Sell Henderson; what’s the point of captains anyway?

Sell Henderson; what’s the point of captains anyway?

Get it off your chest to theeditor@football365.com

Henderson out, Shaqiri and Fraser in
Duck’s email represents many conversations that my mates and I have had over the past weeks, months and years.

F365’s excellent article on Liverpool’s expectations and the “crisis” we are now experiencing this season is one that I have tried to write over the past months as well, but not quite had the time or journalistic skills – but it represents my views perfectly

Liverpool are not in the Champions League so we don’t have that European competition to be able to bring a Mario Götze to the club in the summer, added to not being in the CL we don’t have the money to throw at a Henrikh Mkhitaryan to be able to forgo the world stage for a year or three.

But what we do have (January aside) is a top manager. I like to classify players in three categories, World class (outstanding world players) – Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez, Iniesta and Sergio Agüero. International class (top European players) – I put Philippe Coutinho into this category, along with the likes of Mkhitaryan and Gotze. Lastly is obviously Premier League class of players.

In my view Liverpool have the following; Halfway between World and International class is Klopp – International class are Coutinho, Mane possible Firminio. However aside from E Can who I think who can develop and Lallana needs another season of consistency before I think he can be motioned as International Class the rest are Premier League class or below

So Liverpool need at least one world class midfielder and two international class defenders and an international class keeper. But has Duck said who is out there? I am sure we have all looked at Football Manager for the next big thing as they have more scouts than most other teams combined.

Not knowing who to bring in – I trust Klopp for that, I will say that Henderson needs to go – I am sorry but he doesn’t have the X factor that a Xabi Alonso had to be able to play “that” pass when required. I would also consider bringing in as a squad player Joe Frazier (the boxer? Ryan Fraser, I presume? MC) from Bournemouth and Shaqiri as I think they would fit into the system if Mane or Coutinho was out. Sturridge needs to go along with A Moreno. Simon Mignolet has not taken his second change. I would see how Sakho’s attitude is before off-loading him as he is an International class defender.

But it is the one or two X factor players that we don’t have – Gerrard, Torres, Suarez Alonso and even Luis Garcia had moments of brilliance. At the moment Coutnhio can do it, and Firmino can score goals but no one else

We are fifth – one win from third with an easier run in. With 15 games in 20 weeks I think he can get back to playing the high energy football that got us second. And with hopefully CL next week we can strengthen the squad to the level were rotation players wont result in another January like this season.
Ian H

A grim outlook
Following on from some recent articles and discussion, I thought this line in your coverage of Man Utd’s trading figures was interesting: “During a wide-ranging presentation and Q&A session, Woodward underlined his belief that their sponsorship arm will continue to grow and announced an app based around the club’s in-house television station MUTV is to be launched globally.” Is that the future of football distribution? One global app per club, matches viewable by purchasing a season ticket or on a game by game basis? I’ve been saying for a while that the current TV deal (certainly the domestic one) is peaking and the numbers for it will start to fall (look at Sky’s reducing viewing figures) in the next deal or two. When that happens, I can see clubs like United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and co., looking to go down this route and break away from the collective to maintain their revenue levels… And that will begin the splitting of the game between the super clubs and the rest.

Across nearly every other sector there has been an ‘hour-glassing’, why won’t it happen to football? It pains me to say, but a European Super League, with international cup competitions against the likes of China and MLS is probably only a decade or so away, with ludicrous levels of money sloshing around the superstars, all the media interest focused on it and all the hideous razzle dazzle you can imagine. The rest will be a domestic based, semi-professional game, clubs surviving mainly on gate receipts and volunteer workers. Actually, the last part sounds kind of nice, but unfortunately I fell in love with my club in 1990, and as a 7 year old was unable to predict that they’d become a corporate behemoth and represent pretty much everything I dislike in the world.
Lewis, Busby Way

Perspective required over Arsenal
I am writing to ask if Harry, AFC, Brussels has a fan club, blog or even a fanzine I can subscribe to because his mail yesterday morning really resonated.

