Southampton: Shane Long confident of ending goal drought

The Irishman has admitted his frustration at his lack of goals, but insists that with the manager’s backing he can turn his form around.

Long scored just three goals in 32 Premier League appearances last term, a significant drop from the ten he scored under Ronald Koeman the season before.

Long has again started the season without finding the back of the net, but the 30-year-old showed in his performance against Crystal Palace that he can still work hard and excel at the game’s simple stuff.

However at the end of the day, the 30-year-old is paid as one of the club’s strikers and needs to start finding the back of the net soon – something he’s confident of doing:

"“For me personally hopefully I can get a run of games now and pick up a bit of form. I felt like I did well against Crystal Palace but the more games I’ll play the more confident I’ll be and the more goals I’ll score.” – Long"

For more than one of his appearances so far this campaign, Long has been deployed down the right to make use of his high work-rate and superior pace.

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This has come as a result of Mauricio Pellegrino’s preference to only ever deploy one striker, a move which has sometimes annoyed the supporters when the side are in need dire need of a goal.

The Irishman is aware of his boss’ tactical setup and admits it does leave him frustrated at times, but he’s training hard to make the first-team spot his own:

"“It’s been frustrating. The gaffer’s got a few options upfront with me, Gabbi and Charlie.“He likes to play one striker so someone will be frustrated, but I’ve just kept my head down, trained hard and tried to prove my point. I’m just waiting for my chance to come.“I feel like I played well, but I didn’t get that goal, so the next game I’ll try and put that right and kick on.”"

Long’s work ethic could be key when the Saints face Manchester United this coming weekend, with Southampton set to be on the back-foot from the off. Long balls from the likes of Wesley Hoedt could be one of the side’s best attacking options and the Irishman will chase them and feed off defensive mistakes all game.

It seems that Shane is keen to become the Saints’ first-choice striker, despite intense speculation that could’ve been Burnley-bound over the summer.