HAVING PLAYED A role in a Southampton’s highly impressive Premier League campaign, making 32 league appearances, Shane Long is presumably feeling pretty positive right now.
Yet one of the big talking points in the lead up to this week’s international matches is who should start up front for Ireland in the upcoming crucial Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland, with Long by no means guaranteed a place in the first XI.
Following his £12million move to Southampton last summer, some fans may have expected Long to consolidate his place as Ireland’s first-choice striker — after all, what other current Irish forward would be deemed good enough to be bought for that kind of money?
However, so far, Martin O’Neill has seemed somewhat reluctant to place his faith in the 28-year-old Tipperary native. Of Ireland’s five Euro 2016 qualifiers, Long has featured in just three and started only once (the 1-0 defeat away to Scotland).
There are several factors impeding the former Reading striker’s progress. Firstly, Martin O’Neill often prefers to play one up-front, and Long is therefore sometimes competing for a single spot with Robbie Keane, a man who happens to have 65 international goals to his name — a fact that makes Long’s tally of just 12 goals seem relatively modest, particularly when you consider that just two of those efforts came in competitive games.
Critics suggest the Southampton striker has failed to grasp opportunities afforded to him at international level — and this is true, at least to a degree. One game that springs to mind is the Craven Cottage encounter with Italy last summer.
Granted, it was only a friendly, but Ireland were excellent on the day against a group who had just reached the finals of the Euros two years previously (comfortably beating the Irish team along the way), and were considered one of the best sides in the world. Yet the Boys in Green held their own, and at one point, they enjoyed a spell of dominance. However, a key point in the match occurred when Long missed a straightforward chance with the goal at his mercy.
For many, the Italy game confirmed their initial suspicions about Long — the Saints player didn’t quite have the temperament to be a truly top-class striker, critics argued. He simply wasn’t ruthless enough in front of goal, for all his positive attributes in contributing to the build-up play.
But a closer look at his record suggests deeper reasons for his struggles to convince at international level. Yes, 12 goals in 52 appearances is hardly spectacular, but it’s reflected in a far more positive light when you consider that in total, Long has completed 90 minutes on just four occasions for his country. The matches in question were two friendlies: against Norway in 2010 and England in 2013, and two qualifiers: against Slovakia in 2010 and Sweden in 2013.
Moreover, in addition to the aforementioned games, Long has started 17 times for Ireland, but only five of those were competitive fixtures — his debut as a 20-year-old against San Marino in 2007, back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Austria six years later in 2013, and another qualifier against Austria later that year, in addition to the Scotland game last November.
Therefore, of Long’s 52 international appearances, well over half (31) have been from the bench. Speaking to reporters this week, Roy Keane said it took him about 20-25 games to become fully accustomed to football at international level — excluding substitute appearances, Long has played 21 times for Ireland over an eight-year period. It’s consequently hardly a surprise that his form has been patchy, given that Irish managers seem continually reluctant to pick the ex-West Brom player consistently in the starting XI.
Robbie Keane, by contrast, has been a virtual ever-present when fit, and it is one reason why he has shown such confidence at international level over the years — many managers appear to have considered him undroppable, and clearly, this policy paid dividends in the form of the LA Galaxy striker’s impressive scoring ratio over a long period of time.
Yet, at 34, Keane’s form has unsurprisingly declined of late. Aside from starring against the whipping boys of the group, Gibraltar, Ireland’s all-time record goalscorer has struggled to make an impact in the 2016 European Championship campaign so far, despite featuring in all five matches, four of which he started.
Long, meanwhile, has shown some encouraging form recently, scoring the vital equaliser in Ireland’s last qualifier against Poland and becoming the first Premier League player to contribute two goals and two assists in one match since Luis Suarez, in Southampton’s penultimate game of the season – the 6-1 drubbing of Aston Villa.
And like many strikers, Long thrives on confidence and momentum — it is telling that of the player’s five Premier League goals this season, four were scored over the course of just two games. Therefore, in order to see the best of him, Martin O’Neill must give the player a sustained run in the Irish team, which has eluded him thus far.
Moreover, the striker could ostensibly benefit from a partnership in attack with Norwich’s Wes Hoolahan. The ex-Shels player is superb at picking out passes and producing through balls that expose the rival defence, and while Robbie Keane no longer possesses the pace to fully benefit from Hoolahan’s incisive play, a speedy individual such as Long could surely make the most of the diminutive attacking midfielder’s tendency to execute intelligent passes in behind the opposition back four.
Martin O’Neill has confirmed that Robbie Keane will miss Sunday’s encounter with England, as he is still recovering from an injury he suffered with LA Galaxy, and so Long will be particularly hopeful of a starting spot in his absence. He will be also determined to emulate his display the last time the sides met, when Long’s stunning header was among the highlights of a credible 1-1 draw at Wembley with Roy Hodgson’s side. Doing so would go some way towards proving he is ready to make his eighth competitive start at international level against the Scots next weekend.
Originally published at 07.30
