By David Hobbs
December 15 2004

Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Irishman John O'Shea's commitment and attitude following a quiet season, mostly in the shadows. The United chief has praised the yougster's progress in training sessions latelyand also claims that the defender is fresh and ready on stand-by. Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Irishman John O'Shea's commitment and attitude following a quiet season, mostly in the shadows.

The United chief has praised the yougster's progress in training sessions latelyand also claims that the defender is fresh and ready on stand-by if the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Gabriel Heinze were to recieve knocks.

"When you see the improvement he has made in training, and strength-wise, it is
remarkable," said Ferguson.

"For two-and-a-half years we played him all the time in different positions,
sometimes with injuries, simply because we had to."

He added: "Rio Ferdinand was suspended, Mikael Silvestre was out with an injury, so was Gary Neville and Wes Brown, and really the boy has done fantastically well."

"Now having given him that break he looks a different player completely. He is fresh and strong and he has been terrific in training."