Gain said:
Kane's captain. Well deserved <ok>
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Congratulations......I hope.

Recently, being England captain hasn't been a great thing to have on your C.V.

Last week I heard 3 'experts' pontificating upon how wise Southgate was not to appoint a captain....

"Sharing the burden keeps any one player from being too pressurised or spending too much time fulfilling media obligations. Gareth is very wise...you can see that he's absorbed the lessons of past failures......it's an excellent decision. England are finally getting it right with Gareth"

No, getting the bollocks out of the way pre-WC would have been wise. This is a traditional FA clusterfuck. Put the decision off for 2 years and then do what you say you weren't going to do in the first place. Probably to appease the old sponsors. <laugh>

Full of **** doesn't cover the experts, either.
 
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It depends how you look at a captain, on talent Kane is obviously first and tbh Henderson is probably near the bottom of the list. However for his lack of ability Henderson does make up for in leadership and a very very good captain. I guess it depends on how Southgate sees his team and who plays.
 
"Thanks for that Brian" said:
Congratulations......I hope.

Recently, being England captain hasn't been a great thing to have on your C.V.

Last week I heard 3 'experts' pontificating upon how wise Southgate was not to appoint a captain....

"Sharing the burden keeps any one player from being too pressurised or spending too much time fulfilling media obligations. Gareth is very wise...you can see that he's absorbed the lessons of past failures......it's an excellent decision. England are finally getting it right with Gareth"

No, getting the bollocks out of the way pre-WC would have been wise. This is a traditional FA clusterfuck. Put the decision off for 2 years and then do what you say you weren't going to do in the first place. Probably to appease the old sponsors. <laugh>

Full of **** doesn't cover the experts, either.
Click to expand...

I actually agree with them and Southgate. We've had a circus around Rooney ahead of the last 2 tournaments with him being captain so despite not being good enough he still got shoehorned into the team. I hope we go back to sharing the armband around after the tournament, no point 2 years being wasted if one player gets injured, isn't good enough or doesn't fit into the best 11.
 
No Kane No Gain said:
I actually agree with them and Southgate. We've had a circus around Rooney ahead of the last 2 tournaments with him being captain so despite not being good enough he still got shoehorned into the team. I hope we go back to sharing the armband around after the tournament, no point 2 years being wasted if one player gets injured, isn't good enough or doesn't fit into the best 11.
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I agree to an extent but appointing him now just means we're going to do this in the immediate run-up and throughout the tournament, rather than get it out of the way. "Was appointing Kane so late a mistake?"

We should have stuck to rotating the armband or appoint someone after the last tournament and have done with it. This seems to be the worst of both worlds.....unless his original choice was Joe Hart? Actually, that makes as much sense as anything to do with England. He wanted Joe Hart....or Mo Salah.
 
The RDBD said:
Speaks volumes on the English game that there is no
defender/MF in Southgates' squad who has the
experience of being / gravitas to act as captain for
something as important as the WC finals.
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It also says a lot about the character of modern players in general that the decent role models are so few and far between.

Harry wouldn't necessarily be my first choice for skipper on the pitch, but as an example to youngsters in his on and offield behaviour he's right up there. :emoticon-0148-yes:
 
I think that you need a captain who is going to be certain of playing because of his play, not because he is captain. Henderson definitely does not fall into that category. The only other one certain to play is Kyle Walker.
 
Does it really matter who is captain?

Will England be any better whether Cahill, Henderson, Kane or whoever where's the armband?

Sometimes a captain can make a difference in football, but I don't see anyone in this England squad who fits the bill.
Kane qualifies by being the best player, but he's no Roy Keane.
 
littleDinosaurLuke said:
Does it really matter who is captain?

Will England be any better whether Cahill, Henderson, Kane or whoever where's the armband?

Sometimes a captain can make a difference in football, but I don't see anyone in this England squad who fits the bill.
Kane qualifies by being the best player, but he's no Roy Keane.
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You're not getting this, are you? It's not about who IS the captain. It's about...

  • WHO ISN'T;
  • WHY THEY AREN'T;
  • and WHOSE FAULT IT IS.
Henderson has been "denied [a] possible special place in history".

Do please try to keep up. <doh>
 
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littleDinosaurLuke said:
Does it really matter who is captain?
Click to expand...

Of course it does. You want someone who can :

1. see the big picture regarding your/opposition play,
in real time

2. rally the team when things are not going your way


IMHO GK and forwards do not do #1, and are usually
too far away from where the main on-pitch action is
to do #2. Hence my opinion that neither should ever be
the on-pitch captain.
 
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