John O'Shea

[John83]

I feel like I should be more concerned about that than I actually am..
This leaves us one injury from McShane playing right back in Estonia.

[TrapAPony]

This leaves us one injury from McShane playing right back in Estonia.
Which is why the likes of Wilson or S.Reid should be in the squad IMO. Joey O'Brien is better too.

[Colbert Report]

O'Shea has been terrible for Sunderland all season. No big loss.

[Charlie Darwin]

Starting to wonder if Ferguson let him go because he knew he was crocked. A reverse Hargreaves, if you will.

[Stuttgart88]

Having a senior moment here.

"One injury away from McShane"? Maybe even no injuries away, no?

Kelly will be LB in Ward's absence I presume. Foley RB or Coleman RB would be most peple's preferred RB replacement, but most likely McShane will be favoured by Trap, no? Maybe O'Dea is seen as a LB option.

I'd still like to see Kelly at RB and KK at LB for the away game.

[Murfinator]

O'Shea has been terrible for Sunderland all season. No big loss.

Sunderland aren't playing Estonia, Ireland is and O'Shea has been one of our most consistent performers throughout the campaign. It would be a big loss.

I don't have any reservation about Kelly playing RB but if we pick up suspensions or injuries then we're in serious, serious trouble. Imagine if we went into a playoff with Ward and McShane as our fullbacks? It'd be like an opposing wingers wet dream.

[elroy]

Bruce quoted as saying that josh is def out for this wkd and v likely to miss first leg. Might be OK for second leg.

Definitely a loss, just gotta hope the likes of Dunne and sledge get through this weekends games with no injuries.

[Jaysus]

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=645580

The poor performances continue, a bit worrying.

[Jaysus]

On the plus side they're loving Westwood.

[Closed Account]

Good man Sheasy

O'Shea: 'I would give back a lot of my medals to go to a major tournament with Ireland'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2065882/John-OShea-I-medals-to-major-tournament-Ireland.html?
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2065882/John-OShea-I-medals-to-major-tournament-Ireland.html?)
Republic of Ireland international John O’Shea says he would swap his medals from his Manchester United days just to play in a major tournament with his country.

O’Shea narrowly missed out on a call-up when Ireland qualified for the World Cup Finals a decade ago but he has been a regular in the four squads who have missed out on qualification since.

But in the last fortnight, thanks mainly to their extraordinary win in Estonia, Ireland’s players and supporters could finally dream of taking their place at Europe’s top table for the Euro 2012 finals.

Sunderland defender O’Shea, who returned ahead of schedule from a hamstring strain to play in last week’s second leg at the Aviva Stadium, is finally dreaming of playing on the biggest international stage in Poland and Ukraine next summer.

He said: 'It is a huge gap on my c.v. and I would have given back a lot of medals to go to major tournament with Ireland.

'You know what a fantastic atmosphere the fans bring over and what the team can bring to the tournament. Not just the excitement of the fans and the colour.

'The celebrations last week were well deserved. It is a fantastic achievement to qualify for the finals but thankfully it was quite an easy night for us on the pitch in the second leg. The hard work was done in Estonia.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/24/article-0-0ED0C40B00000578-106_233x363.jpgHands up, baby, hands up: Keith Fahey and John O'Shea (right) hail victory for Ireland

'We were really able to enjoy the night. A win would have been nice in front of the Ireland fans but they were looking forward to the final whistle as much as we were so we could start the party and celebrate the moment and enjoy it.

'Now we can look forward to the summer. For once we won't be watching it on the telly. And we want to make an impact and fingers crossed we can do that again with the manager's guile.

'After the disappointment of losing to France, we are really looking forward to it. We have had to wait a long time.

'We picked ourselves up after that play-off, dusted ourselves down and have bounced back with mainly the same group. There have been a few additions here and there but we have qualified from a tricky group. There is a lot to look forward to. `You can't underestimate Mr Trapattoni's achievement, two defeats in 26 games, at international level. That is brilliant.

