As a teenager in Brighton’s academy, Lewis Dunk stood out for his passing range and composure on the ball as much as his defending.
It is what Gus Poyet, at the time Brighton’s first-team manager, liked about Dunk, and so when both his regular centre-backs – Tommy Elphick and Adam El-Abd – required surgery during the summer after winning promotion from League One, the Uruguayan turned to his highly-rated but untested academy prospect.
It was quite the show of faith: entrusting a position of such responsibility to a ball-playing but inexperienced young footballer in an unforgiving league, when as a newly-promoted side they were expecting to be placed under pressure by opponents.
However, Dunk rose to the challenge, playing 36 times that season as Brighton finished a comfortable 10th.
And his performances started catching Premier League eyes. Manchester United and Arsenal sent scouts to watch him at one stage, although he came closest to moving to Fulham, only deciding to stay because he was convinced Brighton had a real shot at promotion, a decision vindicated when they won promotion into the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history under Chris Hughton in 2017.
Yet now the spotlight was really on Brighton’s players, things changed for Dunk during the Hughton seasons. If there had been any criticism of the defender during the early years after breaking through, it was that while he was great with the ball, maybe he couldn’t defend well quite enough.
Under Hughton the perception flipped. He was seen by many as a warrior-like defender, who wasn’t necessarily the best on the ball. The team was well-organised under Hughton and set up to defend well, but the tactics afforded Dunk little opportunity to pass out from the back and show his true value.
It perhaps did not help that Dunk forged a strong partnership with centre-back Shane Duffy and they became known as no-nonsense duo who would fly into tackles, put their heads where others feared putting them and block shots with whatever they could get in front of them. “It was very much like two doorman centre-half thugs who head and kick everything,” recalls one Brighton source.
But it wasn’t a fair reflection of Dunk’s abilities. Still, Graham Potter changed all that again when he replaced Hughton and reverted Brighton back to a passing team that played to Dunk’s strengths.
“He’s got a big pair of balls on the football pitch,” somebody close to the player told i last week.
“He’s very happy to put his foot on the ball in front of his own box and wait for an option rather than just clear lines.
“I think he’s got the right blend of knowing when to head it, knowing when to kick it into row Z and knowing when to take a touch and take a chance.
“Lewis is brave. He’s very calm – a very calm character. As much as he can see red mist, in general he’s very laid-back.”
He is so laid-back there is a running joke in the Dunk family that it takes him five days to reply to a WhatsApp.
But while Brighton changed perceptions about themselves under Potter, for Dunk that old perception – of good defender but not-so-good on the ball – lingered. It was the initial assessment of England manager Gareth Southgate, who handed him an England debut in 2018 in a game against the USA.
In the game one observer who has watched Dunk throughout his career felt Dunk tried a bit too hard to impress — playing as though it was his one and only chance to win over the manager and not relaxing into his own game.
And as Dunk watched Southgate turning to Tyrone Mings and giving chances to Marc Guehi, he wondered if his chance had been and gone, even though he was excelling in a wonderfully over-achieving Brighton side.
There was a glimmer of hope in the summer when he was called up for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia. As an indication of how well Dunk was playing, he made the most completed passes of any single player in the Premier League last season, his 3,208 placing him well ahead of Rodri and Virgil van Dijk, in second and third respectively.
Even then, Dunk cracked a rib ahead of meeting up with the England camp and was told by physiotherapists not to play. He called Southgate and said he was willing to give it a go but the England manager told him to rest up and that there would likely be more opportunities.
Four months later Dunk was back in the squad and starting against Scotland, and it could barely have gone better. In the ferocious atmosphere of Hampden Park he was the first of any player on the pitch for most passes completed, most forward passes, most touches of the ball and most headers won. Not bad for a 31-year-old making his second England appearance five years after his first.
“I went out there and gave it my all,” Dunk said afterwards. “It is a great time in my football career. It does feel like it is going up and up and up.
“I am just enjoying the ride I am on and feeling lucky. I keep trying to learn in training and keep improving and keep doing what I do and give 100 per cent in training and games.”
Could he make the latest of runs to becoming a starting centre-back at next summer’s European Championship in Germany? John Stones is virtually nailed on but in a back four the spot next to the Manchester City player is up for grabs.
Harry Maguire is struggling for games at Manchester United and has an ongoing perception problem of his own. Southgate is a huge fan of Crystal Place’s Guehi but the England manager could favour Dunk’s experience — Guehi is 23 and has played only a fraction of Dunk’s 400-plus Brighton appearances — in the harsh environment of a major tournament. Dunk will also have added a season playing in Europe to his CV.
Anything is possible when you keep challenging perceptions.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3BybOqD
Post a Comment