Gary Cahill – Not Getting the praise he deserves?

Since Cahill joined us from Bolton for a reported £7million which is a bargain in my opinion he has gone from strength to strength and has always put his body on the line for the team, ala Terry vs Germany World Cup 2010. I believe he is one of our best defenders in the team and has been for a while. He always puts in a shift for the team and not only can he defend well but also he has one heck of a right foot on him, not as good as Alex’s right foot though.
What we gave Bolton for Cahill?
Apart from the lump sum of £7million which we supposedly paid off straight away. There are supposed add-ons in this deal. These add-ons where:
– After hitting 50 Caps for England, we pay a total of £500k to Bolton
– After making 100 appearances for Chelsea we pay Bolton another 500K
These are not confirmed add-ons but it is said that this is what made the transfer drag out for 2 weeks as Bolton wanted these add-ons but more money where as Chelsea where offering the add-ons but less money so they met in the middle.
2011-2012:
The early stages of his time in Chelsea Blue where a bit hectic as he played key roles in games. His debut was in the game we where cheated out of a win against United when we drew 3-3 at the Bridge.  His first goal came against Leicester City in the 5-2 win FA Cup game where he revealed on his undershirt ‘PRAY 4 MUAMBA’ this was for his old teammate who had suffered a heart attack the day before against Tottenham, read Muamba’s book it is a great read for certain. His second goal came in the game where we lost 2-1 to Man City at the Etihad. He did not score any more goals after that for the season. With David Luiz injured he partnered John Terry in the centre of defence against Barcelona in the first leg where we won 1-0 at the Bridge with Cahill playing a leading role making many key interceptions, blocks and tackles throughout the game and earned a lot of praise from John Terry, players and many pundits. With this performance and with David Luiz still out injured he started the Second Leg game but had to come off after 13 minutes with a pulled hamstring after making a superb block to stop Barca going one up. He was then out for the remaining games of the season and with Terry and Ivanovic both banned for the Final against Bayern Munich, we had no recognised Centre Backs in the team, we looked done for. News kept on coming out of Cobham saying that Cahill and Luiz where working together to make sure they where fit to play in the final to help the team. Then a few days before the Final, the news all Chelsea supporters wanted to hear that Cahill and Luiz had both completed their first full training session with the First team and where both looking raring to go and getting back up to speed. Come the night of the final both where ready and fit to go but there was speculation that Cahill was only 70-80% completely fit. He did not show that 70-80% fitness he looked more like 120% fit. Cahill put in a performance of the highest quality and earnt a lot more plaudits from the footballing world, as he was able to silence a striker in great form for the whole game, Mario Gomez; he shut him down the whole game and put pressure on Gomez. The hottest striker on form that season in Germany and third in Europe was being thwarted non-stop by an English defender who has only just come back from injury. Cahill made many good blocks and interceptions. His highlight of the game had to be the Defensive block from the shot of Gomez where it looked like Gomez had turned him only for Cahill to do a full 360 spin and put Gomez off his shot making the ball go sky high.
In an interview a few days after the final he admitted to feeling a twinge in his hamstring again when he tried to block Gomez shot when he did the 360 spin but because of the adrenaline from playing in  the Champions League Final that he did not feel it 5 seconds later.
During his first 6 months at Chelsea he made 19 appearances and scoring 2 goals, along with those he has a FA Cup Winners Medal and the coveted Champions League Winners Medal.

Euro 2012:
Unfortunately for Cahill he missed the Euro 2012 through injury. He was injured in a Friendly match against Belgium at Wembley where he was shielding the ball for Joe Hart to come and collect. He was pushed in the back by Driers Mertens and crashed into Hart. Cahill came out the worst with a broken jaw so this made him unavailable for the Euro’s which was very downheartening as he was to be in the starting XI next to Terry in the defence. Mertens got away with his little push and was never sent off. He was later fined by the Belgium FA for this incident.
2012-2013:
He started the season by missing the 4-1 win against Wigan but was in the starting XI for the game against Reading scoring the 3^rd goal for us. He then started the game against Athletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup scoring our only goal in the game where we lost 4-1. The other goal he scored of note was the goal in our  4-2 win against Spurs at White Hart Lane with his edge of the box volley over Brad Freidel which was contender for goal of the month. With there being a lot of games for us to play in there was a lot of rotation and Cahill played a lot of games. He missed a few games for the birth of his son Leo. He returned for the 2-0 win over Swansea. A memorable assist to Oscar to open the scoring in our 2-2 draw at the Bridge with Spurs was another highlight of his career at Chelsea. In the Final of the Club World Cup he was sent off near the end of the game for raising his hand to Emerson who did a nasty challenge on Cahill which he didn’t like, so confronted Emerson and spat broke out between the two. He was a consistent performer for Chelsea always putting bold, strong performances in for the team. In the Europa League Final he made a last ditch block right at the end of the game to stop Benfica from scoring and making it 2-2. We ran out eventual winners that game and Cahill added another Winners medal to the collection. He made a total of 48 appearances scoring 6 goals.
This season:
This season Cahill is playing the rotation game with David Luiz which is one reason why I think Mourinho has not bought another Centre Back as he has Cahill, Luiz and Terry as first choice with Ivanovic and Kalas as back ups. I feel Cahill and Terry together are a great partnership and I do believe that Cahill-Luiz is great as well but it seems Terry-Cahill understand eachother better. Cahill has been in and out of the squad but this is because of the rotation policy of Mourinho. No player in the squad has complained about this rotation and they enjoy the game time. When called upon Cahill has performed well and always puts in 100%. He put in a solid performance against Schalke this week and he must of given a selection headache for Mourinho. Mou will have to decide between Luiz, Cahill and Terry as who to start against Man City this weekend. I would preferably go for Cahill-Luiz as they would play well together but we do need Terry’s leadership.
His Future:
Cahill’s future is a sure one and I can see him staying here for many more years to come. I think his next big thing will be another trophy this season I think he preferably wants a Premier League Winners Medal or another Champions League one. Then I think it’s safe to say he will be on his way to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as a starting XI centre back for England. Possibly be a future captain of Chelsea? Possibly, as the only other contenders I see for us are Mata or David Luiz, but I would put Cahill as my Captain as he is a mould of Terry like everyone says and he does have those leadership qualities about him.