Interesting comments from Joey Burton who mentions that O'Connell played in the centre of a back three for Rochdale.
So if we play like that next season we'd be looking at Lavelle on the right... O'Connell in the centre (Inniss as backup for them both), and then a newbie or even Elerewe on the left.
Always good to get another teams skipper. Think him and Lavelle could be the partnership we've been looking for. Welcome.
And both of them mid twenties means we hopefully either get a few years of a good partnership or at the least a bit of resale value. Both former captains too which is a bonus.
Statistics, Videos & Analysis of Bolton Wanderers Football Club
Summer Transfer Targets: Centre Backs
Eoghan O’Connell
Age: 26 (13/08/1995)
Club: Rochdale AFC
Rochdale’s current club captain, O’Connell
signed just a one year contract extension last summer after Dale were
relegated from League One, so would be available on a free.
Has been Mr Dependable for Rochdale this
season, starting all but one league game this season and despite being
just 26, is the leader and experienced head of this fairly young
Rochdale side. Despite his relative youth, O’Connell has already amassed
221 appearances in senior football, with 101 of those appearances
coming in League One. The Irishman even has Champions League experience,
playing 22 minutes for Celtic against Lionel Messi & co. at Camp
Nou in 2016.
O’Connell would add aerial ability to the
backline – ranking 9th out of L1 CBs for ‘Aerial Duel Win %’ – as well
as defensive solidity, also scoring well in interceptions and shots
blocked per 90.
Crucially though, the 26 year old would be comfortable with the demands
placed upon him in Wanderer’s passing system. O’Connell plays the 6th
most passes per 90 out of all L1 CBs and ranks 14th for pass accuracy
with 83.1%. While not possessing the same top-end speed as Santos,
O’Connell is at least as adept at either driving upfield with the ball
or pinging a long pass out to a wing back in space.
The clips of O’Connell below from Rochdale’s game against Carlisle back
in March show his ability on the ball – a game in which he played 93
passes, finding a teammate with 88% of them.
His goal against against Hartlepool last weekend wasn’t bad either…
Always good to get another teams skipper. Think him and Lavelle could be the partnership we've been looking for. Welcome.
Agree with this. Liked the look of Lavelle last year. This is a good signing and good to see we’re handing out longer contracts to players who should be at their peak.
Always good to get another team's captain and also a player of the year so to get a player who's achieved both sounds on paper an excellent signing when considering he was out of contract. Never heard of him but feeling positive vibes with him.
Eoghan is pronounced the same as Owen BTW. I love when Charlton sign players from my home town. We had him on loan at Cork City back in 2016, played really well in a short spell before he got injured and was recalled to Celtic. I unfortunately don't remember much about him other than he was decent on the ball and played well in his few games and I haven't seen him play since.
Well that proves Rich does know in advance as that is pretty indepth for a quickly thrown together piece.
Sorry I disagree. Never seen a piece like that at all from Cawley or anyone else in the local media. Sounds to me like a profile piece given out by his agent or such like. Detailing nicknames & quotes from other managers.
Welcome Eoghan. Clearly decent on the ball which we need, and you can have a good defender playing well in a poor side, but the last 3 seasons at Rochdale have been pretty poor really
18th in L1 relegation from L1 in a team which were very entertaining but also very porous 18th in L2
Comments
Interesting comments from Joey Burton who mentions that O'Connell played in the centre of a back three for Rochdale.
So if we play like that next season we'd be looking at Lavelle on the right... O'Connell in the centre (Inniss as backup for them both), and then a newbie or even Elerewe on the left.
Think him and Lavelle could be the partnership we've been looking for.
Welcome.
Happy with that as our first.
I had never heard of him until someone mentioned him on the rumours thread as someone who had good stats. So this is the black box in action.
Looks like he has a good pedigree at Celtic and has played in L1/2 for a couple of seasons.
Statistics, Videos & Analysis of Bolton Wanderers Football Club
Summer Transfer Targets: Centre Backs
Eoghan O’Connell
Age: 26 (13/08/1995)
Club: Rochdale AFC
Rochdale’s current club captain, O’Connell signed just a one year contract extension last summer after Dale were relegated from League One, so would be available on a free.
Has been Mr Dependable for Rochdale this season, starting all but one league game this season and despite being just 26, is the leader and experienced head of this fairly young Rochdale side. Despite his relative youth, O’Connell has already amassed 221 appearances in senior football, with 101 of those appearances coming in League One. The Irishman even has Champions League experience, playing 22 minutes for Celtic against Lionel Messi & co. at Camp Nou in 2016.
O’Connell would add aerial ability to the backline – ranking 9th out of L1 CBs for ‘Aerial Duel Win %’ – as well as defensive solidity, also scoring well in interceptions and shots blocked per 90.
Crucially though, the 26 year old would be comfortable with the demands placed upon him in Wanderer’s passing system. O’Connell plays the 6th most passes per 90 out of all L1 CBs and ranks 14th for pass accuracy with 83.1%. While not possessing the same top-end speed as Santos, O’Connell is at least as adept at either driving upfield with the ball or pinging a long pass out to a wing back in space.
The clips of O’Connell below from Rochdale’s game against Carlisle back in March show his ability on the ball – a game in which he played 93 passes, finding a teammate with 88% of them.
His goal against against Hartlepool last weekend wasn’t bad either…
That was never put together by Rich Cawley.
18th in L1
relegation from L1 in a team which were very entertaining but also very porous
18th in L2