Sammie Szmodics M Blackburn Rovers b.1995

[pineapple stu]

Surprised there isn't a thread on this guy.

Scored twice for Peterborough today as they won 5-0 against Blackpool but still went down. Means he ends the season with seven goals in all competitions - down from 16 last year, but a healthy return given his side were promoted last year of course.

Is he worth another look in June?

[ontheotherhand]

I'd personally like to see Szmo of him.....................sorry.

[John83]

Who would he be competing with? Knight, Browne, McGrath, etc. in that advanced midfield role against the better teams? Or Cullen, Hendrick, Hourihane, etc. in the middle two? We're shorter in the latter position. Has anyone seen much of Peterborough this year?

[Eirambler]

More in the attacking Knight/McGrath position I think. Jack Taylor would play more in the Hendrick position at Peterborough.

[CraftyToePoke]

Has anyone seen much of Peterborough this year?

He'd be under consideration for the attacking role, yes.

I was at eight or ten of their games this season

Szmodics is in and out of the side all season, always gets back in, always dropped inside a month. He gets into shooting and scoring positions with admirable regularity but he will generally miss. The odd day the sun shines on him & he gets a couple, did so earlier in the season too but was out of the side again within weeks & its a poor side.

I don't think he's done enough to get a move away thus staying in the Championship, but equally the fans won't be crying after him if he has, he tends to whinge & blame the players around him a lot & people were sick of seeing that. If he stays I'd expect him to be one of the better L1 players again next season.

A player who was a mainstay in promotion who was expected to step up & didn't, is probably the best way of describing where he's at.

[CraftyToePoke]

Signs for Blackburn, undisclosed but a three year deal. 2.5 million the rumour doing the rounds. Strange, third shot at Championship after two fails & a poor season, mid 20s. Good agent clearly, maybe Jason Knight needs to ring Sammie. Good luck to him.

[Demesne Lad]

Yes, good luck to Sammie (not Sammy).

[CraftyToePoke]

Yes, good luck to Sammie (not Sammy).

Yeah, maybe Tets can fix that when he does the thread title housekeeping.

[MylesNotMiley]

Scored today. Is he actually eligible?

[JR89]

Yeah his grandmother is Irish who married a Hungarian. Was called into a squad so is eligible.

[JR89]

Gives Blackburn the lead against Hull.

[CraftyToePoke]

Winning goal v Leicester in the FACup tonight & a MOTM award.

[SkStu]

Nice, confident finish from Szmodics just now. He playing really far forward in this game.

[JR89]

1637445366529523714

[third policeman]

Pity he wasn't called up. Still don't know why Kenny was so keen to hook Johnston and leave this guy out. Playing well in a team that's playing well in an area where we are short of talent and goals.

[seanfhear]

1637445366529523714
Great call be the lines-person ~ Tight but looks just onside when the ball was played.

[elatedscum]

Great call be the lines-person ~ Tight but looks just onside when the ball was played.

Egan playing him onside

[seanfhear]

Egan playing him onside
Lovely simple pass ~ football can be such a simple game.

[Bielsa´s irish]

idah is out, why dont kenny bring this fellow, Eire has a lot to play in as forwards, and needs a bit of creativity still, I would love to see there ronan and gallagher too and manning

[Trequartista20]

If you were to canvas the opinion all 24 managers in the Championship, I wonder just how many would judge Jamie McGrath, a player deemed surplus to requirements by the league's worst team, couldn't make match day squads even when Wigan were in League One and is now playing for the worst side in the Scottish Premiership, as a better option than all of Szmodics, Azaz, and Hodge.

[seanfhear]

If you were to canvas the opinion all 24 managers in the Championship, I wonder just how many would judge Jamie McGrath, a player deemed surplus to requirements by the league's worst team, couldn't make match day squads even when Wigan were in League One and is now playing for the worst side in the Scottish Premiership, as a better option than all of Szmodics, Azaz, and Hodge.It seems a bit bizarre alright.

[SkStu]

I referred to it as a head shaker. I don’t get it but as some say Kenny knows what he’ll get from him.

[joey B]

Shocking display of shamelessness from him on Saturday :D :D

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[Demesne Lad]

If he does appear for the BIG and repeats that kind of behaviour, he should be dropped - permanently. We can't continue to complain about Thierry Henry's cheating handball and condone similar behaviour by any Irish player.

