John O'Shea

**Razors left peg** · 26/05/2008, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by stojkovic

The only Irish (even including British) player to win one. And at a time when foreigners were restricted to two per club.

BTW Im not stating a fact just making an observation

Fair enough, but Im just making the point that John O Shea knocking seems to be fashionable on here.Hes not a superstar but at the same time Alex Ferguson has kept him as part of a winning squad while discarding plenty of dead wood over the years so he must see something in him, and I for one think he is our best option to partner Dunne

**Razors left peg** · 26/05/2008, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by stojkovic

Oh yeah twas Africans Cup he won in 2002. Just lumped hm in with Kleberson cuz they were both sh1te.

Granted... but both were dumped long ago by United while O Shea stayed on.As Ive said hes not a great player but hes not nearly as bad as he is made out to be.... Ive seen some clowns on here say that there are better defenders in the Eircom League

**stojkovic** · 26/05/2008, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Fair enough, but Im just making the point that John O Shea knocking seems to be fashionable on here.

I don't even mention the guy's name anymore. You can't flog a dead horse.

**Maroon 7** · 26/05/2008, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by Colie

Please mate, Johnno is after Keane, Irwin & Lawrensen in the honours list. That's some serious company.

Well he has plenty of medals alright. Even if his main function at United is to keep the bench warm.

Anyway dreadfully poor form by those players not signing the kids autographs. McGrath probably felt like chinning them only for he's so placid.

**gilberto_eire** · 27/05/2008, 1:12 AM

For a country not exactly blessed with a great pool of players(squad always needs to be filled with lower tier players) i think the John O'Shea bashing on here is pathetic tbh, never hear it in ''the terraces'' either.

Why do any of ye care if he decided to stay at United and be a squad player, cause i can't see any other reason then that for the flak, does nobody ever remember these guys have lives off the screen and he might be as settled in Manchester as i am in Galway(i wouldnt leave Galway for anywhere maybe he's like that with Manchester).

Let's also remember he's a squad player for the biggest club in the world and best in Europe, i suppose someone like Nicky Butt took the better option??

Don't know where to look for figures but i'm guessing when you consider all the cups United play in he must have made at least 20 appearances last season, hardly worth leaving the worlds biggest club over. Fergie rates him highly enough to keep offering him contracts anyway and since we're no world beaters and he never disgraced the shirt i don't see why people can't get over bashing him!!

My only prob was him turning from the shot in Bratislava and you can say that's a reaction!!

**jmurphyc** · 27/05/2008, 1:40 AM

Originally Posted by gilberto_eire

For a country not exactly blessed with a great pool of players(squad always needs to be filled with lower tier players) i think the John O'Shea bashing on here is pathetic tbh, never hear it in ''the terraces'' either.

Why do any of ye care if he decided to stay at United and be a squad player, cause i can't see any other reason then that for the flak, does nobody ever remember these guys have lives off the screen and he might be as settled in Manchester as i am in Galway(i wouldnt leave Galway for anywhere maybe he's like that with Manchester).

Let's also remember he's a squad player for the biggest club in the world and best in Europe, i suppose someone like Nicky Butt took the better option??

Don't know where to look for figures but i'm guessing when you consider all the cups United play in he must have made at least 20 appearances last season, hardly worth leaving the worlds biggest club over. Fergie rates him highly enough to keep offering him contracts anyway and since we're no world beaters and he never disgraced the shirt i don't see why people can't get over bashing him!!

My only prob was him turning from the shot in Bratislava and you can say that's a reaction!!

I don't have a problem with him but I do think he should have left Utd by now. I don't personally know the guy but from a footballing point of view staying at Utd is an easy option to take and he's very much in his comfort zone.

