Is there any proof or noises about him defecting to England?
I don't think there's anything specific to it, it's just that people always fear the worst now after Grealish and Rice and Smallbone is a relatively lower profile Irish underage player, hasn't played for the Under 21s I don't think and I haven't seen any interviews of him explaining his Irish connection or anything like that.
Hopefully there's an Ireland under 21 call up coming his way in a few weeks and he becomes part of Stephen Kenny's long term plans.
Given how weak we are at central midfield, if Smallbone starts regularly for Southampton in coming weeks and does well, no reason he shouldn’t be in playoff squad. Especially if James McCarthy is unavailable or decides international football is too big a risk at this stage (I fear this).
https://youtu.be/Zgq7Z07m51o
Go to 1.19. His mother is "fully Irish". I don't like how he says "them".
Aye, should have said "dem"Originally Posted by Olé Olé
I have a head only Snow White would love
Obvious flight risk.
i wouldn't read too much into it either way. he's young and a bit nervous throughout the interview. some lads end up being Declan Rice and others Michael Obafemi. hopefully he's in the 21s squad and Stephen Kenny gets to work with him.
It's a fairly stacked area with Ronan, Molumby, Coventry, Knight, Taylor, Mandriou all having done well at that level, along with Kilkenny, Barrett, Lennon, Doyle-Hayes, Clarke and Kavanagh having been called up at one point or another but he's the only one starting in the premier league right now...
Coronavirus may put a halt to that.
Starts today, alongside both Long and Obafemi who partner one another up top.
Watched the game today. Smallbone is very good on the ball, but has huge work to do on his defensive side of game. At one point championship-standard Bowen glided past him in second half as if he wasn’t there, pretty poor. Really need a defensive midfielder next to him, a young Hendrick as I said. If he’s smart enough he will continue with the irish u21s for now and see how he goes.
Obafemi has impressed me less and less as season has gone on. His ball protection and link play has deserted him in recent games and he looks unfit. Superbly taken goal apart, he was poor. Would definitely have Long ahead of him for Slovakia game
Dont think so..https://www.herald.ie/sport/soccer/s...-39287442.html
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist thinks it will change; the realist adjusts the sails.
Came on for twenty minutes against United and I've got to say, I was impressed - he showed for the ball regularly and looked composed on it, with a nice range of passing. I've just decided that I would be happy to see him in the last two Nations League games, particularly if the Luxembourg U21 game somehow becomes a dead rubber (although the U21s should be able to negotiate that tie without Smallbone anyway, especially as he hasn't played for them to now and they've done just fine)
He has the brilliant ability to receive the ball in tight positions and use his feet and decision making quickly. I just don't know where he can use that best or what type of midfielder he will be. It will be interesting to see what position he develops into.
If he fast those type of players can turn into v good wingers
It was so much better being able to enjoy Obafemi's late equaliser last night safe in the knowledge that he is committed to and confirmed as an Irish international. It's easy enough to imagine what would be the topic of discussion if that wasn't the case, his dual eligibility would be a bigger talking point than his goal.
Smallbone continues to look like a really decent talent whenever he plays. I'm still hoping that Kenny reconsiders things and gets him involved in the senior squad this autumn. The longer he leaves him with the under 21s the greater the chance there is of his dual nationality becoming a bigger issue than it needs to be.
Nations league all the way
That's the simple solution really. Call him up to the Nations League squad, which he deserves on merit anyway. If he says no then grand, tell him where to go and we continue developing players who want to represent us.
I wouldn't put it that harshly - he is at that point where he has to make that decision - that is the nature of multi-nation eligibility in international football. So if it looks like he is ready to step up to senior international level, as it increasingly does, Kenny should inform him that he is ready to call him up and ask if he is ready to make that decision. If he says yes, like Obafemi did, then blood him in based on preparing him for the World Cup qualifiers, not based on tying him down. If he says he wants some time, I know it might not be a great sign, given what happened with Rice and Grealish, but he should still be given a chance to do a job for the U21s rather than being frozen out. It might even help him make his decision. But I think Kenny should be indicating his willingness to call Smallbone up as soon as possible to give him time to make a final decision before the Nations League games.
Quick sidenote - from the point of view of their international careers to now, it appears that Rice made the right call for himself, Grealish definitely made the wrong call with no caps so far, and Michael Keane probably made the wrong call as he has only ten caps at the age of 27, when he could have had 25-30 with us. What do people think would have happened if Grealish and Keane had stuck with us? Would we have done better at Euro 2016? Would we have qualified for the last World Cup? Would we already be in the draw for these Euros?
Depends on how you define the 'right' and 'wrong' call but I think you could argue Keane made the right call. He has earned more England caps than I think a player of his ability would have earned in previous years.
I think Grealish wanted to play for England more than Rice did but England wanted Rice more than they wanted Grealish.
I'm confident on Smallbone. I think Kenny is too.
I wouldn't agree. For me its simple your called up and if u decline we move on and say goodbye.
In relation to the 2nd question. I'm not sure how much of a difference keane would have made over all, as our defence isnt too bad. But I would agree if we had grealish and rice then we would be already in the euros
Posting Permissions
Quote
Bookmarks