Cattermole must rethink his game - Bruce

Published Sep. 16, 2010 9:15 a.m. ET

foxsports

Cattermole picked up his second red card of the season in the 1-1 Premier League draw at Wigan last Saturday and Bruce has told the 22-year-old he needs to clean up his act if he is to continue as the Black Cats skipper. And the Sunderland boss has urged his combative midfielder to look how Vieira, now at Manchester City, had to change his aggressive style of play after an ill-disciplined spell during his Arsenal days. Bruce told the Sunderland Echo: "I think Lee has reached a defining moment in his career and it's up to him now to make sure he responds the right way. "He's a good player and an absolutely fantastic competitor, but you simply can't go around picking up the number of yellow cards he has in the last few seasons and be an effective force at this level. "I think Lee is at a similar stage of his career to the one that Patrick Vieira found himself in relatively early in his time at Arsenal. "Vieira has been a wonderful midfield player, someone who can control and dictate a game, but I remember he had terrible disciplinary problems and at one stage, he got two reds in almost back-to-back games. "He had to go away and think about his game, and he did exactly that and came back a better player for it. "I think Lee needs to do exactly that. It's vital he does, because he can't keep on going the way he's going."