He may have been a little battered and a little bruised but Dan Ballard’s impassioned outbreak in front of the sold-out away end at the Hawthorns told you everything you need to know about what Sunderland’s 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion meant to the 24-year-old defender.
For 95 or thereabout minutes, Ballard was the target of a hostile reception both in the stands and on the pitch in the West Midlands with the Northern Irishman subjected to several robust challenges from Carlos Corberan’s side – with all 68 of his touches in the match greeted with a vociferous outpouring from West Brom supporters.
Both Ballard and interim head coach Mike Dodds were a little puzzled after the game with regards to why the defender was public enemy number one, but it is also what led to such an enthusiastic reaction after Sunderland had sealed their win.
The crux of Ballard’s public vilification is likely centred around his involvement in the injury sustained by West Brom forward Josh Maja in the reverse fixture at the Stadium of Light. Maja, on his return to Wearside, was on the receiving end of a tackle from Ballard which has kept the 25-year-old, who scored 17 times in 49 appearances for Sunderland, out of action until earlier this month with an ankle ligament injury. Maja came off the bench for his return in West Brom’s recent win over Rotherham United before being left out against Sunderland at the weekend with Corberan favouring more minutes in the club’s academy fixtures to build up his fitness.
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“For me it was unfair that in the first game, they injured Maja. It was a terrible action,” Corberan explained. “It was unbelievable. The player [Ballard] who scored that day injured a player and the referee didn’t send him off or give him a yellow card.
“It was ridiculous – not just because it was against us, I am talking about football.”
It meant that it became a turbulent afternoon for Ballard, with several West Brom players keen to let him know of their displeasure in his involvement in Maja’s injury with a number of heavy challenges – Ballard, despite playing at centre-back, was the joint-most fouled player in the game alongside Jack Clarke.
“They were giving me some stick, which is fair enough, the fans can do what they want but it added to the win,” said Ballard.
“Maybe that played into the psyche of the players on the pitch. I got kicked a few times which, again, is fair enough but I’m just delighted we got the clean sheet and got the three points. I felt quite tired going into the game but as soon as I touched the ball for the first time and heard the fans it gave me a little boost.
“It’s going to get a reaction and I just had to keep a really cool, calm head and I think as a team we did that.”
Ballard epitomised that coolness, displaying a level of maturity beyond the less-than 100 games he has featured at Championship level for Sunderland and Millwall. Ballard was able to keep constant measure on the eye of the storm and came out with a fifth clean sheet in six Championship games and, arguably, a man of the match performance.
Ballard made five clearances in the game, all from inside his own penalty area, which was more than anybody else on the field. He won four out of his five aerial duels and completed 100 per cent of his ground duels which, again, was the highest success rate of any other player on the pitch. He completed 93 per cent of his passes, as per StatsBomb, which was the highest success rate for Sunderland outside of Abdoullah Ba who completed is only pass when coming on as a very late substitute and he was involved in four of Sunderland’s top 10 favoured passing combinations throughout the game.
He did all of this without committing a single foul in the game despite what was coming the other way, particularly from Brandon Thomas-Asante who was shown a second yellow card for leaving Ballard in a heap on the floor on the stroke of half-time.
“It was interesting. I don’t think we played particularly well throughout the game,” said Ballard. “It was always going to be tough against a team who have pretty much secured the play-offs but it’s nice to get through the game with a win having not played so well because there’s been a lot of times this season where we’ve played well but not got the results.
“They’re going to be dangerous, they’re at the top end of the table and they’re good from set pieces – they’ve got the long throw. So we knew we’d have to keep our concentration and they made it tough for us in the second half but we’re delighted to get through it with a clean sheet.
“I feel like we’re limiting teams to very little,” he added. “As a full team we’re probably playing a little bit too defensive, and we haven’t had the chances we would have liked, but hopefully we can turn it into more victories.
“We’ve had a few draws lately, so we need to keep going, score a few more goals and keep keeping clean sheets and have a strong end to the season.”
