Joey Barton has absolutely lost his mind after what he’s said about Sunderland – ‘There’s no way’
Former Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton has surprisingly only had good things to say about Sunderland.
Why wouldn’t he? After all, Sunderland are having an excellent campaign under Regis Le Bris, with European football on the cards if they can keep up the current form.
However, with AFCON now imminent, the Black Cats are set to have their squad depth tested more than ever before in the coming games.
With that said, one player who won’t be going anywhere anytime soon is Granit Xhaka, with Barton full of praise for the Swiss superstar amid a shock Sunderland claim.
Sunderland have actually been praised by Barton
Not only is Barton a Newcastle fan, but he’s also commonly known for having some of the worst footballing opinions in the country.
Barton defended the Jobe Bellingham saga earlier in the year, and now he has spoken about how impressed he has been with Sunderland and with Xhaka, with a claim that will shock plenty of Mackems.
Via a clip shared on the Common Sense Podcast TikTok, he said: “Do you know what though, I was saying it could go one way or the other, [Xhaka’s] been excellent, hasn’t he?
“That Sunderland side, you’re looking at it going, as well as Leeds have done to get points and obviously give Liverpool a scare and picking up a little bit.
“Sunderland have been the best of the newly promoted sides, and one of the status quo are going down, because there’s no way Sunderland are going down, they’re bang at it, good side.
“I was really sceptical of the signing of Xhaka, I thought he’s going to have a young side around him, a lot more responsibility and lack of quality compared to his Arsenal team, and at Arsenal he often got in trouble for getting frustrated and lunging into tackles and straight reds.
“But it looks like he’s been an inspired take and been absolutely first class, and being that captain leader experience that a young Sunderland group have needed, but also another Arsenal academy graduate, Ballard, the centre half’s been [expletive] superb, monster in both boxes.”
Ballard isn’t being talked about enough this season
Xhaka is always the go-to talking point when Sunderland do well, and that’s reasonable considering just how impressive he has been – he’s easily the signing of the season.
However, nowhere near enough people are talking about just how good Ballard has been in the Premier League, much to the surprise of nearly everyone.
He’s been dominant in the air, and he looks like a completely different player from the one who suffered a 3-0 defeat to Newcastle in the FA Cup just last year.
Of course, that’s just the eye test. The numbers do even more talking.
The Northern Ireland international has won a remarkable 54 aerial duels so far this season, according to FotMob, with 83 duels in total resulting in him winning the ball.
He has the most touches in the opposition box as a central defender in the top flight, showcasing his ability to be effective in both boxes.
What a season he’s having.
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