Aldridge tells Trap to go Long
The West Brom striker has been heavily praised for his performances of late, most notably for his display at the weekend against Wolves, and the former Liverpool strikeforce have added their voices to the chorus of approval.
“Playing against Liverpool [at the end of the month] is a big platform for him to make a statement to Trapattoni,” said Aldridge.
“Kenny Dalglish knows he’s someone that Liverpool are really going to have to snuff out because he knows where the net is. I think Long is now pivotal not just to West Brom but to our hopes against Estonia. The lad’s getting better and better with each game. He’s only going one way.”
Rush added: “I think he’s tailor-made for playing against Estonia but if you get to the Euros, and maybe playing the likes of Spain or Germany, that might be different. But it’s an experience that will hopefully make him a better player. And if he does learn from that then you might see a top club come in for him.”
With Kevin Doyle ruled out of the first leg of next month’s play-off, former Ireland striker Aldridge thinks Trapattoni should not take any chances on Robbie Keane if the skipper is close to being able to play in either game.
“If Robbie’s going to play, I’d keep him for the second leg,” Rush said at ESPN’s promotion of their live coverage for Liverpool’s games against Norwich (Oct 22) and then West Brom (Oct 29).
“Four days might just be enough to get him right for the home leg — in which case Shane could start in Estonia with [Simon] Cox. I was impressed with Cox as well, I think the lad is a good target man. He’s not going to score goals in abundance for us but he plays for West Brom as well so they know each other. That could work out well for us. I just hope the two of them don’t play against Liverpool!”
As Ireland gear up for their biggest games in two years, Aldridge said he doesn’t go along with the criticism of Trap’s tactics.
“I don’t, no. We weren’t flamboyant under Jack, we worked our socks off but we got success. We want the fans to go to the Euros and the World Cup, but we’re not England who have an abundance of talent, so you’ve got to be logical and reasonable.
“Trapattoni is very strategic, very clever, he sets the team up very well to do a job and he’s done a great job. He’s done very well and people are very, very harsh.”
Rush is also a fan of Stoke’s Jon Walters, another striker currently in the running for a start against the Estonians.
“He’s always been a goal scorer,” said the Welshman. “Funnily enough, when I was manager of Chester, he was at Hull and Peter Taylor would say if we can get him to score goals he will be the best around.
“For me now he has that confidence, he’s come on now from even when he was at Ipswich. He looks like he can score goals and, when you have someone like that, who can win you the game, then he’s done a fantastic job.”
Walters himself is delighted with the prospect of facing Estonia but warned Irish fans not to get too confident ahead of the game.
“Out of the four, you’d say ‘yeah [they are the best draw],’ but they’re the same as us finishing second and it is not going to be an easy game,” he said. “They must have something about them and I’m sure their lads thought out of the four teams they would have wanted us.
“We’ll go there first then get them back to Dublin and see what we can do.
“I missed the first game [during the last international break] and I just hoped to show what I could do in training and hope to get on the pitch [in the second game against Armenia], and I did do that. Hopefully, that’ll put me in contention for the Estonia games.”
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