When free from suspension, Ballard has been an ever-present for Sunderland this season which is something that will resonate with both himself and the club having managed just 19 Championship appearances in his debut season at the Stadium of Light last year. And Ballard is part of a defence who are currently ranked fourth best when it comes to clean sheets this season with 13 – five of those coming in the last six games, the outlier being a pretty drastic one when conceding five against Blackburn Rovers.
“Take that game out of it and we have been very solid and we’ve limited very good teams to very little,” he reiterated. “We’ve probably sacrificed a bit at the top end of the pitch, we haven’t scored as many goals as we would have liked – that’s been the story of this season.
“But I feel comfortable in that back four or back five, whichever system we play. The gaffer's tactics are spot on every week – even against Blackburn I think that was down to the players. He’s a brilliant coach and he sets us up perfectly every week. It’s about us as players keeping our concentration.
“It is tough playing twice a week in the Championship. You never know what team you’re going to come up against. Games like that will happen. We’re disappointed but I think we’ve learned from it.”
Ballard’s maturity when at the coalface of hostility against West Brom is another example of why it’s easy to suggest Sunderland have indeed evolved from that defeat to Blackburn – irrespective of the tactical set-up. But looking beyond the Blackburn game also demonstrates Ballard’s impact.
Across this run of five clean sheets in six games, Ballard has registered 193 total static defensive actions; things such as recoveries, tackles, fouls, aerials, interceptions, clearances and pressures. He has been successful in 179 of those 193 defensive actions. He’s made 34 clearances, seven interceptions and won 85 per cent of his aerial duels across those six games, dating back to the goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers.
The image below, courtesy of StatsBomb, highlights the areas of the field these actions have taken place as well as showing where his 14 failed actions have occurred – only three of those failures or errors (highlighted in orange) have taken place inside his own penalty area with a miscontrol coming in the win over Cardiff City, with Sunderland already 2-0 in front, and failed tackles against QPR and Leeds United. Outside of those three incidents, any actions deemed as failures have taken place away from the danger of his own goal.
It’s part of the reason why Ballard finds himself one of a selection of players at the Stadium of Light filed under the category of ‘has Premier League potential’ which is something Dodds referred to again when praising Ballard’s display at the Hawthorns.
“He’s a good kid, Dan. And one thing Dan Ballard showed today was that he can handle that part of the game, which I knew. I didn’t need today as confirmation,” said Dodds.
“Sometimes when the opposition fans want to give someone some stick, if that’s the right phrase to use, and when you have a group who are really together like our group, they really stick up for them. What it does do is it probably brings the group closer together and they got round him.
“But Dan’s a big boy. He’s an international player, he’s a Premier League player in waiting for me. He can take that. He doesn’t need the group to stick up for him.”
It’s not just on Wearside where Ballard has received plaudits this season as he continues to firmly establish himself in the national squad with Northern Ireland having earned another clean sheet during the March international break in a 1-0 win over Scotland at Hampden Park, taking his tally to six clean sheets in his last seven games for club and country. The 24-year-old was handed the captains armband for his country earlier this season from Jonny Evans but he has found himself part of the international picture since being with Arsenal’s under-21s squad as a 19-year-old.
“He’s a young centre-back who was with our under-19s last year and did very well,” Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill said upon calling Ballard up for the first time in 2019, despite having not made a senior appearance for Arsenal.
“We are bringing him in for the experience but it’s important to bring Daniel in because in the next 12-to-18-months he has the potential to be a regular fixture in the squad.
“He’s young and he’s raw but competitive. He likes to attack the ball, he’s a good defender and he’s shown good character. He has been very good in our under-19 ranks and we believe in promoting players and seeing them grow with us in a developing squad. You have to hope it helps their club careers because if that’s going in the right direction it makes life easier for us in terms of selection.”
Ballard’s international path certainly appears to be benefiting his club career prospects as he continues to knock on the Premier League’s door.
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