Particular highlights were, “Those who define success as narrowly as first place are limited in their thinking. They’d probably enjoy going for a pint with serial winners Adrian Durham and Charlie Adam”, and, “I’d give Wenger a six year deal right now based on my gut feeling that whatever Charlie Adam thinks is exactly the opposite of what I want to think”

Look, am I disappointed that we have failed to win the league again? Of course I am. Do I think that Wenger might have run out of ideas? Maybe. Does it mean I’m going to throw my toys out of the pram? Certainly not.

In my time as an Arsenal fan I’ve had so many highs. Sure, you could make an equally big list of disappointments too, but you can’t have the highs without the lows people. Unless you are a Man Utd fan in the Fergie era or a Barca fan in Pep’s era, but then that just makes you unable to process defeat.

I think the fans of most teams in the country would love to have experienced even some of these highs. So quit yer whining, enjoy the good bits and try to ignore the bad bits. That’s my advice for football and it kind of works for life too.
Adonis (If you concuss someone with an elbow to the head, it really should be a foul, right?) Stevenson, AFC

Imagine 20 years of LVG…
As a United fan, it was interesting to see the argument between Pete the meats thoughts and the responders, Sonaf, Mike and John..

It is not difficult to sympathize with Pete. We went through a mini-arsene period during most of LVG’s tenure.

The reason which drives some Arsenal fans into the wall, is that the solution to some of the major problem is so crystal clear, but never gets implemented by the club.

Every person and their dog knows the top 3 things Wenger needs to do, to at least attempt to remedy the groundhog day rot. I won’t even bother listing what he needs to do.

But the fact that this never happens, make me think the guy is running a psych experiment on the legion of “spineless” fans and would probably laugh himself silly while submitting his thesis after retirement and collecting a Nobel prize.

Fans like Sonaf and John are exactly the reason why Arsene is able to pull the wool over the fan’s eyes. Thankfully the United hierarchy caught LVG in the act and sent him packing..

Cheers
Pappu (Arsene Wenger Winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Psychology)

Let’s be serious for moment…
This isn’t tactics, fantasy signings or anything to do with theoretical fixes for the top club’s problems folks! It might be as important though….

MP’s (well, approx. 4.6% of them) have passed a vote of no confidence in the FA, warning legislation will follow if reform isn’t implemented ‘in house’. It’s weird having a ‘finger on the pulse’ of current affairs; usually I feel comfortable following somewhere around 1-2 years behind trends and opinion.

I’d like to respond to a quote from a ‘FA life vice-president’, if I may.

“I would have thought with the state of the NHS, the lack of building, not enough cash for defence, that [MPs] would put energy into that not the organisation of football” – Keith Compton, FA life Vice-President.

Diverting is easy, Mr Vice-President. Observe:

“I would have thought given the state of the FA Council, the lack of ethnic and sexual diversity, the lack of members under the age of 60, that Keith Compton would put his energy into those issues. And not the running of the country, for which he is thoroughly unqualified.” – Spoons, Lifelong football fan

Mr Compton sort of responded to that criticism, in my mind it’s at best misguided and at worst stuff I can’t say for fear of libel. Esteemed fellow fans, make up your own minds about these direct quotes from the FA Council’s very own loose cannon:

“Asked whether there should be more female and ethnic minority involvement in FA decisions, he said: “That’s not really the responsibility of the council. If those people were interested enough, and we had enough people, we would have enough women and other people on the FA.

“I have heard people say supporters aren’t represented but that is not true. They have one representative. People want the council to be reduced and now I am hearing it should be increased.”

That’s one supporter representative in a council of 120. And three ex-professionals. No-one is suggesting an increase in membership, they’re suggesting a massive reduction. More fans, more ex-pros, more women, more “other people”. And a lot less of your kind Keith – you know what you are.

I’ll invoke a term from my first published mailbox entry: Keith Compton – you’re a twonk. And I bet you’re not the only one on the FA Council.
Spoons LFC (‘straight outta Compton’ reference was too much, wasn’t it)

Parker for president
Reading the Planet Football interview with Paul Parker at the same as the FA gets a verbal castration by MPs a rather obvious thought struck me; Paul Parker seems just about the perfect person to lead reform in the abomination that is the FA.

