Gus Poyet Sacked as Sunderland Manager: Latest Details, Reaction and Analysis
Mar 16, 2015
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: Manager Gustavo Poyet of Sunderland looks on during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Aston Villa at Stadium of Light on March 14, 2015 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
Sunderland have sacked manager Gus Poyet after Saturday's abysmal 4-0 home loss to fellow relegation candidates Aston Villa.
Multiple sources confirmed the Black Cats' decision to remove Poyet, namely BBC Sport:
A statement from club chairman Ellis Short quickly followed:
I would like to thank Gus for his endeavours during his time at the club, in particular last season’s ‘great escape’ and cup final appearance, which will live long in the memory of every Sunderland fan.
Sadly, we have not made the progress that any of us had hoped for this season and we find ourselves battling, once again, at the wrong end of the table. We have therefore made the difficult decision that a change is needed.
Louise Taylor of the Guardian reported that Derby County manager Steve McClaren is the club's top target to replace Poyet for next season.
Sunderland have managed just four Premier League wins from 29 matches this season, winning none of their last six under the Uruguayan boss. The north-east side are one point above the relegation zone with nine games remaining, having accumulated 26 points so far.
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: Manager Gustavo Poyet of Sunderland looks on during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Aston Villa at Stadium of Light on March 14, 2015 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
Poyet's tenure was laced with a variation of highs and lows. He led Sunderland to safety on the penultimate day of the 2013-14 season, having taken over from Paolo Di Canio with the club rooted to the foot of the table.
He became the first manager to beat Jose Mourinho's Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League, racking up an away draw with Manchester City and victory over Manchester United in the side's last five games to escape the drop by five points. He even took Sunderland to the Capital One Cup final in his opening year, where they lost 3-1 to City.
Poyet failed to build on such success, however, and endured a turbulent second season before getting the boot. As summarised against Villa—who are the division's lowest scorers with 19—Sunderland have leaked goals without carrying an attacking threat this season. Even the January signing of Jermain Defoe, a proven goalscorer at the top level, has failed to provide a lasting impact thus far.
HULL, ENGLAND - MARCH 03: Hull manager Steve Bruce (l) and Sunderland manager Gus Poyet argue after Poyet is sent to the stand during the Barclays Premier League match between Hull City and Sunderland at KC Stadium on March 3, 2015 in Hull, England. (Ph
Added to this, Poyet was sent to the stands for kicking a water carrier out of frustration during the Mar. 3 draw with Hull City. He was involved in a touchline bust-up with Tigers boss Steve Bruce before moving away from the touchline, per Craig Hope of the Daily Mail, after sarcastically applauding the referee's decision to book Jack Rodwell for diving.
Poyet's frustration overspilled the day after Sunderland winger Adam Johnson was arrested on suspicion of having sex with an underage girl. "The only thing I can tell you is that it was a very difficult day yesterday," said Poyet after the Hull match, per Hope. "Very difficult day. I've never had one like that, very difficult."
As noted by the Guardian, Sunderland fans showed their displeasure toward Poyet's results during the loss to Villa:
A total of 36 points was needed to escape relegation last season, four less than the often-outlined magic mark of 40. Sunderland must start picking up wins from their final run of matches—which includes a Tyne-Wear derby, plus trips to Arsenal and Chelsea—if they are to reach last season's pivotal tally.
Poyet won't be the man to rescue them for a second successive season, with Sunderland fans now hoping the 47-year-old's successor can achieve exactly what the sacked boss managed upon his arrival last year.
Sunderland's Gus Poyet Sent Off After Altercation with Steve Bruce
Mar 3, 2015
HULL, ENGLAND - MARCH 03: Hull manager Steve Bruce (l) is held back by the assistant referee as he and Sunderland manager Gus Poyet argue after Poyet is sent to the stand during the Barclays Premier League match between Hull City and Sunderland at KC Stadium on March 3, 2015 in Hull, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Gus Poyet and Steve Bruce engaged in a rare but always entertaining touchline altercation during their Premier League clash on Tuesday night, and Poyet was sent off.
Poyet and Bruce had a not-so-pleasant exchange with each other, at the end of which Poyet dismissively walked away and sarcastically applauded Bruce.
