TO have spent the best part of 13 trophy-laden years at Manchester United as a professional, the last few months at Sunderland have represented something of a change for John O'Shea.

From his first 13 matches as an employee at the Stadium of Light, he has enjoyed the sweet taste of victory just twice, including a first round Carling Cup exit at Brighton. It is a far cry from what he had been expecting, even if he could never have been looking for the sort of form he had become accustomed to at Old Trafford.

After the frustration of last Saturday's goalless draw with Fulham, O'Shea is well aware of the importance of delivering against Wigan in front of thousands of restless Sunderland fans tomorrow.

A failure to claim three points will mean another disappointing home date. Since beating Blackburn on New Year's Day, Sunderland have won just twice in 14 league games on Wearside - a statistic being churned out by supporters.

It's a far cry from winning most weeks at United, but the Irishman is sympathetic and has outlined the Sunderland squad's desire to deliver for the club's fans.

O'Shea said: "You can just feel people are desperate for success and for the team to do well. You look at our home games and maybe we are almost trying too hard for them.

"The fans are looking for us to bomb on. We want to do that of course but you have to be clever. You have to keep the shape, keep disciplined because the league is tough. If you go a bit silly trying to win a game you will get caught out.

"We need patience. Getting 40k fans here is fantastic and is exactly what I want. You don't want to go out and have a quiet crowd waiting on their hands, waiting for something to happen. You want that passion. The people here want their team to succeed and they want it sooner rather than later.

"That is a great pressure to have as a footballer. Who wants to be going out thinking this is going to be a nice comfy day? Here if you are not pulling your weight the fans are going to tell you about it and that is the way it should be."

Despite the poor start to the campaign, O'Shea remains satisfied with the decision he made to turn his back on a Premier League title push and move to the North-East.

"After being at United so long I would be able to sense if things were not right, if the club wasn't ambitious. Preparations here are perfect. The detail is nothing but professional from manager to coaches, dieticians and sports scientists," said O'Shea, 30.

"The club has invested a huge amount and they want to get better, simple as that. It is a fantastic place in terms of the atmosphere and facilities. So there are no excuses. We have to get the results now to start backing all that up. It feels like we are close. We would like to think so. We have had some good results."

He added: "There is a real intensity to the North East, different to Manchester. With Newcastle having the start they have had, it has emphasised things to the fans. It is frustrating but is shows the passion and intensity that there is around the area when you are playing football. If that doesn't get you going I don't know what will."

While there might have been frustration at club level, O'Shea has been toasting the success of the Republic of Ireland's push for European 2012 qualification recently.

After delivering in the two-legged play-off over Estonia last week, the Irish are preparing for their first major championship since appearing in the 2002 World Cup.

"It is a huge gap on my CV and I would have given back a lot of medals to go to major tournament with Ireland," said O'Shea. "You know what a fantastic atmosphere the fans bring over and what the team can bring to the tournament. We want to make an impact and fingers crossed we can do that again with the manager's guile.

"The celebrations were well deserved. We were really able to enjoy the night. Now we can look forward to the summer. For once we won't be watching it on the telly.

"This is only the start of the hard work. It is my first major tournament and I was only just breaking into the united team back when the lads qualified for Japan-South Korea in 2002."