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The Captaincy 2022/23

HalfTimePost

By HalfTimePost
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The Captaincy 2022/23  

162 members have voted

  1. 1. Who should be Captain?

    • Mings
      77
    • Martinez
      65
    • McGinn
      15
    • Young
      0
    • Carlos
      5

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  • Poll closed on 30/07/22 at 19:47

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Beastmix Mentor

Beastmix

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I'm in the minority (at least on here) on this for two reasons:

1: In my option, the captain should always be a CM (as they're right in the middle of everything)

2: I think Gerrard, one of the greatest captains in the history of the league, is probably better placed than any of us to decide who is, or isn't, captain material.

 

Besides, he can always take it off him if it's not working out.

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OutByEaster? Grand Master

OutByEaster?

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I've got some misgivings about this one - I can't see why we'd want to change it and I can't see a better Captain in our squad than Mings.

Mings is a natural leader, he likes it, it feeds his big alpha personality, he's someone who wants to be a General, who wants to be a "proper man". He has principles, he has dignity and he has some gravitas.

McGinn is infectious, he's bubbly, he's a worker bee - the kind of man you'd love on your team, whether you're a Premier league footballer or a bricklayer - he's great company, he'll do anything for you and he's one of the boys - I just can't quite see him as a leader of men.

I can't see McGinn giving Coutinho a rollocking for messing up a marking assignment on a corner, or instructing Digne to hold because Luiz has made a forward run - he's not a pointy, shouty type of guy. Mings I can see doing that, I think it's part of his make up to think that he knows best and he should be telling others.

As characters, both are great to have in the side, but I think one is a better Captain than the other.

As footballers, it's perhaps even more surprising - there are plenty of people who haven't put McGinn in their prospective line ups for our first eleven on the opening day and this decision would seem to confirm that they will be disappointed. He's in my first eleven, but even with that said, I think this decision might add a little bit of weight to the continuation of the biggest mistake our management team are currently making.

Our team is not balanced when we have all three of Coutinho, McGinn and Ramsey on the field - Gerrard loves all of them - for me you have to choose between Ramsey and McGinn and I think that will quickly become apparent as we progress this year - this might be a kick in the nuts for Mings, but if I was Jacob Ramsey, I'd be very concerned about this appointment. If the manager is doing the right things tactically and if the manager wants the Captain to play week-in and week-out, then Ramsey ought to be spending a lot of time on the bench this term.

So for me there are three separate reason why this isn't a good decision:

  1. It wasn't broke - it didn't need fixing.
  2. I think we've picked a man who is a wonderful team player, but not a leader.
  3. I think it suggests that the manager hasn't yet gotten over his blind spot in selection and that could cost us this season

So, given that I think all that and there's some sort of slim chance I might be right about at least one of those things, why would we do it?

The biggest reason I can see is Tyrone Mings.

There's something in Mings that Gerrard thinks needs to be managed or controlled, something that he thinks taking the captaincy away from him will help with - whether that's "helping him concentrate on his own game" or controlling Mings natural alpha for the benefit of the team - there's something in Mings that Gerrard thinks he can use to get better performances out of him through this very public change to the captaincy. Not selecting him into one of the other two positions, Vice-Captain or Club Captain, would i think support that idea. It might just be that Gerrard flat out doesn't like him as a player - personally, I think he's our best proven centre-back, but I don't get paid huge sums of money to make those judgements - it would for me though seem odd if Gerrard is prepared to sacrifice Mings just to hand the captaincy to McGinn.

The other part to that is Mings himself, there's a chance I guess that Mings wants to do more of his off the field stuff under his Tyrone Mings banner, that he wants the Mings brand to be what drives his academies and his property business and his help for Ghana lions and all of the other causes and groups he's involved with - perhaps for the club and for Tyrone, that creates too many clashes with the expectations on the Captain to represent Aston Villa off the field.

There's nothing obvious and present, nothing in front of us, nothing that we get to know that makes this a sensible decision, so I guess we will have divine it's motivations from the murky world of that which we do not know - that which Kerry's cousin who does the garden of the bloke who manages the cafe at Bodymoor heard on a Tuesday afternoon and told to a bloke on Twitter. 

It's an odd one.

Anyways, I hope McGinn proves to be an excellent Captain and that the boss knows a lot more about this stuff than I do, but I find myself a tiny bit perplexed that firstly we felt a decision had to be made and then that we picked our gregarious Scottish meatball for the role.

Good luck John!

 

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avfc1982am Grand Master

avfc1982am

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So we basically give the player with the worse pass stats in midfield the captaincy. I'm trying to believe in Gerrard but he seriously isn't helping me. 

Edited by avfc1982am
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avfc1982am Grand Master

avfc1982am

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1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

That gerrard quote saying "he needs to focus on his own game" i think thats utterly disrespectful that didnt need to be made public in my opinion.

Is that what he said? What the about McGinn focussing lol on his own game. Worst player in preseason along with Watkins. Was crap last year in large parts. What a thing to say when your choice is worse. 

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est1874 Grand Master

est1874

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5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

That gerrard quote saying "he needs to focus on his own game" i think thats utterly disrespectful that didnt need to be made public in my opinion.

Disagree with that. Think it's the kick up the arse he needs. Has been poor in pre-season. Was a better player for us before becoming captain. 

I don't think it's disrespectful to give an honest assessment like that. It's not like he's saying he's useless or lazy, he's just saying he can and should do better. 

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El Zen Grand Master

El Zen

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I would have given it to Mings, no question, and I’m as surprised as anyone. 

Maybe, though, being made captain will help mature and improve McGinn’s game. I hope so. For me, as much as I love our Meatball, he’s not even a given starter on last season’s performances. 

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blandy Grand Master

blandy

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It doesn't matter who is captain - who calls heads or tails and who picks ends.

Who tells the players what time to be at breakfast (if it's not the manager doing that). Who speaks more to the media. It doesn't matter. It's not like cricket where the captain makes all the decisions. It's largely symbolic.

Tyrone will still be Tyrone, and SJM will still be SJM. They'll still be two of the more vocal and outgoing players. Both thoroughly good characters and if concentrating solely on his own games allows TM to cut out the occasional unforced error, then fair dos.

Non-issue for me, and I like and admire both players.

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