Poyet kicked out at drinks bucket after Rodwell booked for diving. Seemed annoyed at Bruce's part in his dismissal. Crazy days. #SAFC
HULL, ENGLAND - MARCH 03: Hull manager Steve Bruce (l) looks away as Sunderland manager Gus Poyet (2nd right) argues after Poyet is sent to the stand during the Barclays Premier League match between Hull City and Sunderland at KC Stadium on March 3, 2015HULL, ENGLAND - MARCH 03: Hull manager Steve Bruce (l) and Sunderland manager Gus Poyet argue after Poyet is sent to the stand during the Barclays Premier League match between Hull City and Sunderland at KC Stadium on March 3, 2015 in Hull, England. (PhHULL, ENGLAND - MARCH 03: Gustavo Poyet the manager of Sunderland looks on from the stands after being sent of by referee Mike dean during the Barclays Premier League match between Hull City and Sunderland at the KC Stadium on March 3, 2015 in Hull, Engl
The Internet still had quite a bit of fun in response to the altercation.
Steve Bruce getting into a fight, but not with Poyet, he really wanted something... pic.twitter.com/QgATsjW9S8
Sunderland's Gus Poyet Deserves Much More Scrutiny
Feb 25, 2015
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 25: Sunderland manager Gustavo Poyet gestures during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Arsenal at the Stadium of Light on October 25, 2014 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
With a little over 10 rounds of games remaining in the Premier League, the relegation fight is becoming more and more desperate. Clubs have begun responding in kind, with Aston Villa, QPR, West Brom and Crystal Palace all moving to replace their managers in an attempt to reverse their fortunes.
One team whose manager has been under relatively little scrutiny—at least from the national media—has been Sunderland. Gus Poyet was their savior last season, rescuing them from Paolo di Canio’s disastrous reign. Up until the 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Bradford—after which Poyet was moved to write an open letter to the club’s fans—you’d be forgiven for thinking that Sunderland had been enjoying a satisfactory season.
Little could be further from the truth. Their league form has been masked by the collective failures of the teams below them, and they currently sit just three points off the relegation zone.
Despite the relatively easy ride that Poyet has been afforded compared to his contemporaries—Nigel Pearson and Steve Bruce in particular have been subject to growing speculation in recent weeks—he has taken issue with how the media has portrayed him.
The letter attacked the media for twisting his words and making it appear that he had blamed Sunderland fans for previous poor performances. The direct quotes from Poyet, per The Shields Gazette, make it very hard to interpret otherwise: “In football, we are not all the same characters, in terms of playing with nerves and rumours in the stadium… That’s creating, I’m not saying a fear, but doubts in some players.”
Ironically, all the letter—and resulting fallout—has achieved is ratcheting up the intensity of the media’s gaze on the Uruguayan. If his job security wasn’t the subject of due speculation before, it certainly will be now.
Sunderland’s chief shortcoming this season has been their inability to translate draws into wins—they’ve so far drawn half of their 26 games in the league, which puts them on course to better the Premier League’s 38-game record. Their proclivity for stalemates hints at Poyet’s limitations as a coach. While tactically astute and capable of setting up a sturdy defence—had they not conceded eight at Southampton, they would boast the fifth-best record in the division—their football has been dire in an attacking sense, with only Villa scoring fewer.
Instead of attacking the media, Poyet really should have been thanking his lucky stars that he wasn’t already on the receiving end of more flack. The fact that the Black Cats have lost so few games this season suggests they’re easily capable of performing better. Should they stay up, it will more likely be by virtue of their fairly gentle run-in rather than their manager.
In his post-match interview after the Bradford game, Poyet expressed his wish to build “a China Wall” around the city in order to keep journalists out, and his letter was emphatic in its attempt to create an “us and them” siege mentality. If it works, Poyet could mend his relationship with the fans and revitalise the club’s season. If it doesn’t, he could well find that it is he who is the target for the baying masses.
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 27: Jermain Defoe walks out at half time during the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 second leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk at White Hart Lane on February 27, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
Moving in opposite directions, Jozy Altidore and Jermain Defoe are currently in the exact same situations. Effectively swapped this month, both forwards leave their previous clubs having proved to be expensive flops, but arrive at new clubs hailed as potential saviours.
