One Sunderland star has been subject of plenty of praise after another ‘solid’ performance against Middlesbrough.
Despite plenty of criticism for Sunderland’s style of play and tactics since Michael Beale was appointed, their defence does seem to have firmed up a lot since the 3-0 hammering by Coventry City in his first game in charge.
The Black Cats have gone onto pick up two clean sheets and have conceded six goals in their last seven games in the Championship.
Despite struggles with injuries at full-back, the team have relied heavily on Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien in the heart of their defence recently.
While O’Nien has had his critics over the years, he has been applauded for his defensive display during the draw with Middlesbrough at the weekend.
While Sunderland Echo journalist Phil Smith gave him a 6 rating, he wrote: “Drove into some good areas and made some intelligent challenges throughout. A solid performance.”
Journalist Michael Graham then showered O’Nien in his own praise, writing on X: “Don’t think O9 will ever truly get the credit he deserves, mainly because many think he already gets more than he should.”
How important has Luke O’Nien actually been?
O’Nien played out the full 90 minutes for the 29th time in the Championship this term, with his only absence coming through suspension against Birmingham.
The 29-year-old made 91 touches which was the joint most in the whole match, completed 60 passes and had an impressive 90% pass accuracy.
He also won two headers and won one tackle, as well as topping the table for the most interceptions (3) and the most clearances (5).
O’Nien has silently enjoyed drastic improvements in recent months and, like Graham said, rarely gets the credit he deserves.
He can be rash sometimes but someone like Ballard would receive heaps of praise if he put on a performance like O’Nien does sometimes.
The defender has made the third-most tackles in the Sunderland squad this season (48), the second-most interceptions (42), the second-most clearances (82), the third-most shots headers won (50) and the most passes completed (2175).
If O’Nien was injured then I think we would really start to realise how important he is to this team, but to have someone like Jenson Seelt providing him with healthy competition can only benefit him and the team.