Shane Long

[Woodcote Royal]

But Leroy should have started tonight because he's been our best striker over the last four games.......................not that he scored any goals, no one did...............but he failed to score better than the rest of the team..................and that includes Federici.

God knows where that puts Shane in the pecking order..................not as good as Leroy, though, obviously.

I would start leroy as well definately for saturday!!

^
What I find really scary is that he might be serious

[hughsies no.1]

Am I happy that he came on and did well last night, yes.

Does it change my opinion that he will always be just a sub at best for us and for us to truly progress we need better than him in the squad, no. Though, I honestly hope he continues to have a positive impact for the rest of season

Will I be delighted if he turns round and stuffs my opinion down my throat and goes on to be a truly great player for us - oh hell yeah.

+1

[Pablo]

Got us two points. Well done Long.

[The 17 Bus]

But Leroy should have started tonight because he's been our best striker over the last four games.......................not that he scored any goals, no one did...............but he failed to score better than the rest of the team..................and that includes Federici.

God knows where that puts Shane in the pecking order..................not as good as Leroy, though, obviously.

I would start leroy as well definately for saturday!!

^
What I find really scary is that he might be serious

Lita is very likely to start at the weekend, but I doubt it will be for us.
Season long loan beckons I think.

[Huntley & Palmer]

Am I happy that he came on and did well last night, yes.

Does it change my opinion that he will always be just a sub at best for us and for us to truly progress we need better than him in the squad, no. Though, I honestly hope he continues to have a positive impact for the rest of season

Will I be delighted if he turns round and stuffs my opinion down my throat and goes on to be a truly great player for us - oh hell yeah.

Exactly my thoughts and indeed a fact that no-one has ever queried on this board as far as I am aware. The problem has always been his ability to convert this ability into a full 90 minutes

[URZZZZZZZZ]

I joked to my mate the other day that the reason we were in such bad form is because Long wasn't in the squad!

On that note, I'm jokingly going to say that Kebe should start every game until he retires.

[moo]

It was a good finish

[brendywendy]

almost nonchalantly hammered into the roof of the net by the lad

well done shane, again.


ideally id like him to force his way into the team, harps to dominate a midfield, and kebe to score a hat trick, and this season will be glorious

[rg6royal]

Fair play to Long last night he came on and gave 100% and also got us a crucial goal.

[Alan Partridge]

almost nonchalantly hammered into the roof of the net by the lad

well done shane, again.


ideally id like him to force his way into the team, harps to dominate a midfield, and kebe to score a hat trick, and this season will be glorious

And the cow jumped over the moon

[Woodcote Royal]

Am I happy that he came on and did well last night, yes.

Does it change my opinion that he will always be just a sub at best for us and for us to truly progress we need better than him in the squad, no. Though, I honestly hope he continues to have a positive impact for the rest of season

Will I be delighted if he turns round and stuffs my opinion down my throat and goes on to be a truly great player for us - oh hell yeah.

Exactly my thoughts and indeed a fact that no-one has ever queried on this board as far as I am aware. The problem has always been his ability to convert this ability into a full 90 minutes

I can't remember him ever having a good game when starting and he certainly needs to do much more to justify being our 3rd striker.

However, last night showed, yet again, why he is under valued whereas Lita has been hyped beyond belief whilst making no valid contribution for 2 years.

Lita has scored our 4th goal in two 4-0 victories and that has been his entire contribution to RFC's league campaign since February 2007.

On the other hand, Long's 4 goals this season (plus a similar figure in the last) have been mostly vital in securing otherwise lost points.

I think it's fair to say that, whilst Shane needs to do more, having the ability to make an impact from the bench on a regular basis makes him a better player than many give him credit for.

Lita scores no goals from 3 starts and a number of very good chances. Shane gets one from 11 minutes on the pitch and from what appears to be his only chance

[Skyline]

Oh I don't know - Lita's hat-trick for Norwich against Wolves could prove vital for our league campaign as well.

Sounds like Long did what we know he is good at last night - came on with 15 mins to go as a fresh pair of legs and played well against a tiring defence.

I still think he really needs to spend some time on loan getting regular starts at a lower-league club if he's really to progress as a footballer. He's been here nearly four seasons now and can anybody really say that he's progressed much in that time? I doubt it. No doubt there will be those who excuse this by saying he hasn't been given the opportunites as he's always on the bench, but that just reinforces my point about him needing to go out on loan.

TBH, I'm surprised he hasn't already spent at least three months elsewhere. Given that he's not really got much hope of starting regularly at Reading at the moment, I'd expect any professional footballer to be knocking on the manager's door asking to be loaned out somewhere. As Platypuss keeps reminding us, Coppell said at the start of the season that Long really has to prove himself this year, so I can't believe that SC would have stopped him going out on loan if he'd pushed for it.

[Snowball]

He's been here nearly four seasons now and can anybody really say that he's progressed much in that time? I doubt it.

His debut as a sub was December 28 2005, 3 years 2 months ago, when he was still a kid.

His first full league game was April 17th 2006, 2 years, 10 months ago. (Not really four seasons, is it?)

He has only started 20 league games since then. He's only started three games this season and scored four league goals and won two penalties.

