I'm old school like this too and couldn't agree more with this paragraph. The best captains have always led from the back in this sport IMO and I'd always go for a defensive player over a creative player if given the choice.Originally Posted by Shaqiri Is Boss
But regarding his current poor form, I don't think the responsibility he shoulders as captain is the direct cause of it. Conversely I also don't think we are doing him any favours by burdening him with all this responsibility while also dealing with his drop in form and trying to pull himself out of his rut singlehandedly, as a leader would be expected to.
Odegaard is an extremely creative player. I've described him as reminding me of some sort of tortured artist and we all know creative people need their space to re-discover themselves once in a while.
He's not going to get this as a captain, especially in an Arteta team. He'll play every game playable and be expected to keep leading the team from the front, even when their are other players who could give the team another dimension, which is clearly needed with our struggles to breakdown low blocks
In short, for a young team that is struggling with it's identity and with the immense pressure every player is under to bring back the glory days to the club, Odegaard was quite a poor choice as captain. I admit it improved his game initially but as expectations have grown (and have stayed largely unmet), he was always going to struggle as most creative players would with this unnecessary burden.
If Arteta had been a more experienced coach, he would have never made this mistake from the onset as I also agree that taking it away from him now, especially when he hasn't come out of his rut, would be quite damaging to his psyche, unless he fully agrees with it like your Hypia example.
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