Heimir Hallgrímsson(Image: INPHO/Ryan Byrne)
Robbie Brady has joined Sammie Szmodics and Jack Taylor on the list of absentees for Tuesday night’s friendly against North Macedonia.
The Preston wing-back felt “something” in his hamstring after last Thursday’s heart-breaking World Cup play-off penalty shootout defeat to Czechia in Prague.
Szmodics is back at Derby and is continuing his recovery after he was knocked unconscious just moments after coming on in extra-time last week.
And Ipswich midfielder Taylor had to rush home after his wife took ill.
“Obviously the injury to Sammie, I talked to him this morning and he is feeling better,” said Hallgrímsson.
“He still has headaches and sickness and stuff. He will probably miss out on one or two games for Derby for protocol reasons.
“Jack Taylor’s wife is getting better so positive news from there.
“I talked to Robbie Brady this morning and he is gutted he cannot be with us. He felt something in his hamstring. It’s a slight hamstring injury or pull or tightness. It is necessary for him to be careful coming back from such a lengthy injury.
“We added [Liam] Scales who was suspended for the first game and Bosun was our 24th player in Czechia and Millenic Alli was very close to being selected for the first squad.
“[He is an] interesting player in many ways, a late bloomer. His route to where he is today is unique.
“We thought it was a good time to call him in. I don’t know if we will play him but we want to take a look at him and see what kind of person he is and what kind of character he has.
“It is good for him as well to get a sniff of the camp and how we do things. Get to know the players.
“Interesting player, physically strong, fast, skilful and he has been doing really well for Portsmouth and hopefully this will help him to grow.
“He is not a 17, 18 year old, it is good to see a player developing this late and progressing this fast at his age. Interesting player we want to get to know better.”
A recent FIFA rule change means Hallgrímsson won’t need to make wholesale changes to his starting-11 on Tuesday night, yet he could still end the game with a radically different team to the one that is on the pitch for kick-off.
“We don’t need to [make sweeping changes]. The most important thing is to have a good performance. Normally the side effect of that is a win. A good performance is key,” he said.
“When Dara [O’Shea] was speaking before, it was a sentence he mentioned. The last time you were here, you (Dara) said, ‘We win or we learn’, so we never lose.
“That sentence has been stuck in my head since he said it.
“That’s the way we continue, grow from the last game and improve the bits we want to improve every game we play.
“Yes it’s a possibility to give players a chance, a lot of them have been dying to come on the pitch and show what they can do.
“We’ve been pretty consistent in our team selection so it’s an opportunity but I wouldn’t expect a lot of changes.
“I want these players to continue to perform and do well and again just growing, all the time growing.”
As for the rule change, he added: “The thing is, in friendlies, the new rules from FIFA, we can have eight substitutions in friendlies in three slots so it’s a possibility to make changes no problem in that sense.
“But do we want it? First and foremost we would want to do a good performance.”