In the run up to the Chelsea game, I wrote a piece on here about Luke O’Nien, a player that’s quite simply defied the odds during his career at Sunderland.
There appears to be a section of the fanbase that he’ll never win over for some reason, despite being the most committed and professional individual that we’ve been privileged to watch during some really tough periods of our club’s history.
In the eighteenth century, Dr Samuel Johnson coined the phrase (often misattributed to Samuel Pepys), “When
a man is tired of London, he is tired of life” — and the same applies to me when it comes to writing about O’Nien.
He is the ultimate modern day ambassador for the club.
O’Nien had an unpromising start to his Premier League career at Manchester City, where he managed a full seven minutes as a substitute before picking up a red card, yet he’s quietly established himself as a competent deputy for the likes of Dan Ballard and Omar Alderete, largely achieved by playing within himself.
From his FA Cup appearance at Everton, where he stroked home the winning penalty, to strong performances against the likes of Leeds and the Mags, he’s been disciplined, doing the simple things well. He’s restricted himself to short passes and focusing on retaining possession, and leaving the more creative work to the likes of Granit Xhaka.
O’Nien quickly established himself as a favourite in the system that Régis Le Bris favoured in the Championship, through his willingness to bring the ball out of defence — either as a ball carrier or through his ability to deliver passes with both feet.
It’s something that we hadn’t seen in his Premier League appearances but on Sunday, the real O’Nien decided that it was time to unleash himself on Chelsea.
Not only did our Luke carry the ball forward, he brought back the raking cross-field passes that were such a feature of his Championship performances. And, unsurprisingly, they were pinpoint and invariably found their target.
It was an indicator of a player that’s realised, mentally, that he belongs at this level. A player who knows that, with either foot, he can release our attacking runners and inflict damage on the opposition.
It was a joy to behold a thirty one-year-old footballer become the force that all too many fans believed he was incapable of becoming.
Very few players are born that naturally two-footed.
It was a skill that the great Bobby Charlton honed through repeated practice against a brick wall in the back alleys of Ashington, and the South African golfer Gary Player was once taunted as being ‘lucky’. His retort? “The harder I practice, the luckier I get!” — O’Nien isn’t able to use both feet like that by accident.
You just know that O’Nien won’t be taking much of a holiday this summer. Instead, he’ll be working on his game.
When Sunderland’s established long throw specialists were absent or wearing the copious amounts of wrist strapping that qualify for their own sponsor this season, the squad member who’d obviously been working on his own long throw technique just happened to be wearing the number thirteen shirt.
He’s this generation’s Kevin Ball or Lee Cattermole. He may not be Sunderland-born, but O’Nien has taken this club to his heart in a way that few players since Niall Quinn have done.
I have no doubt that he’ll make his European debut next season, and I hope that I’m able to get a ticket to witness it. There are few players who deserve it more.
