Titus Bramble deserves to be captain - Bruce
Jan 5 2011 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
TITUS Bramble will continue as Sunderland captain against Aston Villa tonight with Steve Bruce adamant he deserves the right to wear the armband.
Bramble is one of the quieter members of the Black Cats squad, but he has been in superb form at the Stadium of Light and his manager is confident he has earned the respect of all his team-mates as a result.
Although his arrival was initially questioned by some fans, Bramble is a candidate to take the player of the year award after an excellent first half of the season.
And Bruce feels the 29-year-old has got all the right attributes to deputise for Cattermole while the former Middlesbrough midfielder recovers from a back injury.
“If Bolo Zenden had been in the team he would be automatic choice as he is the club captain,” said Bruce, who never had any doubts about Bramble’s mental strength when he decided to bring the former Newcastle player back to the North East. “But I gave the responsibility to Titus against Blackburn and that won’t change. He did very well and I will stick with him at the moment.
“It might have surprised a few people, but I’ve never had doubts about him. He has played
something like 270 games in the Premier League, which is a fantastic achievement.
“He has got better and better, and all the stuff when he was younger, he got a big money move at 19 and he was too young, perhaps, to deal with it.
“Centre-halves get better with age and he was terrific the other day against Blackburn, so he’ll keep the captain’s armband.
“He was rusty against Blackpool, and you could see that, but he still put himself on the line and he’s looking good again.”
Although Bruce has no qualms about allowing Bramble to lead the side at Villa Park tonight in the absence of Cattermole, he is still frustrated at losing the midfielder for a month.
Although reports that the 22-year-old could miss the rest of the season with a back injury were false, the former Wigan schemer will not play again this month.
And, with the injuries starting to pile up at the club’s training ground, Bruce has taken a swipe at the extra pressure put on players by the busy Christmas calendar.
He said of Cattermole: “He should be all right, but we can’t do anything with it other than let him rest for a month.
“At first we thought it was a stress fracture because he had similar symptoms to young Ross Noble, who has that injury, but thankfully it isn’t that.
“I said before this ludicrous run over Christmas that it will end up taking its toll and that is what has happened in Lee’s case.
“Lee played with a back injury when he probably shouldn’t have and has made it worse. He has seen the specialist and he said the only thing we can do is give him a month’s rest.
“It will be a miss because he was just starting to find his best form, but thankfully, the way David Meyler played last weekend, we didn’t really miss him.
“You would love your captain to be fit for a game like the derby – but sadly he won’t be.”
Although Villa are struggling this season and have picked up just five points from their last eight Premier League games, Bruce is wary of Gerard Houllier’s side.
Villa drew with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Sunday and have started to get their big-name players back on the pitch after weeks of injury problems.
Bruce said: “When I was watching them against Chelsea at the weekend, it looked like the real Aston Villa team.
“All of a sudden they look like team which has been in the top six for the last three years, rather than hamstrung with injuries and suspensions.
“Their form will not have been great, but they will be buoyed by a good result at Chelsea.
“I still think they will finish in the top half of the table because they’ve got some really good players down there who are fit again.
“What it has shown is that any team, if you lose three or four of your best players at the same time, are going to struggle.”
