Matt Le Tissier on Shane Long, Robbie Keane and his memories of the Lansdowne Road riot

Southampton and Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier regards Shane Long as a “dream squad player” but says he must improve his goals-per-game ratio if he is to develop into a first-choice striker.

And the former England international also believes that Robbie Keane’s incomparable goal-scoring record means Ireland simply can’t afford to overlook the veteran in the upcoming Euro qualifiers. “You’ve got to stick with him,” he says.

Long is currently making his way back from a rib injury after signing for Southampton from Hull in the summer and, with Le Tissier’s close links to his former club, the Sky Sports analyst — himself currently recovering from a collarbone he broke playing five-a-side — is well-placed to assess the Irish international’s strengths and weaknesses.

“Shane does have a lot of good attributes but the position that he plays in you’d expect him to score a few more goals than he does,” he told the Irish Examiner. “That’s why sometimes his game-time gets limited. But, for a manager, Shane Long is the kind of player you would want in your squad because you know exactly what you’re going to get from him.

“There’ll be times when he’ll be needed off the bench, other times when he’ll put a shift in for the team from the start, and he doesn’t seem to be one of those boys who goes and sulks and complains when he’s not in the team. He appears to be every manager’s dream squad player, if you like, but if he wants to push himself on and make himself a first-choice striker in any team then he’s got to improve on his goals-per-game ratio.

“He’s been around a long time now and I remember him scoring a lot of goals at Reading. So it is in him and maybe it’s a confidence thing in the lad – if he was to get a run in the side and get maybe five or six goals in six or seven games, you might see a different player. But, unless he gets that chance, it will be difficult, at 28, for him to change everybody’s opinion of him. That would take a real prolonged spell of scoring goals regularly and, obviously, the recent injury hasn’t helped.”

At international level, Long got the nod to start ahead of Robbie Keane for Ireland’s Euro qualifier against Scotland in Celtic Park last November, the country’s all-time record scorer being left on the bench for the first time in 13 thirteen years.

But Martin O’Neill’s side drew a blank when losing 0-1 and, with a crunch game against Poland looming next month, Le Tissier reckons Keane – who has scored 65 times in 138 appearance for his country — remains Ireland’s best bet for goals.

“The fact that he’s playing out in LA might actually benefit Ireland a little bit,” he said. “It’s not as strenuous out there, he doesn’t get the amount of games he’d have if he was playing regularly in England. I think he comes back to Ireland fresh each time.

“And, his goal return at international level is just ridiculous, for a side that hasn’t dominated every football match they go and play in. I’m just being realistic. The guy’s record is extraordinary and as long as he still feels fit enough and fresh enough, you’ve got to stick with him.”

When Irish football crops up in a conversation with Le Tissier, so too inevitably do the Sky Sports pundit’s memories out of that black night in Dublin 20 years ago, when he was on the pitch for England as rioting at Lansdowne Road forced the abandonment of the friendly against Jack Charlton’s team after less than half an hour.

“It was pretty grim,” he recalls. “We’d been getting battered and were 1-0 down and I do remember being quite scared actually when I saw it all kicking off in the stands. I’d never been involved in a football match before where I’d seen any kind of rioting, certainly not at that level.”

On a professional note, the fall-out from that night also sat uneasily with a man whose sumptuous talent was only ever rewarded with a meagre eight caps for his country.

“One of my three starts for England, that was,” he recalls ruefully. “And the following month I actually got left out of the squad. So I went from being in the first eleven to, next month, not even being in the first 22. It just makes me realise how shit I must have been for that 27 minutes (laughs).”

Maybe, by way of some small consolation, the FAI could invite Le Tissier and the rest of England’s Class of ’95 back to Dublin for that long overdue game in June?

“That would be a nice touch,” says Le Tissier. “I’d definitely come for that.”