Long to partner Keane as Doyle misses out

Along with his 74th birthday cake, Giovanni Trapattoni had plenty of food for thought to digest as St Patrick’s Day in Malahide saw Irish preparations for the World Cup double-header against Sweden and Austria begin, slowly, to swing into action.

And it was the contrasting fortunes of two former Cork City players which dominated the manager’s first press conference of the fortnight, as he explained his reasons for omitting Kevin Doyle from his latest squad and indicated that, if fit, Shane Long is in line to start as a partner to Robbie Keane in Stockholm on Friday.

The West Brom striker’s conditioning remains a concern for Trapattoni. Long was deemed sufficiently recovered from an ankle injury to come off the bench for his club with 15 minutes remaining of their scoreless draw with Stoke City on Saturday but Ireland’s manager says the player will have to be carefully monitored in training over the rest of the week for any sign of a reaction.

But, all being well, it looks like he will start on Friday night, Trapattoni pointing to his pace — “he is our fastest striker” — as a quality which could trouble a big but not overly mobile Swedish defence.

Keane is a definite starter, the manager speaking in positive terms of the player’s valuable experience and the extent to which even his reputation can unnerve opponents.

“He is our captain. Usually, I repeat to you, in this international game, the name and the experience is important. To the opponent, he’s always Robbie Keane. We need that personality on the pitch. And it’s not only the name — Robbie also scores goals.”

The time when Keane’s automatic partner in crime was Doyle, seems long gone, the underused Wolves striker — who, ironically, scored a rare goal for his club this season on Saturday — having to content himself with a standby role for his country unless injury permits his recall.

When it was put to Trapattoni that it was quite a gamble to leave out a player who, even coming off the bench, confirmed his worth by bailing Ireland out in Kazakhstan, the manager replied: “Yes, but remember what happened after this time for Kevin Doyle. He was not in his team. He could have gone to other teams and it didn’t happen. It hasn’t been a particularly happy time in terms of what he has been through at his club and also with his fitness. I wish to help him but maybe he needs to change clubs.”

The many supporters of Wes Hoolahan’s claim to a starting place will once again be disappointed, with Trapattoni stating the Norwich man’s best position is playing behind a lone striker, a tactic which the manager appears to think unsuited to the requirements in Stockholm.

“His natural position is behind the striker, not left or right,” he said. “Away against Sweden it’s important to have balance in the team, very important.”

However, with one important element of Trapattoni’s familiar set-up — Aiden McGeady — ruled out through injury, he has decisions to make too about who will operate in the wide positions. Judging by his comments yesterday, James McClean would seem to be slightly ahead of Robbie Brady in the pecking order for one wing, with one from three possible options — Simon Cox, Jon Walters and Andy Keogh — set to operate on the opposite flank. And it was precisely with this scenario in mind, Trapattoni said, that Millwall’s Keogh had been a late call-up.

With Keith Andrews missing through injury, the central midfield positions should be filled by James McCarthy and Glenn Whelan, Trapattoni insisting the Stoke man is “100% fit” despite having been substituted at half time for his club on Saturday. But don’t rule out seeing Paul Green come off the bench in Stockholm, with the manager saying that, if Zlatan Ibrahimovic is seen to be posing special problems from his deep-lying role, he would consider sending the Leeds midfielder into the fray in a bid to shackle him

“We don’t prepare for this game aiming for Ibrahimovic, we prepare as always,” said Trapattoni.

“But once we are playing if we realise he is the key player then I need to have a Plan B to put in action.”

At the back, Trapattoni, while concerned that Sean St Ledger has only two games under his belt at Leicester following a long injury lay-off, has not ruled out returning him to the centre of defence alongside John O’Shea.

Again, it is a decision which the manager said he would only make after seeing how the various defensive contenders come through training in the next few days.

Meanwhile, with Stephen Kelly a welcome sight back on the training pitch in yesterday, Trapattoni was keen to nip any further headlines in the bud.

“Steve is here,” he said. “I am not prejudiced. When the player is fit, they can come here and that is important.”