Jake O'Brien
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StirlingBlue
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Re: Jake O'Brien
I think Moyes knows you need a leader/talker at CB and Tarks does that very well - can’t see a Branthwaite/O’Brien duo working yet
Re: Jake O'Brien
I'd be devastated if he's at RB for the season next year.
Done okay but he's clearly not a RB is he, surely we want a real right back
Done okay but he's clearly not a RB is he, surely we want a real right back
Re: Jake O'Brien
Yeah I get what you're saying, but he's one of our best players at the minute playing where he is, so in terms of recruitment priorities, we have left back, centre mid, right wing, attacking mid and striker all ahead of that for me.
Re: Jake O'Brien
He's been a revelation since Moyes came in. He was probably our most effective forward player on Saturday, especially in the first half. I know it was said when we bought him that he was very much a ball playing centre half but regular game time is giving him the confidence to express himself. Will be interesting to see what he's like playing centre half, stepping out and breaking lines.
One negative from Saturday, i haven't had a chance to see any highlights since the game but thought he was a bit weak for their goal. Could be I'm mis-remenbering though?
One negative from Saturday, i haven't had a chance to see any highlights since the game but thought he was a bit weak for their goal. Could be I'm mis-remenbering though?
Re: Jake O'Brien
Lot of teams playing centre halves at full back these days.
Gives you a lot of flexibility. Gone are the days of two flying full backs now.
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Bluedylan1
- Posts: 4158
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Re: Jake O'Brien
I can definitely see a world where Moyes converts him into a powerful marauding full-back with quality on the ball longterm.
Re: Jake O'Brien
It gives us options, specifically to try to sign an extremely promising but as of yet unproven fullback. Like Baines.
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Evertonian in NC
- Posts: 1087
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Re: Jake O'Brien
Athletic this am:
Jake O’Brien has demonstrated his value to Everton
Everton's Irish defender #15 Jake O'Brien (R) celebrates with Everton's Danish midfielder #29 Jesper Lindstrom (L) after scoring their first goal during the English Premier League football match between Everton and West Ham United at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)
By Patrick Boyland
9
Mar. 17, 2025Updated 7:18 am EDT
Everton goalscorer Jake O’Brien was speaking to media members in the Goodison Park tunnel when West Ham United striker Evan Ferguson walked past and shared a quick joke.
Sporting a grin, Ferguson called his Republic of Ireland team-mate’s 91st-minute equaliser, which earned Everton a 1-1 draw on Saturday, a “fluke”.
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Truth is, O’Brien has already developed a habit of weighing in with important goals.
The 6ft 6in (198cm) defender scored five times in 32 games for French club Lyon last season, including in the Coupe de France final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain. His latest effort was his second equaliser in less than a month, following the diving header that salvaged a point at Brentford.
With the Everton squad short of goals and attacking quality, manager David Moyes has tasked his defenders with getting on the scoresheet more regularly.
“He (O’Brien) is beginning to get a couple of goals, and I’ve been moaning at Tarky (James Tarkowski) and Jarrad (Branthwaite) to start getting more from centre-half,” Moyes said. “But with our delivery from set pieces, there was no chance (during Saturday’s match). They were so poor.
“I’m pleased for big Jake. He’s coming on, improving. A young centre-back making his way as a sort of false right-back in some ways. But he’s doing a good job and I’m pleased he got the goal — he’s capable of it.”
O’Brien’s influence on this Everton team extends beyond his two Premier League goals. With each passing week, he looks less like a centre-half playing out of position on the right and more like a natural full-back.
Having someone of his size rampaging up and down the wing may seem idiosyncratic. These areas are usually home to pint-sized rockets and sprinters. But O’Brien’s temporary conversion to what Moyes calls a “false right-back” is working.
The 23-year-old, a £17million summer signing, does the defensive basics well. He ranks in the top one per cent among his positional peers for clearances and the top two per cent for aerial duels won. O’Brien has also successfully tackled 75 per cent of the dribblers he has faced, putting him in the top seven per cent for that metric, and is in the top nine per cent for the fewest challenges lost.
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Bit by bit, his attacking work has improved too. Moyes sometimes uses him as a third central defender to build from the back and help guard against fast counter-attacks. More recently, he has been found at the back post in the opposition penalty area and surging past their full-backs.
