Sam Szmodics-Your thoughts?

[Blow-in]

17 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’m not up to speed with Irish football these days, what’s his chances of playing ?

He will play. He has both legs.

[R0verb0y]

9 minutes ago, Blow-in said:

He will play. He has both legs.

😂😂

[Blow-in]

15 minutes ago, R0verb0y said:

I guess if you're a Championship player, you'd have very little chance of featuring on Southgate's radar.

So if you can pick up international caps through your family history, then why not?

 

I don't know anything about the particular situation but don't underestimate the pull of you parents nation. Ask either of the Gallagher brother if they feel English or Irish and they will tell you they feel more Irish.

[BRFC4EVA]

8 hours ago, Blow-in said:

He is not qualifying via a grandparent. His father is Irish.

Also he announced live on tv that he is "going for a shite" he is clearly Irish.

 

Bet he has brown sauce in his coffee.

Oh really? Fair enough then, but I read in the article above that Roverboy posted that he had an Irish grandparent.

[RoverCanada]

Seemed to me his early struggles were linked to our laboured playing out of the back. Doesn't offer much of an outlet for holding up the ball... I also noticed he'd be desperately trying to marshall pressure up front to no avail, maybe when our pressing game was still developing. But he was at least offering decent defensive work, particularly during a few sub appearances, and popped a few goals.

Now, he seems well-geared to the one-touch passing JDT is trying to instill, plus he's a menace on the press. Can start to see why JDT may have specifically picked him out, and our persistence in signing him...

On 07/03/2023 at 15:20, philipl said:

Szmodics is a club legend for announcing he was going for a poo at half time when guesting on Rovers TV.

Haha, I was surprised that didn't seem to get more notice!

Reminded me of that lower league Scottish football commentator who got sacked a couple years ago for telling the audience he was late for the 2nd half because of a "half-time jobby" haha...

Edited March 9, 2023 by RoverCanada

[R0verb0y]

6 hours ago, BRFC4EVA said:

Oh really? Fair enough then, but I read in the article above that Roverboy posted that he had an Irish grandparent.

He has: a grandmother.

But, if you've got some - specially in the case of the  Irish (see the post from @Blow-in above) - ancestry from another of the nationalities of the UK, you kinda identify with that nationality. [E.g. Looking up my family tree, I've discovered that, so far, I've got 4 great-grandparents out of 8. Even if the missing great-grandparent turns out not to be Irish, that'll be enough for me, so it will😉!]

[roversfan99]

Merely "running around" and pressing is not enough to make a good player, you need to accompany it with quality. Bennett used to run around loads and he was shit when he actually had the ball.

The thing that has impressed me lately with Szmodics has been the difference he has made on the ball. He came from Peterborough where he wasn't even a guaranteed starter at Championship level, having failed to make the grade at Bristol City in the past at this level too, despite always standing out in League 1.

His finish at QPR, his composure for the goal at Leicester and even scoring almost a brilliant goal at the weekend shows quality that accompanies that work rate to make a player who is a guaranteed starter at the moment. He could have had more goals lately especially at Leicester but he is playing very well at the moment.

[CD_93]

Bargain 😉

[den]

He’s been the difference. 

[Feed the Yak]

One of my favourites for sure. Energy, skill, determination and agility. Or, arte et labore.  Keep it up Sammy lad.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Feed the Yak

[Admiral Nelsen]

Biggest complement I can give him is that he keeps the shirt when Dack gets back fit. 

If you would've told me a few months ago that i) Dack would get back near his goalscoring best but that ii) Szmodics would still deserve to get picked in front of him, I wouldn't have believed you.

[Groundhog]

He's one of those players that if he was playing for the opposition, we'd all be like "we need someone like that".

Superb performance last night, incredible energy right up to the end. 

[Guest]

He looked like the man who'd win it for us last night, his movement is fantastic. 

Looks to be a question of attitude though, and his bad games are reallyyyyy bad ones. But his good ones are 8's and 9's!

