With how poor Sunderland have been in recent weeks, it’s a bit of a shock that there were any international call ups from the Stadium of Light at all. But despite this, Conor McLaughlin earned himself a call up to the Northern Ireland team’s camp this break.
Sunderland AFC StatZone shared some key statistics from the player’s recent run of games that, they believe, helped contribute to his call up. The post garnered a lot of engagement with Sunderland fans who were, to put it nicely, glad that he was leaving. One fan suggested Northern Ireland must be quite desperate, while another calls him the worst defender to ever play for the club. A perceptive fan also noticed that 14 tackles in half a season is hardly impressive.
Can he stay over there since he is absolute dog meat?
— Jimmy Jesus (@GazJ20162017) November 14, 2019
Desperate times for Northern Ireland
— leonm2056 (@leonm2056) November 14, 2019
Quite possibly the worst defender I’ve seen play for us
— tony coghlan (@tonycoghlan4) November 14, 2019
I fancy myself to get an international call up if this plank gets a run out.
— Andy Stobbart (@anorthernbullet) November 14, 2019
14 tackles won in nearly half a season
— Ian Greenfield (@igfield73) November 14, 2019
Others began adding their own statistics to the list, while another supporter suggested his positional sense was so bad that he could get lost on a plane someone else was flying.
APPEARANCES TOO MANY – 12
EFFORT – 0
SPEED – 1— Thomas Gibson (@tgibson33) November 14, 2019
Caught out of position 100
— Christopher Todner (@ChrisTodner) November 14, 2019
Penalties given away – 43
— Cal Patterson (@CalPatterson6) November 14, 2019
Not saying his positional sense is bad… but I won’t be surprised if he landed in South Africa or Fiji by mistake.
— RGP (@rossgpalmer) November 14, 2019
What do we think?
While his start to the season hasn’t impressed these fans, there is only room to improve. Hopefully, for McLaughlin and Sunderland, the player can start putting in performances that help the team get back to winning ways.