Considering how poorly Defoe’s time at MLS side Toronto FC went, it is perhaps a surprise he was so strongly courted by clubs in the Premier League when the transfer window opened at the start of the month. Cathal Kelly of Toronto paper The Globe and Mail said this week that Defoe “was—and this is really saying something—perhaps the biggest high-profile bust in recent Toronto sports history,” which is not exactly what either the player or Sunderland would be hoping to read.
In a piece that occasionally felt like a character assassination, it continued:
Defoe was frequently injured owing to a pre-existing hamstring problem. That eventually morphed into a groin problem. There was a strong sense inside the club that he was malingering, refusing to get an operation he perhaps didn’t need.
Defoe left Canada long before TFC’s season ended and never had any intention of returning. Long before this deal was done, he and his family had moved all their belongings back to England.
If all that is true, then Defoe has really landed on his feet in earning a three-and-a-half-year deal at Sunderland, a deal that will pay him a reported £70,000 a week. At 32, he is five years removed from his best goalscoring season (2009/10), when he nabbed 18 Premier League goals in 34 games, and now has a deal that sees him handsomely rewarded until a few months shy of his 36th birthday. Considering the recent injury history that so frustrated Toronto, it is a deal weighed with no little amount of risk.
The initial reaction to it has therefore been one of surprise and no little incredulity, a disbelief that Sunderland would willingly invest so much on a player that, by choosing the MLS last January (when there were still World Cup places to be played for) had given every impression he was giving up on his career as an elite-level player in exchange for the biggest possible payday.
It is not impossible, of course, that he went to Canada with good intentions and simply did not adjust to new surroundings (the closeness he shares with his London-based family, which has experienced no little tragedy in recent times, is well-documented), which eventually impacted on his football. Certainly, he seems relieved to be back on home soil.
“I am delighted to be here, and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Defoe said in statement. “It is a great club, and I’ve always enjoyed coming up here and playing against Sunderland because of the stadium and the supporters. It is a great place to play, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - JANUARY 10: Manager Gustavo Poyet of Sunderland reacts during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Liverpool at Stadium of Light on January 10, 2015 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Part of the reason Defoe could command such a handsome wage packet—for comparison, recent £30 million Manchester City signing Wilfried Bony is reported to be on £100,000 a week—is that he was, for whatever reason, so in demand this month. The managers of West Brom, Leicester City, Hull City and QPR were all public in their desire to sign a new striker this month, meaning the demand for proven Premier League goalscorers far outweighed the supply. Defoe’s return came at the perfect time, and his agent must have been able to virtually name a price, with Sunderland tacitly admitting they had won something of a bidding war to get him.
“Jermain is a player who has proven his quality in the Premier League,” Lee Congerton, the club’s sporting director, acknowledged. “Naturally, with a player of his calibre, there was a lot of interest in him, not only in England but across Europe, so we are delighted that he has chosen to come to Sunderland.”
He will certainly fill a position of need. Sunderland’s attacking issues have been obvious for all to see for much of the season, with Steven Fletcher struggling for consistency (in both form and fitness) and Connor Wickham, who does not currently have the look of a prolific goalscorer, often moved out to the wing.
Defoe, in theory, immediately comes in and offers a genuine threat in and around the six-yard box, although he may not be quite the player Sunderland manager Gus Poyet remembers from their brief spell together at Tottenham back in 2004, and again between 2007 and 2008 when Poyet returned to White Hart Lane as a coach.
"I know all about his attributes and his qualities firsthand, and his exceptional goal-scoring record speaks for itself,” Poyet said upon the signing's announcement:
He has something different, something special.
We know each other very well—he was very young when we played together and I was coming to the end of my career, so I know him from inside the pitch.
When I returned to Spurs as a coach it was a great experience for me to work with him, so I am really looking forward to having him as my player now and for him to be part of our team.
