What drives Northern Ireland's Stuart Dallas, a fully-qualified footballer by trade for Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa

Stuart Dallas is quickly becoming a jack of all trades, but that’s not to say he is master of none.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

For both Leeds United and Northern Ireland this season the 28-year-old has been the handy man, a generalist, competent enough in a number of positions, the duct tape with which Marcelo Bielsa and Michael O’Neill can bind their respective teams together.

Dallas, a former winger who credits his international boss O’Neill as the first manager to play him in a wing-back role, began the season looking every inch the specialist in the right-back position for his club.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

His performances as a full-back, both defensively and in fulfilling what is perhaps his more natural role in the opposition half of the pitch, put him up there as one of Leeds’ most impressive and consistent players in the early stages of the season.

Stuart Dallas has played a number of positions for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds this season (Pic: Getty)Stuart Dallas has played a number of positions for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds this season (Pic: Getty)
Stuart Dallas has played a number of positions for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds this season (Pic: Getty)

Then, when injuries left a hole in Bielsa’s midfield, the Argentine plugged it with Dallas.

When a crack appeared at left-back, Gjanni Alioski and Barry Douglas picking up knocks at the same time, Dallas filled in. When Queens Park Rangers came to Elland Road and Bielsa wanted Eberechi Eze man-marked out of the game ... you get the idea.

O’Neill took the Cookstown man’s versatility to new, almost comical, levels on Saturday night against the Netherlands.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dallas played no fewer than four positions in 90 minutes, starting at right-back and finishing at left-back, with spells on the left side of midfield and the centre of the pitch in between.

Dallas in action against the Netherlands at Windsor Park on Saturday, when he played four different positions (Pic: Getty)Dallas in action against the Netherlands at Windsor Park on Saturday, when he played four different positions (Pic: Getty)
Dallas in action against the Netherlands at Windsor Park on Saturday, when he played four different positions (Pic: Getty)

The trust O’Neill places in his utility man has been developed over years and Dallas’ emergence as a top Championship performer and a mainstay of his national side is a source of satisfaction for the Northern Ireland manager.

“Since he’s come into the team under me, he’s never really been dropped,” said O’Neill earlier this month.

The quality of the opposition at Windsor Park at the weekend said a lot about Dallas’ standing in O’Neill’s eyes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

To trust a player on both sides of the pitch and in midfield, against a Dutch team containing Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong and Ajax star Donny van de Beek is the highest form of praise a manager can give.

According to those who know him, loyalty is a big motivator for Dallas and O’Neill has earned it by keeping faith with the player, even when he was not a regular starter in club football.

“He brought me in, he’s been really good with me, even when I wasn’t playing with my club he still picked me. I love playing under him,” said Dallas

Bielsa, too, holds Dallas in high esteem, dubbing him a ‘complete’ player when discussing the Ulsterman’s versatility.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

United’s head coach apparently prefers to keep Dallas in the side even when the role he is given is an unfamiliar one, even when there might be a specialist on hand – when Blackburn Rovers visited Elland Road, left-backs Douglas and Leif Davis had to settle for spots on the bench.

Dallas, in Bielsa’s eyes, appears to be the right man for the job, regardless of the job spec.

He even popped up in the centre forward position at Stoke in August, running onto a Pablo Hernandez pass and finishing with all the composure of a veteran poacher.

The faith Bielsa has in him goes some way towards explaining Dallas’ willingness to put side before self, a willingness to sacrifice an association with one particular position and the time needed to cement himself in it.

There is, however, a further motivation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I was 21 when I first signed for Brentford,” he said, revealing a background that sets him apart from many of his peers, who have had the benefit of being fully immersed in the game since joining academies as teens.

“When I left school I was working for a family. I was labouring most of the time.

“I was learning my trade as a joiner and playing at a good standard in Northern Ireland.

“I was happy enough earning money through football and making money working as well.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I would still have been doing that [today] and knocking about with my mates but, thankfully at that time, Brentford signed me. It makes me appreciate things much more, that I’ve come from that side, it makes me want to drive on and be successful as a footballer.”

He’s arguably not Leeds’ first-choice right-back and definitely not their first-choice midfielder but he’s a first-choice, fully qualified footballer by trade.