New Captain

[Woland]

Do you think we'd have won more or less if he hadn't been the captain, JJ?

While this is a vey good question and proves a point... I think we'd be more likely to keep hold of certain players if whoever our captain was maintained a good team spirit. It's only an opinion but over the years I think he's scared more off than encouraged to stay.

 

[gkmacca]

Gerrard is actually best suited to the old role of club captain. He's excellent off the field. As team captain he's too self-absorbed.

 

[Wizardry]

While this is a vey good question and proves a point... I think we'd be more likely to keep hold of certain players if whoever our captain was maintained a good team spirit. It's only an opinion but over the years I think he's scared more off than encouraged to stay.

Actually, this was the only point I could see against Gerrard being captain. That said, who is it he's scared off in his time, do you think? By all accounts Alonso still loves him, I don't see anyone having scared Mascher, Torres played better with him than anyone in his life (including Villa) and I'm struggling to think of anyone else of note who's moved on. Owen?? Nothing subsequent has suggested anything other than Gerrard and Owen getting on well.

 

[Woland]

I dunno. It's all conjecture. But I reckon I'd be more likely to stay at a club where there was a gang of lads all getting on and trying to be positive and it could swing things when someone else came sniffing.

Also, I don't think shouting at or ignoring the likes of Suarez bothers them too much, thick skinned arrogant dudes will be ok with a moody boss... But Henderson... in fact most of the kids... they would benefit from a forgiving smile when things go bad, a word in their shell that everyone makes mistakes. One of the most nuts I ever got about Gerrard as captain was when Jack Robinson fell over against Fiorentina and they scored. The goal didn't really matter much anyways... but Gerrard screamed at him and ran off, no one went near him, and there was this 17 year old kid looking like he was about to burst into tears in the pissing rain, 40 yards from his nearest team mate. Someone should have given him a cuddle and told him to forget it. But I've seen tons of that kind of thing over the years and it always pisses me off.

I'm not saying there's a definite link to worse results or outcomes but if I was manager I wouldn't put up with it either way.

 

[Judge Jules]

Do you think we'd have won more or less if he hadn't been the captain, JJ?

Rhetorical question but an interesting one nevertheless, and my answer is: quite possibly more. I think other players would have come out of their shells better, while Stevie himself might not have been allowed (for example) to dictate that he take all the corners, which has been a double whammy for too many years (his corners are not much cop *and* we've badly missed his presence in or on the edge of the area to receive them).

 

[Jack D Rips]

Would it not be the manager's job to decide who takes corners?

 

[Judge Jules]

In theory, yes it is. In practice, when a player gets too much of an individual say, that kind of decision can sometimes be subcontracted. My bet is Stevie was given the captaincy in the first place to "keep him sweet" - there was no other conceivable reason to take it away from Sami Hyypia.

 

[Dirkus_Circus]

I would prefer Skrtel over Agger if we were choosing between those two. Skerts rarely is injured while Agger is a bit of a glass man.

 

[Modo]

Suarez, there's no other candidate imo.

 

[SummerOnions]

GKmacca seems to have a pretty good idea of what he's doing...

 

[gkmacca]

Yesil. At least it would get him in the team.

 

[gkmacca]

GKmacca seems to have a pretty good idea of what he's doing...

Off topic but none the less a most welcome encomium!

 

[Vlads Quiff]

You can't have someone as the captain who goes off like a bottle of fucking pop every game, he got booked at the weekend for it again, he has just served a ban for accumulating yellow cards, most of which would have been for dissent,
as I say I love the guy, and he never gives less than 100%, but leading by example is not the only attribute you have to consider, you only have to look at our current skipper for that.

 

[Judge Jules]

Fair comment.

 

[Mojo]

Wasn't Suarez Uruguay's captain at the Olympics?

 

[jimmy]

Portly - we make him captain and he calms down. I'm sure.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

Portly - we make him captain and he calms down. I'm sure.

Wrong one James.
Didn't we try something like that with Fowler ?

regards

 

[Vlads Quiff]

Responsibility could also adversely affect his game - seriously

regards

 

[Woland]

That was kinda my prob giving Gerrard the captaincy back when. He wasn't broken so why try and fix things?

We ended up with Roy of the Rovers standing over every free kick and corner, more like a Sunday league captain. Centre halves always seem to make more sense to me.

 

[mark1975]

Let's face it, our captain is sat on the bench.

 

[jimmy]

Wrong one James.
Didn't we try something like that with Fowler ?

regards

That could well be the case for Suarez.
My gut feeling is that it will work, but it's only a gut gut feeling.

Oh and I addressed you as "Portly" in my previous post - meant to write "Vlad" of course (with all due respect to your brother!) 🙂

 

[Vlads Quiff]

Too late Jimmy, damage done.
It would not work Suarez would be suffocated by responsibility in a Liverpool team

 

[iseered]

I hate this messing about with who is captain anyway. The most senior player who is a regular starter should be the captain. For us that is now Gerrard.

 

[Fabio]

most senior doesn't equate to best captain though

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

most senior doesn't equate to best captain though

Quite a lot of the time it would. It should be the person who most people respect.

The role is very over rated.

 

[iseered]

Exactly. It really doesn't matter.

 

[Judge Jules]

I'm not so sure. I've just finished reading that book "The Secret Footballer" and in it he says people would be surprised how important having the armband is to quite a few players.

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

I'm not so sure. I've just finished reading that book "The Secret Footballer" and in it he says people would be surprised how important having the armband is to quite a few players.

How important is it to the team though?

 

[gkmacca]

Quite a lot of the time it would. It should be the person who most people respect.

The role is very over rated.

Sort of, but it isn't when you see a truly brilliant motivator and leader who is also a great player in the role. Souness at his peak wasn't just respected, he sorted his teammates out, he encouraged, he cajoled, he defended, he inspired. He was at his best as a manager when he was a captain.

 

[Judge Jules]

How important is it to the team though?

Macca's just answered the point, but I'd add that it's bound to affect the team if a particular player is either well or badly affected by getting/not getting the job.