POST-MATCH REACTION:Shane Long was irate after being left out for 'precautionary' reasons, writes EMMET MALONE

THERE WERE further problems on the communication front last night with Shane Long and Giovanni Trapattoni starkly at odds over the player’s omission for the starting line up here in Belgrade. The manager played down the significance of the late change he made for the game but Long was not happy, insisting that he could have started.

Trapattoni, needless to say, was upbeat about the result and the way the changes he had made had worked out but he refused to make a call on how he would approach next month’s World Cup qualifier in Kazakhstan after a change in formation and confident display helped his side to an encouraging draw in Ireland’s first outing since the traumatic European Championship finals campaign.

“We’ll see,” said the Italian with a smile when asked if he would use the altered formation employed here in Belgrade when he brings what should be a stronger squad to Astana at the start of September. “I have to digest tonight first and then I have a month to decide what to do. I will take my time.

“But tonight was good for us. It was a good performance and we always knew that it would be difficult because this was only two weeks after some of the players had started their pre-season training. Because of that some of them looked tired with 30 minutes still to play in the game. The team played well, though, and because of this I am very happy.

“We made things little difficult for Serbia because we were well organised but they played well too. I liked what I saw but I said beforehand that while this was a good test for the young players, we don’t forget the other players. Before we play Kazakhstan we will talk to Richard Dunne, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff and we will look to have a more experienced team.”

He was happy here, in particular, he said with Keiren Westwood. “Serbia were more technical but we deserved this result,” he said before adding, “We know now that we can trust Westwood. It was a big moment for him after the news about Shay Given. I was sure he could be a good substitute for Shay and he showed us that tonight when he made the save that we can trust him.”

Asked about the late change to his line-up he said that Long had had some pain in his calf after training on Tuesday evening and had a scan yesterday. “He spoke to the doctor, there is no significant injury but we weren’t sure, we didn’t want to take any risks.”

As he left the stadium Long, clearly annoyed, went a good deal further, insisting that he had been “fully fit” and coming back to say it again in case the point had been missed by the journalists present after an official present had said the decision had been “precautionary.”

Trapattoni, meanwhile, admitted that a first-half reshuffle made after half an hour had been prompted by a sense that James McClean was struggling a little.

“I thought before we could play with McGeady wide and McClean in midfield but it was clear that it was a little too difficult for him. After a while, he went on the left but it was important to try it,” he said.

Quite what formation was on show because a minor point of debate when the manager insisted that he had set out to play with three forwards. In truth, it rarely really looked that way with Jonathan Walters left looking a little isolated especially late on in the second half as the Irish midfield, wide men included, dropped increasingly deep as they sought to cope with some late Serbia pressure. “I was up front by myself for quite a while,” acknowledged the striker, “but we had a few half chances and it was quite a solid display overall.”

Trapattoni, though, was insistent that things had gone according to plan and insisted that James McClean would have been deployed in the centre of what he regarded as a midfield three even if he had not been forced into replacing Long with Simon Cox.

“Yes, we tried it in training,” he said, “and we wanted to look at this situation. We wanted to see how things would be with McGeady, Walters and Cox, they were the forwards, as well as McCarthy, McClean and Whelan in midfield. This was the system. It was 4-3-3 ... very positive,” he concluded pointedly.