Erudite, intelligent, humble and respected by all, he was an exceptional (if often injured) professional. He has spent years supporting young players into the game and isn’t tainted by UK media coverage or previous involvement.

He’s also, by comparison to the current incumbents, young enough to spend committed time to transforming the game, rather than treating the job as semi-retirement.

All in all, he seems a good pick. Here starts the campaign to get him the job, who’s with me?
Phil, ECFC Devon

Unrealistic Realistic Gooner
To answer Steve the realistic Gooner I have a few points. Let’s gets the positive out of the way first: Dzeko would be a good buy.

Point two: if you would drop Henderson for Can then you haven’t watched Can play this year.

Right now Varane. Raphael Varane. Do you work for the Mail? An elite defender who has been at Madrid for 5-6 years, has more appearances than Pepe or Ramos this season, and is clearly Madrid’s long-term replacement for Ramos. This is not Fifa 17, this is real life. Why don’t we snap up Boateng or Hummels while we’re at it? Maybe a 25 year old Maldini is available? Perhaps get Jesus in (Christ that is, not the lad at City), he could probably play anywhere. Maybe drop Gandalf into the holding mid role, nothing gets past him. Seriously. Varane. Mate.

Klopp’s tactics worked very well until the fixture congestion. Pressing like that is very hard if you’re not fresh, squad depth is the biggest concern but a few positions do need attention: we do need another first team quality or close CB for rotation (who isn’t Lucas); we need another goal threat to give the front three rotation rest; and we need a left back who can cross. Milner has been excellent defensively but we can’t get in behind teams at the moment and having a full back who can’t cross with his left foot in a Klopp system is killing us against teams that sit.
Rowan “a touch more realistic” Hansberry

…Not sure what Steve is thinking with his plan to fix us up, but I’ll give it a shot.

Dropping Henderson? Based on the formation we’re given, Can is going in as the most defensive of the 3 mids. It’s not his preferred position, we want him bombing in to the box, so this just seems weird. He’s got potential, but he’s worse overall than Hendo, not in good form, and would be (slightly) out of position. Not sure where this idea has come from. Don’t see how “building around Lallana” forces this change anyway, unless we’re dropping Lallana into the middle of the 3, which makes even less sense. The middle 3 could definitely use a change, but this isn’t it.

Only named 10 players, but I’m assuming the newly acquired Dzeko is up top. At 30 years old he might not fit with Klopp’s long term plan, and even as a short term plan he pushes Firmino out wide, which pretty much never works. I don’t know a great deal about Dzeko to be honest, but from what I remember he isn’t likely to work with the overall plan of hounding defenders high up the pitch, even if he makes good runs. Also for some reason we’re dropping Mané? Unless I’m wrong, and Dzeko is on the bench, which seems like an odd move as well. Maybe he could replace Firmino down the middle, but he’s been one of our best players this season, I’d much rather us bring in a new winger.

Next, signing Varane – can’t think of many reasons for him to come to us right now, and would probably cost an awful lot of money. Even if we stump up the cash it’s not like RM have any reason to sell unless he tries to force a move (he’s under contract for another 3 years). He may also be put off by how things went for another promising young French CB. Sure, our defence is a mess, but this probably isn’t the most realistic solution.

Finally, you’re right Steve, there’s every chance this might fail, even IF it appeared logical.
Tom, LFC

…Greater tactical minds than mine will no doubt give a reasoned appraisal of Steve, Realistic Gooner’s suggestions. I’d suggest though that both Liverpool and Everton would benefit from fielding eleven men, rather than just the ten Steve mentions.

Varane would also surely only join Liverpool in the very wettest of Klopp’s dreams. Other than that, some wise words in there about the variables that can throw even the most meticulous of plans.