Poyet may be delighted with the deal, but there remain a great number of questions surrounding it—least of all being: Is Defoe still good enough to score at this level? It is worth remembering that 12 months ago Defoe could scarcely start a Premier League game for Spurs, despite the fact Roberto Soldado was struggling to adjust to life in English football and Emmanuel Adebayor had been ostracised by then-manager Andre Villas-Boas.
When he did play, the pace and driving runs that were such a feature of his play in his youth seemed to have dried up, removing much of his prior ability to create his own chances. If that quality has now fully disappeared, then you wonder how he will actually help Sunderland—their problem is creating chances as much as scoring them, and Defoe only theoretically helps in one of those areas.
He scored two goals on his debut for Toronto, but his return declined sharply after that, and the standard of the MLS remains a long, long way adrift of even the bottom end of the Premier League.
Scoring on his debut is something of a habit for Defoe, however, and perhaps looking at the short-term impact is how we can explain this deal. In terms of initial outlay the transfer cost Sunderland virtually nothing—if anything sending Jozy Altidore, a player worth next to nothing at this point, the other way actually saved the club money in wages, making the deal itself a no-brainer.
Then perhaps the race for Defoe’s services forced the club to elevate their wage offer while also extending it to offer him some additional security. This might have been unpalatable but was probably necessary, and perhaps the club justified it by predicting, based on his track record, that he could make an instant impact.
Defoe 3+ deal shows modern player power. Least effective time of his career,best contract. Says “don’t give it me, can you risk relegation?”
Currently 16th in the Premier League, one point above the relegation zone and having managed just 18 goals in 21 games, Sunderland will feel that if Defoe scores the five or six goals that keep the club up in the Premier League, his deal will pay for itself. By securing the extra £60-plus million that comes with continued top-flight status, they will be more than able to cover the approximately £11 million Defoe will be owed over the duration of his contract, even if he is no longer able to earn that money on the pitch by the second or third year.
That is the calculated gamble the club have decided to take, similar to the one they made when they appointed Paolo Di Canio as manager, or indeed Poyet in similar circumstances a year after.
Both of those gambles paid off, in the short-term at least, but it remains to be seen if Defoe’s will eventually join that list.
His struggles in Toronto are the worry, and maybe rather than homesickness or external issues they were actually symptomatic of a general decline that Sunderland's inability to spot may end up proving rather costly.
Jermain Defoe to Sunderland: Latest Transfer Details, Reaction and More
Jan 16, 2015
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 09: Jermain Defoe of Tottenham Hotspur applauds the crowd at the end of his final home game before joining Toronto FC following the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Everton at White Hart Lane on February 9, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Sunderland have confirmed thesigning of Toronto FC striker Jermain Defoe, with the England international penning a three-and-a-half-year contract at the north-east club.
The Black Cats' official Twitter provided the news on Friday:
Defoe was clearly happy to seal the switch, which also sees Jozy Altidore leave the club, per Stuart Vose of Sunderland's official website:
I am delighted to be here and I’m looking forward to the challenge. It is a great club and I’ve always enjoyed coming up here and playing against Sunderland because of the stadium and the supporters. It is a great place to play and I’m really looking forward to it.
Defoe leaves MLS after just one season, having only signed for the Canadian outfit early in 2014 after departing from Tottenham Hotspur.
The striker has long-term experience in the English top flight, having spent many years plying his trade in the Premier League for Spurs, West Ham United and Portsmouth.
In the 2014 MLS season, he netted 11 times in 19 appearances and also provided two assists, per WhoScored.com.
He will undoubtedly be of great value to Gus Poyet's Black Cats, who currently sit 15th in the Premier League table, having won just three of their 21 matches this season.
Sunderland have had trouble finding the back of the net—scoring just 18 goals thus far—and Defoe could well be a key component as they look to avoid relegation.
However, as tactics expert Jonathan Wilson writes, Defoe "may be a short-term fix, but no more than that," per B/R UK:
Defoe was recently training with former club Tottenham during the MLS close season, per BBC Sport, so he should be able to return to full match fitness in no time.
