WILL SMALLBONE is happy to take a back seat to allow Sammie Szmodics to shine.
And he would have no complaints if John O’Shea was asked to do more than keep the managerial hot seat warm.
Smallbone has proven his worth as an attacking force for both club and country in the past.
But, on Saturday, he played alongside Josh Cullen in a deeper role as Ireland deployed two no 6s to try to ensure Belgium could not play through them.
It worked as the sides drew 0-0 with debutant Szmodics showing his threat further up the park as he was involved in Ireland’s best two opportunities – bar Evan Ferguson’s penalty – and had a chance to score himself.
Smallbone said: “I’m not too fussed, as long as I’m on the pitch I’ll be happy, I think I’ll play wherever the manager wants me to.
“At club level I have played a bit deeper this year a lot of the time, it’s not something that is unusual to me.
“And whatever John asks of me or whoever the manager is I’ll be more than happy to go out on the pitch and try my best with what they want me to do.
“I have played alongside Josh a few times over the past year on the senior team. Obviously from watching him in the past, I could see he was a brilliant player.
“We have a good connection and hopefully we can continue our partnership going forward.
“Every time I look Sammie seems to have scored every week so hopefully he can replicate the same for us.
“It has been a bit of a long time coming for him but I’m sure it has been a very proud moment for him.
“He has been brilliant since he has come in this week and he’s just another quality player to add to our squad.”
Smallbone, 24, had played under Stephen Kenny for the Ireland Under-21s previously and made his senior debut against Latvia a year ago.
And he was even better acquainted with O’Shea having been coached by him with both of those teams, as well as Stoke City during a season-long loan deal.
HIGH REGARD
The Southampton midfielder said: “I have known John a while now, working with him with the Under 21s and also with Stoke. I have an enormous amount of respect for him and I know the rest of the lads do too.
“Him as manager, I think he has been brilliant this week. He has got his message across clearly. On another day we could come away with a win against a top nation.
“I think John was very good at getting his message across; he has a very good team in place, Paddy McCarthy and Glenn Whelan, and with Brian Kerr there, too, he had an older head to lean on.
“Brian has been really good. He has done a bit in the background at times but then he had a really good speech on Friday before the game where he spoke a lot about his experiences and obviously he has countless experiences.
“He is there for the lads if they need an older head who has been there and seen it all.
“Yes, exactly, I think they complement each other very well and they have different ways of doing things. It is only positive for us to hear from different voices.
“It has been a very good balance so far. It is a shame we did not get the win but we are looking forward to Tuesday when hopefully we can go and get the win then.”
PUSHING ON
That would be welcomed by fans who saw only two competitive victories last year, both against Gibraltar, as Ireland lost six of their Euro 2024 qualifiers.
And Smallbone believes it was important for Ireland to avoid another loss.
He said: “For sure, it is a new year and there are new possibilities there this year. What have we got to lose? We have to believe we can beat these nations and on another day we could have done just that.
“It’s just the fine margins, I think we probably play that same game another however many times and we probably do come out on top.
“That’s the main thing for us going forward this year, to turn these draws into wins and that will be key for us going forward qualifying for championships.
“I think coming up against a top nation like Belgium is a good test for us and Switzerland will be another good test. I think we showed we can create chances and be as good as we can against top nations.”
MORE THAN CAPABLE
Whatever the result, O’Shea’s stint as caretaker is due to end but Smallbone would be happy to see him stay on.
He said: “No, obviously not. I wouldn’t mind. Obviously it’s only one game but the week has been very positive and hopefully we can go on Tuesday and get a positive result for him.
“He’s a good man manager, he’s got an abundance of experience from his playing days and him getting that across in a managerial way is very important.
“When you hear from different managers that haven’t maybe been there or played, it’s different to when you speak to like a John O’Shea that has been there at the top level for many years and knows exactly what you guys are going through.”