For all his deft touches and vision, Cabaye has increasingly become something of a liability with his suspect temperament. He has a history of reacting to hard challenges with sly kicks and niggly retaliations, which was starting to be noticed by referees. When Fabricio Collocini missed a portion of last season with 'personal problems', the onus fell upon Cabaye, as vice-captain, to gee up the troops and drag the team out of a relegation battle. Not so; the Frenchman had spent much of the season in an apparent huff due to a move away not materialising, and his sulky demeanour and tendancy to go missing in tough games arguably contributed to abominations such as the 0-6 home defeat to Liverpool.