[Diggs246]

[QUOTE=Demesne Lad;2146014]If he does appear for the BIG and repeats that kind of behaviour, he should be dropped - permanently. We can't continue to complain about Thierry Henry's cheating handball and condone similar behaviour by any Irish player.[/QUOTE

Permanently is a bit much
But your right. Cheating is cheating. No difference between a dive in the box and that

[texidub]

Thierry Henry, Diego Maradona, Sammy Szmodics. All geniuses have flaws.

[Stuttgart88]

Good piece in the i newspapere this morning:

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/being-referee-hard-enough-without-blatant-cheating-players-2294581

He's right. Trying to cheat is one thing, indignantly protesting you've done nothing wrong is far worse.

[Eirambler]

In a game where there was no VAR involvement he did absolutely the right thing. Had there been VAR it would have been stupid and pointless but in that situation it was well worth a shot.

[Stuttgart88]

Speaking of VAR, did anyone see the penalty Luton were awarded against Middlesboro last night?

[pineapple stu]

In a game where there was no VAR involvement he did absolutely the right thing. Had there been VAR it would have been stupid and pointless but in that situation it was well worth a shot.
I can't agree with that at all. Unless you say Henry or Maradona did "absolutely the right thing" because there was no VAR then either.

[Stuttgart88]

Well, Maradona very definitely did the right thing :)

[joey B]

Speaking of VAR, did anyone see the penalty Luton were awarded against Middlesboro last night?

Yes,shocking decision….

[Eirambler]

I can't agree with that at all. Unless you say Henry or Maradona did "absolutely the right thing" because there was no VAR then either.

They did the right thing for their teams. Obviously we hated the Henry one, but if it was Robbie Keane that had done it up the other end we wouldn't have been complaining. Really it's all about winning, and we haven't been doing anywhere near enough of that in recent years. Having VAR at international level now does reduce the likelihood of this kind of thing being successful however.

[sadloserkid]

Sincere question eirambler - would this "it's all about winning" extend to Lance Armstrong, for example, or Tonya Harding? Would you say they would have been right only for the foolishness of getting caught?

My own view, for the sake of openness, is that Szmodics openly cheated and there should be some sort of retroactive sanction in place to deal with that. Not particularly for Szmodics individually but there has to be a strong push to censure cheating surely? Even a one game ban would potentially cost a lot for a Blackburn team trying hard to get back into the playoff places.

[Eirambler]

I suppose the difference between Szmodics and Lance Armstrong is that, as you say, Szmodics openly cheated on the field in the game and it's up to the officials to see it and take action as appropriate, which they did by disallowing the goal. I wouldn't see what Szmodics did as being any different to, say, Damien Duff going down very easily for a penalty under minimal if any contact - which he did more than once in his career.

Taking PEDs behind closed doors, as Armstrong did, is completely different in my view. I don't think that is comparable at all to an on-field action. What Szmodics did would be more like if Armstrong tried to take a short cut in a cycling race, or something like that. An on-field act for the officials to deal with as appropriate.

[sadloserkid]

Yeah, cheers for the clarification, was curious. I also think Armstrong is 'worse' than Szmodics but I'd be quite comfortable with punishments after the game too. The problem, particularly with diving, would be proving intent a lot of the time.

[pineapple stu]

They did the right thing for their teams. Obviously we hated the Henry one, but if it was Robbie Keane that had done it up the other end we wouldn't have been complaining. Really it's all about winning, and we haven't been doing anywhere near enough of that in recent years. Having VAR at international level now does reduce the likelihood of this kind of thing being successful however.
Still can't agree. "It's ok so long as you don't get caught"? Nuts to that.

Maybe I play/watch too much snooker and chess, where sportsmanship is very much a thing still. But I can't agree with defending open cheating - and his reaction to it - like you are.

There's more to life than winning. Not being a ***** would be ahead of it for me, and he's was being a ***** in that clip

[Eminence Grise]

Totally agree, PS. I used to fence in college and when the action is timed down to 1/25 of a second, even the best president (ref!) needs a fencer to call a hit on himself now and again. It was just something you did. With that culture, over time, the calls balanced out and there was less incentive to cheat. I don't think anyone on my team ever had any interest in winning dirty.

