It seems that on here Cattermole has become the new whipping boy. It used to be Richardson and so on... Now here are my views on Cattermole, and why he is our BEST CM player. Lee Cattermole is our captain, and is our captain for a reason. He leads with example. Yes he has his issues with red cards last season, but he has addressed this. This season he has been brilliant for us, and should play every game. Cattermole is a work horse and will never give up on a ball, which can be a downfall sometimes. However his passing is getting much better, and on Saturday he sprayed a brilliant 40 yard ball to Sess on the left wing. He also sprayed a 40 yard ball to Elmo who poorly let it out. If that was Scholes we would be raving. Cattermole may not be the most gifted and talented player, but he breaks up play and does it better than others. He was captain of the U21's, and could of broke into the seniors had it not been for his injuries and now bad rep. What makes Cattermole look bad is the fact he is playing in CM with the same type player, doing the same job. If we played Vaughan or Gardner it would allow Cattermole to do his job, and then one of those two could push forward. Further, he stopped Fulham scoring when it was 2 against 1. You may ask how? Well he positioned him self in the box so Dempsey could not cross it, and pushed him wide to shoot. That deserves regonition (which he never gets). So IMO Cattermole should be banked on playing every game, and deserves to be our captain.
See to me, this is what this forum is about...opinions and everyone is valid..well done for standing your ground. I don't think Catts should be captain anymore, it should be Brown imo.. But would i drop him from the team? Well it's a straight choice between him and Colback, one should play..not both.. Colback has his plus points but at time so does Catts...so it's either or, just not both.
ajmaddison I normally seem to agree with most of what you say, but in this case I don't..On the whole, in my opinion his passing has been very poor, both this season and last, and he is always liable to have a brain storm and go in with a rash tackle which inevitably results in yellow/red cards...I firmly believe that his game and attitude does not make for a good captain/leader and should be replaced asap... Having said that, when he is on the pitch he and the rest of the players will always have my full support...
Agree with comm. No issues with Cattermole but needs to play with either vaughan or Gardner IMO. Find when he and Colback play together the tempo is much slower.
I just think Catts is a bit of a liability. Whenever he gets a yellow card I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach that sooner or later hes gonna get himself sent off. Having said that, he does his job well. Although imo, hes the midfielder we should play when we are away whereas at home we need that little bit of atacking guile or someone who can pick a pass that can unlock a defence, sadly catts cant do that
I generally think Catts is a liability, last saturday however he received a yellow that was not merited and played reasonably well. That said he is slow, is not a good passer of the ball and is unlikely to score. Certainly against Wigan we should not play 2 defensive CMs, so only one from Catts/Colback/Meyler and one more attacking CM from Vaughan/Gardner/Rico (McBardo s/b LB). For what it is worth Meyler is bigger (and therefore better in the air) stronger and faster than Colback and Catts, so if he is now up to speed and over his injury he could have a shout. But what do I think our perverse manager will, he is likely to play Catts and Colbeck again with Sess on the wing and Rico in the hole. I presume Larsson will be back on the RW as not even SB could want to play Elmo again although I bet he will be on the bench and Bruce will be itching to bring him on, just so he can try and head on the keepers kicks, even though most of the EPL has sussed this and puts a big defender on him just for this.
He is a liability and as soon as he gets booked we may as well sub him. He provides/has: - 1) No goalscoring threat 2) No pace 3) Poor passing 4) No creativity 5) Poor heading
Catts is okay at what he does and, that is break up the opposition in the middle whether figuratively or literally. The one big problem Catts has is the armband, before he had it he was the bees knees he gets the arm band and he starts to falter. For me give the armband to someone else (Brown seems to be the favourite on here) and he'l be back to his best, again it is something a lot of us without coaching badges can see but Sir Steve of Bruce cannot, or is that will not?
Can anyone tell me the last time Cattermole won the midfield battle? Can't say I've really analysed his performances over the last 18 months, just watched the match in general but I spent alot of time during the Fulham game on player cam with Cattermole, the amount of times Danny Murphy found space was frightening, simple 2 yard movement and Cattermole was found chasing the ball. I understand Murphy is a very good player but surely if we want to win games we need to have someone who can boss the midfield and take control. I can see Meyler doing it when fit but can't see Cattermole doing it. As for the rest of the central midfield, if Cattermole is to play then Colback should be on the bench and possibly Richardson played in his place.
CM should be one enforcer and one playmaker again not rocket science but, well beyond Bruce at the minute.
I like Catts personally but think his cards are marked in the game today. He gets booking where others get warnings and thats because of who he is not how he plays. Thats said, 10 or 15 years ago this lad would be a hugely sought after commodity in the English game as a fire brand. he is no diortier than the likes of Roy Keane and is a tenacious tackler and has the exact will to win we desperately need right now. That said, I still feel that Vaughan should be an automatic starter when fit and one of either Gardener, Catts, Meyler or Colback should play along side him. Which one of those he may be is the real debate and will divide opinion. Catts isnt a scapegoat he is just the victim of a struggling team. If we had another 8 or 9 points to our name, with a couple of home wins and not lost the derby, then I can guarantee Catts would not be getting any critics on here. Like the rest of the team, they are underperforming and fans frustrations boil over at times. I'm sure the majority of us here would rather be discussing the good things everyday and not the poorer things. Thats life though.
I can understand your views on Cattermole, however I disagree with a lot of your comments. If you watch the Fulham game, it demonstrated Cattermole could pass short or long. He may have given Danny Murphy 2 yards, but when they are that far back you don't have to close them down. How many shots did they have? So that arguement is unjust. I agree Cattermole isn't the best scorer, but Colback has missed far more chances. With regards to the captaincy, I would prefer Cattermole to Brown. Yes Brown has experience, but Cattermole has a voice and when you get stuck in like Cattermole, it should give your team mates a lift. Unfortunately Cattermoles team mates lack spirit... The CM at Sunderland at present should always be (baring injuries) Larsson...Catts...Gardner/Vaughan...Sess Now it is not rocket science, its common sense. This would allow Cattermole to do his job, sit back and allow the others to push foward. Also remember he was captain of the U21's and touted to push into the England squad. Hopefully he will be as good as Parker.
Yes this for me also. In fact I wouldn't mind whipping the ****er cos he wouldn't be able to catch me and I'm 18s.
It's rather worrying though when Murphy has the quality to play a ball through the middle of the defence if given the time and the space.
Cattermole hasnt become the scape goat. Last season I would have played him but since then we have brought in new midfielders who are better than him (or youth players who have matured). Why play cattermole when we have Vaughan, colback and gardner who are all better all round players? Cattermole is good a breaking up play, but he has no vision and can never seem to pick out the intelligent pass. His distribution is awful. Vaughan and Colback or Vaughan and Gardner for me every time ahead of Catts. I also suspect that if Meyler gets a run in the team he will also become a better all round player than Cattermole.
I personally see Meyler and Gardener as the future, with Colback as a decent replacement. Meyler could be one of the best players in the premiership if he fulfills his talent. Gardener is the perfect partner for him and will score goals. Catts is not a bad player at all, in fact if he could do what Keane used to do and control the play as well as get some important goals he could be a very good player, I just think Meyler has a little be more in the same position.
