Not really. But the Arse aren't the sort of side we need a Catts-type player for TBH. We need him to clamp down on attacking MFs in front of the back four, but they have a team full of ball players, so he's less effective against them (my opinion), as they can all move and pass well.
Catts is a motivator, irrespective of how he actually performs himself, so I believe that we probably did miss him Not as much as we missed Seb, though, who would have given us a lot more protection than Fab. did Sam's 'game' is, generally, to 'soak up' pressure and counter attack, which would have worked much more effectively if Fab. had been Seb.
Thats a different outlook. One i wasnt expecting. But yet again. Cant faulter it. So is Borini not all that?
I think it's harsh to compare Borini's role on Sat to Seb's usual position as they are different IMO. Larsson has part of a central midfield of 3 with Catts & M'Vila whereas on Saturday Borini and Watmore were tasked with playing wide while defending leaving Fletcher up top alone. I actually think Borini is a better footballer technically than I originally thought. He's not a Defoe type striker as we pretty much saw on Sat with that 1-on-1 early on. Back to the OP - I don't think we missed Catts as much as I expected us to. However Toivonen is not the answer to play next M'Vila when Catts is out IMO.
He's a decent/good player, Comm . . . . not good enough for Liverpool, but good enough for us, as a forward He's got 'class' but he doesn't seem to be defensive minded, therefore he doesn't provide what Seb. does (which is what we need at the moment, with Sam's system). He looked lazy at times at Highbury ll because he's not used to having to work as hard as Seb does (maybe he's just not 'match fit' yet, though) Those are my thoughts anyway