'He has brought a new level of detail and approach of how he wants the team to play. It is all well and good. Sometimes it might not be so pleasing on the eye but it has brought us positive results.’

[Stuttgart88]

Probably not the right place to add this in, but the last comment says it all. Look at English rugby. I've always believed that the RFU hiring Martin Johnson was exactly the same as the FAI hiring Stan. Not enough experience, popular among the players, keen to go with popular demand.

We got the opposite. Bags of experience, distant from the players but developing mutual respect, ignoring popular clamour for certain players to be included and a clear plan from how to get from A to B whilst ignoring calls to be more entertaining.

[jbyrne]

Probably not the right place to add this in, but the last comment says it all. Look at English rugby. I've always believed that the RFU hiring Martin Johnson was exactly the same as the FAI hiring Stan. Not enough experience, popular among the players, keen to go with popular demand.

We got the opposite. Bags of experience, distant from the players but developing mutual respect, ignoring popular clamour for certain players to be included and a clear plan from how to get from A to B whilst ignoring calls to be more entertaining.

spot on.

it just beggars belief that some alleged experts, and fans alike, were calling for him to be let go after the Euros whether we qualified or not.

[Jaysus]

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=647404

His 'mare of a season continues, unfortunately.

[tommy_c12000]

With Turner out injured, O'Shea is paired with Brown in the centre of defence V Wolves. It will be interesting to see how he gets on playing here with O'Neill watching in the stands. Also of note, is the return of the deviant Bramble to the Sunderland bench, which has pushed John Egan further down the centre back pecking order.

[Jaysus]

Appalling again today. C'mon Sheasy, wake up!!

[peadar1987]

Is John O'Shea the new Gary Breen?!

[the bear]

is o'shea being found out?

[Jaysus]

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=651275

[shakermaker1982]

O'Shea played like that most weeks for United!

[tetsujin1979]

Martin O'Neill has a long history of getting the best out of his defence, and centre halves in particular, Elliott at Leicester, Mjallby, Valgaaren, Balde at Celtic and obviously Dunne at Villa. I can see him doing the same with O'Shea and Brown at Sunderland

[Kingdom]

did O'Shea wear long sleeves? I swear to God, he transformed (or it was a massive coincidence) when he started wearing the short sleeves for us under Trap.

[Charlie Darwin]

I thought O'Shea did well yesterday. He lost Fletcher for the second goal but it was great movement.

[gustavo]

Did he start at centreback at the weekend?

[shakermaker1982]

He did Gustavo.

[zero]

i thought the brown/o'shea centre half partnership was quite weak. i guess both are used to player alongside a 'leader'.

[Jaysus]

They won today, but still slating him:

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=653260

[Ceirtlis]

They won today, but still slating him:

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=653260

He was poor today. He kept going for the same pass up the line and over 50% of the time it ended up with possesion for Blackburn. Could hear the crowd getting frustrated with it as well.

[legendz]

He has been very poor though it has to be said.

[Charlie Darwin]

I only saw the highlights on MOTD2 but he looked OK from that. Defended well and passed simply.

[Noelys Guitar]

He was excellent today. Did exactly what O'neill would have asked of him. The slating he is getting on the Sunderland board is from morons who have never played a game of football in their lives. O'Shea will be captain for the rest of the season under MOn and the morons better get used to it. O'Shea never panicked today. Played some really excellent balls along the right wing. Slow yes. Effective almost every time.

[Jaysus]

Good news - John has performed superbly since moving to centre back.

[Closed Account]

Good news - John has performed superbly since moving to centre back.
Yes he was excellent today, marshalling an unusual back 4 to say the least. Yes Man City had chances but O'Shea played as well as any centre back in the league all season against that strikeforce.

[Jaysus]

Sunderland fans say O'Shea has been playing tremendously at centre back, but should only be used at full back as an emergency. :)

[irishfan86]

Will be interesting to see how this situation develops. With Dunne and O'Shea playing well at their respective clubs at centreback, and Stephen Kelly getting regular football at right-back for Fulham, is St. Ledger's starting spot under threat?

