Fabio's Captain Dilemma

Fabio Capello has left himself with a tricky decision for the upcoming friendly against Ghana, who will he pick to be England's seventh captain in four games?

After England’s successful performance against Wales, Fabio Capello has announced that a few players are due to return home and will not be needed for the friendly against Ghana. Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney, Michael Dawson and more importantly, England captain John Terry, have all been sent home so they have time to recover for their upcoming League and Champions League games. This leaves Capello with a squad of players that now have the opportunity to show him and the country, what they can do.

Bent and Lampard celebrate England goal

This does leave Capello with one dilemma however, one decision he’ll have to make that will be watched on with great intrigue. Who will he make the captain of the friendly game against Ghana on Tuesday night? The first problem Capello faces is that during the week, he said that he was upset at how much the armband was thrown around in the previous England game, so by sending John Terry home, England are now going to have their seventh captain in four games. When Capello picks his captain he must make sure he picks a player that he knows will play the full ninety minutes, if not he’ll get scrutinised for contradicting himself.

Fabio Capello and recently reinstated England Captain,
John Terry

If you look at the England squad, you’ll see where Capello’s problem lies, there are no previous captains of the England squad to choose from and there aren’t many players in the squad that you would consider captain material. There are four players I could see being named captain out of the twenty players remaining in the squad, three of which have reasons why they maybe should not be given the armband. First of all, the name that has been mentioned quite a bit, Gareth Barry, he did captain Aston Villa at one point of his career, so at least he’s done the job before, however he’s no longer considered as a regular England starter, for this reason, I don’t think he should be given the armband.

Gareth Barry as Aston Villa captain

Second, Scott Parker, he’s done very well this season, I learnt recently that his dad passed away the night before the Tottenham game, yet he managed to pull himself together and do his dad proud by playing the very next day and helping West Ham to a draw at White Hart Lane, absolutely remarkable. However, again due to his uncertainty as an England starter, coupled with the fact that he doesn’t have much experience playing for England, I don’t think he would be a good choice to captain England.

Scott Parker made a positive impact in
recent qualifier against Wales

Third, Jack Wilshere, the talk over the past week or so has been about this young lad and the potential for him to be a future England captain. This is one of the problems we the fans and the English media have, Jack Wilshere is a great player, especially considering he’s only 19, but we need to stop heaping all of this pressure onto him. In England we see a good young player and then all of a sudden we go crazy. We go on about how this new sensation will be the answer to all of England’s problems and building them up as world beaters, in Jack Wilshere’s case, the English media tried to stir up a story of him being Barcelona’s next target. I do agree that he will be a future England captain, and an equally great player, but to give the captaincy to him now, for one game, to a 19 year old who is still learning a lot, would not be a good idea, at this age he needs someone to lead him.

Fabio Capello recently said Jack Wilshere had
'arrived' after his performance against Barca

This leaves me with my final option, Joe Hart; to me he seems like the most viable choice. He’s a player who is going to be in the England set up for a long time to come. If Fabio Capello were to give Hart the armband now, he’ll know that if this issue were ever to arise again, he’ll have Hart to fall back on to make sure he doesn’t have to name another temporary captain, a problem he will come across if he names Barry or Parker as his skipper for Tuesday night. Joe Hart may still be considered young but he’s been around for a few seasons, playing a full season for Birmingham and has nearly completed a full season at Manchester City as their number one, competing in the Europa League as well as the English Premier League, so he has a fair bit of experience. It’s not a strong reason for why I think he should be captain, but I don’t think there’s a stronger argument for anyone in the squad, in my eyes the only real leader in there at the moment is Scott Parker, but once Gerrard’s back, and looking at how quickly Wilshere’s coming along, before long Parker will be a bit part player on the England bench again.

Future England captain?

By making the decision of sending certain personnel back to their clubs to have a rest, Fabio Capello has put himself in a difficult situation, I think it’s a very admirable decision that he’s made. He could have been selfish, kept the players and played them in this pretty pointless fixture coming up and he would have been left with no difficult decisions to make. But by letting these players have a few more days to rest, he’s doing the top English clubs a massive favour, hopefully we’ll see more of this in the future from more England managers, so that players like Theo Walcott who get injured regularly, will have more time to rest.

More rest needed for key players?

I’ll leave you with the current England squad that Capello has got to choose from, let me know if you disagree with me, and do you think there's anyone from this list that should be the captain on Tuesday night?

England Squad for Ghana friendly

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Robert Green, Ben Foster

Defenders: Glen Johnson, Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott

Midfielders: Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, James Milner, Matt Jarvis, Gareth Barry, Scott Parker, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Lennon

Strikers: Darren Bent, Jermain Defoe, Andy Carroll, Peter Crouch