'Luke O'Nien looks like a defender to me' - Tony Mowbray

Has Tony Mowbray essentially ended the positional debate that has always surrounded Luke O'Nien?

Michael Graham | Dec 16, 2022

'Luke O'Nien looks like a defender to me' - Tony Mowbray /

Tony Mowbray appears to have ended the Luke O’Nien position debate by saying he ‘doesn’t see him’ moving back into midfield.

O’Nien arrived at Sunderland as a central midfielder but has never established himself in his favoured position.

Instead he has been moved around, mainly in defence, playing right back and centre back for the majority of his Sunderland career.

It is the latter where he is currently excelling, with him taking full advantage of the opportunity afforded him by the early-season injury to Dan Ballard.

With Ballard nearing fitness again, though, where does that leave Luke O’Nien? Well, according to Mowbray it leaves him competing for a place in defence, not midfield.

"I don't see him getting pushed into midfield, no," Mowbray said. "He looks to me like a mobile, aggressive, defender - and you need some mobility in this league around your central defence.

"But it's dangerous for me to sit here and try to predict what the team will look like somewhere down the line. It naturally evolves, really.

"At this moment, if I think the defensive unit is doing alright - and I think Luke O'Nien is doing alright and I think Danny Batth is doing alright - there won't be any need to change it, necessarily. I don't know what's down the line.

"I suppose that if we win every game from now until the end of the season and they keep clean sheets every game, you don't change anything - but it's pretty unlikely that is going to happen."

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Published Dec 16, 2022

MICHAEL GRAHAM

Michael Graham is a professional sports writer with more than ten years of industry experience. After pursuing football writing by helping establish the Roker Report Sunderland AFC fansite, Michael moved to Planet Sport to cover football. Michael has since worked on many of the sports sites within the Planet Sport network, including Football365, TEAMtalk and Planet Football before leaving to join 90min. As well as football, Michael is an accomplished tennis writer and has been regularly featured on Tennishead, TennisBuzz and Tennis365. It is football that is his first love, though, with Sunderland AFC his particular passion. Contact: michael@buzzpublishing.co.uk