Yappy, i never said Barton was, i just said IMO Adel is not. For the record i would rather have almost anybody else other than Barton. His tweeting is an irritant and his performances are below average. A leader should lead.
Derry is the only player we have now that fits into the DM role and god bless him but his legs are long gone. Barton is not a DM , nor is Ali or any other player we have except this new DiaKite. A lot of our hopes will be placed on his shoulders. We have been completly exposed down the middle of the pitch. A blind man can see that. We need a DM (or two) to sit back and protect, break up opposition play and give it simply and quickly to our creative players. We have not had this for ages now. We are very vunerable to the counter-attack. The fact MH has brought in Diakite teels me he fully understands this. Playing Barton/Buz/Derry etc in the middle is only asking for trouble.
Totally agree NUTS - that is unless we think a captain's just there to wear an armband, call the toss, shake hands and look good for the cameras. We need a leader on the pitch. Someone who understands and implements game plans A and B. Some who inspires others and lifts team spirits when things go sour. For the past two seasons, we have only one man capable of that kind of leadership - and that's Shaun Derry. Barton's captaincy has been unconvincing - looks the part but well short on delivery to date (you'd think the club could find someone to teach this where there's no obvious 'natural'). As for the resurgent Taarabt, please... ! Potentially great player at this level but absolutely no tactical or other leadership nouse.
I certainly think Onuoha is captain material, he's captained the Under 21s and made a good impression despite racist abuse in Serbia. He'd be a natural, sadly Derry is not a first choice anymore so wouldn't really be a contender...