Trap insists there’s no rift with Long

The player they call Longy could be at risk of becoming known as Skippy, after Giovanni Trapattoni yesterday described Shane Long “springing for the ball like a kangaroo”.

The Ireland manager was at the DW Stadium to see West Brom beat Wigan 1-2 on Saturday, with Long — who has recently been nursing a hamstring-related problem — seeing 78 minutes of action before heading to Dublin to join up with the Irish squad ahead of Wednesday’s friendly against Greece.

Trapattoni’s reluctance to commit to Long as a first-choice striker has prompted a number of critics to conclude the manager must have an underlying issue with the player, most likely relating to the dispute around the Serbia friendly back in August when Long complained of an injury worry in training but then, having been left out of the game, angrily informed reporters in the stadium afterwards that he’d been fit to play.