Dara O’Shea believes Ipswich Town’s style of play will bring them the results they are striving for – but admits the number of mistakes they are making has to be reduced.
The Republic of Ireland international defender’s comments came in the wake of a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Everton this afternoon where they gifted the Toffees both of their first-half goals – for Iliman Ndiaye (18’) and Michael Keane (40’) – before being unable to undo the damage in front of another packed out Portman Road.
It left the Suffolk side facing up to now going eight games into the Premier League season without a win, though their four draws have kept Kieran McKenna’s newly-promoted outfit outside of the relegation zone for now.
O’Shea, who joined Town for a reported £12 million transfer fee from Vincent Kompany’s relegated Burnley squad, did feel it could have been a different story against the Merseyside outfit if either Jack Clarke’s early chance had been converted or the penalty that was initially given ahead of the half-hour mark on the same player had not been overturned.
“Obviously the scoreline has not been left how we’d want it to be,” he said of what was a fourth defeat of the campaign and a second from four played on Suffolk soil.
“If we score a chance early on or we get that penalty decision, it’s a different game.
“Going behind against these, they’re going to sit back and make it difficult and that’s the way the game went.”
Town ended the game with 55 per cent of the possession and two more shots than Everton’s 11, though the quality of those was significantly different with the Toffees’ eight on target far outweighing the Blues’ two, the first of which did not arrive until the final 10 minutes.
Sean Dyche’s sides are known for their direct style and both their goals came from balls into the box which Town failed to properly deal with, which disappointed O’Shea.
He acknowledged: “Yes, we knew that was going to happen with them. We’ve done our work on them and that’s obviously what they’re good at; getting balls into the box is one of their main attributes as a team.
“Obviously we need to defend them well, we need to keep the balls out and just clear our box at times.
“I think we’re getting the first contact and we’re winning it. We just need to clear it then and get it up the pitch so they can’t score.
“But on the opposite side, we created a few chances from set pieces as well.”
The game was a real contrast to the high octane displays the home crowd had witnessed in the previous games, against Liverpool, Fulham and Aston Villa.
Quizzed about why there was such a noticeable difference this time around, O’Shea said: “Obviously it’s what we’d like to do every game, have that energetic performance, take it to them. Sometimes it doesn’t happen for whatever reason.
“We’ve got to have a look back on that ourselves. Did we play the way we wanted to play? All in all, probably not.
“There were areas we could definitely improve on, but yes, we need to obviously create that atmosphere here at home and push it and bring it to the teams.”
With the winless start continuing after eight games have now elapsed, the former Burnley defender was asked if it was still the team and manager’s mantra of focusing on the performance that will ultimately see them get what they need from games.
He replied: “I think as a performance and as we’re playing, we’re playing the way we want to play. We’re just maybe making mistakes when it comes to the goals and that’s where we’re getting punished.
“I think we’ve still got to keep doing what we’re doing on the ball; still trying to play that style of football because it’s working, that’s definitely not the case as to why we’re losing.
“We’re conceding poor goals at times and obviously that’s the case.”
It was the first time Town fans will have seen O’Shea in a right-back role for their side as he shifted across to replace Ben Johnson who himself had come in for the West Ham game in Axel Tuanzebe’s injury (thumb) absence.
And while it is a role he said he is comfortable playing, he admitted it is not where he sees himself playing on a regular basis.
“I obviously played there twice for Ireland in the international break and then I started my career at West Brom at right back, break in there.
“I’m comfortable with the position; I know how to play it.
“Obviously, centre-back is my preferred position and that’s where I see myself as in the future but I’m happy to play anywhere for the team, especially with a few injuries and stuff I’ve got to step up and I need to do as best as I can in that position.”
A trip to Brentford – who lost 2-1 today at Manchester United – follows next after a full week on the training pitch with O’Shea admitting it will be another tough challenge but one they will hopefully be able to rise to.
“We’ll go again Monday,” he said, “we’ll look back at this game and then we’ll put that game to bed and then we’ll start focusing on Brentford.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good week training and then on the road down to London for that game.
“It’s going to be a tough game. Obviously, they’ve done well. I know they didn’t win today, but they’ve been playing really well as of late. I’m looking forward to that.”
Leave a Reply