Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill has praised John O'Shea's emergence as the reason for the Black Cats defensive solidity. The versatile 30-year-old Republic of Ireland defender arrived on Wearside last summer along with former Manchester United team-mate Wes Brown.
O'Neill said:
"It's very hard for players who have been at one club for a long, long time to come and settle down immediately at another club, particularly when you have been used to winning a lot of games, particularly when every single Saturday, you are playing matches and you are expecting to win a lot of games.
"You arrive and the expectation is not that you are going to win a lot of games or every single week, and the fact is it becomes a personal pressure on you to do really well because you feel that there's definitely an added pressure in that.
"It has taken him a bit of time. We have got some really fine players here, but Manchester United have been winning for years and years and years, so it's good to see.
"He is a great character around here and the players have got enormous respect for him." "He had a couple of niggling injuries at the start when he came here, and was obviously dead keen to make an impression.
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