[Demesne Lad]

Still can't agree. "It's ok so long as you don't get caught"? Nuts to that.

Maybe I play/watch too much snooker and chess, where sportsmanship is very much a thing still. But I can't agree with defending open cheating - and his reaction to it - like you are.

There's more to life than winning. Not being a ***** would be ahead of it for me, and he's was being a ***** in that clip

Hear, hear! I'm not interested in supporting any team or individual whose ethos is just 'don't get caught'.

[Eirambler]

That's great in snooker or golf, where there is a kind of self-enforced culture of honesty and players know they'll get a reputation if they don't play by the rules.

That doesn't exist in football, players are expected to do their best for the team, even if that means crossing certain ethical lines on the field. Supporters and pundits regularly criticise players for not going down if there's even the slightest hint of contact in the box, for instance.

I think, if you choose to follow football and support a team, or your country, you have to accept that as part of the game. Once you go out on the field it's win at all costs whether we like it or not. That may seem unfair, but it is what it is. As a country of 5 million people where there are four popular team sports competing for a limited playing pool, we're already fighting the odds against most teams. In that case, I'll always prefer something that's unfair in our favour and when that happens I'll leave the ethical dilemmas to someone else.

[Stuttgart88]

I’d be uncomfortable with an Irish player deliberately handling the ball into the goal in an Ireland match. I don’t like diving either but there are degrees to which I don’t like it, from outright deceit to playing for a careless lunge or going down to make sure the ref knows you’ve been fouled or impeded.

But what really rankles with the Smodics thing is doubling down on the incident and vigorously protesting innocence to the ref who actually called it 100% right and imho Smodics should have accepted it.

[pineapple stu]

But what really rankles with the Smodics thing is doubling down on the incident and vigorously protesting innocence to the ref who actually called it 100% right and imho Smodics should have accepted it.
Absolutely. It was clear as day, and h's just being a *****. Would it still be the "right thing to do" [sic] if he was given a two-match retrospective ban and a fine?

[sadloserkid]

Of course there will always be cheats in footballs - I don't think anybody denies that - a lot of people are ********s in general so it's to be accepted. We still legislate against murder, drink driving, fraud and any number of other things too despite the fact that they will always happen.

Obviously all of these things are more significant than what happens on a football pitch but surely, even on it's smaller scale, football should take steps to minimise cheating? Szmodics is far from alone in this but this culture of being caught red-handed and persisting in your lie SHOULD be stamped down upon hard. I can't understand any objection to a retrospective ban tbh.

[Eirambler]

Absolutely. It was clear as day, and h's just being a *****. Would it still be the "right thing to do" [sic] if he was given a two-match retrospective ban and a fine?

Probably not, because there would then be a negative impact to the team as they would lose an important player. But you know as well as Sammie did at the time that's just not going to happen. He had nothing to lose by trying it - I agree that it should be legislated against more strongly, as should other things in football (the way players are allowed to speak aggressively to the ref without much fear of getting any more than a yellow card is something I don't like personally).

But, in the absence of any genuine will to bring in stronger sanctions for these issues, players are correct to push the boundaries where they can get away with it. If they're not doing that then arguably they're not doing their jobs correctly.

[seanfhear]

Ah ~ ~ I'll say it ~ ~ A little bit of me likes the down-right competitiveness of it.

[SkStu]

Hear, hear! I'm not interested in supporting any team or individual whose ethos is just 'don't get caught'.

Red Rover, Red Rover, I call Demesne Lad over!

[Demesne Lad]

Red Rover, Red Rover, I call Demesne Lad over!

Just getting me boots! :-)

[Razors left peg]

Being a football fan is not about being rational. I want my players to cheat, fight, waste time and basically anything to win. If the opposition do it I hate them forever.

Fan is short for Fanatic, we are not supposed to be reasonable.

[gastric]

Being a football fan is not about being rational. I want my players to cheat, fight, waste time and basically anything to win. If the opposition do it I hate them forever.

Fan is short for Fanatic, we are not supposed to be reasonable.

And in such situations, hypocrisy is deemed rational and acceptable!

[JR89]

Szmodics starts in what's a big game for Blackburn who need a result to have any chance of making the playoffs.