His pass accuracy in terms of % might be impressive but stats can be misleading.

I recall the Cabaye of old at Newcastle and admired his ability. Im afraid the passing of time has blunted his effectiveness when playing over 90 mins and I suspect that in the main our supporters will conclude that he hasn't lived up to expectations.

A recent post mentioned that he only had the fitness to last 30 mins - I can understand where this is coming from and I did mention that he would be useful coming off the bench in the last 20 mins against flagging opposition.At the moment Hodgson has no option but to start Cabaye.

Yes I was discussing Cabaye on my allotment this morning with Fred who grows the best runner beans in Brighton & he said, Cabaye can`t kick with his left foot, he can`t head the ball, he can`t tackle & he doesn`t score many goals. Apart from that he`s all right.

According to the Times weekly stats, Cabaye has the second highest number of interceptions in the PL.

We all note his average to poor corner kicks (Puncheon was even worse) so maybe it is time for a change.

However, despite his drawbacks he is still the only reliable passer of the ball we have.
Unfortunately this is not saying much!
Comparisons with Jedinak are hilarious - his 'passing' was generally in the air.

I have always advocated a new midfield general along the lines of a Mata or Fabrigas - but we all know this type is the rarest of gold dust. Ben Watson would have been an improvement but he has gone to Forest. Jonjo Shelvey, despite having a short fuse, was at his best against United and would be valuable to us. Perhaps Dougie has someone in mind in the summer ...

IF he is getting slower in his old days, he would benefit from playing in a more more backwards position, in front of the defense, like Pirlo played in his old days. Pick up the balls and distribute them instead of defenders sending long balls without purpose.

But for that he'd need a box-to-box midfielder, if not 2, slightly in front of him, like Pirlo had Vidal and Pogba. And Milivojevic just can't cut it. I'm not saying I want him to be Vidal or Pogba level, but he's no box-to-box. In fact, Milivojevic and Cabaye are pretty much the same type of "brain" player in midfield. If they can play together and if they need a faster player next to them in midfield or if they can't play together ans 2 faster player are required there remains to be seen.

There are plenty of cheap box-to-box options out there: Onazi (Trabzonspor, formerly Lazio), Alex Song (free), Jonathan de Guzman (Eintracht), Kozielo (Koln), Wakaso (Alaves), Andrea Poli (Bologna, formerly Milan).