that's a team full of injuries if you cast your net wide enough:
Bazunu
Coleman
McNamara
Brady
Smallbone
Browne
Sykes
Ogbene
McAteer
Szmodics
Ferguson
that's a team full of injuries if you cast your net wide enough:
Bazunu
Coleman
McNamara
Brady
Smallbone
Browne
Sykes
Ogbene
McAteer
Szmodics
Ferguson
Crikey, that's a bad list. With Ogbene out for the season, and MCAteer doubtful, any modest objections I had to calling up Rocco Vata are probably gone, so... call him up, Heimir!Originally Posted by elatedscum
On the bench tonight (and indeed the last game before the window) as Ipswich won 5-0 against Sheffield United. Did get the last half-hour and seems to have done ok but nothing special
Not a great night for the Irish involved - Taylor was an unused sub, McAteer was one of the lowest-rated Ipswich players, Cannon and Barry did nothing up front for Sheffield United, McGuinness was booked. Only O'Shea had a decent game going by the whoscored ratings.
His inevitable return from injury for the first game back after the international break seems to have angered the social media crowd.
What a Szmodic!
Would his potential availability really have altered our fortunes in a hypothetical alternative reality scenario during the previous international window? Non-white/Irish-born players will always provoke hostilility and suspicion amongst a great many Ireland supporters.
Does it really matter? He's had the 10 caps now that i've been talking about in the other thread. There isn't really a Sammie Szmodics moment that sticks in the memory.
He had to be called into the squad when he was after that season for Blackburn, but it's starting to look like a one season wonder. I don't see that he's any better than much younger players like McAteer with far more games ahead of them.
at this stage I'm not sure that Ireland should be any more interested in Sammie Szmodics than Sammie Szmodics appears to be in Ireland.
*Insert AlanPartridgeShrug.gif
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Player plays straight before a window, is injured for a window, plays straight after a window, and all you can think of is the colour of his skin or where he was born?
**** me
That’s a really common timeframe for a grade one tear. For example, Liverpool had two players who missed the international break for their countries despite playing in the last game before the break. Endo is still injured, whereas Konate was fit for the return, matching the Szmodics timeline. So often you’ll see a 7-10 day injury where a player is back fit two weeks later.
Mark Sykes had the exact same timeline and was called up as a replacement for this squad and then couldn’t take part and he played in the game before and the game after the window and yet no one is accusing Sykes of anything.
And do you think the comments about Sammie are because he's a dirty fordner, or because it's the third time this year he's withdrawn from a squad?
Just some background to this...
I believe I'm right in saying Szmodics started every Ireland match in 2024 - the only player to do so.
This having rejected overtures from another, rather better, international team in Hungary and a potential (perhaps likely) place in their Euro '24 squad.
2025 saw Szmodics sustain an injury very early on in the year (5 January) in a scoring performance against Fulham. This was to be his final start of the 24/25 season, and would lead him to have to undergo ankle surgery days before the Bulgaria Nations League Play-Off matches in March.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025...nd-matches/hip
Szmodics only made a couple of very brief cameo appearances for Ipswich before the June friendlies against Senegal and Luxembourg and wouldn't have started a match in more than 5 months. Probably understandably, Halgrimsson allowed him to remain with his club to continue his rehabilitation.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...nd-luxembourg/
Szmodics started against Hungary in the September window before withdrawing ahead of the Armenia game having obviously been assessed by the Irish medical staff due to a flare-up of his ankle problem.
He had to have a course of injections after the derby game with Norwich ahead of the last Ireland games and is having to strap up his ankle to get through games.
https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/...njury-updates/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/crkj1v2vd51o
Prior to the last international window Szmodics had only started 5 league matches since 5 January.
So are the non-footballing-based social media rants, attacking him based on his heritage and birthplace and calling into question his commitment and loyalty, really justified?
Make your own mind up.
Last edited by Trequartista20; 20/10/2025 at 7:31 PM.
And Roy Keane never got any stick for pulling out of friendlies of course.
I've no truck with racism, but equally I've no truck with people who can only see things in terms of race and as a result see racism where it isn't.
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