O’Brien’s crossing has also got better. He has always been graceful on the ball, but work with Moyes’ coaching staff, which includes the former Everton and England full-back Leighton Baines, is paying off. Drills during the recent training trip to Abu Dhabi and before games saw O’Brien and left-back Vitalii Mykolenko supply a steady stream of crosses from the byline after runs forward.
“We’re doing bits individually after training with the coaches and part of that is about getting into the final third and creating chances,” O’Brien said. “Leighton has been a big part of it, but all the coaches, really. They’ve all had their players attacking and defending. I think it’s shown in glimpses here.
“The more games I play (at right-back), the more comfortable I become. You adapt to it and have good lads and coaches around to help you through.”
O’Brien is treading a familiar path where Moyes is concerned. During the Scot’s first stint as Everton manager between 2002 and 2013, he blooded Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott, two central defenders who would go on to play for England, at full-back before moving them inside.
The plan, in time, is to do the same with the Cork-born O’Brien. But for now, he is needed elsewhere. Even with club captain Seamus Coleman and Scotland international Nathan Patterson, two conventional right-backs, fit again, he has done enough to keep his place in the team.
O’Brien has spoken about his “frustration” at not being used by Moyes’ predecessor, Sean Dyche, in the first half of the season. Since the club’s January managerial change, he has seized his chance. Alongside his composure and aerial prowess, he also possesses a burst of pace.
Saturday saw the Crystal Palace academy graduate play higher up the pitch than usual and influence at key moments. There were several dangerous crosses into the West Ham box, while he also saw a fizzing shot from range parried by goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
“We’ve tried to play him as a sort of hybrid,” Moyes said. “The way West Ham played meant he had to join in and push higher up the pitch, nearly like an attacking full-back. It actually hindered the way we played a bit in the first half. I didn’t think we could damage West Ham enough and we needed to do it better. But we got there in the end.”
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The reward for all of this — the patience, the hours in training striving for a chance and the minutes out of position at right-back — is a place in the Ireland squad for a two-leg Nations League promotion/relegation play-off against Bulgaria taking place on Thursday and Sunday.
The national team’s assistant manager John O’Shea was present to see O’Brien in action against Wolves earlier this month and was suitably impressed. “It’s been brilliant to see,” O’Shea told the RTE Soccer podcast.
Everton’s calculation in buying O’Brien last summer was they could not let the opportunity of signing someone with the potential to be a key Premier League defender go to waste.
Director of football Kevin Thelwell, who brought him to Goodison, will leave Everton when his contract expires at the end of the season.
The ever-improving Irishman is a significant parting gift.
Jake O’Brien has demonstrated his value to Everton
Everton's Irish defender #15 Jake O'Brien (R) celebrates with Everton's Danish midfielder #29 Jesper Lindstrom (L) after scoring their first goal during the English Premier League football match between Everton and West Ham United at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)
By Patrick Boyland
9
Mar. 17, 2025Updated 7:18 am EDT
Everton goalscorer Jake O’Brien was speaking to media members in the Goodison Park tunnel when West Ham United striker Evan Ferguson walked past and shared a quick joke.
Sporting a grin, Ferguson called his Republic of Ireland team-mate’s 91st-minute equaliser, which earned Everton a 1-1 draw on Saturday, a “fluke”.
Advertisement
Truth is, O’Brien has already developed a habit of weighing in with important goals.
The 6ft 6in (198cm) defender scored five times in 32 games for French club Lyon last season, including in the Coupe de France final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain. His latest effort was his second equaliser in less than a month, following the diving header that salvaged a point at Brentford.
With the Everton squad short of goals and attacking quality, manager David Moyes has tasked his defenders with getting on the scoresheet more regularly.
“He (O’Brien) is beginning to get a couple of goals, and I’ve been moaning at Tarky (James Tarkowski) and Jarrad (Branthwaite) to start getting more from centre-half,” Moyes said. “But with our delivery from set pieces, there was no chance (during Saturday’s match). They were so poor.
“I’m pleased for big Jake. He’s coming on, improving. A young centre-back making his way as a sort of false right-back in some ways. But he’s doing a good job and I’m pleased he got the goal — he’s capable of it.”
O’Brien’s influence on this Everton team extends beyond his two Premier League goals. With each passing week, he looks less like a centre-half playing out of position on the right and more like a natural full-back.
