Inside the big Luke O'Nien debate that Sunderland boss Lee Johnson has been weighing up

One of the key early themes of Sunderland’s start to the season was on over-reliance on the wing-backs for attacking threat.
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In recent weeks, the absence of Denver Hume has underlined it.

There are still rough edges to the 22-year-old’s game but his ability to get to the byline, and to open up space from deep, are just about unrivalled across the squad.

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He will be back to full fitness soon and back, you strongly suspect, into the starting XI.

Luke O'Nien scores against Charlton Athletic in the 2018/19 seasonLuke O'Nien scores against Charlton Athletic in the 2018/19 season
Luke O'Nien scores against Charlton Athletic in the 2018/19 season

On the other flank, Luke O’Nien is a little further away from fitness but his return will be equally important.

Where he slots into the XI though, is a little more complicated and it has already been a subject of long discussion between the player and his new head coach.

It’s a debate that has long rumbled on and it’s testament to O’Nien’s character and ability that despite being one of the club’s best performers since dropping into League One, it is clear to all that there is more to come.

His switch to right-back has without doubt been a success.

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Jack Ross felt his attributes were well suited to the role and he has been proven correct. O’Nien is outstanding in the air, has the energy needed to get up and down the flanks, and is excellent in 1-v-1 challenges.

When Ross was asked towards the start of last season whether he was being wasted at right-back, the Black Cats boss fairly pointed out that there was a reason why Championship clubs had wanted to sign him as a full-back.

One of the clubs known to be interested was Barnsley, a side known for using analytics superbly to spot players whose performance level was perhaps being undervalued by most.

Yet Ross knew the debate was a fair one.

O’Nien actually returned to an attacking midfield role towards the end of his tenure and it’s something the Black Cats boss regularly pondered.

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After all, O’Nien’s breakthrough moment at Sunderland had come at Shrewsbury Town in the 2018/19 season, a superbly taken goal on the break settling a tight contest.

Afterwards, Ross had said that O’Nien was one of the best natural finishers at the club.

Right now, that feels like an important point.

The arrival of Phil Parkinson and the switch to 3-4-3 settled the debate somewhat, as a wing-back role felt a fair compromise.

With Lee Johnson preferring a 4-3-3, though, there is a question to be asked and it is one he is already doing.

“He's an interesting character,” Johnson said.

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“He's a great lad, I can see that already, always trying to lift the people around him.

“The energy in his game and in his personality definitely gives the squad something.

“I have had a good chat with him and I don't think even he knows what his best position is. “What he does enjoy is that element of disrupting the opponent and I think that's something we can use as a real strength.

“Whether it's in a man-to-man marking game in midfield or, some of our staff suggest he could even be a centre-half moving forward. I haven't seen that myself yet but I'm open to anything.

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“A good example is that when I was at Bristol City, we took Bobby Reid from being a midfielder and turned him into a nine. Having scored four goals in his career, he went on that season to score 21 goals.

“At the moment, we're going to leave it open and flexible.

“When he's back training, and he still can't take part in contact training at the moment, we'll have a good look at him in all positions.”

The example of Bobby Reid is an interesting one as right now, Sunderland’s side is one that feels as if it is lacking balance.

It is relatively solid, but lacking in attacking threat.

Johnson has already shown some signs of flexibility, moving Lynden Gooch to a second striker role on Saturday. In lieu of January additions, that is an experiment you can expect to see repeated.

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Another option would be to switch one of the midfield three for a more attacking player, to which end Chris Maguire’s continued dip in form is a deep frustration.

Johnson has explained before how the profiles of the current midfield three can be loosely seen as a six, an eight, and a ten.

Carl Winchester can carry out either of the first two roles and the hope is that he brings some athleticism and creativity to the squad.

The question is whether O’Nien might be able to bring something different in that ten role.

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Josh Scowen has been a regular under Johnson and drawn firm praise from his head coach. He is energetic, wins challenges, presses well and can get his side up the pitch. In the final third, though, his quality is erratic and so far this campaign, the same is true of Max Power.

Both have plenty to offer, but could the aerial and finishing ability of O’Nien bring a different dimension to the Sunderland attack?

It feels all the more pertinent a debate when there are options to step into the right-back role.

Dion Sanderson is settling into the club and showing positive signs, while Jordan Willis has shown from the right of the back three that he can bring an attacking threat from that area of the pitch.

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In two senses, O’Nien is at the heart of the challenge for Johnson in the months ahead.

First and foremost, to get the balance of a side right that has quality but at the moment, seems incapable of delivering the attacking threat required to go on a winning run.And secondly, as has been written so many times in recent months, as one of a cohort of talented players whose long-term future remains up in the air.

When fit, his development will tell us much about the project ahead.

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