Long begins task of winning back Baggies and Irish shirts
Next up are Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. “But somehow I don’t think we’ll get rid of Sir Alex Ferguson,” the Irish striker adds with a grin. Still, such is the club’s current form that another big scalp can’t be ruled out at the weekend.
“That’s the aim anyway. We’re in great form at the moment — we beat Wolves 5-1, Sunderland 4-0 and then Chelsea 1-0. It’s weird how you can change your views, going into games thinking you can win — and that’s the way we are now.
“The run also takes the pressure off. We go into the game against Man U knowing we don’t absolutely need to get a win or even a point out of the game, having got nine points from the three games beforehand. So we can go out there and enjoy ourselves.”
The personal downside for Long is that, having only recently regained full fitness after a succession of injuries — stretching back to the Alan Hutton tackle which left him hobbling in October — is that West Brom’s surge means he remains confined to the bench.
“I’d been injured again since mid-December, got back fit a day before we played Wolves and the manager said he didn’t want to risk me,” the 25-year-old recalls. “And obviously we haven’t stopped winning since and it’s been hard to get back into the team. But I’ll just keep training and when my chance comes I’ll take it.”
It’s probably enough for now that Long is actually fit again given that, following on from the diagnosis of a crack in his backbone which still requires daily management, he then suffered what initially appeared to be a worrying heart scare in January.
“I thought it was a digestion problem at first,” he explains. “I literally got it on a Saturday morning before a game. I came on off the bench and couldn’t really breathe or run properly.
“I knew there was something wrong then — even though I actually scored a penalty in that game, against Norwich. But really I was in bits.
“But it turned out to be just a swelling of the fluid around the heart, something called pericarditis. It’s caused by an infection and it’s a fairly common problem. Although not really common in footballers so I don’t know how it hit me.
“It was a bit of a fright at the time but the treatment is fairly straightforward.
“But when you didn’t know what it was, you were thinking all sorts of things. I had every test — a bit of an MOT done on myself which was the only positive thing to come out of it. It was frustrating, it came straight after the back injury and kept me out for another two weeks. But I’m like brand new now.”
In the absence of game time at The Hawthorns, Giovanni Trapattoni’s decision to start Long against the Czech Republic last week came as a welcome boost.
“Yeah, yeah it was good,” he says. “I hadn’t started a game in a long time so even from a fitness point of view it was really good. I was a little bit out of the game really, I wasn’t exactly in great form. But it was nice to get out on the pitch and get 70 minutes under my belt.
“There was a lot of running around trying to close them down and stuff. I was trying to get in behind them but they were a good side. They passed it well and frustrated us a lot. I had one or two chances and set a few things up. I didn’t have as much impact as I would like but the main thing was testing my fitness and getting myself through the game.”
On the face of it, Long’s West Brom team-mate Simon Cox had a better night, coming off the bench to score a fine late equaliser. But while Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle look, fitness permitting, odds-on to start in the Euros, Long reckons the strikers’ shirts are still up for grabs in the summer.
“I don’t think anyone has their shirt cemented,” he says. “Whoever is in form at the time coming up to the games will play. That’s what I’m aiming to do: have a good finish to the season, make sure I’m fully fit, travel out there and put pressure on the manager to play me.”
