Cattermole is getting better and better, he will be vital this season. If he keeps up his form there is no way he shouldn't be in the England team Buckley showed his ability straight away, hopefully proving those slagging him off before he even kicked a ball to be more patient. He will have an important role to play throughout the season, especially when AJ isn't playing very well. Despite their age, Brown and O'Shea still have a great deal to offer, and although both will struggle with quicker strikers, against strikers such as Rooney and RVP they have no issues. What does Fletcher currently bring to the table? Early doors, and he did look good in pre-season, but Fletch has never looked like he suited Poyet's system. Not strong enough to hold it up, and definitely not powerful enough to drive forwards (something Jozy did twice in his short time on the pitch), maybe he will improve in the next few games, but he was largely anonymous against United Altidore looks sharp, his decision making wasn't the greatest, but the two runs yesterday he made, pushing the United defence all the way back were great. I truly believe this could be a great year for him, I'd start him vs Brum and hopefully he can get a goal or two. All in all a point is very decent, I do think that a win was within our grasp, but 2 points is a solid enough start to the season. 3 next week would be great
I doubt catts will get a call up he is a Sunderland player after all. I worry about Jos, he is prone to costly mistakes and for me is well past his sell by date. We need someone younger in there with brown as brown is the far better of the 2. Agree with everything else
Wishful thinking on my part about Catts really, he should be in the squad, but given he plays for Sunderland, and probably more significantly his reputation, he will find it very hard to even enter Hodgson's thoughts JOS gets a fair bit of stick, sometimes from myself, but I think he is solid, most defenders are prone to mistakes but I think largely he is sound
Agree with most of that just a special mention regards altidore ( I have given him lots of stick) he looked a right handful in that limited role, keep it up, show us there is a decent striker in there
Aye but he could have passed when he ran most of the length of the pitch as Wickham was clear on the wing - although I don't blame him for trying to score as that is what I want from a striker. Reminded me a lot of the Wickham run against Southampton last season in the cup - should probably have passed but showed a bit of greed to try to get the goal
If Catts keeps up this level of performance he has to get noticed and included in the England squad, surely. I'd give Altidore a start in place of fletcher if Gus insists of playing Connor on the left.
Aye, Ha ha ha ! Virgini's body language, style, attitude, and application is cool, calm and not unlike Berbatov's approach at times. The nonchalant way he accepts and dispatches the ball is awesome. On occasions he looks pedestrian, when the fact is, he's clinical. We need him long term and I suspect that rather than being deployed just as a RB, he will improve and become an overall utility defender. He has so much class that he could even, potentially, be employed as a sweeper or to sit in front of the back four.
There was one occasion when he scooped the ball past a United player to someone, class haha. And yeah he actually does approach it the same way Berbatov does