Right back praises the Hammers’ medical team

Hammers defender Joey O’Brien is delighted that he has been able to do something in east London that he hasn’t been able to do for some time – play consecutive games.

The Irishman has been an ever-present figure for West Ham in the Championship this season at right back and is pleased with the progress he has made and the levels of his fitness.

“Yeah my fitness is good,” he said.

“Obviously since pre-season I have played definitely double figures in terms of games, so I haven’t done that in probably three years.

“So in that sense I am just going to keep on getting fitter and fitter and stronger.”

O’Brien was also quick to praise the medical staff at West Ham.

“The boys in the medical team have done fantastically, looking after me.

“So hopefully it will keep on going like that and it will keep me on the pitch for longer.”

Having suffered numerous injuries throughout the last three years of his spell at Bolton Wanderers, O’Brien revealed he has been given extra work by the club’s medical staff in an attempt to prevent any future setbacks.

“Obviously as you can imagine that being out for so long it is not just the knee that is the main worry,” he said.

“With the muscles, sometimes you might get a bit of an imbalance where you are compensating that little bit more, but as I say the medical staff here have been fantastic and given me extra work to do on certain parts of my body.”

That extra work seems to be paying off as the 25-year-old has made the right-back position his own with some strong tackling and some exciting attacking play for the Hammers.

However, O’Brien feels there is still a lot more to come from him and the rest of the team.

“We are still a new team when you look at the players that have come into the side since the start of the season and then obviously we have added a lot more,” he said.

“Those players have come in and only played a couple of games, people like Adboulaye Faye, but he has been fantastic.”

O’Brien also revealed that the spirit within the squad is improving every week as the players get to know each other.

“It is fantastic,” he said.

“We are a really good group of lads who all get on well together and I think that in the end that is going to be the main difference in us getting up.”