[Polky]

 

At the darts tonight 😂

[Groundhog]

On 16/03/2023 at 10:45, Mellor Rover said:

He looked like the man who'd win it for us last night, his movement is fantastic. 

Looks to be a question of attitude though, and his bad games are reallyyyyy bad ones. But his good ones are 8's and 9's!

I think his attitude has always been there, he seems a true pro and a really decent lad - just taken a while to get his fitness and get his match sharpness. The physicality and pace of the championship at first seemed to be too much, but he looks stronger and more aggressive now. I think also we need to appreciate that this is a rag-tag bunch of players, not a carefully built squad built in an "image" that JDT is working with, and they being asked to play a fairly strict system, so all this needs to be taken into consideration. They've got to be mentally fit as well as physically, always thinking and sometimes players get lost. 

Just to go off track a bit, like most fans I've been racking my brain trying to work out why the losses have been so bad, why are we so Jekyll and Hyde, I think it's due to the players playing the system as opposed to the game - it's a learning curve and they don't have a plan B when they're getting overrun. It's the one thing that needs to improve. 

Edited March 17, 2023 by Groundhog

[philipl]

I like the fact that if you give an empty football  field in front of Szmodics he can race across it with the ball under control and lay off a decent pass to a player in space at the far end.

Surprisingly few players even at Championship level can do that.

[superniko]

Dragged myself to the Ireland friendly tonight against Latvia. 
I’d be amazed if Sammie doesn’t make the squad next time around (although Ireland squads often have more shocking call ups than England). Some real dire midfield players  still knocking around, certainly lacking creativity - why on earth would you still use Hendricks and McClean in a friendly.

Smallbone was the best player on the pitch, but there is definitely space for Szmodics in there too. 

[ageoftherover]

Best striker at the club now standing at all of 5.5ft. If we go up it'll be through him leading the line.

[chaddyrovers]

Sammie Szmodics has proven why Rovers wanted to sign him so much in the summer with his performances 

[LDRover]

I used to think he was just effort and energy with nothing behind it. However, I think he is key for us now, I wouldn't want anyone else one on one with the keeper, he's a great finisher and he constantly stretches defences with intelligent movement.

He deserves his place as a fans' favourite.

[chaddyrovers]

Sam Szmodics (@samszmodics_) | Instagram

his post on Instagram today 

Happy to be back on the scoresheet. 3 to go. Keep believing 💙

Edited April 23, 2023 by chaddyrovers

[DE.]

Szmodics is one of the players who can hold his head high regardless of what happens - absolutely tireless and one of the bright spots of the season for sure.

[rigger]

29 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Sam Szmodics (@samszmodics_) | Instagram

his post on Instagram today 

Happy to be back on the scoresheet. 3 to go. Keep believing 💙

I would have been more convinced, if he had said, six to go, keep believing 

[Irish_Rover]

On 23/04/2023 at 17:12, LDRover said:

I used to think he was just effort and energy with nothing behind it. However, I think he is key for us now, I wouldn't want anyone else one on one with the keeper, he's a great finisher and he constantly stretches defences with intelligent movement.

He deserves his place as a fans' favourite.

Hopefully he'll net the winner against the dingles tonight, that should see him borderline statue-outside-Ewood status!!

He's been a massive success for us this year I think. Arrived fairly unheralded (albeit with a large-ish fee for a transfer from L1). You could see in his first few games that he was a lad that would give 100% each game, just needed that run of games consistently in the team to show what he can do.

You could make an argument for him being the best finisher at the club. The way he turned and calmly slotted the ball home against Preston shows a level of composure that I dont think Gallagher, BBD or Dolan have. Pretty sure if either of those were in that position it would have been a bit of a welly and hope for the best, Sammie knew exactly what he wanted to do before he did it and had the ability to carry it out.

[47er]

33 minutes ago, Irish_Rover said:

You could make an argument for him being the best finisher at the club

And you'd win it!