There will be those who will question whether Defoe is still up to the job of scoring on a regular basis in the Premier League—a significantly higher standard of competition than MLS—considering his record late on in his Spurs career, per WhoScored.com:
Jermain Defoe: Scored 11 goals in his 19 MLS apps last season after scoring just 1 goal in his last 18 Premier League appearances
But he certainly has a history of scoring goals in the English top flight, and he currently sits 14th on the Premier League's all-time scoring list with 124 goals.
Sunderland fans, players and managerial staff will be hoping that Defoe can add significantly to that record in the second half of the 2014-15 season.
Jermain Defoe Signing Only Part of Solution for Goal-Shy Sunderland
Jan 14, 2015
Tottenham Hotspurs' Jermain Defoe is seen wearing a black armband as a sign of respect to mark the life of former South African President Nelson Mandela, during their English Premier League soccer match against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Good results at the end of a season can cover a multitude of problems. Sunderland’s absurd escape in May when, having been decidedly mediocre for months, they suddenly won at Chelsea and Manchester United in a run of four successive victories—appended to a draw at Manchester City—brought giddy scenes of celebration at the Stadium of Light.
However, the underlying problems remained and Sunderland have carried on much as they were. The probable arrival of Jermain Defoe, per Scott Wilson of the Northern Echo, may be a short-term fix, but no more than that.
This season, really, has been a case of Sunderland achieving the same but at a different pace. Last season the late flurry meant they ended up with 38 points from 38 games; this season they have 20 from 21, 11 of them secured through draws.
Had they beaten Hull City on Boxing Day, nobody, probably, would have been too concerned: They have home games against Burnley, Queens Park Rangers and West Bromwich Albion coming up. Win those and Sunderland would be as good as safe.
The problem is that Sunderland were abject against Hull and, after taking an early lead, were beaten 3-1. They have won only eight of their last 40 home games and there is no confidence any more that teams in the bottom half of the table will be dismissed at the Stadium of Light.
If anything, the squad this season is weaker than it was last. Fabio Borini brought imagination and finishing, while Ki Sung-Yueng and Jack Colback gave bite and class to the midfield.
None of those three have really been replaced: Ricky Alvarez was, presumably, supposed to fulfil the Borini role, but he has been injured a lot and ineffective when he has played. Jack Rodwell is yet to impose himself in midfield and, while Costel Pantilimon probably is an upgrade on Vito Mannone and Patrick van Aanholt has impressed at left-back, the net result has been negative.
Although the 8-0 defeat at Southampton caught the eye, the problem has been more at the front end of the team. Although 31 goals conceded gives Sunderland the joint sixth-worst defensive record, 15 of them came in the game against Southampton and the two matches against Manchester City.
There have also been seven clean sheets—a tally bettered by only Southampton, Chelsea and Swansea City—as well as seven games in which they’ve let in a single goal. Only five times have they scored more than a goal in a game and on 10 occasions they’ve failed to score at all; more than any team other than Aston Villa.
It would be too easy to put the blame on Steven Fletcher, who has often toiled fruitlessly at centre-forward. Last season, Sunderland were saved by a sudden bust of form from Connor Wickham, who tends to have operated on the left this season, and there may perhaps be an argument for giving him more of a run through the middle.
But the truth is that whoever plays at centre-forward just hasn’t been given the service. Adam Johnson has flickered at times, but he is the only real source of imagination—and that’s where Ki and Colback have really been missed.
Although both were at times criticised for playing sideways too often, they retained possession well and had the capacity to construct attacks. Maybe they were at times a little studied and over-cautious but this season Sunderland seem to have only two modes—sitting deep and rolling the ball around at the back (Gus Poyet’s preference for possession football is admirable, but there is an astonishing lack of pace to Sunderland’s passing at times) and madcap, frenetic getting the ball forward.
Poyet’s 4-1-4-1, effective as it has been in stifling opponents, as against Chelsea and Newcastle United, perhaps contributes to that, often leaving the central striker isolated. It’s not immediately clear how Defoe fits into that shape, so it may be Sunderland start playing two up front in some games. Defoe’s finishing may make Sunderland sharper, but there needs also to be an improvement in the supply.
