'The Irish defender will command a fee in the region of £10million, helping Gus Poyet fund a bid for Fabio Borini' Say whaaaaaaaaat??
Sunderland's John O'Shea may just surprise a few Spurs fans when they see how he compares to Tottenham's current defensive group. With Tottenham still yet to sign any players this summer, it's fair to say one name supporters wouldn't have expected, or in all honesty wanted, to see linked to Mauricio Pochettino's revolution is Sunderland's John O'Shea. But nevertheless, the Telegraph today ran with a story that the North London club were seeking to add the Irishman to their squad. With Spurs being undone by a catalogue of defensive mishaps across the season, the prospect of a 33-year-old Sunderland defender will not be the news that will fill fans with hope. We've correlated statistics on the current Spurs centre backs and the Sunderland captain, covering several defensive areas to see if signing O'Shea would be as bizarre as it sounds, or whether there's a reason why he played a part in Manchester United's success for so long. please log in to view this image The first surprise the statistics above show is that O'Shea is second only to Jan Vertonghen when it comes to tackling accuracy. O'Shea also beats half the Spurs defenders in minutes per total clearance, and percentage of ground duels won. Interestingly, despite his height, the Black Cats defender fails to match the likes of Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul, who are similar height. please log in to view this image This next table highlights just how poor Spurs were defensively last season, with every central defender making at least one error that led to a goal. In contrast, O'Shea made no errors of this kind, despite playing more minutes than every defender. He also has a better minutes per possession lost ratio, again, despite playing for a team that only just scraped clear of relegation. And finally, the former United defender is second only to Vlad Chriches when it comes to passing accuracy, above accomplished passers such as Vertonghen and Dawson. Despite it sounding like madness originally, it seems that, statistically at least, O'Shea would be a more than capable addition to Tottenham's current defensive ranks, at least as a squad player.
No errors that lead to a goal, are they ****ing high? There were OG's for a start.. Pens given away... holy ****ing ****, who employs these ****ing idiots.
He cost us at least 5 points that I can think of... You can make numbers say anything you want to win your argument, but at least start with the right ****ing numbers!
I know, what constitutes an error leading to a goal, not losing your man every ****ing corner clearly otherwise he's be in double figures.
We are all aware of O'shea's failings, but along with Brown, Cattermole and Larson these experienced players raised there games last season and helped us to stay up. We need the stability these players give us , while Gus works to turn the club around. I would only accept this offer if Danny Rose was thrown in as well, lets give that smug t**t Levy a taste of his own medicine.
Wow, You must rate JoS higher than anybody I've ever encountered. I'd let him go for free if it got him off our wages.
I agree mate, i agree, mind i'm ****faced and typing really slowly.. What ya taking? Gis a bell if you want owt ya loon, mind you seem more ****ed up than me.
I have been one of JoS's biggest critics in the past, and have pointed out his limitations ad nauseam, but he has shown himself to be a leader, that the players respect, both on and off the pitch. Surely the end of season miracle has allowed the club time and money to address the teams longer term requirements in a more considered way, and this does not mean getting rid of players simply to save on wages, as it will probably cost more in the long term, plus it sends out all the wrong signals, making future recruitment that more difficult. Yes if we can get better players in all well and good, and I would also like to see both Alonso and Verginni back to add pace and youth to our back four, which looked settled and promising at the tail end of the season. The Danny Rose bit was just meant to be tongue in cheek.
