Sunderland stalwart Luke O’Nien has been reflecting on his remarkable journey at the club
Luke O’Nien has recalled how his first meeting with Régis Le Bris left him confident the pair would enjoy a productive partnership at Sunderland.
O’Nien discussed his remarkable journey at the club in an interview with BBC Radio Newcastle’s Total Sport programme, and outlined how Le Bris’s attention to detail had helped grow over the last two years. The defender said that desire to improve and also his growing willingness to take risks on the pitch has been key to keeping pace with the club’s development.
"Listen, when the gaffer first came in he said he watched I think it was something like seven Sunderland games,” O’Nien said.
“And I went straight to his office and I went, how do you think I am as a player? What do I need to improve? And that was our first interaction. He pulled up his computer and showed me 50 clips and was like, 'this is good, this is good, this needs work.' And I was like, 'we're going to go really, really well.'
“You can't improve as an individual in any work, unless you're willing to look at the mistakes because that's where the feedback lies. When you whip one into the top corner, there's still feedback there but there's nowhere near as much as making the mistake. So as bad as it sounds, you need to fail in football as many times as you can when you're young. And you need to fail now because if not failing, you're not really trying anything. Because the funny thing was, I stopped making mistakes for a number of years because I started playing everything safe. So there's a, there's a fine balance where, you know, mistakes are going to hurt your game. Then the ego is going to stop you from looking at them. So what you tend to do then is just give the ball to the person next to you and never try the daunting thing or the thing that the game needs. Because, you know, if you give it to the person next to you, you're safe. And you give it to someone else to make a mistake. But that's also no way to play.
"There is a fine line between, like, I then played safe for a couple of years, never had fun, never tried anything,” O’Nien added.
“And that's why I have coaches where I now look within, did I make the right decision? No, you played it safe. And you have to go out and fail. You don't intend to fail, but you need to go out there and try things. And if you're not making at least one mistake a game, you're probably [not doing it right]."
After a difficult start to the season following the dislocated shoulder he suffered in the play-off final win over Sheffield United at Wembley, O’Nien has reasserted himself as a key member of the squad and his start in the Tyne-Wear derby win was his eleventh of the season.
O’Nien determined to keep pushing at Sunderland
O’Nien has now made over 300 appearances since joining from Wycombe Wanderers following the club’s relegation to League One, but says he is determined to keep pushing forward.
“I think when you join a club, you can never predict how it's going to go and how long you're going to stay in one place for,” Le Bris said.
“And I think it's quite rare in this modern day for players to stay at clubs for as long as they have. So, you know, I'm very grateful for the trust the club has put on me. I think I'm in the 300 or something class. There's been some good ones, some bad ones and everything in between. Since my first one, I've been improving! And if I get to 350 and beyond, I've got to make sure that I keep improving so that I'm not the same player that I am right now. So, you know, that's been the job since the day I've joined. And hopefully many more to come.”
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