I don’t really have any tactical insight to provide…beyond suggesting that Ranieri force feed his troops an unholy combo of cheese & ham omelettes, Red Bull and Port, since it worked so well for Vardy last year. What’s the worst that could happen?
Ohio Joe (Tactics Tim taught me everything I know) Spurs, London

The mighty Brisbane Roar FC have just qualified for the Asian Champions League by knocking out mega-rich Shanghai Shenhua 2-0 in China. The match saw the debut of the world’s highest paid player Carlos Tevez. Our squad season salary cap is roughly equivalent to the weekly wage of the Argentinian; our club legend, playmaker and talisman turned 36 last month and we managed to get just over 3000 people to our last home qualifying match.

There’s only one thing to say really: Welcome to Asia, Carlos!
Dave, Brisbane

Park the bus at Swansea
Thanks Duck, I’ve been looking for an invitation to spout my views on how Leicester should line up against Swansea this weekend. And as my friends and colleagues won’t listen to me I may as well blurt my thoughts out over t’internet.

You rightly point out that losing Kante has been bad news for us and I have written in much more detail on this issue before (although I wasn’t published). To summarise as much as possible, Kante is not human and is completely irreplaceable like-for-like. So the main problem with losing Kante is that it has exposed our aging, immobile centre backs – in my opinion, this is the root of most of our problems this season. So how do we fix it?

My solution is to pick a back 5 (or 3 at the back if you like) with Amartey, Wague or Benalouane dropping in alongside our usual pairing. In terms of game tactics, I would simply park the biggest bus possible and invite Swansea to have a go at us. Not conceding should be the absolute priority and we should not be tempted to over-commit under any circumstance!

In attack, I would rely on a trio of Mahrez, Slimani and Gray to wreak the havoc, leaving Vardy on the bench if the game becomes stretched.

You can have that one for free Claudio. No really, don’t mention it.
Jamie, LCFC

Captains. What’s the point?
I’m sure there have been previous mailbox entries on the topic, but I fancying throwing out a bit of a rhetorical question: what is the role of the captain these days? Oh hang on, I said “these days” didn’t I? Bloody hell, I’m only 31.

In reading recent entries on the possible changes to tactics and alternative options, I haven’t seen any that consider the point of: if they’re captain, they must start. I recognise that during a season the captain will inevitably need a rest to recover form or fitness, but generally they should be part of the “best XI”. Looking at the reality of this though, things look a little different. Take the “Top six” for example:

Arsenal – Per Mertesacker (0 appearances in all comps)
Chelsea – John Terry (9 appearances)
Liverpool – Jordan Henderson (25 appearances)
Manchester City – Vincent Kompany (5 appearances)
Manchester United – Wayne Rooney (29 appearances)
Tottenham Hotspur – Hugo Lloris (20 appearances)

On the basis of a very crude statistic, 50% of the top 6 captains are deemed as key to the first team. Having said that, if you question some fans there will be mixed views as to the importance of Wayne Rooney and Jordan Henderson to the starting XI for Man Utd and Liverpool, respectively. Vincent Kompany is probably the one anomaly here, in that I suspect the majority of Man City fans would view his presence in the starting XI as fundamental to their success.

So, what do captains do? There is no requirement for captains to be the face of the club in pre or post-match interviews. I don’t see captains as the focal point of PR campaigns and marketing, either. At Man Utd, for example, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba probably receive more public fanfare than Wayne Rooney (see Pogba’s recent emoji story), while Marcus Rashford is probably viewed as a more current poster-boy for the club.

In a slightly extended journey, it takes me to the following question: is there still a role for captains in modern football? The personalities of footballers, the changed structures at clubs, the greater access to support and advice for young players in academies; just a couple of factors I suspect will be playing key roles in diminishing the influence of a club captain. I haven’t the time but I do wonder what this means, and whether there are missed opportunities for clubs. Do people think their club captains should be playing a particular role? Is there an opportunity to split the role – a senior, experienced player with a developing experience in coaching could help in supporting off-the-field, while an on-the-field “leader” helps to communicate tactics to the players. In response to all the debate around the career progression of footballer – coach – manager recently, is there another link that now exists but just hasn’t been discovered?
Phil, London