JACK O’CONNELL

AGE: 24 CLUB: Sheffield United POSITION: Centre back VALUE: £2m

WHAT’S HE GOT?

I WAS fascinated watching Sheffield United with this 6ft 3in defender as an attacking centre back in a three-man defence! I was struck by his obvious determination to support his left-sided attack on every available occasion. It was a tactic that kept their opponents on the back foot for almost the whole game. It is credit to manager Chris Wilder that he has come up with something that is so unusual and in his team’s first right-to-left sweeping attack I was surprised to see O’Connell race forward to overload in the final third and create a two-on-one situation. Receiving the ball, he swung a left-foot curler into the box and it was perfectly weighted to provide a scoring opportunity that was spurned. I was worried about the negative side of the tactic, but when the opposition hit balls down their own attacking right channel into space, the United defence slid across to cover as if on a piece of string with the right wing-back effectively dropping in to become the third central defender. O’Connell looks a powerhouse and has progressed through the ranks at Rochdale and Brentford. He showed a good range of passing and on two occasions hit well-judged diagonal balls. He is strong upstairs and a threat at set-pieces.

WHAT DOES HE NEED?

I THOUGHT he might lack pace but coped well in a foot race with the opposition striker. Adventurous: O’Connell is a threat going forward However, I probably need to see him defend more under pressure. This was a fierce game but he looked a real competitor, urging his colleagues on to produce big efforts. With a shortage of left-sided defenders in the modern game, manager Wilder is using O’Connell’s ability to maximum advantage. At just 24 he is a strong tackler, not frightened to ‘boot’ the ball when necessary, and looked a good Championship pivot. The way he used his athleticism to get forward was unusual but refreshing. He looks like he is maturing and learning fast on his way to becoming a top player at this level.