No-one will work harder than Republic of Ireland – Sammie Szmodics
By Damian Spellman, PA
Sammie Szmodics has prescribed a diet of hard work as the Republic of Ireland attempt to bounce back from their Nations League disappointment against England.
Ireland slipped to a 2-0 defeat by the side ranked fourth in the world by FIFA in their League B2 opener on Saturday evening, launching new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson’s reign with the kind of result which characterised much of predecessor Stephen Kenny’s tenure.
However, Szmodics is confident that no side will work harder than he and his team-mates will as they attempt to right the wrongs against Greece in Dublin on Tuesday evening.
The Ipswich forward said: “England are a good team, but so are we. We have to play with more belief. We are a good team. And we are an honest team.
“No-one will work harder than us – and that is a guarantee. On the ball, we have to get a bit better and get used to how this manager wants to play.
“Now it is all about sticking together and putting it right Tuesday.”
Hallgrimsson, who was appointed in July, had only a matter of days to work with his players before the England game, and relied heavily on information from assistant head coach John O’Shea and assistant coach Paddy McCarthy.
He knows it will take time to instil his own ideas, and for the players to get used to his methods.
Szmodics said: “We had a lot of information to take in from the new manager. It was the first time a lot of us had met the new manager, but he has been brilliant with us and has made it very clear what he wants.
“It maybe takes a bit of time to gel. This result is very tough to take now but we have two days to recover and then we have to go into the Greece game with the need to get a win.”
Greece – who are ranked 54th, four places above Ireland – beat Kenny’s team home and away during the Euro 2024 qualification campaign but will be a very different proposition to England, who were more than good value for their win in Dublin.
Declan Rice, who won three caps for the Republic before switching allegiance, opened the scoring after Trent Alexander-Arnold had split the home defence with 11 minutes gone, and was then the fulcrum for an intricate passing move which allowed Jack Grealish to make it 2-0 15 minutes later.
Szmodics said: “The fact is that if you give these guys half a yard, they will punish you. They are a passing team, they keep the ball moving and their rotations are effective. We were bamboozled for the second goal, their sequence of one-twos.
“From me for the second goal, I should have stayed with my man in the cut-back area. It is just little individual errors that we need to be better on.
“The manager made it very clear what he wanted from us and in the second half we put more pressure on England. But you can’t give away two goals like that to a world-class team.”