So many reasons why Smallbone’s got real big future
Today, 7pm, BBC One was amazing. Football is feelings and it is moments.
“Sometimes your mood is up and sometimes down but we can say we beat maybe the best team in the world right now and so we can go on and win the Champions League.
“Next season will be next season. We have time to think of it. But it is important when you beat opponents like Liverpool, it gives a message to ourselves, that we can do it.
“We can come back to what we were. I admire the way we played with incredible courage, nobody scared though we know the quality of the opposition.
“But every game is different and Madrid play in a different way. We can only look at us and our qualities – and I want to arrive in the best condition in these games and afterwards put our mentality on the pitch.
“These games are not won with tactics but desire. It’s who wants to do it.
“When one team wants to do it, they can be beaten but it will not be easy for the opposition.
“So we’ll try to do it and try to arrive with that feeling.
“We are really excited to play against Madrid, they are the kings of this competition.
“We would love to play here, of course, in our city
COMPARING Gabriel Jesus with Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero is not fair on the Brazilian, according to boss Pep Guardiola. Goal machine Aguero is sidelined after knee surgery and isn’t expected back for another five or six weeks.
And in his absence, Jesus, 23, is filling the gap – and finding the going tough, with some critics urging Guardiola to go into the transfer market.
He hasn’t scored in his last eight games but the City chief believes he is “unique” and the perfect complement to Aguero.
Jesus is expected to lead the City line at Southampton today and Guardiola said: “No one can compare with Sergio and what he has done in his career first because he is older than Gabriel.
“But Gabriel gives us something which is perfect for me because he and Sergio are complementary – what one guy has the other struggles and vice versa.
“Gabriel has something unique in the world. He helps us to be more aggressive. He is a fighter and he helps us.
“I remember the goals we have scored in the last four or five games thanks to him so Gabriel is something special for us.
“It’s unfair to compare him to Sergio like it’s unfair to compare me with another one – every player is different and has to adapt his qualities for the benefit of him and the team.”
Jesus was building some momentum before lockdown, bagging the winner at Leicester before scoring a decisive equaliser four days later against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
And Guardiola will be hoping the South American star hits the goal trail at St Mary’s this evening. and feel close to our people, but we will go where UEFA decide we have to play.
“If it means going to Porto, to Portugal, we will go there.” Guardiola’s men have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League the past two seasons after reaching the semis in 2016.
Both times they were eliminated by English opponents – first Liverpool and then Tottenham Hotspur.
The hurt is evident for the Spaniard who feels City haven’t had any luck in their quest to win the trophy he won twice as Barcelona boss.
He said: “Don’t let me talk about it please!
“This club is fantastic and will learn to accept our defeats.
“It’s part of life, part of football sometimes is what it is. So learn from this, maybe one day we were lucky.
“I know exactly what happened all the time in the last years in the Champions League when it is a competition that the details make the difference in this level.
“It will always be in my memories.”
THE reasons why Southampton’s Will Smallbone is such a popular figure for club and country are clear to see.
Brian Maher has worked closely with the midfielder as a member of the Republic of Ireland Under-19s backroom staff and cannot hide his admiration.
Putting it bluntly, the keeper coach said: “There’s no bullsh*t with him, there’s no ego at all. He’s not big-time.
“It’s very easy to be that way when you’re at a Premier League club and I’ve met people like that who have no right to be that way.
“But you can see it in Will’s performances on the pitch what he’s all about. He works hard and would always put the team before himself.
“You could see he has all the talent but the way we pressed as a team we needed him to put the work in – and he probably ran more than anyone.
“He’s not one of those who only wanted to be interested when he could get on the ball, he did both for us. He does his talking on the pitch.”
They are just some of the traits that have helped Smallbone (above) become the latest graduate of the Saints’ academy to make the first team.
It would, no doubt, have been a bittersweet moment for the childhood Saints fan.
His father, Tony, provided the catalyst for his son’s love of football, taking him to his local side in Basingstoke at six years of age before being spotted by the club a couple of years later.
Tony passed away after an illness in 2015, leaving Smallbone, his mother,
Mary, and sister, Ciara. So when he made his FA Cup and Premier League debuts this season it was as poignant as it was pivotal. Smallbone, 20, agreed a new four-year contract last month and celebrated it by delivering an assist for Danny Ings in the 3-1 win away at Watford last weekend. Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl was straight-talking in his appraisal of the youngster. He said: “He’s the future and this is the way of our future.” Ireland will be hoping the same goes on the international front. Born and raised in the south of England, Smallbone qualifies through his mother, who is from Kilkenny.
The FAI’s experienced talent spotter in the UK, Mark O’Toole, identified the link. “Will is technically very good and has game intelligence,” Ireland Under-19s manager Tom Mohan said.
“He sees things quickly in the final third and has progressed. “And he has the right temperament. He was a later developer and you can see the work he’s put in over the last few years. “He’s a composed kid so when the big occasions come they wouldn’t be a problem for him. “Will’s just a good lad, very disciplined and well-mannered.
“You can see the improvement all the time with him.
“Every time he steps up the levels he’s done really well.”