Sunderland centre-back Dan Ballard played 75 minutes for Northern Ireland on Friday night, scooping the Man of the Match award.
Dan Ballard made his first completive start since September on Friday night, scoring and claiming the Man of the Match award for Northern Ireland as they beat Belarus 2-0 in the Nations League.
Northern Irish media raved about Sunderland’s Ballard, and Trai Hume too, though Ballard was the standout performer.
He made his comeback for Sunderland against Coventry City last time out, coming off the bench in the 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light.
Now with Ballard, Luke O’Nien, and Chris Mepham impressing, Regis Le Bris has a centre-back dilemma at Sunderland.
Sunderland fans think Luke O’Nien starts ahead of Dan Ballard
Debating on X whether or not Ballard comes back into the starting XI after the international break, plenty of Sunderland fans have agreed that O’Nien keeps his spot in the side, alongside Mepham.
“Luke is first name on the team sheet,” said one Sunderland fan on X. Another added: “I keep O’Nien in can’t see him getting dropped cause he had a good partnership with Mepham. Ballard had a shocker at Plymouth away.”
Another Black Cats fan said: “I just can’t see a valid reason to drop O’Nien at this stage.
“He’s positionally solid, excellent on the ball, always aware of danger, and he works brilliantly alongside Chris Mepham. Keep him in, without a doubt.”
Many Sunderland fans rate O’Nien’s ball-playing ability, it seems, as another fan labelled 29-year-old as ‘the best distributor of the ball on the team’.
Similarly, another fan posted on O’Nien: “He plays off either foot. Reads the game well. Steps in and takes us up the pitch. His position shouldn’t be up for discussion, in my opinion. Outstanding.”
And one fan even suggested that Ballard should be moved on in January if he can’t get into the XI, posting: “If Ballard isn’t getting a game he needs a loan away or sold in January.”
Luke O’Nien vs Dan Ballard stats for Sunderland this season
O’Nien has played every minute of every Championship game for the Black Cats this season, also scoring twice and assisting once.
Ballard meanwhile has featured just five times in the Championship this season, compared to 43 times in the last campaign.
Here’s how O’Nien and Ballard’s stats for this season so far compare…
| Statistic | Luke O’Nien | Dan Ballard |
| Accurate passes-per-game | 52.7 | 19.8 |
| Accurate long balls-per-game | 4.9 | 0.8 |
| Tackles-per-game | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| Interceptions-per-game | 1.5 | 0.2 |
| Clearances-per-game | 3.6 | 1.6 |