Unai Emery should make Tyrone Mings Aston Villa captain again – Gabby Agbonlahor
Unai Emery’s first job now that he has arrived at Aston Villa should be to reverse Steven Gerrard’s ill-fated captaincy switch, according to Gabby Agbonlahor.
The former manager stripped Tyrone Mings of the armband prior to the season and gave it to John McGinn, but with injuries keeping the defender in the side regularly anyway and the club’s poor form getting fans on the midfielder’s back it wasn’t a success.
Now that Gerrard has been sacked and replaced by ex-Villarreal boss Emery, Agbonlahor thinks putting things back the way they were will be better for both players and the team itself.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Wednesday (2 November) the former Villan said: “My captain is Tyrone Mings or [Emi] Martinez. Let John McGinn go back to the John McGinn before the armband, playing freely and going and enjoying his game.
“Not the negativity around some fans not wanting him to be captain. Let John McGinn get back in the side.
“Give it back to Tyrone Mings, he looks like he loves being captain. You know some people who just love having the armband and before the game in the changing room and on the pitch they are the loudest.
“It was very strange for Gerrard to take it off him.”
Correction
It seemed an unnecessarily risky decision when the former Rangers boss originally made the move, but at the time it looked like he was planning to phase Mings out of the line up.
The England international was on the bench for the opening day loss at Bournemouth, but when summer signing Diego Carlos was ruled out long-term with injury he had to bring him back in.
Had it worked then perhaps Gerrard would have been hailed as a decisive and respected leader, but much like most things he tried this season, it didn’t.
Mings didn’t need to wear the armband to be a leader on the pitch, but the unnecessary scrutiny and pressure it put on both him and McGinn was detrimental.
Even Gerrard routinely substituted the Scotland international as his form suffered, which isn’t the best look for a skipper who isn’t coming to the end of his career.
So it would be a quick win for Emery to reverse the change, unless he has a new plan of his own with regards to the captaincy.
Who wears the armband is probably focused on too much given the influence multiple other players have on the pitch or in the dressing room, but given that it has become a subject of such focus at Villa the quickest way to dampen it down would be to put things back to how they were and move on.
In other Aston Villa news, the new boss has been given the longest managerial contract in club history.