Except that Sol is not known to be a "talker" on the pitch-which is necessary to be the captain. I am not sure if you noticed, but Senderos (not that I am saying he should be captain but as a point about different styles) always seems to be talking and organizing the defense.
Have we met? I don't remember playing ball with you so I'll assume you don't know what my problems on the pitch or my difficulties as a captain were. I wasn't being sarcastic. Are quotes the new sacrasm emoticon? I was using them to indicate that I was quoting statements which have been made previously on several threads so folks would know they aren't solely my opinion. Thanks for calling me an idiot, though. No, what I did was state what many other posters have stated in various other threads (mainly match threads). "Petulance" is the way Henry has treated Reyes. Which is why I used the quotes. Have you been this vitriloic towards everyone else who posted these thoughts or am I just special? Is that sarcasm? Do I get to call you an idiot now? Ah, no need for namecalling or bs baseless pop-psych for me since I'm just espousing a viewpoint that several others have made over the last year and a half. So you've only seen them play together twice? You shouldn't post so aggressively if you never even watch the Arsenal. (psst, that WAS sarcasm) Yeah, well the season's been over for 2 months. (more sarcasm, just to help you recognize it) Trying to hard? Ugh, I hope the "110%" debate doesn't hijack this thread. Is Reyes the only gunner that ever made a mistake? Does a good captain pick one teammate to ride constantly, or does he administer reprimands equally as needed? If you don't believe that Reyes' mistakes justify Henry's behavior then what exactly are you even taking issue with? My tone, which you misidentified? Maybe I should resort to namecalling after all. I've never disagreed with any of those statements. You're changing the question because you conceded my point in your refutation. That makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
I can't take all the credit, several other posters have noted the same thing. It wouldn't bother me at all if Henry yelled at everyone who fvcked up, it's the singleing out of Reyes that makes me hesitate to call him our future greatest-ever captain.
Well let's see. Lauren, no, Cole, NO, Campbell, maybe, Toure, no, Gilberto, no, Ljungberg no, Pires no, Reyes, no, Henry yes. Ah screw it let's make Hleb our new captain.
Singling out??? Here are just a few reasons Henry would be more likely to yell at Reyes than anyone else: 1. For a period of time Reyes was Henry's strike partner. Henry, accustomed to playing with Bergkamp and Wiltord mostly, had difficulty connecting with Reyes. Probably part of the reason AW switched Reyes to left midfield. 2. Even when Reyes was on the left side, he was often playing in the same areas as Henry, and by virtue of proximity Henry was more likely to yell at him than any other. 3. Henry's certainly not going to be shouting at someone like Bergkamp or Vieira or Pires. You don't argue with someone who's your mental superior or your equal. Bergkamp is a genius, a legend, and the quiet leader of the time. He's the father figure who most of the team practically worship. Vieira was the team captain and the vocal leader. To use United as an example, you also rarely see Keane yelling at Scholes or Giggs.....they're practically equals. After all, Scholes and Giggs were there first. 4. Reyes is only 20-21. He probably tends to talk back and rebel more than others. 5. Reyes is Spanish. Most of the team speaks French, English, or both (as Henry does). Reyes speaks neither. Therefore he has a lot more communication problems. 6. Reyes had (particularly when he first came to the team) a propensity to fvck up a lot more than others. For as talented as he is, he can still be very frustrating for both his teammates and the fans. Similarly to Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, who you'll notice get a lot more flack from Keane than someone like Fletcher.
Like i said. You made up half of it. I don't think anyone has ever accused Henry of never passing to another player. What ever he is, he is the consumate team-player. And the singling out of Reyes is imaginary. He may not think Reyes is the brightest guy in the world but not everyone gets on a personal level. Having said that i've never seen Henry have a go at Reyes in the same way that he has at Lauren for instance. So to say he is singling him out is off the mark.
