EOGHAN O’Connell says his all-conquering former club Wrexham did not do as much work on defending in training as current side Barnsley and added: ‘sometimes you can be trying too hard.’
The centre-back helped Wrexham to three promotions in his three seasons at the club before leaving last year then joining the Reds in January.
The Welsh club conceded just 34 goals in League One last season, as they finished second, while Barnsley have shipped 52 in their first 30 games and 78 in all competitions.
O’Connell told the Chronicle: “I played in a team last season who, I think, had 25 clean sheets and we work a lot harder on defending here than we did there.
“It’s football, sometimes you can be trying too hard.
“We’re trying to put everything right and sometimes you just need the ball to bounce for you or someone to be there to block. That’s just the way football is sometimes.
“We have the attacking side of the game pretty good and we have to get to the stage where we don’t take away from that so we can win games.
“The game at Huddersfield (a 2-1 loss on Saturday) was a defeat but a much more secure performance and hopefully we can build on that.”
O’Connell felt that, when leading 1-0, Barnsley should have had a penalty for a trip on Patrick Kelly by Ryan Ledson.
“100 per cent. It’s not just been this game, there were decisions in the Cardiff game early on that didn’t go our way.
“It was a couple of decisions in the first half at Huddersfield. It’s disappointing but the game is done now.”
O’Connell signed as a free agent in January, having not had a club since September.
The 30-year-old Irishman has started eight of the last nine league games, with the exception being the 3-3 home draw with Wimbledon earlier this month. This will be the first time since he joined that there has not been a scheduled game on a weeknight, giving him and the others a chance to recover physically.
O’Connell said: “For the Wimbledon game, I didn’t start and it was quite good for me because I was able to train hard.
“I think that’s helped me in the last two games.
“Coming in and playing every game, I have felt good but it’s nice to be able to train as well.
“This week we can reset mentally.”