Connor Wickham, Sunderland Agree to New Contract: Latest Details and Reaction
Dec 9, 2014
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 22: Connor Wickham of Sunderland on the ball during the Barclays Premier League match between Leicester City and Sunderland at The King Power Stadium on November 22, 2014 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
Sunderland striker Connor Wickham has signed a new deal with the Black Cats that will keep him at the Stadium of Light until 2019. The team announced the deal on the official website on Tuesday.
The new four-and-a-half-year contract for the 21-year-old Englishman signals his intent to stay in the north east in the long-term, his current contract having been set to expire at the end of the current season, per BBC Sport.
Wickham is reaping the rewards for a run of decent form in the side, his season-ending performances last term particularly catching the eye, and his new deal should be key for Sunderland in the future, per the Northern Echo's Scott Wilson:
Connor Wickham has signed a new deal with #SAFC until 2019. Big development given he would have been free agent in summer.
The former Ipswich player bagged five goals in three games late on last season as Sunderland went on an extraordinary five-game unbeaten run—including victories against giants Manchester United and Chelsea—which saw them escape relegation despite the odds being stacked against them.
He has scored twice in 15 Premier League appearances so far in the new season, per WhoScored.com, and boss Gus Poyet sees him as an important part of the Sunderland setup going forward, per the club's website:
I’m delighted that Connor has committed his future to us for the next few years. After his contribution at the end of last year, he has continued to improve his football and become an important part of our team. He keeps learning, he is able to adapt to different positions up front and he is enjoying our philosophy of play so I’m really looking forward to keep working with him for the benefit of our club. I think it was very important to tie down a young English centre forward as there are not many around; this shows clearly the way this football club wants to progress.
The Black Cats' next match is the visit of in-form West Ham on Saturday with Sunderland looking to pick up a much-needed win as they are currently just two points above the relegation zone.
Lee Cattermole Makes Transition from Red-Card Regular to Mr. Reliability
Dec 4, 2014
Sunderland's Lee Cattermole during their English Premier League soccer match against Chelsea at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Football is not always about beauty. It’s not just about attacking, brilliant dribbling or gorgeous sweeping moves. It’s also about defending, about getting the balance right, about winning the ball back, about the unglamorous but necessary jobs.
This is often a problem for national managers. The players who are hyped are not the grafters. They are the ball players, the forward-surgers, the technical virtuosos, the goalscorers.
We have to pick Lampard! We have to pick Gerrard! We have to pick Scholes! We have to pick Beckham! We have tactical incoherence.
A national manager may find himself with four excellent attacking midfielders; it’s the nature of the job. It’s not like club management where he can trade one of them for a holding player. He has to take tough decisions and leave one of them out.
Roy Hodgson, it seems, hopes he can convert Jack Wilshere into a holding player who, with the energy of Jordan Henderson and Fabian Delph or James Milner alongside him, can provide enough of a defensive shield.
Perhaps he’s right, but it seems strange he hasn’t at least called into his squad a 26-year-old holding player who has flourished over the past year.
When Lee Cattermolewas named North-East Sports' Writers Player of the Year for 2014, there was widespread scepticism from outside the region.
Saturday’s performance against Chelsea, though, will perhaps convince some of those who have not seen him go from strength to strength under Gus Poyet.
He is a player of great physical courage, as he showed with three superb first-half blocks, but he has also become a player of great discipline and tactical intelligence.
With his shorts hitched high, tirelessly patrolling that area in front of the back four, Cattermole was a key figure in Sunderland’s progress to the Capital One Cup final and their late rally to Premier League survival last season.
Part of Cattermole’s problem is that his reputation goes before him. He has become the stereotype of the thuggish English midfielder, the hard man who has outgrown his era.
For a time, that reputation was deserved. He had, after all, been sent off five times in the Premier League by the age of 22.
In the last four years, though, he has been sent off only once—and even that was a highly debatable decision for a slightly misjudged tackle on Ahmed Elmohamady.
HULL, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 02: Lee Cattermole of Sunderland is sent off with a red card by referee Andre Marriner after a foul on Ahmed Elmohamady (down) of Hull during the Barclays Premier League match between Hull City and Sunderland at KC Stadium on Nov
It is true that he’s been booked six times already this season, so perhaps there has been some backsliding, but up to a point cautions are inevitable for a holding midfielder who makes tackles.
