Source: Northern_Echo
Cattermole looking forward to facing old friends
WITH the start of the Premier League season days away, Sunderland skipper Lee Cattermole has revealed that a top-eight finish is the target.[LNB] But first the former Middlesbrough midfielder knows the Black Cats face a difficult opening test, when he will lead the team in to an opener against two North-East-born footballers he knows all about.[LNB] Stewart Downing, a good friend from his days at the Riverside Stadium, and Jordan Henderson, a team-mate for two years before a £20m switch to Anfield, will both be hoping to make competitive debuts for the Reds.[LNB] Cattermole thinks overcoming Liverpool on day one is possible, but he also knows the sort of ability that the pair will provide if Kenny Dalglish gives them run outs.[LNB] Downing, Teesside-born like the Sunderland captain, has stayed friends with Cattermole, who will always have the memory of his first goal in senior football with him - the winner he scored with his head from a Downing cross at Manchester City on April 2, 2006.[LNB] Cattermole said: Stewy is five years older than me and I made my debut when he was in the team, I will always remember him putting the ball on my head at Man City. I have stayed in touch with him, even though our careers went in different directions.[LNB] I don't think there is a much better deliverer of the ball than Stewy around.[LNB] He can go down the line, he can use both feet, he can cut inside. He has allsorts.[LNB] Andy Carroll will thrive off him.[LNB] Stewy is a down to earth lad. He loves his football, he works hard and he is a great lad. I am chuffed to bits that he has moved to Liverpool and he has always probably dreamed of playing for a club like Liverpool.[LNB] Downing left Boro a year after Cattermole, who has ended up at Sunderland after a £5m switch from Wigan Athletic two years ago.[LNB] During that time at the Stadium of Light he has come to learn all about Henderson, the locally produced academy product that has gone on to play for England.[LNB] But Cattermole insists the talk in the Sunderland dressing room will not be concentrated on what his former team-mate will bring to the Liverpool team.[LNB] Jordan has got a great move to Liverpool and it was good business for the club,[LNB] said Cattermole. We will have a bit of craic before the game. Once the whistle starts it is just a normal game.[LNB] Players move that much now, it is just a game. Players are in blue in January and red the next. There are that many windows, so when you are out there it is all about just getting the best result for the team.[LNB] Jordan will be buzzing, I am sure, to start against Sunderland.[LNB] It will be extra special for him.[LNB] Luis Suarez, Downing, Charlie Adam, Carroll... Liverpool have loads of good players so we won't just be talking about Jordan. We know what he is about so not too much will be said about him.[LNB] With a 38-match season ahead in the top-flight, Cattermole accepts improving on last season's tenth place finish is paramount.[LNB] It has to be Europe that is our aim, said Cattermole. I don't see why it can't be. The lads have set their sights on eighth, so if we can do that, after finishing tenth last year, that would be good.[LNB] Sunderland hope to have offloaded another player by the weekend, with George Mc- Cartney closing in on switch back to West Ham United.[LNB] And manager Steve Bruce completed the £350,000 signing of James McClean yesterday.[LNB] The 22-year-old, from Derry City, has become Bruce's tenth signing of the summer but he will not be rushed into first team action.[LNB] Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan, meanwhile, has returned to Wearside earlier than expected because of the London riots.[LNB] He was scheduled to play for his country against Nigeria at Watford's Vicarage Road but the friendly has had to be postponed.[LNB]
