by ricky//habana Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:31 pm
ResurrectionRooney wrote:If the captaincy definitely makes a difference, then Gerrard is an abject failure. If the captaincy definitely doesn't make a difference, then it doesn't matter if Gerrard is captain. In either case, there is no point in retaining this bastard.
As long as Gerrard is picked, he should be captain. Most of the players came out and praised his ability to let his football do the talking, rather than being a loud influence like Terry apparently is, they wouldn't do that if he was a liability.
The crux of the matter is that not only were England a man light in midfield half the time, Gerrard spent the majority of the time looking for the driving forward pass/cross as few options were available due to limited movement of the players, unlike the large numbers of short passes other nations' midfield key-men played. Despite this, those passes were largely successful.
He was also the only midfield player selected in the 23 that could pick, and play, an effective pass. The only other goals that England scored in the tournament not down to Gerrard were pretty much flukes, though in the case of Welbeck I prefer to see it as wonderful improvisation.
But i'm getting away from the point here. Whether an indictment on his mental state or not, Gerrard plays better as captain.
Seeing as Hart is good enough anyway, Terry is divisive (and puts his body on the line regardless), Cole seems to be reliable (apart from Euro 2012), and Rooney both doesn't need the pressure and hasn't done much of note on the highest international stage since his breakout tournament, it makes sense to install Gerrard as captain as long as he is selected for the starting XI.
Last edited by ricky//habana on Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:51 pm; edited 1 time in total