Still think 09 would make a good DM. I know he's played there before but that was a few seasons back and he's improved overall since then ten fold. In fact even last season he filled in there against QPR away and played very well.
To me, 09 is just unconventional. At the minute it works and unless he suddenly starts playing **** or being found out, he's got the shirt. I'd love to see him play in the prem - he's a lovely lad and that's his dream.
He is a good passer of the ball but he is a midfielder so you’d expect that. Im sure Lindelof had the highest passing accuracy in the prem last season at something stupid like 95% because it’s mostly just passes to the other CB or Casemiro. O’nien does play some riskier passes which I like about him because he can really stretch the play at times pinging balls to the wingers but having someone who can defend is first and foremost. Blackburns first chance was a simple ball over the top of him then when he finally caught up he got left for dead and the striker fluffed his shot from a few yards before Ballard made those good blocks. Then a few minutes later they put another ball in behind Huggins and a cross came in and O’nien just totally lost his man who faked a run then went behind him and I think it was Hume who rescued him. Then lost Leonard for their goal.
Footballers make mistakes, it happens. The whole team was at sea for a while in the Blackburn game. The thing is to look at stats for whole seasons not nitpick over one incident in a game. As you say yourself you can't discount his high quality passing stats by claiming that it's padded by safe short passes, because you know yourself it's not the case. When he gets on the ball he gets his head up, looks for the forward pass and tries to make something happen.
Blackburn were having all their chances because we’d lost the midfield battle and they were able to come forward with ease. The defence and their inability to finish stopped them from running riot.
I like the left foot clip over the press that he plays sometimes - finding Clarke coming inside, Pritch or Ba - which catches the opposition way off guard. Shows his composure, skill and vision.
I think the club think they alreay have the next CB in place in Seelt. His reputation was very high when we bought him. Maybe at some point he will get his chance and ONien drops out, but right now he earns his spot for me. I see the same with Pembele and Hume. I personally think Pembele will be a superstar player and cannot believe we have him but he doesnt start just because of his reputation, he has to get past Hume and if it makes Hume improve then great. I think ONien is better this season and knows he has a fight on. On ONien I think we look beyond his contribution as a cb. I bet Mowbray is. He seems to be a partner people love playing with and Ballard isnt the first. His attitude is immense. He is always around the young lads helping. You never see him barking at people, but always encouraging. Mowbray knows a bit about captains I reckon and he has ONien on that for a reason. His contribution goes far beyond the position he plays in my opinion and is worth his weight in gold.
Midfield wasn’t great first half but most of their early chances came from simple balls over the top, obviously they could’ve been closed down quicker to prevent the long ball but once it’s been played it’s on the back 4 to deal with it. First few big chances they had I don’t even think our midfield were anywhere near our box because they transitioned so fast
According to Nixon (I know) Brentford, £15 million. They should be told until they add another 10 million, we are not responding again
More stirring the pot from Nixon,and if Jack has a brain in his head,he won't want to go there. We could easily swap places with them in a very short period of time.
Ironically players are happy to go to Brentford because they're similar to Sunderland ... ... players are likely to get game time, they play in a decent modern style and the club will allow them to leave and progress.
Reporters are just ****. I have just seen a report by Peter O'Rourke, the headline states Sunderland would accept bids from Burnley and Brentford of £15 million for Clarke. Read the article which then states we will hold out for more. Do these people just sit in a room getting drunk and make stories up? Unless I am reading it wrong and its a joint bid from them for £30 million and they are going to share him
So I reckon we might have accepted around £15m in the summer. Not now. One of the benefits of holding onto him
I was at a golf day last Thursday and Steve Davison was there handing the prizes out. He was talking about the model and said we may lose some players along the way but the plan is to build on the good ones we’ve got. When asked about selling he mentioned Clarke and said the bids weren’t anywhere near close enough but because of where we are we couldn’t knock back a bid of £50m. It’s good to hear we aren’t being held to ransom anymore.
It's annoying when you see social media posts continuously referring to us as a selling club and that the model is to buy cheap and sell on ... ... the reality is that we could've sold half a dozen in the last window and didn't. Almost every club is a selling club, West Ham sold Declan Rice because they had little other option, ditto us with Stewart. As long as we sell for the right money and use those funds to keep building the club I'm happy. I can't remember us ever having a plan tbh, this is all new and fascinating.
It annoys me no end all this buy cheap sell big shyte. The club have reiterated on more than 1 occasion that we are trying to build something but some fans and the media want to ignore what has been said and conduct their own narrative which they will convince themselves is true. Of course we will sell players every club does otherwise they would never progress, the trick is to sell at the right time and maximise what you have for the best interests of your club, invest wisely move the club forward and build from a strong foundation and the sky is the limit. Whilst money is a major factor in the success of football clubs good management and strong directional and financial leadership is also required. Leicester and Everton are prime examples of this from recent years.
We've been told about all kinds of models from Leicester to Southampton and why we should copy them ... ... but a couple of wrong moves and it can easily come crashing down. I feel like we're in safe hands.