People keep talking about Fergie rating him; if Ferguson rated him that much he'd entrust him with more time on the pitch and in important games too. How much do he feature in Utd's games in the knockout stages? Did he even get on the pitch? He gets the last 10 minutes in the league when the game is safe and he can't mess it up and consequently gets his shiny new medal to add to his collection. I could understand if the guy was a squad player at the club, but he's not. He's merely an afterthought. Everyone talks about how Ferguson keeps him, but Fergie doesn't have to sell to buy, and of course it's always nice to have an spare option lying about.

I like him as a player and I think he is still possibly good enough to start the campaign as first choice centre back with Dunne. I just think the guy owes it to himself to develop as a player by getting game time and I can't see it happening anytime soon at Utd. If he wants to stay at Utd and win dozens of trophies then obviously that's his call, but how much will he have contributed to it. Will he be able to look back on his career when he's finished and say that he got the best out of the game? I don't think so.

I do think some of our fans take it a bit too far with him in saying he's a disgrace and shouldn't wear the shirt again and don't mean to make out like I'm one of them despite my grievances towards him though.

**Dyl10** · 27/05/2008, 4:38 AM

Originally Posted by gilberto_eire

For a country not exactly blessed with a great pool of players(squad always needs to be filled with lower tier players) i think the John O'Shea bashing on here is pathetic tbh, never hear it in ''the terraces'' either.

Why do any of ye care if he decided to stay at United and be a squad player, cause i can't see any other reason then that for the flak, does nobody ever remember these guys have lives off the screen and he might be as settled in Manchester as i am in Galway(i wouldnt leave Galway for anywhere maybe he's like that with Manchester).

Let's also remember he's a squad player for the biggest club in the world and best in Europe, i suppose someone like Nicky Butt took the better option??

Don't know where to look for figures but i'm guessing when you consider all the cups United play in he must have made at least 20 appearances last season, hardly worth leaving the worlds biggest club over. Fergie rates him highly enough to keep offering him contracts anyway and since we're no world beaters and he never disgraced the shirt i don't see why people can't get over bashing him!!

My only prob was him turning from the shot in Bratislava and you can say that's a reaction!!

I think he's brutal, but fair play on putting together a very persuasive post

**Angus** · 27/05/2008, 7:35 AM

Earlier this century somebody posted about Irish players refusing to sign autographs - clearly we all then got transported to a parallel vortex where the relative shinyness of John O Shea's medals became topic numero uno

I like O Shea - fair play to him - at a top club - making money - keeping fit - playing reasonably regularly against good oppo

As for the Irish stars - leaving aside mitigating circumstances, this is a disgrace. There may be mitigating circumstances but they would want to be bloody good ones......

**jbyrne** · 27/05/2008, 8:21 AM

Originally Posted by gilberto_eire

Don't know where to look for figures but i'm guessing when you consider all the cups United play in he must have made at least 20 appearances last season, hardly worth leaving the worlds biggest club over.

yes, made a minimum of 15 starts in all competitions. much more as a sub also.
after watching the poor show last sat night some people still think oshea is not worthy of a place in our team!! hilarious

**Kingdom** · 27/05/2008, 8:21 AM

Originally Posted by jmurphyc

I don't have a problem with him but I do think he should have left Utd by now. I don't personally know the guy but from a footballing point of view staying at Utd is an easy option to take and he's very much in his comfort zone.

People keep talking about Fergie rating him; if Ferguson rated him that much he'd entrust him with more time on the pitch and in important games too. How much do he feature in Utd's games in the knockout stages? Did he even get on the pitch? He gets the last 10 minutes in the league when the game is safe and he can't mess it up and consequently gets his shiny new medal to add to his collection. I could understand if the guy was a squad player at the club, but he's not. He's merely an afterthought. Everyone talks about how Ferguson keeps him, but Fergie doesn't have to sell to buy, and of course it's always nice to have an spare option lying about.

I like him as a player and I think he is still possibly good enough to start the campaign as first choice centre back with Dunne. I just think the guy owes it to himself to develop as a player by getting game time and I can't see it happening anytime soon at Utd. If he wants to stay at Utd and win dozens of trophies then obviously that's his call, but how much will he have contributed to it. Will he be able to look back on his career when he's finished and say that he got the best out of the game? I don't think so.

