Love him or hate him... the fact is we havent won a single game (or even drew) when he hasn't been in the team since February last year - a 1-1 draw against Swansea. http://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2016/1/11/10748262/life-without-lee-cattermole-can-you-imagine-it
I love him. We are a totally different team with him in it, he really is the heartbeat of the team. Him and M'Vila have formed a very good partnership and if we can just plug that missing gap in midfield, we could and probably will have the best midfield in the bottom half of the league.
I was ready to write him off after the first few games as he was contributing nothing. He's improved since then. Favourite midfielder definitey M'Vila a t the mo though.
A lot of people don't rate him. Ya ya said he's the hardest midfielder he's ever had to play against. That will do for me. He does exactly what it says on the tin and he does it exceptionally.
Agree with the Catts comments. TJ had posted something a few months ago about Catts that I agreed with at the time (can't remember what now ) and was leaning towards thinking it maybe time for him to go. But he's bounced right back and we are so much stronger when he's playing. I was worried to see him start on Saturday and relieved when he went off. Good to see Kaboul back as well. He needs to be a beast on Wednesday night!
But no player is immune from a dip in form. Shame on us for not having the strength and depth to cope with an out of form Catts.
I argued he's completely redundant in today's game, I stand by that. I think you need to replace him with somebody much more creative. I'm often reliably informed on here that Rooney is finished, he's **** and he's over rated... he's the 2nd highest goalscorer in PL history, England's all time top scorer. He's ten behind Charlton's goal record for United... in 250 games less! If I had an apple for the amount of times I've been told he's **** on here, my name would be H.P Bulmer. I do have a point here In your set up, Cattermole's always gonna look the ****, because you play to him and his strengths. My argument is that as long as he's in your team, you'll play football that will have you languishing in perilous positions... It's been a few years now and nothing's changed, you lot think he's great and it's not his fault, just like I think that about Rooney.
Until we fundementally change the way we play he remains a vital cog in our wheel. I don't see our gamestyle changing anytime soon so our heavy reliance on him will continue. I'm not disagreeing with your argument TJ. Maybe thats fundementally one of the biggest criticism's you can throw at our club, an inability to keep up with a changing game that sees the likes of Bournemouth, Watford and Leicester overtake us. But then, with all the managers we've had recently, that's hardly surprising. Bollocks! I'm depressed now
Love Catts me. But you're right Tel. Thing is, getting shot then trying to evolve a squad without him must be about the only thing this club could do to run it worse than it is now. We need to do it with him, like we should have been doing for years. Fact is to have the strength and depth for Sunderland to cope without Catts would take so many windows. Standing still in this league is going backwards, we going backwards so **** know how many windows we need. Chances are we're going down anyway so we'll get the full clear out and all this could be mute point in a couple of months. Might get to play you lot in the league again in a decade so
Well I sort of feel your pain, so much talent on the pitch for us and we need an injury time penalty to beat Sheff United. They've not permanently overtaken you, you can see how much difference a year can make in this league, they've just got with the times, they've gone 4-4-2 when the entire world has gone 4-5-1 and nobody can handle it. Things change very quickly in this game mate, a few right decisions and you're off!
He's doing a job that shouldn't need done mate, that's all I'm saying. I always said he'd have been great in the 80's, football has just moved on. I'd like to see that quote from Yaya Toure as well mate, he's played against some ****ing beasts on the pitch in his time.
Just maybe crafty old Yaya enjoys playing against Catts, as he always seems to enjoy playing against us, mind he is not the only one.
Like you said he's played against some beasts. One of the players he choose to mention you'll appreciate. I said hardest, I should have said toughest, but they're more or lass the same thing in northern circles. A phenomenal athlete, Toure arrived in England as a defensive midfield player but has become known just as much for his work further up the field. Once he starts to run it can be very difficult to stop him. For the record, he believes himself to be neither the quickest nor the strongest at City. 'Micah Richards is very quick and he is probably quicker than me,' Toure said. 'He will be a top England player one day. He is unbelievable. And I think (Edin) Dzeko is stronger than me, he is incredible.' Elsewhere he has relished physical challenges presented by Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes. 'Scholes was small but don't be fooled, he was tough,' he added. There are others, too. 'The one at Sunderland, what is he called?' he asked. 'Yes, (Lee) Cattermole, that's him. Very strong!' To cope with all this Toure has leaned heavily on City's strength and conditioning coach Simon Bitcon. Believe it or not, Toure did not feel he was tough enough to cope when he arrived. 'English football is so physical and fast that when you see a space you have to go into it with all your speed,' explained Toure. 'But last year was a lesson. I wasn't ready, physically. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...nchester-City-win-Premier-League-I-crazy.html
Bit of interpretation required with that quote, he's just saying he's a strong player, undeniable, the lad's a ****ing Doberman. I'd stop short of questioning Cattermole on his strength for sure. Toure's a ****ing tosser, can't take criticism, Scholes rips him apart for fun in every sense, football wise and as a pundit.
Micah Richards The same Micah who was last spotted apologising to fans cos his team couldn't beat Wycombe.
