After Sunderland’s gutsy 0-0 draw with Chelsea at the Stadium of Light there has been quite a few people singing the praises of Lee Cattermole. Cattermole has been the soul of the Sunderland side for the past couple of seasons. His style of play is rather unflattering but then again so is the job he is put in the side to do. He never stops and he is a constant thorn in the side to attackers as he aims to break up the fluidity of his opponents play. Players like this do not often get the recognition they deserve and so I am more than happy that Lee Cattermole is being praised after this performance; especially after his recent past, which has been quite troubled. However, to say that he is better, or even on a similar plane to the top players in his position, throughout Europe, is utter madness, to be frank. The statistics show that he is the leading player in his position in terms of recoveries, blocks, and clearances. In terms of tackles, he is second only to Sergio Busquets of Barcelona. The other players he has been matched up against are Xabi Alonso, Blaise Matuidi and Danielle De Rossi.
To his credit Jaime Redknapp explains, “I’m not saying he is at the same level as them, but he should not be dismissed out of hand”. But, this only makes it even more confusing as to why social media has erupted with fans so convinced by Cattermole’s defensive statistics this season, that it is absolute fact he should be given the same consideration as the aforementioned stars. When I think of Cattermole as compared to the above it is hard for me to understand why he deserves the parallels. These defensive statistics are, for one, very basic. Do they say anything about consistency? Do they take into account the size of the club Cattermole plies his trade at, with no disrespect to Sunderland, as compared to the others? Cattermole’s play against Chelsea, at the weekend, should sway most fans into believing that he is capable of doing a job against players and teams of the highest caliber, because Chelsea arguably have as much quality as any other side in Europe. However, his concentration and the ability to play his game, week in week out, at the level he has shown he can must still be in question. For his entire career he has had disciplinary issues, both on and off the pitch, and although it seems he is turning a corner, it is much too early to say. For practically none of his career, aside from a UEFA Cup final run with Middlesbrough in 2006, has he been tested on the biggest stage at the top of the league and in Europe. I appreciate his current admirers because I am one of them. But, those who are so convinced by the “facts” as to put him up there with the likes of De Rossi, Matuidi, Alonso and Busquets need to have a bit of a rethink.
Source: DSG
