Stephen McManus

Think this has been his poorest season under Strachan, possibly because of the responsibility of being captain now.

Thought he was the right choice last summer, don't know now to be honest

 

Strachan has dug himself into a hole by making him captain. He cant drop him now.

I think a captain should always be either one of your best players or someone who will never let you down and someone you can rely on. And i dont think he falls into any of those categories. I have never been a Mcmanus fan but he has come on leaps and bounds under Strachan but i still dont think he cuts it.

 

I dont want to go totally OTT about him because he is a decent player who has made the most of what he has and the safest current CH pairing options at the club would probably involve him. However, I think he is punching above his weight as a first choice CH and captain at Celtic, IMO his level is maybe one notch down, maybe a Hibs or Aberdeen or EPL/Championship yoyo team captain. He is not dominant enough in the air against big strikers and he always has been far too immobile especially for CL games. I wouldnt change the CH partnership this season as thats too risky short term but I expect a quality very dominant CB arriving in the summer and I think it is Mick who will be pushed to the bench.

 

To be fair in Strachan's first 2 seasons I thought he was by far our best defender, I just don't think he's played to the same level since being made captain. Like to see someone else made captain and see how he does

 

O`neill was selling him to dunfermline before he left. the deal was all but done till strachan came in, and MON knew a good CB when he seen one.

 

the bad distribution thing is weird though. Mick actually started off looking like he could ping great long balls but lost the ability some way along the line.

 

Tough subject! the jury's out on big mick... but with the exception of Aiden McGeady every one has had a below par season.... He deserves next year and we should take it from there!

 

He still does it occasionally but seems more reluctant to do it and isn't always as accurate as he use to be like in his first season when he did it for fun. Think he did it for 4 of the 8 goals in the demoltion of Dunfermline, doesn't score as much as use to either come to think of it.

 

Unfortunatly the Celtic captain is probably only the 4th best CB at the club.

 

I still think he's the best Centre Half we have at the moment but I'm always up for a change if better. Funny thing is if it's between him and Caldwell for Scotland there's only one choice. The guy that played a blinder in Paris.

 

Don't underestimate the pressure that being captain can put on a player. McManus was pretty good the last two seasons and to be fair has, relatively speaking been poor this season. But remember he is really young to be a captain and needs and deserves the time to grow into the role. Next season is better time to judge him.

 

That's a bit harsh on the man that scored the winner at Hampden

 

I don’t know if anyone remembers however in pre-season there was a thread on here about this very subject prior to Mick getting the armband.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Most on here backed the decision however there where one or two who did not, me included, who got slated at the time. It was obvious back then that it was a poor decision to make Mick captain. He is a relatively young lad and consistency had to be an issue with him. Like a few have said already it is very difficult to drop your captain, again something that was expressed at the time of him being given the honour.<o></o>
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There really was only one option for Captain and that was Boruc perhaps not the best option to have a GK as your captain but there have been many Goal keepers down the years that have been successful captains.<o></o>
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Maybe we will buy an experienced leader in the summer and WGS will have the good sense to hand the armband on.<o></o>
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There is no way in *, even if it did freeze over, that Strachan will go back on his decision. No matter who comes in next year, if Strachan is manager, McManus will be captain and unfortunately will be picked for just showing up fit.

I thought it would be good at the time, but, as a few here have said, we now have a young guy thats not good enough in the starting 11 every week and no real leader. Not a good place to be.

 

I think what McManus needs is a really good centre back playing alongside him. In the summer Strachan's priority must be a top-class centre back cos we cannot stick with Caldwell + McManus next season. To be fair, at the moment he is probably the best option we have, but thats only because he has not much competition. Also if McManus was not gonna be captain, who else would you have given it to. Hartley? - not certain first choice, Caldwell? - worse than Mack, JvoH - ???? hmmm.... only other real candidate is our Holy Goalie but thats only if he's still here come August

Hopefully some English team will be willing to pay 10 mil for McManus based on his Scotland perfromances alone (like that hun Hutton). Actually I don't think it would be too difficult to sell Caldwell or McManus and certainly not impossible to replace them.

We have to get Richard Dunne in and make him captain!!