Having someone of his size rampaging up and down the wing may seem idiosyncratic. These areas are usually home to pint-sized rockets and sprinters. But O’Brien’s temporary conversion to what Moyes calls a “false right-back” is working.
The 23-year-old, a £17million summer signing, does the defensive basics well. He ranks in the top one per cent among his positional peers for clearances and the top two per cent for aerial duels won. O’Brien has also successfully tackled 75 per cent of the dribblers he has faced, putting him in the top seven per cent for that metric, and is in the top nine per cent for the fewest challenges lost.
Advertisement
Bit by bit, his attacking work has improved too. Moyes sometimes uses him as a third central defender to build from the back and help guard against fast counter-attacks. More recently, he has been found at the back post in the opposition penalty area and surging past their full-backs.
O’Brien’s crossing has also got better. He has always been graceful on the ball, but work with Moyes’ coaching staff, which includes the former Everton and England full-back Leighton Baines, is paying off. Drills during the recent training trip to Abu Dhabi and before games saw O’Brien and left-back Vitalii Mykolenko supply a steady stream of crosses from the byline after runs forward.
“We’re doing bits individually after training with the coaches and part of that is about getting into the final third and creating chances,” O’Brien said. “Leighton has been a big part of it, but all the coaches, really. They’ve all had their players attacking and defending. I think it’s shown in glimpses here.
“The more games I play (at right-back), the more comfortable I become. You adapt to it and have good lads and coaches around to help you through.”
O’Brien is treading a familiar path where Moyes is concerned. During the Scot’s first stint as Everton manager between 2002 and 2013, he blooded Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott, two central defenders who would go on to play for England, at full-back before moving them inside.
The plan, in time, is to do the same with the Cork-born O’Brien. But for now, he is needed elsewhere. Even with club captain Seamus Coleman and Scotland international Nathan Patterson, two conventional right-backs, fit again, he has done enough to keep his place in the team.
O’Brien has spoken about his “frustration” at not being used by Moyes’ predecessor, Sean Dyche, in the first half of the season. Since the club’s January managerial change, he has seized his chance. Alongside his composure and aerial prowess, he also possesses a burst of pace.
Saturday saw the Crystal Palace academy graduate play higher up the pitch than usual and influence at key moments. There were several dangerous crosses into the West Ham box, while he also saw a fizzing shot from range parried by goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
“We’ve tried to play him as a sort of hybrid,” Moyes said. “The way West Ham played meant he had to join in and push higher up the pitch, nearly like an attacking full-back. It actually hindered the way we played a bit in the first half. I didn’t think we could damage West Ham enough and we needed to do it better. But we got there in the end.”
Advertisement
The reward for all of this — the patience, the hours in training striving for a chance and the minutes out of position at right-back — is a place in the Ireland squad for a two-leg Nations League promotion/relegation play-off against Bulgaria taking place on Thursday and Sunday.
The national team’s assistant manager John O’Shea was present to see O’Brien in action against Wolves earlier this month and was suitably impressed. “It’s been brilliant to see,” O’Shea told the RTE Soccer podcast.
Everton’s calculation in buying O’Brien last summer was they could not let the opportunity of signing someone with the potential to be a key Premier League defender go to waste.
Director of football Kevin Thelwell, who brought him to Goodison, will leave Everton when his contract expires at the end of the season.
The ever-improving Irishman is a significant parting gift.
"The best you can hope for is to die in your sleep." - Kenny Rogers (plausible Evertonian)
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Toddacelli
- Posts: 1765
- Karma: 1805
Re: Jake O'Brien
It’s fine. Part of the plan. From RB to Right CB in a 3 to CB.
Slow and steady progression with the stakes getting higher each time for letting someone inside you. Also builds flexibility for him and us, with RB giving him chances to get forward more often.
I think, even if he stays here for the next 5 years, we’ll still see him on the right hand side when it suits.
Re: Jake O'Brien
He has been fantastic since Moyes has come in and in my opinion has been the single biggest factor in our success. Swapping him for Ashley Young has transformed the side.
Something will still need to be done at RB. Patterson doesn’t look strong enough defensively, although he is a baller going forward. And Seamus is coming to the end of his career as is Young.
Something will still need to be done at RB. Patterson doesn’t look strong enough defensively, although he is a baller going forward. And Seamus is coming to the end of his career as is Young.