O'Riley: Albion's DNA suits me

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Denmark international reflects on start to Albion career.

Nick Szczepanik

2024-11-14T06:00+00:00

Matt O'Riley joined Albion from Celtic in the summer. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Matt O’Riley got used to winning everything at Celtic, and he wants to bring the same high expectations to the Albion.

“I think the intention is to win every game,” he says. “The intention can’t be to think too far ahead but I think we’re more than capable of beating anybody. Performance-wise we’ve shown that. We just have to get more ruthless with certain details and we’re not too far off it, to be honest.”

Scoring the winner against reigning champions Manchester City on his Premier League debut was a great start for the Denmark midfield player - or re-start, after his nine-minute cameo against Crawley Town in the Carabao Cup before injury interrupted his season.

“I [didn’t] like sitting eighth in the table. I’ve just come from Celtic so of course I’m used to a place where they win all the time. But the intention should always be to be as high up the table as you can. I don’t see why not. People look at teams like City and Liverpool and think they are expected to win it, but they are just people who are good at football. Why can’t we be people who are good at football?”

The players celebrate Matt O'Riley's winning goal against Manchester City. 📷 by Simon Roe.

Celtic and Rangers are expected to win all the trophies in Scotland between them but Matt knows that the Premier League is far more competitive. “Yes, of course. It’s definitely a big change. But at the same time I think the demand to win here is still high and the intention is to win and the expectation too, from everyone. The manager wants us to keep pushing the limits and challenging the top teams and we will try to do that.

“Everybody is beatable. It sounds mental, but I would want to win the Premier League. When you’re at a club like this, on an upward trajectory, that should be the intention. Everyone here is trying to constantly improve, which is kind of the DNA of the club, so I’m happy to be a part of that. I think it fits well.”

Matt has come to an environment where competition for places is strong and had to make his first Premier League appearance off the bench. Having been forced by injury to watch the team play from the sidelines for many weeks, did he ever look at a player and think: ‘I will have to take his place’?

“I don’t really look at it like that,” he says. “I know it would be natural to think that I have to beat that guy to get into my position but I tried to stop having that outlook a while ago because I think it just takes focus away from what I need to do. So I kind of try to concentrate on training as well as I can, enjoying it, and the rest usually takes care of itself.

Matt O'Riley places his shot past Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson. 📷 by Simon Roe.

“I prefer being in a team where competition is high and the squad is strong.”

Other clubs were reported to be keen on signing Matt last summer, so why did he choose Albion? “I spoke to the manager, I had a couple of conversations with the club, I’m someone who wants to have a lot of clarity before I make decisions like this. It’s a big decision and it’s important you find the right place. From conversations I had and speaking to other people, I was told the culture was really good, the intention to improve was there, and that was something I wanted to be part of.”

One more thing - how does a player with an Irish-sounding surname name and an English accent end up playing for Denmark? “Through my mum. She grew up pretty much in Copenhagen. I can speak the language, although I would like to be better. I like the people over there and I enjoy the country. I’ve got quite a lot of family over there although I did represent England at youth level. But there came a point when it felt right to go with Denmark.”