Alyson Rudd: Make Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United captain and watch other players lift

Mee and Henderson have been eloquent and intelligent on such matters as racism and help for the NHS during the pandemic but what really tells us they are the ideal captain at their clubs is that no one questions why they have the armband. No one wonders if performances might improve if they were demoted. Both men have come to epitomise the best values of their clubs on and off the pitch.

The flip side of this is how some teams seem to suffer because of the chosen leader. Arsenal’s players voted for Granit Xhaka to be the player who plumps for heads or tails and it badly backfired after the Switzerland international threw his armband to the floor and swore at the fans when substituted against Crystal Palace in October 2019. His actions spoke of disharmony, of trouble in the locker room and the whole issue of who could be a solid, dependable leader rumbles on, even after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, his flawed successor, has left for Barcelona.

Sometimes a club simply cannot see past their long-serving captain, and it remains a slight mystery why Tottenham Hotspur stuck with Hugo Lloris after the France goalkeeper admitted a charge of drink-driving four years ago.

Now, at Manchester United, rumours abound that Harry Maguire is not the figurehead the club need as they try to recoup ground lost after the trophy-free tenure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. If the captain is a reflection of what the manager wants, maybe Maguire really isn’t the right fit. The England defender was considered on the slow side even before Ralf Rangnick, the king of gegenpressing, arrived at Old Trafford. Now Maguire looks faintly old-fashioned, a figure from Quantum Leap, the TV series in which a scientist is plonked in a random critical situation with no idea of what he needs to do to fit in.

There is speculation that Cristiano Ronaldo thinks he should wear the armband and it is entirely understandable why such speculation should exist, because if you were Ronaldo, you would expect the armband to have been lying on your silk pillow many months ago.

Rangnick denies there is a fight over the captaincy. “It’s about performing well and showing togetherness on the pitch,” the interim manager said before today’s (Sunday’s) game against Leeds United. “That’s what we can influence.”

Which seems an odd thing to say, because the captain surely earns his salt by forging togetherness. If Rangnick thinks improved camaraderie can bring cohesion to a team struggling for an imposing identity then he needs the right leader on the field of play and in the dressing room.

Demoting Maguire could create more problems than it solves, of course. It is easier to oust a captain because they swear or turn up late to training than it is to humiliate them because of an inability to swivel at speed, or because of their haircut.

When Steven Gerrard was appointed Liverpool captain, the team had a perfectly decent one already and it appeared, briefly, as if it could destabilise the team by removing the armband from the towering presence that was Sami Hyypia. Gerard Houllier, however, handled it all so adroitly that the Finland international hardly noticed, his manager telling him and the world that he was still his captain in defence and that few could deny Gerrard’s destiny. Indeed, Hyypia’s performances improved, as did those of Gerrard.

All eyes are drawn to Ronaldo in most United games. Even when he does not score or assist, he is the most demonstrative of forwards, wearing his ego or his annoyances on his sleeve. It is often wasted energy and interpreted as befits the result or the performance. It can appear that the Portugal international, who has captained his country on 126 occasions, is being selfish or self-serving or self-absorbed but the minute you place the band on his arm the very same behaviour is deemed passionate, devoted and ambitious.

Rangnick is trying to increase the level of the team’s intensity and they are, understandably, struggling to adapt. When people are tired or pushed too hard, they become quarrelsome and the German has admitted that there has been unrest behind the scenes.

United are playing catch-up against teams better drilled and more used to delivering constant commitment. A change of captain won’t make them any fitter, but it might, marginally, make them more inclined to embrace the pain of the press.

Who would you least like to berate you for a defeat: Maguire or Ronaldo?

– The Sunday Times

Originally published as Alyson Rudd: Make Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United captain and watch other players lift