Player Analysis: Does Gary Cahill Deserve More Credit?

Last season was a season that Gary Cahill will treasure. With Rafa Benitez at the Chelsea helm Cahill was an established starter in the Blues side alongside Branislav Ivanovic and established himself as a sturdy player. However, Jose Mourinho’s return worried me in a way that we all knew that John Terry would be coming back into the frame, meaning that someone had to miss out. However, Cahill has since played five of the club’s nine games and has been brilliant alongside Terry, but is he all he’s cracked up to be?

Being a Chelsea season ticket holder I have the privilege of watching the England international week-in-week-out and I can tell you that if anything, he is underrated.

He has often been labelled a clumsy player with poor positional sense, but there is nothing I can complain about this term. In his five appearances Cahill has won an astonishing 74% of his personal duels, which is by far the best in the squad. He has been successful in 21/27 of his headers and displayed his comfort on the ball throughout the campaign – he has completed 87% of his passes so far.

There is a reason that Blues fans are full of hype for the 27-year-old and for those of you asking him if he is all he’s cracked up to be, or even still doubt just how capable he is, hopefully I have provided you with a little snippet of why he needs to be respected.