Zero words, even hello, after +10 yrs in England
Antonio Valencia to be new club captain
- Thread starter Wednesday at Stoke
- Start date
Congrats to Tony V but people complaining about this should probably watch Mourinho's press conference. Mourinho even admits he's not a fan of having one captain and he basically said we've got a few players who are captain material so Tony V getting the official captaincy is more down to him being the longest serving player still at the club.
Pogba should have been made captain on a permanent basis. Placing more responsibility on his shoulders could have have been the making of Pogba as a United player, instead Mourinho chooses someone who will remain silent and would not talk back to him.
That's not true. He doesn't speak English in public because he's not comfortable.
Who cares? Players who are leaders will lead on the pitch whether they're wearing an armband or not. Seems like Valencia is getting it because he's our current longest serving player. If Pogba and Lukaku are leaders, they will lead, just like they did at the World Cup despite not being captains there.
Am I missing something here? Is it a requirement to speak English in interviews?
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British 'journalists' struggle to accurately quote people who only speak English, nevermind those who speak foreign.
In England/Britain, why wouldn't it be?
Horrendous.
Not good enough to be starting let alone club captain.
Not good enough to be starting let alone club captain.
Valencia is the most senior member at the club right now, he has earned the captaincy. Good luck to him.
Because the are these people called translators. Keeps those people in jobs, trickle-down economics etc. Good man Tony V.
He can speak whatever language he wants.
According to who? See my posts above.
Of course not, but he stands out because he can't amongst our many players of different native tongues who are perfectly capable of doing so.
Carlos Tevez used to get similar criticism for failing to learn the language, but he had been in the country for less than three years when he left. Valencia has been here for a decade.
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That's true. But I think it's daft to have a club captain who can't string a few sentences of English together in front of the English press because they're uncomfortable.
Very unfair to DDG
Sounds like captain material
Agreed.
http://www.espn.co.uk/football/club...ester-united-after-lacking-confidence-in-past
He can speak basic English this has been pointed out many times. Just because other foreign players speak English in interviews doesn't mean Valencia has to. Everyone is different. There's a lot of people who prefer to speak in their native language in public because they're not comfortable and are afraid of being miss quoted or say something that they don't mean. From everything I've read about Valencia, he doesn't seem to be the most confident lad either so it's understandable why he doesn't give interviews in English. I just can't understand why people get so worked up about it.
Completely agree, its a ridiculous decision.
De Gea was the only one who could have taken it. Dont see the fuss, who cares anyway. But to be a captain, you have to be trusted and in line with the manager, something Valencia is and Pogba can only dream of currently.
Pointed out where and by who?
And nobody is saying that he should be forced to speak English or do interviews in English, they are saying that is the kind of thing a captain of an English football team is should be capable of doing.
He had the right to not speak any language he wants and can't help being unconfident, that's perfectly fine too. How this somehow makes him captain material is where people are in disagreement.
Because he’s stuck around the longest? Is that what we look for now in a captain? What about leadership qualities, or is it just the ability to hang around no what what his ability is.
You mean leadership qualities like leading by example in training and on the pitch, not phoning it in or throwing a strop because the manager said you had a bad game?
Or are you talking about other qualities that aren't necessarily leadership based like goals, assists, fluency in English, etc?
Read the article. Andy Mitten.
He’s been phoning it in for years!
Not sure how to take this, but at least we now know why nobody in this team can cross. If that is them following Valencia's example. Can't fault his performance levels, but if he starts the season well cannot see how Dalot gets a look in.
In an article written 10 years after a player first came to England, the writer makes a point of saying he can speak "better English than he admits in public" (where he speaks none at all) and was heard saying a whole sentence once. Any other player wouldn't need such a mention of their language skills, or lack of, after spending the majority of their adult life here.
Like I said earlier, one of his senior teammates - unprompted, in the run of a general conversation about languages - told me "He doesn't speak English". I'm more inclined to believe them than Andy Mitten, to be honest.
Ridiculous. Imagine going into work and your manager/leader doesn't speak a lick of English. Obviously the football field is slightly different to the workplace but I really don't understand why he's been given the captaincy. It's as if the criteria for captaincy is whoever is the oldest.
Don't care about whether he speaks english well or not, I just want our club captain to be good enough to be playing for a title winning team.
Valencia is not good enough.
Valencia is not good enough.
Jose values seniority - among other things - he isn't the first manager to do so and he certainly won't be the last.
Don't know what you're getting so worked up about, it's not like his performance in the role of captain will have any real impact on the team in terms of results. It's an armband, nothing more.
What's worst about this is that this means Valencia will be our fist choice next season, and by the looks of it Mourinho is happy with that.
Lack of signings point to that, not this decision necessarily. Worried the same about Carrick last season but in the end he was practically a ball-boy.
Leaders don't need an arm band as Pogba and Rom showed for their national teams. If their leadership skills are good as praised they will carry it on to the team. We used have Vidic as captain but that didn't mean Evra, Rio and van der sar were ignoring their duties as leaders because they don't have an armband
If that's all you think being a captain of a team is - the extra bit of fabric on your sleeve - then I don't know what else anyone can say to you to make you understand an opposing view, that it should be a whole lot more than that.
Joke of a decision.
No. I don’t know to what extent you have played football, but for somebody to be a club captain, certain qualities are desirable. I have listed Valencia’s. As others have pointed out, carrick was club captain last season and deservedly so.
Some of the attitudes towards captaincy and its role in this thread, are in my opinion extremely immature.
Wasn’t Carrick club captain last season?
I mean I assume that Valencia will be first choice RB, can’t see who else would be unless we're about to sign someone, but not sure that this news makes any difference to that.
I'm more inclined to believe a writer with actual connections to the club than that bloke 'decorativeed' from redcafe.