Pete Sixsmith‘s considered view – a point won, or two sacrificed? – should be up and running here by tomorrow. But before he even left Wigan, he was being pumped by Salut! Sunderland for his seven-word verdict – published here last night – and The Observer for a slight longer instant summary …
THE OBSERVER fan’s verdict:
It was very frustrating at the end because I thought we had done enough to just about deserve the win.
Wigan’s equaliser took a big deflection and you wouldn’t be able to print what I said. We had an excellent second half – calm, controlled with hardly a misplaced pass thanks to Malbranque and Riveros.
Gyan’s goal was a stunner, a superb volley, but words fail me when it comes to Cattermole. He let down his team mates, his manager and the fans yet again by being sent off. Our young goalkeeper Mignolet gets better every game. He made a couple of good saves and was really impressive.
Team ratings:
Mignolet 9; Onuoha 7, Ferdinand 8, Bramble 8, Richardson 7 (Mensah 80 7); Elmohammady 6 (Riveros 33 8), Malbranque 8 Cattermole 0, Henderson 7 Wellbeck 6 (Gyan 46 7); Bent 6
I have noted and understand all the comments about fairness and others not being booked for similar offences but I don’t understand why this makes any difference in Cattermole’s case.
Since when was life fair, since when have we ever seen consistency on refereeing decisions, refs are as one eyed and bigoted as the rest of us. Our allegiance to the club means we see what we want to see some of the time.
The problem is not the ref, it is not unjust decisions. The problem is Cattermole, he does not have to carry out all the petty irritating minor assaults on the opposition, any of which can earn a Yellow. Fair enough there will be tackles which can be viewed two ways and he will receive the wrong end of the whistle sometimes but that WOULD ONLY BE ONE YELLOW A MATCH, WHY DELIBERATELY TAKE THE RISK OF GETTING MORE?
Why when you have a yellow, compound the problem if you know ref’s are itching to show you the red?
I’m with Marcus on this one . The first booking was innocuos , the second although he should have stayed on his feet , was a genuine attempt to get the ball . There were a lot of similar incidents froom MOTD to Cattermole’s first yellow – and none of them received a card , there were actually similar incidents from 2 of Wigan’s players that had been previously booked , but neither were punished with a 2nd yellow . We need consistency from referees.
As far as the match went Wigan were never going to win it for me – their passing was awful – with 11 against 10 – they did try to spread the ball to the wings – but found the touchline more often than their teammates.
Richardson again was superb , until he was kicked out of the game by Nzogbia . Bramble must have pushed for Man of the Match ; Ferdinand was assured and in control . I thought it was a great performance by the 10 men .
The trip back home was all the more pleasant after hearing Blackpool had won the Donkey Derby .
It’s no wonder that refs have Cattermole earmarked as someone who needs an early warning. He proves them right every time. But does he learn anything from it? I think he is indeed as thick as the proverbial, a man whose age and IQ appear to be about the same. There again, a lot of footballers are on the dim side but they don’t “play” like this. Some of the blame surely must lie with Bruce. He knows Cattermole has all the finesse of a bull in a china shop but so far he’s done nothing about it. Now, surely, he must. About the only way Cattermole could do more damage to the team is if he started scoring own-goals.
Thanks for posting again Bill. as it saves me the bother.
I think that there’s some sense in Clatter ’em all’s nonsense. He was absoutely woeful in the few minutes before he got sent off. There are Indian Bull elephants with a better touch and more finess than he’s got. Getting sent off all the time distracts everyone from his glaring limitations. The other explanation is that he’s as thick as the proverbial.
Marcus; get a grip lad. If you are beaten (which he wasn’t when he lunged actually) then you don’t lunge and leave your team a man short for an hour. Rodallega still had to get across him.
Also can I remind people that we played west brom without Catts and it was our worst performance of the season so saying we’d have won without him playing may be a little presumptuous
I defy any player to make that tackle which got Catts dent off. He was beaten by a quicker player and nothing else. As for the first yellow.. I watched games involving man u, chelsea, even Birmingham players which committed identical offences with nothing more than a free-kick given. Lee Bowyer pulled Johnson in a similar area to Catts 1st yellow yesterday with the result being a free kick. His first yellow would not be a yellow for anyone other than him. If we see Gerrard or Rooney booked for the same offences then I’ll be happy but that simply will not happen.
The other issue this will bring is when we play we will, as passionate fans, expect opposing players to be booked for the same offences and this will simply not happen as they are not bookings. This will annoy the crowd into getting on the ref’s back and when have we ever had a ref give us things when we’re getting on his back? Opposite will happen I reckon!
I have a slightly different view on the Cattermole problem.
We did extremely well with 10 men yesterday, without looking likely to score apart from the two chances created for Gyan. It is promising to see that our play is now focussed more on ball retention and quick movement, but we still don’t look quite right in central midfield. During the first 20 mins against Wigan they were the better side, and I felt we struggled to win and hold possession. Whilst Cattermole’s limitations are quite obvious wrt bookings (sensitization of refs partly to blame) I think he also will never be able to control the game with a range of passing and running with the ball; that said, we do not possess any player with that ability at the moment, other than Malbranque who, in my view just falls short on athleticism. I would therefore be interested in seeing Mensah in the holding midfield role with Malbranque ahead of him and Henderson and Welbeck right and left and Gyan and Welbeck upfront. Onuoha and Richardson would be expected to play as wingbacks, and the central defensive pairing would be Bramble and Turner. Catts, Riveros, Elmohamady and Reid would provide good midfield substitute options.
