Sammie Szmodics hopes for Ireland’s reaction after defeat against England

Ireland suffered a 2-0 defeat to the FIFA-ranked fourth-place team in their opening League B2 match on Saturday evening, starting new coach Heimir Hallgrimsson’s tenure with a result that had already characterised his predecessor Stephen Kenny’s tenure.

However, Szmodics is convinced that no team will work harder than he and his teammates as they try to make up for their mistake against Greece in Dublin tomorrow night.

The Ipswich Town striker said: “England are a good team but so are we. We need to play with more confidence. We are a good team. And we are an honest team.”

“Nobody will work harder than us – that’s guaranteed. We have to get a little better on the ball and get used to this coach’s style of play.”

“Now it’s all about sticking together and getting things back on track on Tuesday.”

(Image: NIALL CARSON/PA WIRE)

Hallgrimsson, who was appointed in July, had just a few days to work with his players before the England game, relying heavily on input from deputy head coach John O’Shea and assistant coach Paddy McCarthy.

He knows that it will take some time for his own ideas to prevail and for the players to get used to his methods.

Szmodics said: “We had to absorb a lot of information from the new manager.

“For many of us it was the first time we met the new manager but he was great with us and made it very clear what he wanted.

“Maybe it takes a little time for us to settle in. This result is very difficult to take now, but we have two days to recover and then we have to go into the game against Greece with the desire to get a win.”

Greece – ranked 54th, four places above Ireland – beat Kenny’s team both home and away in Euro 2024 qualifying but will be putting in a very different performance to England, who more than deserved their win in Dublin.

(Image: NIALL CARSON/PA WIRE)

Declan Rice, who won three caps for the Republic before leaving the field, opened the scoring in the 11th minute after Trent Alexander-Arnold had split the home side’s defence, and was then the linchpin of a clever passing move that enabled Jack Grealish to make it 2-0 15 minutes later.

Szmodics said: “The fact is that these guys punish you if you give them even half a meter. They play a lot of passing, they keep the ball moving and their rotations are effective. On the second goal, we were tricked with their one-two sequence.”

“I should have stayed with my man in the backcourt for the second goal. These are just small individual mistakes that we need to make better.”

“The manager made it very clear what he wanted from us and we put England under more pressure in the second half. But you can’t give a world-class team two goals like that.”