I do think some of our fans take it a bit too far with him in saying he's a disgrace and shouldn't wear the shirt again and don't mean to make out like I'm one of them despite my grievances towards him though.

Thats a really good synopsis of O'Shea, perhaps if the voices stopped long enough in my noggin I'd have put something as good as that together.

**Irish_Praha** · 27/05/2008, 8:49 AM

Going off-topic with O'Shea again just read this article on Sportinglife:
O'SHEA TO STAY AT OLD TRAFFORD
http://www.sportinglife.com/football...lic_OShea.html

He knows the quality within Sir Alex Ferguson's squad as well as anyone, and while he is desperate to win regular place in the starting line-up - around half of his appearances this season came from the bench - he is not looking for a new challenge just yet.

Asked about his own future, he replied: "That [leaving] is crossing my mind a lot of the time, but then I think 'where do you go when you leave a team like that?'

"That's an even bigger question. For the time being, I will stay where I am."

**Serb** · 27/05/2008, 9:56 AM

Originally Posted by gilberto_eire

Don't know where to look for figures but i'm guessing when you consider all the cups United play in he must have made at least 20 appearances last season, hardly worth leaving the worlds biggest club over.

John O'Shea
2007/2008 Appearance Stats:

Code:

Competition         Apps (Sub)     Goals
==========================================
League                28 (18)        0
Carling Cup            1  (0)        0
FA Cup                 2  (1)        0
Champions League       6  (2)        0
------------------------------------------
Total                 37 (21)        0
==========================================

He played a total of 1,159 minutes of league football last season. Only Gerard Pique, Mikel Silvestre and Danny Simpson played less football in defence than him.

**cheifo** · 27/05/2008, 1:32 PM

He has had some dreadful performances for Ireland.Nice lad and I would like him to do well but lets face it he has giving us very little yet.IMO its irrelevant what Fergie thinks of him at this stage.He is 26/27 and he just has to do much better for us when he gets the chance again.I agree he should be tried at CB beside Dunne and hopefully he will improve.

**FarBeag** · 27/05/2008, 1:40 PM

He has no ambition and is just happy to warm the bench and play a handful of games along the way. For this he picks up a nice little earner, wish I could do this in my job but fair play for getting away with it. Anyway, he is our best option in the centre of defence beside Dunne so we will have to put up with it for now I guess.

**micls** · 27/05/2008, 1:46 PM

If I could get paid 40k a week for being a glorified Greg O halloran I'd take it too. but I wouldnt expect to be respected for it.

**Speakthetruth** · 27/05/2008, 2:03 PM

Does the fact that Ferguson used him for 135 minutes against Arsenal, Chelsea & Liverpool in the league versus the 110 minutes he let Josh work his magic against Derby not speak volumes?

**jmurphyc** · 27/05/2008, 2:30 PM

Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

Does the fact that Ferguson used him for 135 minutes against Arsenal, Chelsea & Liverpool in the league versus the 110 minutes he let Josh work his magic against Derby not speak volumes?

He actually only used him for 44 minutes in the league against those clubs, as opposed to 110 minutes against Derby. 44 minutes in 6 league games is a pretty bad sum total.

**Speakthetruth** · 27/05/2008, 2:35 PM

Originally Posted by jmurphyc

He actually only used him for 44 minutes in the league against those clubs, as opposed to 110 minutes against Derby. 44 minutes in 6 league games is a pretty bad sum total.

Apologies (Think i had the charity shield in there), even strengthens the point...I cant understand the man staying at that club, perhaps its the fear that if he moved to a mid-table premiership team (Middlesbrough, Blackburn etc.), the situation wouldnt change. IMO, its not far fetched to claim that, at best, this guys level is at the foot end of the table. However, down there you need battlers and guys who are prepared to take hits....