That's a good return by anyone's standards.

Plus he has had just twelve shots for his four goals making him our most lethal striker on a shots to goals ratio.

[Woodcote Royal]

Oh I don't know - Lita's hat-trick for Norwich against Wolves could prove vital for our league campaign as well.

Sounds like Long did what we know he is good at last night - came on with 15 mins to go as a fresh pair of legs and played well against a tiring defence.

I still think he really needs to spend some time on loan getting regular starts at a lower-league club if he's really to progress as a footballer. He's been here nearly four seasons now and can anybody really say that he's progressed much in that time? I doubt it. No doubt there will be those who excuse this by saying he hasn't been given the opportunites as he's always on the bench, but that just reinforces my point about him needing to go out on loan.

TBH, I'm surprised he hasn't already spent at least three months elsewhere. Given that he's not really got much hope of starting regularly at Reading at the moment, I'd expect any professional footballer to be knocking on the manager's door asking to be loaned out somewhere. As Platypuss keeps reminding us, Coppell said at the start of the season that Long really has to prove himself this year, so I can't believe that SC would have stopped him going out on loan if he'd pushed for it.

I would have no problem with Long going out on loan but how would that have been possible in the recent past with him being our impact sub and Lita firing blanks?

If you're saying we should have signed another striker, I would agree but, Coppell has been too prone of late to loan out cover for out of form players (Henry)

I also agree that Long has made too little progress in the last 2 years but compared to the regressing Lita, I think Shane is the one who should be getting the chances.

Despite his bad record when starting, he's shown enough class from the bench to suggest that he could yet become a good striker at this level or above and I hope our manager finds a way to give him those chances his loyalty deserves.

[Scarface]

I'd have Long on the bench rather than Lita any day, but until Long learns how to control the football he won't ever start a game. He's only effective when defenders are tired, but it's a valuable commodity having someone on the bench who can make a genuine impact on a match in 15mins.

[Hoop Blah]

He's been here nearly four seasons now and can anybody really say that he's progressed much in that time? I doubt it.

His debut as a sub was December 28 2005, 3 years 2 months ago, when he was still a kid.

His first full league game was April 17th 2006, 2 years, 10 months ago. (Not really four seasons, is it?)

He has only started 20 league games since then. He's only started three games this season and scored four league goals and won two penalties.

That's a good return by anyone's standards.

Plus he has had just twelve shots for his four goals making him our most lethal striker on a shots to goals ratio.

So this is his 4th season then right Snowball?

How much do you think he's improved over that time?

Personally I think he improved quite a bit over the first 6 months, but since then he's looked exactly what he is, a decent athelete who will cause teams problems at times, score instinctively when given a chance and with little time to think about it, but ulitmately not canny enough or technically good enough to be a consistent performer against decent defenders.

[Archie's penalty]

But Leroy should have started tonight because he's been our best striker over the last four games.......................not that he scored any goals, no one did...............but he failed to score better than the rest of the team..................and that includes Federici.

God knows where that puts Shane in the pecking order..................not as good as Leroy, though, obviously.

I would start leroy as well definately for saturday!!

What?!?

[Alan Partridge]

I am interested to see how starting 20 league games in 4 seasons is a 'good return'.

Think what that shows is what a lot of us feel in that Shane just isn't really good enough to comand regular football here. He does at times have an impact off the bench and had a terrific one last night.

In fairness to Long his best performance from the start ever was at Southampton, that was even before he scored he looked a threat. He was unfortunate that the next game was Cardiff, put out half a side so was never going to be easy for him and then was dropped for the next league game. Had Reading played a league game after Saints I am certain he'd have kept his place and then who knows.

[Snowball]

Total league minutes played this season 733, (equivalent of 8 games) goals 4, assists 1, goal-line clearances 1, penalties won 2.

TOP Reading player this season on goals per minutes played 183 minutes per goal (Lita is 575 minutes for a goal)

Top Reading player this season on converting shots to goals, (3 shots required) five times better than Lita (15 shots required)

(Shots/on-target/ off-target/goals)

(03 starts 23 sub) 12 07 05 04 goals 03.0 Shane Long 733 minutes played
(34 starts 00 sub) 63 39 24 18 goals 03.5 Kevin Doyle
(24 starts 07 sub) 43 26 17 10 goals 04.3 Noel Hunt
(06 starts 04 sub) 15 08 07 01 goals 15.0 Leroy Lita 575 minutes

[Snowball]

He's been here nearly four seasons now and can anybody really say that he's progressed much in that time? I doubt it.

His debut as a sub was December 28 2005, 3 years 2 months ago, when he was still a kid.
His first full league game was April 17th 2006, 2 years, 10 months ago. (Not really four seasons, is it?)
He has only started 20 league games since then. He's only started three games this season and scored four league goals and won two penalties.
That's a good return by anyone's standards.
Plus he has had just twelve shots for his four goals making him our most lethal striker on a shots to goals ratio.

So this is his 4th season then right Snowball?

By your reckoning, we could sign a player on loan in time for the last game this season, sign him FT, sell him after the first game the next season and he'd have been "with us two seasons".