Originally Posted by MadDogg

Of course he made some mistakes at Sunderland. He was what, 19 when he went there. Name one central defender that didn't make mistakes at that age.

But they weren't regular mistakes, just the same as he wasn't making regular mistakes for the first 18 months after coming back here. Overall in all that time he was performing brilliantly considering his age and the amount of high-pressure matches he was playing against some of the best attackers in the world. It's only since around January that his performances have dropped off significantly.