'Embarrassed' Will Smallbone gives brutally honest reaction to being ...
WILL SMALLBONE understood the boos when he was named man of the match — because he knows the results have not been good enough.
Southampton midfielder Smallbone was selected as the stand-out performer for Ireland in last night’s disappointing Nations League defeat to Greece.
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Just like the full-time whistle, the announcement was greeted with jeers from the home support that stuck around at the Aviva Stadium late in the game.
But Smallbone knew they were not aimed at him personally and more so at the result — a fourth defeat of 2024.
The England-born ace sighed: “I’m probably as embarrassed as anyone, receiving a man-of-the-match award when we’ve lost a game.
“I’m not sure why it’s done, but it is and I can’t control it.
“It’s not my decision. But we understand the fans’ reaction and we are working as hard as we can to turn it around, and I believe we will.
“I don’t need to tell them to stick with us because they give us unwavering support every time we turn up to the Aviva.
“And in the away games they are always loud, they are singing, they are fully supporting us.
“It hurts us every time that we can’t give them a result and something back for their unwavering support to us. But I believe that we will in the near future.”
Smallbone believes that the team is still a work in progress under new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson — who has only taken charge of two games, both 2-0 defeats.
He said: “I think for sure that the more time you work with a manager the more you understand his ways, his philosophy, his ideas, and we can gel as a group together into being the team that he wants.
RTE pundit hammers 'awful' Matt Doherty for second Greece goal as Ireland sub endures night to forget
“I think in an ideal world it probably would have been done when we had the friendlies to work on that, but that’s not the way it’s turned out.
“We are coming together and we are trying our best, we are trying to do what the manager is asking of us and we will continue to do so.”
But he pointed to the improvement between Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to England and last night’s defeat by the same scoreline to Greece as evidence that the team is going in the right direction.
Smallbone reasoned: “We changed shape from the England game to allow us to get players further up the field and more attacking players in midfield.
“In the first half and the chances, that’s where we need to be as a team more clinical and more ruthless — when we get the chances, that we put them away essentially.
“On the flip side, when we come up against teams, that seems to be their real strength, when they get one half-chance it’s a goal and then it’s a completely different game.”
ANDREW'S OUTLOOKDefender Andrew Omobamidele had a similar view — believing that Ireland’s first-half performance is something that can be built on.
The Nottingham Forest man said: “I think the positive we can take away from that is I felt it was a better performance than the England game.
“I think we were disappointed on Saturday because we know that’s not us, the structure, the shape, but today you could see it was like night and day the structure, the first half.
“But it was just that second half, that’s where we need to kill off teams and be a bit more clinical.”
