England’s Grealish will get some abuse from Irish fans: Robinson

Jack Grealish, who represented Ireland at youth level before switching allegiance to England, will come in for some abuse from home fans in Saturday’s Nations League match between the sides in Dublin, Ireland striker Callum Robinson said.

Manchester City attacker Grealish, who was dropped from England’s Euro 2024 squad by former head coach Gareth Southgate, was recalled by interim manager Lee Carsley last week for matches against Ireland and Finland.

Robinson, who went in the opposite direction as Grealish in playing for England’s youth teams before switching to Ireland, expected the 28-year-old to handle the hot reception.

“I think he’ll be getting ready for a bit of abuse but that’s part of it, it’s part of the game,” Robinson, Grealish’s former teammate at Aston Villa, said on Tuesday.

“He’s old enough and with being a senior player now, that stuff’s going to come.

“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t because I think he gets booed anywhere he goes anyway, even in England.”

Meanwhile, Cole Palmer, Ollie Watkins and Phil Foden have been ruled out of England’s upcoming Nations League fixtures, the Football Association said on Tuesday.

After assessment both Palmer and Watkins have returned to their clubs to continue their rehabilitation from ongoing issues, the FA added after the squad reported to St George’s Park.

The 24-year-old Foden who was called up by interim England boss Carsley did not report through illness and has been ruled out of the games.

Chelsea star Palmer, who scored in England’s Euro 2024 final loss to Spain, and Aston Villa striker Watkins have returned to their clubs with injuries.

Manchester City forward Foden did not join up with Carsley’s squad due to illness.

“No further additions are planned at this moment in time,” the association added.

The match against Ireland will be England’s first since Gareth Southgate’s eight-year reign as manager ended.

Carsley has been placed in temporary charge and he has given Noni Madueke, Morgan Gibbs-White, Tino Livramento and Angel Gomes their first call-ups.

Lille winger Gomes, Newcastle defender Livramento, Nottingham Forest midfielder Gibbs-White and Chelsea forward Madueke all played for Carsley during his time as England Under-21 manager.

England’s trip to the Aviva ­Stadium comes just 55 days after Southgate endured a narrow defeat in a second successive European Championship final. The manager called time on his eight-year reign shortly after the 2-1 defeat against Spain in Berlin, with Carsley, the England Under-21s coach, parachuted into the role as the FA seeks a permanent replacement.

The 50-year-old, who represented the Republic of Ireland as a player, has been lined up take charge of all six Nations League matches this autumn.

Robinson is preparing for a return to the international stage after some time away.

Robinson is keen to make up for lost time with fitness issues having kept him out of the picture since November.

The Cardiff City frontman has nine goals in 37 caps and is excited to get going under new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson after the frustration of missing out on the four friendlies during John O’Shea’s interim spell in charge.

“In the summer, I grafted and worked really hard, looked after my body, worked on my body and had this in my mind to get back into the squad here and with Cardiff,” said Robinson, who scored his first Championship goal of the season against Swansea on 25 August.

“I’m really happy at the moment with how it’s all going and I’ve worked hard to get myself back into the squad.”

Robinson also revealed former Iceland boss Hallgrimsson outlined his desire to make the Republic of Ireland “harder to beat” during his first couple of training sessions with the squad.

“As I said earlier, we’ll try to be solid and hard to beat and sometimes it means going a bit deeper and being more solid defensively.

“But I still think we’ve got the ability, but when you’re playing England and the top nations, we don’t want to be naive and we want to go with a solid base.”

Agencies