A team leader is not only one who dons the armband and performs the usual rites before kick off; he directs the team’s attitude, temperament and mentality. He takes charge of the team on the field and he is the voice of the coach on the field.
As the armband was handed to Thierry Henry, it was obvious he wasn’t the best of choices as he tried to combine looking out for the team with scoring goals. Of course his goal-scoring suffered and he finally took a bow in the summer of 2007.
As a captain, you have to watch the team and try to direct their affairs and having a striker do this job is not the best pick as he needs to turn his back on goal to read and direct his team’s affairs and this will make his primary job of goal-scoring suffer. One could argue that Van Persie has led the team from the front and scored 30 league goals this term, but you must consider the number of games we have drawn and lost under his leadership due to the fact that the captain focuses on scoring goals. One must also remember that the team has an organizer in central defence in shape of Thomas Vermaelen and this has helped ease the pressure off Van Persie. Simply put, it is widely opined that central defenders and defensive midfielders are best options for captains as they can see the team from the rear and marshal the team from that position, as opposed to being up field.
When Cesc was given the band, we had the same issues, as he was more of a forward lying playmaker, was young and lacked lots of leadership experience, but he always played to his strength of assisting strikers not really getting to direct the on field affairs of the team.
Personally, I feel the likes of Kolo Toure and Gilberto were better candidates for the role, but its obvious Wenger prefers to use the band as an incentive for want-away players. One could say the team’s plight is being alleviated a little under Van Persie’s reign, as we have Vermalean who is a natural leader and one time Belgian captain. As our assistant captain, Thomas helps marshal the team’s rearguard and maybe, just maybe, this has helped our team. But I feel he would take a lot more responsibility if he was the main man in charge of the lads on the field. With a natural leader playing in the middle or rear of the team being the Arsenal captain, I believe the team would withstand more pressure and assault of opposition, especially when we have a slender lead going into the closing stages of games and also approaching the business end of the season. With a leader who controls the team’s attitude and mentality, the Arsenal squad will not be caving in under pressure and also not be attacking or taking unnecessary risks when the pressure is on.
Since the Arsenal manager is mostly quiet during games, the team could do with a communicator leading the boys and telling them what to do when the heat is on. I could go on and on picking out games where this flaw was exposed, but I will only mention a couple. The Norwich game is one where Arsenal could have thrived with a leader who controls the team mentality, after going ahead 3-2 ahead, it was shocking to see the team all over the field, still playing and piling forward. At that point a team with the right mentality would’ve put every one behind the ball, calmed the tempo of the game and played keep ball. Against Newcastle last season, the team with a four goal lead started panicking and defending without conviction when pressure mounted, and this led to them conceding four goals. With a leader to instil a calm mentality in the team, I feel the side would have won the game despite being a man down. When the team has someone who influences their state of mind, they are calm under pressure and know what exactly to do per time even when the odds are stacked against them.
In conclusion, the addition of one or two experienced players in midfield or defence, who are at the top of their game, will help steady the Arsenal ship and also help calm nerves when the heat is on and chips are down.
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A lack of depth has the same effect.
Song played every game from the 27th December, Ramsey wasn’t the same after he played 5 games in 14 days over Christmas.
You can’t expect our midfield players to press, and play that much, no matter how much heart, or mental strength, or whatever you call it, they have.
I dont believe there is a lack of depth. the problem is the managers reluctance to use the whole squad. whilst it is good to have a nucleus of players it is also good to bring in some fresh talent and play them in their proper position. When you look at the midfield for example we have a huge amount of players song ramsey arteta rosicky wilshire diaby coquelin frimpong lansbury yennaris ozyakup henderson eastmond eisfeld aneke denilson galindo rees ebicilio thats from the top of my head. yet if you take the first 4 out of the equation i doubt the rest of them added together made 20 appearances in midfield this season. by appearances i mean starts.
I thin we need a leader in the midfield to command the troops may not necessarily need to be the captain
When Cesc left last summer I was all for TV getting the armband.
Hand on heart I think RVP will leave us this summer, which then brings forward the question of who will captain the side for next season.
That person I now believe should be Mikel Arteta or even Big Pers as after the defencive frailties of TV this season I think he has to concentrate more on his positional play himself never mind trying to organise his team mates.
One thing is for sure is that over the past lot of years Wenger has lost ‘steel’ in his side to be replaced by ‘skill’ and as we all know this plan has not worked especially in the cut and trust of the English Premiership.
Hopefully M’Vila will come to bring back some backbone and protection to our back 4 and with Bouldy coming in as our No2 I remain hopeful that our ‘achilles heel’ (defence) will be better organised so that we can at least try and play catch up to the Manchester clubs next season.
I think the current quad is strong with 3 more signings.We musnt lose any players…the injury list must not b 2 big…With Wilshere coming back we can b very strong…imagine–>scnezny,sagna,vermaelen,koscielny,gibbs: arteta,song: Ox/walcott,wishere,podolski,RVP?
This squad is full of losers and nice guys. The atmosphere at the Colney Creche is complacent and too many players lack aggression. I constantly ask myself why people like Seaman (fishing), Viera (Citeh), Wright (MK Dons), Keown (BBC), Adams (God knows where), are not involved with this weak-willed squad. The answer, these guys are winners. Wenger and the Squad have found serenity and calmness at Colney, but lost the winning mentality. Top players want to win things, if RVP is a top player he’d be a fool to stay. He aint no fool and he’s a top player.
Although the seaswon started and almost ended in shambles, we again over achieved. I terms of leadership,we have Van the Man, something we had been missing since Viera. Very important we keep him for another season at least.
M’Villa hopefully will be signed next week. His signing willbe more important that Podolski. He will provide the drive and aggresiveness in the middle of the park. It will alos complete the picture, three generals, one in each part of the field. Vermallen at the back, M’Villa in the middle and RVP at the top. Thats a team.
This club no longer need players like squallica, park, djorou, ramsy, chamake, bentiner, vela, diaby, quality replacements must be players like veltogon, m’villa, harzad or Mario gortiz, pordisk, and many more.
TV can’t get the armband, he’s up front as much as RVP is when he should be at the back defending.
Arteta would be an incredible captain. He’s very calm, experienced and respected.