[gastric]

Will be interesting to see how this situation develops. With Dunne and O'Shea playing well at their respective clubs at centreback, and Stephen Kelly getting regular football at right-back for Fulham, is St. Ledger's starting spot under threat?

Having seen him play against Southampton, it looks like he is in okay form too. If he can continue to play first team football, he will certainly be in the mix. Isn't it good that at the moment we have more options at the back than we have had in years!

[Irish_Praha]

Having seen him play against Southampton, it looks like he is in okay form too. If he can continue to play first team football, he will certainly be in the mix. Isn't it good that at the moment we have more options at the back than we have had in years!

Up front too and we are not too shabby on the wings either; we just need to sort out CMF and we would have a very decent side indeed.
If we don't have too many retirees after the Euros and only one of McCarthy, Gibson, Clark, McCann step their game up over the next year we should have a real chance of beating Sweden to second place in our next qualifiers (I just can see us matching Germany over 10 or so games no matter what happens). Maybe by the middle of the qualifiers Henderson and Clifford will have developed enough to be worth an inclusion. Have I overlooked any other CMF options that might be ready before the end of the next qualifiers?

As has been said on here before 1 top-class CMF player is probably the difference between us hovering around the 20's and 30's in the rankings and us breaking into the top 15 in the world.

[the bear]

meyler

[Irish_Praha]

meyler

Oh yes how could I forget him :p
So from Gibson, McCarthy, McCann, Meyler and Clark the hope is that one of them can develop enough this year to form a partnership with either Whelan or Andrews that is better than the current Whelan-Andrews partnership.
Which is not a lot to ask for really is it? Even better if two of them can develop enough to form their own partnership.

[Paddy Garcia]

Sunderland are developing a habit of winning - be interesting if that could be transferred to Ireland (like in the old days!)

[OMTY]

Maybe by the middle of the qualifiers Henderson and Clifford will have developed enough to be worth an inclusion. Have I overlooked any other CMF options that might be ready before the end of the next qualifiers?


Sorry, who's Henderson?

[dr_peepee]

Connor, from Arsenal

[OMTY]

Thanks, really should have known that!

Two cruciate injuries before hitting 20 is ominous enough for him. Hope he recovers though.

[Charlie Darwin]

Yeah, I think at this stage it'd be a bonus if Conor Henderson became a big player for us rather than something we can expect. Hopefully Arsenal still believe in him after he recovers.

[Yard of Pace]

http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/8234/38/


In praise of the unloved John O'Shea

His appearance stats under Fergie is a good bit of trivia for down the pub....

[ArdeeBhoy]

Shame it's from such a ManU-centric perspective...

[tetsujin1979]

O'Shea taken off after 27 minutes, he was a doubt before the game with a knee injury

[Charlie Darwin]

Some interesting stats here on O'Shea's career to date at Sunderland. The fans seem to have been on his back all season, but the stats are very clear - Sunderland haven't won a single game this season in which O'Shea has been absent, and they've scored in all but 3 of the games he has featured in, while they've scored in just 3 of the 11 he's missed.

http://www.rokerreport.com/2012/4/18/2956593/john-oshea-sessegnon-sunderland-stats

[Charlie Darwin]

O'Shea back for the weekend's game according to O'Neill.

[John83]

Some interesting stats here on O'Shea's career to date at Sunderland. The fans seem to have been on his back all season, but the stats are very clear - Sunderland haven't won a single game this season in which O'Shea has been absent, and they've scored in all but 3 of the games he has featured in, while they've scored in just 3 of the 11 he's missed.

http://www.rokerreport.com/2012/4/18/2956593/john-oshea-sessegnon-sunderland-stats
Odd; I thought the fans had started warming to him when O'Neill arrived and started building the defence around him. Did I hear wrong?

[DannyInvincible]

I had understood the same to be the case since O'Neill brought him into the centre.