In the build up to Ireland's two-legged playoff with Bosnia & Herzegovina, much of the talk was about John O'Shea and Shane Long in their battle to be fit to play some part.
While O'Shea was suspended for the first leg, and Long sat out the trip to Zenica, both appeared as substitutes on a fantastic night for Irish football at the Aviva Stadium on Monday. Many players and managers from other nations and clubs have been praising Ireland and their Irish players for reaching Euro 2016, but Ronald Koeman wasn't exactly thrilled to see Shane Long play when he had recently been struggling for fitness.
Speaking ahead of Southampton's clash with Stoke on Saturday, the Dutch manager expressed his surprise at Martin O'Neill's decision to put the Tipperary man on for the last 40 minutes:
I was very surprised that he was playing 40 minutes. Of course, the player didn't train for five or six weeks. He had only one training session on the Sunday.
#saintsfc Koeman on Shane Long playing on Monday: I understand importance of game but in my opinion it was too fast pic.twitter.com/4gBxD0R1Qt
— Adam Blackmore (@bigadamsport) November 19, 2015
Yes, Ronald, he only had one session on the Sunday, but maybe factor into the equation the magnitude of the match, and Shane Long's desire to play on what proved to be a night he will remember forever.
Then, you could perhaps look at how important Long is to Ireland, while factoring in the fact that you never start the lad anyway, and you can take that "surprise" and stick it you know where.
Someone who has a right to complain is Koeman's good friend (they hate each other), Louis Van Gaal, who has lost Michael Carrick for a sizable chunk of time because Roy Hodgson played a 34 year old mifielder for 90 minutes in a friendly, and his most dangerous attacker, Anthony Martial, who played two games in five days, both friendlies.
A bit of perspective, Ronald?
via Newstalk.com
