Leave Shane alone.

[cmonurz]

But if you start to talk about minutes played then we aren't considering Long as an 'impact' sub any more, are we?

[Gus the teenage cow]

No. He is awful. I'll still support him as much as any other Reading player at the match but that doesn't disguise him being League 1 at best.

Funny how 2 well respected managers in Coppell and Trappatoni see him as a quality player then.

As If Ireland have anyone else they can pick, next in line is John Aldridge then Tony Cascarino and then Dave Mooney.

When Shane Long has proven he is good enough or warranted to start 10 games in a row and produces consistant solid performances and scored goals fairly regularly re post this.

ummmm let's see, trap rates him higher than


noel hunt
alan lee
clinton morrisson
anthony stokes
david connolly
billy mehmet
roy o donovan
sean scannell
leon best
caleb folan
....a lot of average strikers there but trap continues to pick him, i don't know

[Pseud O'Nym]

Did you type this in Russian and subsequently go to freewebtranslation.com?

Was meant to be a response the equally nonsensical post I was quoting.

Nonsensical? It seemed quite affective to me.

[PEARCEY]

9 goals in 70 appearances. It's not good enough (I can't find your examples on that thread btw so would be good if you can repost). Twice, just twice in four seasons, Long has come on as a sub and scored a goal to earn us a point or points.

It's interesting that on the '10 games' thread you highlight Lita's scoring stats, but they are apparently invalid in the case of Long.

See page 4 of that thread Cmonurz
I dont take back what I say about Lita either. He has a phenomenal goal scoring record.
Long does not have such a record but he has only ever started 32, with a further 48 sub appearances in League and Cup games for the club and scored 12 goals in total. By no means a bad record. If you add on some of the positive impacts he has made as noted on that thread he is doing a very good job in my view.
I just think its a bit perverse that both Long and Lita get so much criticism when in reality they have both made healthy contributions to the general success of this club during the past three years.
Its a sad state of affairs when some on here start accusing one of our players of deliberately missing a pen.

[Millsy]

Longwas never meant to be anything other than a youth player with a distant hope of possibly becoming a regular.

That's why he's been brought on every now and then as a sub, and as such he's done ok for what he is.

The problem has been when due to injuries etc we've relied on the poor guy to be a full on starting striker in the same league as Doyle/Lita/Kitson, which he clearly isn't.

Give him time, treat him like an up and coming youth striker and he'll do ok and won't disappoint.

Think of him as a striker in the same league as the others and he'll get slated.

He's a "hot prospect" at the mo.

[Yorkshire Royal]

If you'd see him play against Stoke away in the cup, you would come to the conclusion that he really shouldn't be a professional footballer.

[PEARCEY]

If you'd see him play against Stoke away in the cup, you would come to the conclusion that he really shouldn't be a professional footballer.

You could say that about most professional footballers on a bad day.

[Gus the teenage cow]

If you'd see him play against Stoke away in the cup, you would come to the conclusion that he really shouldn't be a professional footballer.

what are you going to write for your 1,000th post?


many times i've watched shunter and thought he wasn't a pro but he is effective, i cannae be denying it my love

[Sarah Star]

He scored his penalty though didn't he.

[SCIAG]

If you'd see him play against Stoke away in the cup, you would come to the conclusion that he really shouldn't be a professional footballer.

Wasn't Lita just as bad, though?

[Alan Partridge]

Longwas never meant to be anything other than a youth player with a distant hope of possibly becoming a regular.

That's why he's been brought on every now and then as a sub, and as such he's done ok for what he is.

The problem has been when due to injuries etc we've relied on the poor guy to be a full on starting striker in the same league as Doyle/Lita/Kitson, which he clearly isn't.

Give him time, treat him like an up and coming youth striker and he'll do ok and won't disappoint.

Think of him as a striker in the same league as the others and he'll get slated.

He's a "hot prospect" at the mo.

He's about a year (maybe 2) younger than the much maligned Lita, how much longer is he a 'hot prospect'? If only Cox had had half the opportunites Long and for that matter Lita had in the last year or so.

Sorry but some on here say well Lita's done nothing for 2 years, fair comment. Long's done nothing for 4.

[Platypuss]

2. My post was born out of frustration at the constant abuse of Long, who appears to be the new boo boy.

What abuse is that then?

[rg6royal]

Well I thought he did OK when he came on the other day against Burnley. Got himself on the scoresheet and that it what he's meant to do.

[PEARCEY]

Longwas never meant to be anything other than a youth player with a distant hope of possibly becoming a regular.

That's why he's been brought on every now and then as a sub, and as such he's done ok for what he is.

The problem has been when due to injuries etc we've relied on the poor guy to be a full on starting striker in the same league as Doyle/Lita/Kitson, which he clearly isn't.

Give him time, treat him like an up and coming youth striker and he'll do ok and won't disappoint.

Think of him as a striker in the same league as the others and he'll get slated.

He's a "hot prospect" at the mo.

He's about a year (maybe 2) younger than the much maligned Lita, how much longer is he a 'hot prospect'? If only Cox had had half the opportunites Long and for that matter Lita had in the last year or so.

Sorry but some on here say well Lita's done nothing for 2 years, fair comment. Long's done nothing for 4.

Worst post you have done on here AP. To say Long has done nothing in 4 years...(well he didn't join until summer 2005 for a kick off) is absolute rubbish.

[rg6royal]

He's scored us a few important goals tbh.

[cmonurz]

He's scored us a few important goals tbh.

No, he hasn't, as I just showed.

Twice Long has come off the bench and scored points-winning goals.

Take off all Long's league goals since he joined Reading and we are only 5 points worse off in 3 and a bit seasons.

[Millsy]

Longwas never meant to be anything other than a youth player with a distant hope of possibly becoming a regular.

That's why he's been brought on every now and then as a sub, and as such he's done ok for what he is.

The problem has been when due to injuries etc we've relied on the poor guy to be a full on starting striker in the same league as Doyle/Lita/Kitson, which he clearly isn't.

Give him time, treat him like an up and coming youth striker and he'll do ok and won't disappoint.

Think of him as a striker in the same league as the others and he'll get slated.

He's a "hot prospect" at the mo.

He's about a year (maybe 2) younger than the much maligned Lita, how much longer is he a 'hot prospect'? If only Cox had had half the opportunites Long and for that matter Lita had in the last year or so.

Sorry but some on here say well Lita's done nothing for 2 years, fair comment. Long's done nothing for 4.

Yes fair enough I won't argue with that.

He has however just scored a goal so let's see.

As it happens though now we have enough of a decent strikeforce (and pleeeeeeeeeease Lita just sort yourself out and get back to what you know you can be!) we won't be using him for anything other than supersub appearances anyway. THe onus is now on him to work his butt off in reserves/training to prove he can do something.

[Yorkshire Royal]

Lita was probably worse. Sad thing is Lita used to be good, Long has never been good..

what are you going to write for your 1,000th post?

see above...

[PEARCEY]

He's scored us a few important goals tbh.

No, he hasn't, as I just showed.

Twice Long has come off the bench and scored points-winning goals.

Take off all Long's league goals since he joined Reading and we are only 5 points worse off in 3 and a bit seasons.

..........He says ignoring the assists.

[cmonurz]

In that list you have on the other thread, you have one assist and one penalty won.