Okay fair enough then, you weren't being sarcastic. I know now that I completely misjudged your negativity for sarcasm. My mistake, and humblest apologies. I didn't call you an idiot, I did say that sarcasm is the idiot's wit. (See my bold faced statements above.) Look foxpoint, I'm not Sammy Sunshine or anything close, but your initial response seemed unnecessarily negative in light of my question. Seriously if I misinterpreted your intentions sorry, but if I didn't, you can take your pessimism and shove it straight up your ass. The thing is, I asked a honest question about leadership because I think there are certain characteristics that great leaders share, but there also exists profound differences between various leaders, obviously. The Jordan reference was a great one I think, because despite his periodic (in the begining of his career, ubiquitous) selfishness on the ball, and his tendency to dress down his teamates when they weren't performing up to his improbable standards, he was proven a great leader. With the ferocity of his competitiveness, belief shattering skills, and passionate drive for the achievement of perfection he willed the team on to victory. Maybe basketball and football are way too different to make any tenable comparisions, but I do see some similarities between the two individuals anyway. I am really trying to believe that Henry will be a great captain you know? And something tells me he will.
Not to get into the wider discussion but, it's said to be both of those things. So he is right in what he said before.
I think part of our problem as a team is that we have so much talent, but few players with real "captain" qualities. Now, I still think Arsenal has as good a chance as anyone of winning the league; but when we lose the league (let's take last year, or three years ago to ManU) we're usually our own worst enemy, losing leads late. This isn't a new phenomenon; remember those points we wasted to Liverpool and Newcastle down the stretch 3 years ago when we couldn't close out games? As much as I think Arsene has as good an eye as you'll see for spotting young talent, his eye for spotting leadership hasn't been so keen. Maybe that's just a reflection of his personality. But rather than btich about Henry and why or why not he should be captain, I think it's worth wondering why we're in that position at all. (FWIW, I do think we do have some good captain material coming up through the ranks in Senderos, Flamini, and Cesc; they just need more experience.)
No, not really serious about the bitching man. Apologies to foxpoint about the "shove it up your ass" bit if it was out of line. But I am tired of all the negativity about Arsenal though. And I really don't like Arsenal fans talking crap about of all people, Henry. He's at the heart of the club since Adams left---in my eyes anyway. Like Bergkamp and even Freddie he's always been loyal, even with all of his suitors lined up. Vieira was a hard hard man and a legend, but over the last few years he just hasn't convinced me. I really didn't start this thread to argue. I started it to have some fun with Henry's emerging heading skills and lend my full support to his captaincy. Oh, and I've stopped the meds for a while now, I guess now Arsenal's the drug and these off season international tournaments have been like methadone---poor substitute, and never enough of a dose. So if my patience if frayed well due to the withdrawal symptoms, I'm probably not alone eh?
Foxpoint and Yankee, you fools need to just sit down and play Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Then, hug. As for Henry heading a few during pre-season, who freaking cares. Meaningless. He hit a nice one in with his head against Norwich last season, a few ppl thought it was the beginning of Henry, the "complete" striker. Not so much. The captaincy requires several traits: leadership, loyalty, consistency. I think Henry can lead on the pitch, and his loyalty/consistency are not in question. However, captains also tend to organize the team. I have something of a preference for captains who play in midfield or defense because they usually have a better perspective on where the team might be breaking down. Obviously, there have been good captains who are strikers (Shearer), but I do think it will require some adaptation by TH. We'll see.
I may be the only one who thought he was withholding the ball from him, fine I'll concede that. You think one tunnel argument is more significant than several instances of pushing Reyes away during goal celebrations, especially considering the fact that Henry is credited with starting the Arsenal lovefest after goals? Well, I guess we just have different perspectives on interpersonal dynamics. If the singling out was imaginary then I guess the posters on this board must have some sort of subconcious connection. I can't be bothered to go through all the old match threads where several others mentioned it (I was kinda hoping people would say "Yeah I wrote about that back when..").
Whatever. Don't ask questions if answers that veer from your beliefs are going to bother you this much. I'm not actually pessimistic about Henry's potential as a captain (except i'm not really in favor of forwards as captains, but that's another topic). You asked why people were questioning his leadership and I provided an answer that's been stated many times in many threads. I forgot that I was on bs, where people tend to forget their previous statements as the collective opinion shifts, and I expected a wee bit of support from others. Maybe they just didn't find this thread interesting enough to get involved, I don't know, but life certainly goes on.