Shane Long Vs Simon Church SEASON WATCH

[Flip_Flop]

Long:
Goals - 0
Assists - 1

Church:
Goals - 1
Assists - 0

There we go

Thanks Snowball.

[Royalee]

Church looked far better than Long tonight.

[Plymouth_Royal]

Church looked far better than Long tonight.

If you went to the game, were there any other youngsters that stood out?

[Royalee]

Yeah, Robson Kanu was excellent - head and shoulders above the rest in the first half and probably man of the match. Good with the ball at his feet, never looked like getting knocked off it, was strong and picked his passes excellently. A very good prospect by all accounts and I think he's got a part to play this season. Also, the guy who was at Aldershot (Davies?) looked decent on the right, again strong on the ball, used it well and was lightning quick.

[Deathy]

Yeah, Robson Kanu was excellent - head and shoulders above the rest in the first half and probably man of the match. Good with the ball at his feet, never looked like getting knocked off it, was strong and picked his passes excellently. A very good prospect by all accounts and I think he's got a part to play this season. Also, the guy who was at Aldershot (Davies?) looked decent on the right, again strong on the ball, used it well and was lightning quick.

Scotty Davies, now he does excite me! Got a keen eye for goal too, and as you say, pacey!

[Plymouth_Royal]

Yeah, Robson Kanu was excellent - head and shoulders above the rest in the first half and probably man of the match. Good with the ball at his feet, never looked like getting knocked off it, was strong and picked his passes excellently. A very good prospect by all accounts and I think he's got a part to play this season. Also, the guy who was at Aldershot (Davies?) looked decent on the right, again strong on the ball, used it well and was lightning quick.

Cheers for that.
my mate watched nearly every swindon game last season and he said that HRK could make it in the prem. Yea davies was at aldershot and surprised he played on the right as hes a box to box midfielder. Good to hear he did well though, albeit against non-league opposition.

[Deathy]

The worrying thing for me about Long is his lack of intelligence and movement. He plays far too often with his back completely to goal and his touch isn't good enough to do it - the ball doesn't stick to him and he struggles to find space, which you'd think he'd have learnt by now.

Church on the other hand was always playing off the last defender and was running through several times looking like scoring and but for the ineptitude of the linesman on our side, he probably would have had a couple more one on ones and added to his goals. He looked far better in terms of movement and running with the ball, which was positive. I still think we're a striker short though, even with N Hunt returning.

Bad Points:
Shane Long - dreadful all round. Poor touch, poor intelligence and movement, dreadful finishing.

Too early to make fair judgements, but we've been waiting for Long to deliver for what feels like far too long. Yet Church out of nowhere gets rave reviews, on loan and for country, and tonight it all sounds positive again.

Really looking forward to seeing more of him this season. Feels like we've signed a new striker!

[rg6royal]

On tonights showing? Church

[Sarah Star]

On tonights showing? Church

'greed. Reminded me of Doyle. Able to hold off three or four defenders at once.

[SteveRoyal]

On tonights showing? Church

'greed. Reminded me of Doyle. Able to hold off three or four defenders at once.

No need for a new striker, then.

[Ian Royal]

As of 24/07
Long:
Goals - 0
Assists - 1

Church:
Goals - 4
Assists - 0

(stolen shamelessly from sam)

[Snowball]

If results of friendlies don't matter, why do individual 45-minute performances matter?

If Church v Long in two friendlies "matters" then we obviously need a new defence
since we are averaging conceding 1.5 goals a game against non-league opposition.

And "logic' would say that we'd let in three goals a game or more in the Championship and lose 1-9 versus Chelsea.

The fact is, these are very early days. When a near first-eleven has played the Swedish games
and the Chelsea game and 4-5 genuinely competitive games, THEN we can begin to judge.

As someone pointed out we lost in a friendly to non-league opposition just prior to the 05-06 season.

Do we even know yet what final set-up Rodgers will apply? I've already said that Shane will probably
not suit 4-5-1 and probably not 4-3-3 and might easily find himself behind Henry and Church.

[skipper]

Yeah, Robson Kanu was excellent - head and shoulders above the rest in the first half and probably man of the match. Good with the ball at his feet, never looked like getting knocked off it, was strong and picked his passes excellently. A very good prospect by all accounts and I think he's got a part to play this season. Also, the guy who was at Aldershot (Davies?) looked decent on the right, again strong on the ball, used it well and was lightning quick.

Cheers for that.
my mate watched nearly every swindon game last season and he said that HRK could make it in the prem. .

I work with 6 Swindon season ticket holders, who rate him, but laughed at that suggestion. Still quite raw, final ball not the best, even in league one. Would love him to get some appearences this year for us rather out on loan.

[Bill Oddie]

my mate watched nearly every swindon game last season and he said that HRK could make it in the prem. .

You can't choose your family but you can choose your "friends". Sort it out !

[Southbank Old Boy]

If results of friendlies don't matter, why do individual 45-minute performances matter?

If Church v Long in two friendlies "matters" then we obviously need a new defence
since we are averaging conceding 1.5 goals a game against non-league opposition.

And "logic' would say that we'd let in three goals a game or more in the Championship and lose 1-9 versus Chelsea.

The fact is, these are very early days. When a near first-eleven has played the Swedish games
and the Chelsea game and 4-5 genuinely competitive games, THEN we can begin to judge.

As someone pointed out we lost in a friendly to non-league opposition just prior to the 05-06 season.

Do we even know yet what final set-up Rodgers will apply? I've already said that Shane will probably
not suit 4-5-1 and probably not 4-3-3 and might easily find himself behind Henry and Church.

Individual performances do count for more in pre-season than the overall team performance because players are out there to impress individually. The team is developing and currently has a bit of a makeshift feel to it. Howevere scoring goals against these teams isnt as important as the performances and impressing the manager

As for the defence, yes we obviously need a new defence as we got rid of 3 major components of it over the summer and we only have one fit centre back available at the moment

[Deathy]

2 more for Churchy tonight, that's 4-0 isn't it?

Even Robson-Kanu has 4 now.

[(.)Boobies(.)]

I have to say, the more I see and hear about HRK, the more I couldn't care less that Stephen Hunt leaves. What a quality young player we have here!
Same goes for Church, who is so far lightening the burden of losing someone of Kevin Doyle's ability.

[Ian Royal]

As of 24/07
Long:
Goals - 0
Assists - 1

Church:
Goals - 4
Assists - 0

(stolen shamelessly from sam)

[Snowball]

That Shane Long bloke is utter gash. He plays nil minutes in an 8-0 and fails to score.


How crap is that?







Let's see when they've all played ten actual league games, competitive games, say 900 minutes total.

[Hoop Blah]

Let's see when they've all played ten actual league games, competitive games, say 900 minutes total.

...I for one can't wait!