O’Neill: Long needs a goal to kick-start season
“I just hope these things don’t start to play on him,” the Ireland manager said of Long’s frustrating debut for the Saints last Sunday, when he came off the bench against Liverpool, only to fluff a great chance to head home an equaliser from close range.
“Southampton, of course, have let a lot of players go, so the crowd are a wee bit restless at this minute, and if the goals are not flowing for Southampton, then everybody is going to come in for some criticism. Even somebody who has just joined the football club. So the sooner he gets off the mark, the better for confidence.”
Being in the right place at the right time will be key to Long increasing his goal haul for club and country, O’Neill argues.
“If you want to be great goalscorer, then you’ve got to get yourself in the penalty area,” he said. “I know these days that the way teams play with one centre-forward, you can’t do two jobs at the same time. So if you’re asking someone to chase something down the channel, then I’d never expect him or anybody then to turn, beat three or four or five players, and stick it in the net.
“It’d be fantastic if that was the case, but if we’re going to get the ball in the penalty area more, then the more times you’re in there, the more chances you will create for yourself or something will drop to you. That’s the whole point. If you’re in there and if you are actually getting chances then, more often than not, you will score more goals at the end of the season, even if you’re not a prolific goalscorer.”
Asked if the Tipperary man needed to be more selfish on the pitch, O’Neill replied: “I think Roy mentioned this to Shane way back. I think you should be a wee bit more selfish in the penalty area, not to the detriment of the team every single time, when someone is in a really proper position and you lay him in. But I think, yeah, you have to have a bit of selfishness sometimes.
“Now, sometimes centre-forwards are asked to do other jobs than being in the penalty area and you cannot do the two things at the one time. Now if I’m going to deploy Shane in some aspect where he will go down channels because he’s got a little bit of pace, then I’m expecting other players to take the penalty area.”
O’Neill also spoke about the struggles of Long’s former Cork City colleague Kevin Doyle. Encouragingly for the player, the manager has named him in his latest squad, even though the striker is currently in limbo at Wolves. “I did speak to Kevin yes,” said O’Neill. “He’s a great fella and he’s very frustrated because he’s not playing, for whatever reason — that’s obviously the manager’s choice — and I think he was hoping something might materialise between now and the transfer deadline. But he’s obviously frustrated.”
D Forde (Millwall), K Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday), D Randolph (Birmingham City), R Elliot (Newcastle United).
R Keogh (Derby County), M Wilson (Stoke City), S Coleman (Everton), J O’Shea (Sunderland), A Pearce (Reading), S Kelly (Reading), P McShane (Hull City), D Delaney (Crystal Palace), J O’Brien (West Ham), S Duffy (Everton).
J McCarthy (Everton), J Hendrick (Derby County), C Clark (Aston Villa), S Ward (Burnley), G Whelan (Stoke City), D Gibson (Everton), A Reid (Nottingham Forest), A McGeady (Everton), A Pilkington (Cardiff City), J McClean (Wigan), R Brady (Hull City), S Quinn (Hull City), D Meyler (Hull City), W Hoolahan (Norwich City).
R Keane (LA Galaxy), S Long (Southampton), D Murphy (Ipswich Town), J Walters (Stoke City), K Doyle (Wolves), A Stokes (Celtic), S Cox (Reading), C Sammon (Ipswich Town).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