Perhaps the change in Cattermole’s approach is a result of him maturing, but he also seemed to change when playing alongside the Albania midfielder Lorik Cana in 2009-10.
Cana was an elegant hard man, somebody whose brooding good looks and charismatic demeanour seemed to earn him a dispensation denied Cattermole.
That season, Cana did his share of the dirty work, leaving Cattermole to perform a more distributory role. It turned out he was good at it.
He was never going to play the languorous long passes Cana did, but he could bullet the ball to team-mates, initiating rapid breaks.
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 16: Lorik Cana of Sunderland goes past the challenge from Florent Malouda of Chelsea during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on January 16, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by M
After Cana left in the summer of 2010, Cattermole seemed to feel the burden of being the destroyer and was sent off in the opening three games of the following season. Since then, though, he has cleaned up.
According to figures from WhoScored.com, Cattermole averages 3.1 tackles and 2.6 interceptions per game; he wins the ball more than all but three other Premier League midfielders. His pass success rate, meanwhile is 81.3 percent, a highly respectable figure for somebody in his position.
It’s hard to see what more Cattermole has to do: He wins the ball and distributes it simply. He has ceased to be a red card waiting to happen.
Nobody is pretending he is a holding midfielder of the class of Javier Mascherano, Claude Makelele or Didier Deschamps, but then neither was Nobby Stiles.
Sometimes there’s a need to look beyond glamour to the reliable performers who can get the job done.
Patrick Van Aanholt Injury: Updates on Sunderland Defender's Shoulder and Return
Nov 3, 2014
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 03: Patrick van Aanholt of Sunderland is stretchered off the pitch due to injury during the Barclays Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Sunderland at Selhurst Park on November 3, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)
Surgery Required for van Aanholt's Injured Shoulder
Stuart Vose of SAFC.com provides a statement from Gus Poyet discussing van Aanholt's injury status:
Unfortunately Patrick is going to need an operation which means he is going to be out for two and a half to three months,”’ Poyet told safc.com following the 1-1 draw with Everton.
It is a big loss because he is a left-footed left-back and there are not too many of them in the world, but we will help him and we will have to cope with it.
van Aanholt Won't Play vs. Everton
Sunderland announced the lineup vs. Everton, which did not include van Aanholt, as expected:
Gus Poyet has confirmed it was a dislocated shoulder that Patrick van Aanholt suffered during Sunderland's trip to Crystal Palace.
The club will now await further scans before putting a timeline on his recovery, Poyet told Sunderland's official website:
Patrick has a dislocated shoulder so we just need to wait and see the damage, really.
It is back in position and we are looking to check it in the next couple of days and then from there we will give information about how long it will take.
Monday, Nov. 3
van Aanholt Suffers Serious Shoulder Injury
Sunderland left-back Patrick van Aanholt looks set for a period on the sidelines after picking up what looked to be a serious shoulder injury in Monday night's fixture against Crystal Palace.
The Dutchman went down in the 34th minute after attempting a tackle on the Eagles' Wilfried Zaha, the Black Cats' official Twitter account confirming the first-half blow:
34' van Aanholt is down here and looks in some pain - he's being treated by the doctor.
The Sunderland Echo's Chris Young elaborated on the injury, speculating that it looked as though Van Aanholt had dislocated his shoulder in the process of making the challenge:
Would be amazed if van Aanholt can carry it on here. Immediately looked like he'd dislocated his shoulder #safc
Since arriving from Chelsea this summer, Van Aanholt has been a welcome addition in what's been a problem area for Gus Poyet's side in recent seasons.
Just minutes prior to his injury, the 24-year-old had crossed in for Steven Fletcher to open the scoring at Selhurst Park. If Van Aanholt's shoulder is dislocated as Young suspects, he could face extended time out of action.
Crystal Palace vs. Sunderland: Goals, Highlights from Premier League Match
Nov 3, 2014
Stephen Fletcher scored Sunderland's first away goal in the Premier League since opening day, as he connected on a cross to score a header at Selhurst Park.
Patrick van Aanholt swung in the cross that Fletcher was on the end of to beat Julian Speroni.
