John Dykes

Cesc Fabregas the footballer did well against Kiev on Tuesday night. He probed intelligently from a packed midfield, set up the goal that saw Arsenal qualify for the Champions League knockout phase and earned praise for his play from manager Arsene Wenger. So, does that automatically mean that Fabregas the captain did well too?

The man himself will think so. After all, when he spoke ahead of the game about captaincy and what it means to him, Fabregas said: "To be honest, I will not change my playing style now that I am captain. I will try to lead by example first of all. I have always tried to do that on the pitch, anyway - armband or no armband."

At the same time, Fabregas spoke of his first two captains at Arsenal, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry and identified their key qualities as captains with the following phrases: "on the pitch you always knew you could count on him [Vieira] to go into war with you" and "Thierry was... definitely a guy you always knew would be there at the decisive moments."

So, by his industrious, foraging performance Cesc met his own captaincy criteria. But what of his manager? Arsene Wenger said on Monday that Fabregas "will be one of the leaders but not the only one''. So, who are the others? Manuel Almunia, who wore the armband in Cesc's absence at Manchester City last weekend? Gael Clichy, who gave his colleagues a team talk on the pitch ahead of the same game? Gallas, who has been forgiven, indulged even, and looks set to keep Kolo Toure out of the side?

Let's face it, none of the above stand out as natural leaders in the eyes of those of us who watched Frank McLintock, Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira lead the Gunners.

Writing in The Times newspaper, Tony Cascarino argued this week that the appointment of a new Arsenal captain was irrelevant.

"Wenger might as well have sat in the press conference yesterday and said that Arsenal will be the first team in history not to have a captain," wrote Cascarino. "Or he could just have plucked a name at random. No one, not Cesc Fabregas, Manuel Almunia or the rest of the squad, is worthy of the armband. There are no outstanding leaders at Arsenal, no personalities big enough to lift the team to where they need to be."

Cascarino contrasted the Arsenal situation with that at the other Big Four clubs where -- and these are my choices not Tony's -- one would feel confident about handing the captaincy to any of the following: Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Van der Saar, Hargreaves, Giggs, Carrick  and Rooney at Manchester United; Terry, Cech, Carvalho, Lampard, Essien, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Joe Cole, Deco at Chelsea; or any of Liverpool's Gerrard, Reina, Carragher, Alonso, Mascherano, Hyppia, Kuyt, Keane and Torres.

Underpinning Cascarino's argument was his assertion that "all successful sides have a great captain, someone with hunger and charisma who inspires his team-mates".

Hence Fabio Capello's eventual choice of John Terry as England captain. A very English decision from an Italian as it happens. In English football, a captain has to be inspirational, a motivator and battler (preferably one who has played with a bloodied bandage around his head, a la Terry Butcher and Paul Ince). Steve McClaren also named Terry as his captain and chose to speak of "JT's" motivational powers when he explained his choice.

But then, that was an English solution to an English problem. Those rules do not necessarily apply at Wenger's Arsenal.

It would not have occurred to McClaren to consider Terry's tactical acumen, knowledge of the game's history or even his ability to interpret the psychological nuances displayed by his teammates. Unlike cricket and rugby where the captain plays an integral role in determining team selection or developing strategy, the English football captain is a blend of talisman and British Bulldog, one whose primary role is to exhort his players to follow a game plan. What happens, then, when England reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup in South Africa and find things going wrong on the pitch? Can John Terry supply a tactical quick fix, or identify flaws in the opposition's strategy once the game is underway and Capello is relatively powerless?

Look at the leading captains in the European game today and they demonstrate the following broad qualities: individual brilliance as players, unquestionable loyalty to their club, physical bravery and tremendous popularity with supporters. Here are 10 who meet almost all those criteria: Steven Gerrard, Paolo Maldini, Francesco Totti, Mark van Bommel, Alessandro del Piero, John Terry, Javier Zanetti, Barry Ferguson, Carlos Puyol and Raul Gonzalez.

Crucially, all possess great "football brains" and one has to believe that Arsenal's new leader isn't short of quality in that department.

So, is it right to say that because Cesc Fabregas might not immediately seem to show the traditional chest-thumping virtues of an English captain his appointment is an irrelevance? Or even "madness" to quote another British journalist, Henry Winter, who fears Fabregas' game may suffer because of his new responsibilities.

One hopes not. Fabregas is a truly special footballer. At 21 he has already made 215 appearances for Arsenal (which was more than three times as many as Denilson, Song and Ramsey -- his midfield colleagues against Kyiv -- combined). He captained Barcelona's youth teams and Spain's Under-17s. He is a European Championships winner and has scored a winner at the San Siro against mighty Milan. Crucially, he passes the "loyalty" test despite regular overtures from Barcelona.

If Fabregas performs as he can, then Arsenal will prosper. If Arsenal prosper without Cesc having to stick out his chest and demand "200 per cent" then he will take his place among the greats listed above.