If past selections weren't enough of a clue, Martin O'Neill has openly declared his misgivings about Shane Long as a goalscorer.
It would be hard to confuse Long with a goalscoring machine but he is one of two Irish strikers operating in the Premier League, yet he was overlooked in favour of Daryl Murphy for the Ireland-Scotland game. Long began the Poland game on the bench, being sprung in time to force home a scratchy equaliser in injury time.
O'Neill's comments yesterday indicate he is still not sold on Long.
Shane is capable of scoring great goals but what we want is Shane Long to be a great goalscorer.
I think Shane has to get into a mentality to think about scoring goals - he has to be able to do that. He is getting opportunities, comes on as a sub for Southampton and scores the goal against Newcastle last week. Then he starts the game and maybe doesn't finish the match.
Unsurprisingly, he then compared Long unfavourably to the now maligned Robbie Keane.
Whatever you say about him, Robbie Keane comes out and plays like a No. 10 role quite often. He's done it at Tottenham and different clubs but can still find time to get into the penalty box to score a goal because that's what he feels is his major contribution. Shane has got to get into that mentality.
Even the fact that Koeman is often deploying him on the wing is no excuse. O'Neill pointed at his own 'decent' goalscoring record while a right winger at Nottingham Forest.
[Sunday Independent]