Had we played the game with 11 men there is no doubt in my mind we would have won the game yesterday. Even with ten men Wigan struggled to create any chances. They didn’t really look like scoring and their goal was a complete fluke.
As Cattermole only seems capable of lasting 20 minutes on the pitch, would he not be more effective coming off the bench on 75 minutes by which time we’d be 2 or 3 goals up due to playing with 11 men for a change? He could replace Steed or Elmo when they start blowing for tugs and tighten up the middle?
I expect Cattermole to relinquish the captaincy this week thus saving Bruce having to admit the very big mistake he made in appointing him. I’d be happy to see the back of Cattermole and I think a few players would too. No-one like backs-to-the-wall football.
I fully endorse Alan’s post.
We have played 360 minutes of League football this year – approximately 130 of them with only 10 players. Cattermole was selected presumably to play 270 of those minutes and has managed about 150. His second yellow against Birmingham was stupid. It was in an area of the pitch where it wasn’t necessary and the whistle had gone anyway. After such a soft 1st yellow it was completely irresponsible.
Yesterday was deja vu except the second yellow was in a part of the pitch where it can be argued he needed to put in a challenge.
What seems to be happening is that referees have decided that he is a player who needs to be given a warning early in the match. This happened yesterday after a fairly innocuous tussle in midfield. This results in him having to go soon afterwards. Whilst he is in the team to harry their midfield he has got to realise that he can do that without seemingly auditioning for the next series of “Strictly.” He gives himself no leeway afterwards.
With Steed playing well, Henderson and Riveros can do the harrying, El Mahoumadi when on song can be physical and we still have Andy Reid to come back. Cattermole is not indispensible and he needs to play 90 minutes every match.
I thought we played well yesterday. Loads of positives and the summer signings are all looking like good buys. Bramble especially has surprised me, Onohua has played as well as, if not better than Hutton, Riveros looks the part and Mignolet is growing in confidence every game.
We couldn’t have asked for a better start from Gyan and hopefully he’ll be even better as he settles in.
Pete wrote after the Man. City game: “Nothing wrong with this team. Great performance.”
But there is something wrong — a basic dysfunction that needs to be addressed very quickly. The team as it stands lacks the ability to play 90 minutes of good football. They either start weak and finish strong or vice-versa.
As I wrote yesterday, Cattermole should be put on notice that if he doesn’t shape up by January, he’s gone. Okay, his first yellow card at Wigan was iffy. But the second one wasn’t. It’s not normal to get a yellow card every game and that’s what he’s shaping up to do. He’s a loose cannon, not a captain. He has no self-restraint and Bruce seems unable to instill any in him. Plus, he’s injury prone. He’s been no bargain to Sunderland so far. And, as Rob pointed out yesterday, we now have other defensive midfield options. Colin reported that Gyan clearly was not yet match fit. All the same, the guy did his job — he scored a goal. Cattermole didn’t do his job, but he seldom does. Alan is right, he COULD be asset. But a lot has to change.
I’m sorry to keep harping on Blackpool. I know a lot of people on Salut! Sunderland, both regulars and “Who are You?” guests, predict they’ll go down as quickly as they came up. I don’t think they will. Ian Holloway, with not a lot of money to spend, has bought astutely and assembled a team of 11 relentless workers. I don’t pay any attention at this early stage of the season to their fourth place in the table but I do note that they’re a couple of points ahead of Sunderland. On current showings, they’ll stay ahead. Bruce needs to take his squad by the scruff of the neck and make them play as a team, with energy and commitment from the word go and a bit of self-discipline. As it is, we’ve started as if the first few games don’t really matter and we’ll be fine once we get warmed up. As every team that’s ever been relegated knows, but Sunderland seem to have forgotten, it’s never too soon to start winning games and racking up points, three at a time rather than one at a time.
I have said on our own board a number of times that Cattermole is a petty childish cheat of a player who likes to niggle and spoil throughout a game. He may have commitment and enthusiasm but there is always this underlying puerile element to his game.
Unlike most of the reports and indeed Bruce’ s purported criticism I do not blame him for his second yellow card which arose because of a desperate tackle when a faster player was attacking in a position of danger. THAT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE.
His real crime in my eyes was the pathetic and totally unnecessary first yellow card when he grabbed a player to spin him off balance something we have seen him do many times as he keeps sniping away. It is not fashionable to say it is unsporting but if you are captain and want to stay on the pitch it is unprofessional and a pathetic way to get carded because it is trivial and a complete betrayal of the fans AND HIS FELLOW TEAM MATES WHO WANT AND NEED HIM TO STAY ON THE PITCH.
Were I Bruce I would remove his captaincy tell him that the moment he receives a yellow card he will be substituted because he cannot be relied upon and force him to watch Bobby Moore’s tackles and approach to the game of football. Moore was not always the fastest but he read a game well and timed his tackles to perfection and he was neither churlish or a cheat.
Cattermole could be an asset to us but as long as he keeps up his current approach he will be a liability because other teams will go out of their way to get him sent off
” I thought we had done just enough to deserve winning the match”
Which game was you watching we only just derserved the point to be honest. Was good the way we defended but we certainly would not have deserved a win.!!!!!!!
Any Wigan Athletic or SAFC fan with access to The Observer – can’t get it today where I am in France and can’t find the fans’ verdicts online – is welcome to post the Wigan fan’s summary and ratings.Expect a short delay for moderation if you haven’t posted before.