Should Catts still be captain, or stripped of it? ....................................................................... Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill will not strip Lee Cattermole of the captain's armband despite his derby-day dismissal. The 23-year-old had already earned himself a two-match ban which ruled him out of the FA Cup quarter-final against Everton with his 10th booking of the campaign in the opening minute of last Sunday's 1-1 draw at Newcastle when he further blotted his copybook. A furious Cattermole confronted referee Mike Dean on the pitch after the final whistle and after a four-letter volley, was promptly shown a red card which extended his suspension to four games starting with Saturday's home Premier League fixture against Liverpool. O'Neill - who had earlier seen forward Stephane Sessegnon dismissed for elbowing Cheick Tiote, incurring his own three-match ban in the process - did not even learn of his skipper's fate until he returned to the dressing room, and was suitably unimpressed. However, asked if he had considered the famously combative Cattermole's position as captain, he said: "No, absolutely not, no. "I was asked a few weeks ago if I thought I had cured him, and I'm afraid I stared into the abyss on that one. "Listen, on a serious note, it was obviously very disappointing for me to go into the dressing room and see a rather dejected-looking Sessegnon, to be followed by the news that the captain had been sent off. "I thought I must have missed the last five minutes, but he was sent off at the end of the game. "He has been absolutely fantastic, really fantastic when he has played for us. The West Bromwich Albion game apart, he has been really terrific. "I am told he has taken on the role of the captaincy and does a lot of things here that I wasn't aware of, really good things around the football club like getting players to particular functions. "It's very disappointing and he will have to try to learn from that because they are major games he is missing at a very, very important stage of the season. There's no getting away from that." However, while O'Neill has not excused Cattermole's actions at the end of an intensely fierce derby, he is hoping Mr Dean's actions are repeated by his refereeing colleagues if similar circumstances arise during the remainder of the season. He said: "I thought that overall, Mike Dean refereed the game very well. Of course, he missed a few incidents in the match that from our viewpoint would have been big points, but overall, he did it. "He perhaps could have had a look at the end, realising the tension had built up and this was a kind of explosion at the end and just said, 'Lee, go home and forget about it, son' or something like that. "But obviously, he has chosen not to ignore what Lee has said and given the red card. "Now, that's fine, that's okay. I just hope the next time we see somebody full in a referee's face in the Premier League that the referee has the courage to go and say, 'Right son, off you go'." O'Neill added with a smile: "I know this will come back to bite me because it will be one of my players." The Black Cats welcome the Carling Cup winners to the Stadium of Light looking for a first win in four league games and having taken just a single point from the last nine on offer. O'Neill will go head-to-head with another Celtic old boy, Kenny Dalglish, a manager he holds in high regard. He said: "Kenny Dalglish has been a wonderful footballer for a start, and an excellent manager, and his spells at Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers have proved that. "He is back again and not long involved in the job, and has got a trophy in the Liverpool cabinet, so from that viewpoint, I have got nothing but admiration for him."
Got to admit he should have been dropped as Captain at the beginning of the season by SB (not blaming him for that by the way). I think that without the armband and hassle that goes with being Captain he would calm down and be a better player.
mee too catts is one of our best players and lately has been showing that, everytime the lad gets a booking people want him dropped, its just stupid
Well as others have said - at the beginning of the season I would have stripped him of the captaincy as I thought he was a liability and always likely to see a red. However since then and especially under MON he's curbed his temperment - mostly - and grown up a bit so I'd keep him as Captain. The skunks game was a one off, hopefully, but Pardew was right about one thing - he did set the tone for the game - and that was we weren't going to lie down and roll over this time !
I was quite shocked to read he's only 23! If he continues his form under O'Neil he should be an England player in time.
I like Catts the player. Don't like him as captain now. Last Sunday showed the job was too much for him. TIMe to just let him concentrate on the football, which I believe he is exceptionally talented at. Time to give the job to John o Shea for of now. He looks, sounds and recently has been playing like a captain imo and would excel in the role.
Its his temperament that makes him such a good leader on the pitch; he has learned loads since MON came in and he will continue to do so - the derby was a one off imo as it was a rather tense affair.... So keep the armband for me. and this coming from someone who would have sold him before MON came along.
O'Shea would be my preferred choice given his experience and calmer head, but Catts has definitely put in some Captain's performances recently, so I'm happy for either of them to wear the armband really.
From what I saw, Cattermole was straight up confronting the referee and calling him all sorts right to his face. Now players get right up in the ref's face quite often and give rather high-tempered speeches, but I don't think any player has ever has stood right up to one and insulted him with 'you effing this' and 'you effing that', and I don't think any player would get away with that full stop.
For the record. my uncle is deaf and is an excellent lip reader and couldn't see cattermole swear. he called the ref a cheat but nothing more (and he was a cheat as when Jew booked Tiote he held up 5 fingers yet he booked catts for his first)
I've heard friends say that Cattermole kept saying "prick, prick, prick" while the ref was trying to talk to him, whilst others have different ideas too, so who knows. Bound to be a lot of rumours but he must have really offended the referee one way or another.
the blokes a tosser, simple as, he's a complete liability whenever he walks on the pitch, complete MUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for Catts, he has been playing well of late, but if the midfield perform as they have today, then he may have to fight for his place before he gets the captaincy back.
Playing well but incapable of getting into the england squad for a poxy friendly, must be really playing out of his skin then eh, no good playing well for 2 games then banned for 4 is it ye clown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
