"Come on you boys in blue, come on you boys in blue. Philly is blue and, Philly is blue gold. Woah woah woah...."
There is something simplistically beautiful about Philadelphia and it's love for sports. Regardless of whether you're talking about the Eagles, the Sixers, the Flyers, the Phillies, or even the the Union, the crowd expects 150% of effort and heart all the time. That is one of the reasons why Weapon X, and his human counterpart, Brian Dawkins might be the most beloved sports figure in the history of this town. I don't argue that some players of the Union don't work hard, it's clearly visible that guys like Fernando Aristeguita leave absolutely nothing to the imagination, the guy has dropped into the midfield and played defense multiple times over the last two games because of red cards(something strikers very rarely do voluntarily).
This team lacks something very big: a sense of direction, an identity, a guy who will rally the troops and exhaust himself in the process. For 13 great years, the Philadelphia Eagles looked to Brian Dawkins to be that guy; and for the soccer counterpart of the city, that guy must now be Maurice Edu. That is his job as captain. Leading by example as he has said is all well and good, but when times are tough (and believe me four games in with 2 ugly ties and 2 uglier loses, times are tough) the players look to a guy to rally around; a guy who believes that they are a part of the club, that it is his club, the guys on the field are his men, and that he is representing his city. It is absolutely ridiculous to go through like the game on Sunday, and see eleven players in such disarray. After giving up the goal in the first half, M'bolhi started playing the blame game with his CBs (instruct your guys where to go/what to do. Rais had disgust painted all over his face. Look at Tim Howard, no matter how bad his defense has played, he never looks at his teammates in disgust, he yells at them with thorough intensity, but never with disgust.) M'bolhi, you are a leader of men, which means that you have to be one yourself. This means that you have to hold yourself accountable more than anything else;also, stop being a baby, talk to the media. Edu, its your job to hold others accountable if players don't do so themselves, it's uncomfortable, but it's your job. Get it done. You also have to hold guys such as Pfeffer and Fred accountable, if they can't control their actions then should not be in the sport(yeah I get that Pfeffer was in his first game as a starter, but that does not mean that he can forget that his actions made the job of his teammates so much harder.)
In addition to holding your players accountable during the week an on gamedays, it your job as captain to hold the refs accountable. If a bad call(or a no call) happens, it your job(and your job only) to get in the ref's face, in the most appropriate manner, and let him know that he messed up. It is stupid to have guys constantly complaining to the ref about calls(looking at you Le Toux and Aristeguieta). The reason why Steven Gerrard, at least to me, will go down as one of the greatest captains in the history of sport is that he believes that he is Liverpool Football Club and Liverpool Football Club is him and embodies that more than almost any other athlete can. He holds his men to highest standard of professionalism and respect, and that is why he is such a good captain. If Maurice can nail down the role of a captain, you can bet your week's paycheck that the Union turn things around.
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