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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.