Its been said before that hes not especially skillful or blessed with amazing technique, he's not known for providing assists and hes not much of a great tackler. Hes the sort of player who is appreciated more by the manager than by the fans due to his workrate as this means hes an extra man on the pitch depending on where the passage of play is.
He can play wide in attack and in defense as well as in central areas from box to box. Its like hes a roaming pivot - that sounds a bit crap written down but its about as close a description as I can come up with.