Sheffield United: Republic of Ireland defender is glad The Blades are under pressure
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Eighth in the table with seven matches of the season remaining, United are a point outside of the play-off positions ahead of tonight’s meeting with a Queens Park Rangers side also chasing a top six finish.
Disputing the theory that professional sportspeople can find it difficult to produce their best form when the stakes are so high, Egan told The Star that Heckingbottom’s squad are embracing the challenge of trying to regain Premier League status 12 months after being relegated.
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Hide Ad“Lots of people talk about it (pressure) as if it's something to be scared of,” he said. “It’s not because you don’t want to be involved in games with nothing riding on them do you. We didn’t want to get to this stage and not have anything really to go for. This is exactly what we wanted. So what we’re doing is looking forward to the challenge because these are the situations that you train for and want to be in.”
The Republic of Ireland international, whose close friend and compatriot Jeff Hendrick represents today’s visitors, made his 39th appearance of the campaign against Stoke City last weekend. Having inadvertently turned the ball beyond Wes Foderingham as he attempted to cut out a cross, Egan’s own goal saw United slip to a frustrating defeat at the bet365 Stadium.
However, as City manager Michael O’Neill acknowledged afterwards, United remain one of the most dangerous teams in the division after surging up the rankings following Heckingbottom’s appointment in November.
“I think just going back to basics, our basics, really helped,” Egan said. “We;d played a certain way for a few years now. The new manager (Slavisa Jokanovic) tried to change things around a bit. But when the gaffer now came in, he went back to the core of what we had always been doing and so the intensity went up.”
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Hide Ad“He (Heckingbottom) has also brought new ideas in,” Egan continued. “It’s not a case of going back to exactly what wee were doing before. But the basic principles are there.
“There are tweaks and improvements. I won’t give them away. But we leave no stone unturned and work on hurting the opposition.”
Despite their indifferent form on the road, United are unbeaten at Bramall Lane since October and have kept eight clean sheets during that run.
“The feeling changes now, at this stage,” Egan said. “The atmosphere always gets different in training.
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Hide Ad“Obviously we are always focused and driven. But you do think about things more now in terms of what you’re going for.
“The trick is, you try and make the most of that. You turn it to your advantage.”
A veteran of United’s 2019 promotion winning side, Egan could find himself partnering new signing Filip Uremovic in defence when Rangers make the journey to South Yorkshire. The Croat, recruited on a short term basis from Rubin Kazan, was an unused substitute against City after only receiving clearance 24 hours before the fixture.
“I’ve only trained with him a couple of times, but you can tell he’s a strong and aggressive player,” Egan said. “I’m sure he’ll buy into what we do here."
