O'Shea: Partnership With Greaves Growing With Every Game Friday, 4th Oct 2024 12:20 by Kallum Brisset Town defender Dara O’Shea believes his partnership with fellow summer signing Jacob Greaves is growing with each game and training session. O’Shea joined the Blues for an initial £12m from Burnley in late August, while Greaves made the switch to Suffolk from Hull City for an initial £15m in July. Since making his league debut in the clean sheet at Brighton and Hove Albion, O’Shea has partnered Greaves in the last three Premier League matches and looks set to become the established defensive pairing for Kieran McKenna. O’Shea says the duo are beginning to click and will continue to prosper with each passing match they play together. “It’s going well,” he said. “Two new players coming into a set-up is always going to be difficult to hit it off straight away, but I feel like we definitely are. There’s lots of things that we can learn off each other and improve and grow as a pairing. “I think our strengths and weaknesses complement each other quite well. It’s just the more games we play the better we’re going to get as a group, and the more sessions we have the better we’re going to learn together too. “So it’s definitely one that’s building, I’m enjoying playing with him and it’s making it quite easy playing alongside someone like him. “I do think down the line there is that moment where it does click and it starts to feel normal. I think that’s going to come, definitely. Each week we’re learning different bits off each other and talking to each other. “We’ve come from two different styles of playing in a way and two different teams, so it’s hard to come into one and automatically know what the other’s going to do. It’s going to take time, but he’s one that I’m enjoying playing with.” O’Shea has thrived off the added competition with Cameron Burgess and Luke Woolfenden, who have been unable to get any minutes since the 25-year-old broke into the side last month. He says players pushing each other is exactly what is needed in a healthy squad and acknowledged the work of the duo he has displaced in getting the Blues into the top flight. He said: “They’ve been a massive part to this club’s success and how they’ve come to the Premier League so quickly is a lot down to them. “It’s good to have that competition, the squad as a whole has two players in each position who are really pushing each other and making it hard for the manager and I think that’s what you need. “That’s a sign of what successful teams are, having that competition and not being able to take your foot off it one week, knowing you have to keep pushing and there’s someone breathing down your neck. I think it’s great for the group.” As one of the latest of 12 new arrivals during the summer transfer window, O’Shea has needed to settle into the club after the season had already begun, something he admits was challenging but helped by goalkeeper Aro Muric, who he played with for the Clarets last season. He said: “I’m loving it, it’s been good. The transition for myself coming into a new setup after pre-season when everybody else has come in can be hard to find your feet and find your way in the group. “But as time has gone on I’ve become more comfortable around the place, getting to know the lads, the coaching staff and the club as a whole. It’s been good and it’s been enjoyable. “Obviously having played with Aro last season we’re both fresh into this new system. It’s understanding what he’s going to do as well, I know that before most of the lads would. “To have him here transitioning into the group has been nice for me, but there’s also a lot of lads here I’ve played with before and know them quite well. It’s been the easiest transition for me coming into a club knowing so many players.” Vincent Kompany, who is now at Bayern Munich, was O’Shea’s manager at Burnley last season. The Belgian is of a similar age and has been spoken about in similar breaths to his new boss Kieran McKenna. Asked about the differences between the two managers, O’Shea said: “They’ve obviously both great coaches. Tactically they’re amazing and some of the best I’ve worked with. There are differences to them in how they manage and how they control the players. “The manager here has been fantastic with me since I’ve stepped in the door, he’s made it really easy for me to feel comfortable within the group, within myself and around people, so that’s helped me a lot. “They’re both young managers as it is and have got a lot to do still in their career and are both managers at the highest level which is amazing. “It’s still early doors here for myself but I’m really enjoying my time working with the manager here and I can’t wait to keep going.” Town make their first ever trip to the London Stadium this weekend to face West Ham United off the back of four consecutive draws in the Premier League that sees them 15th in the early season standings. The Hammers are just one point and one place above the Blues, but O’Shea knows the size of the task ahead if Town are to get their first win of the season and is fully aware of the threats that the Londoners can pose with players such as Jarrod Bowen in their ranks. “It’s going to be a tough game, obviously every game is in this league and especially going away from home to a side like West Ham with some really dangerous players,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough ask, but I think as a group we’re in a good place right now coming off the back of some good performances and decent results. We’re going to go into the game with confidence but also that respect knowing how good West Ham are. We’ll put our best foot forward and hopefully win the game. “You see when you’re watching the clips of them how dangerous and powerful they can be. In the Premier League you don’t really get let off with your opponents, you know you’re playing against the best players in the world and that’s why it’s so amazing. “As a backline and even the whole team throughout, we know what problems they’re going to face us, so it’s coming up against them and putting our best foot forward and trying to nullify their threats and dangers and cause them problems.” O’Shea has faced West Ham four times previously, including twice last season in the Premier League, and is looking to take lessons from those experiences heading into the weekend. “We had a successful enough result there last season but we were 2-0 up and they came back to draw 2-2, so we’ll take some of that know-how and game management into the game this season.” There are a handful of West Ham links within the Blues squad, with Kalvin Phillips a former loanee and Ben Johnson an academy graduate who played more than 100 matches in the Claret and Blue. In addition, Sammie Szmodics is a Hammers supporter, and O’Shea is hoping those three in particular can provide little insights that might help on Saturday. “It might do to them, I suppose,” he said when questioned about the opposition on a personal level. “It’s good because you have the likes of Ben Johnson who can give his knowledge as to West Ham having been there for so long, so I think it’s more so like that. “The boys who have been there or maybe follow and support them know a bit more about the club and the team than the rest of us do, so it’s finding out bits of information off them.” Asked how he is feeling physically following the recent matches, O’Shea said: “Yeah, fine and not a problem. I’m used to this, I’ve played a lot of football and it’s what I hope to keep on doing. “For me it’s great, each week you look forward to the most is game day, so preparing yourself and getting yourself right to come up against the opposition at the weekend is your main focus. “I’ve been doing that here, I’ve been really enjoying the training weeks here and I think it’s suited to how I am as a player. Long may it continue.” It was then put to O’Shea that he currently leads the Premier League in percentage of aerial duels won, with the Republic of Ireland international currently on 87.5 per cent in that category. O’Shea is hoping to still be in number one spot at the end of the season and credits his bravery in achieving those numbers, reflecting on his battle with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins last weekend. “That’s probably why I’ve got a bit of a black eye,” he said. “That’s good to hear, obviously I like to think that I’m quite a presence in the air and I do put my head in places where maybe others wouldn’t. That’s probably gone against me at times, but it’s obviously a good stat to have. “It’s only early doors, too, so hopefully I’m still there come the end of the season and that would be successful for myself. “This is becoming quite a regular occurrence for me with head and face injuries. It’s nothing to put me out. Obviously he’s a great player. I know what he’s capable of, probably just wasn’t expecting a black eye!” Part of that physicality will stem from O’Shea’s background in Gaelic football, which he played from when he was a youngster even up to his time at West Bromwich Albion. “I really enjoyed playing Gaelic football when I was younger and it was a massive part of my upbringing back in Ireland,” he reflected. “Probably a lot of how I play today is based on my upbringing in that. It’s a great sport, quite a community sport so I do miss that aspect of it. “I think the aggressiveness and that kind of side to it is probably what is most apparent in my game.”
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