Leave Shane alone.

[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.

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.

If he's a frontline striker for this club, why has he never started 10 games back to back? Because he's not good enough.

He has his merits for 10-15minute cameo's but sorry if he's going to be our 3rd choice striker he HAS to offer a LOT more than that.

The much maligned Lita is 2 years i believe older than him, he has a 30 goal season under his belt, a 15 goal season for us including some of the best finishing I personally have seen from anyone in a Reading shirt. We have to forget about him because he's useless should be kicked out, offers nothing etc etc etc yet we should perservere with Long as a 'hot prospect' What has Long done over his now 4th season here to suggest he is more worth perservering with than Lita?

IMO neither are currently good enough and the thought of losing N Hunt or Doyle isn't worth contemplating.

[PEARCEY]

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

..Ok lets go further then and say that in addition he has played a crucial role in the build up to goals being scored and/or has created chances for his fellow players. There will as I have said on that post be other examples of Long's positive impact as those I gave came from the top of my head.

[PEARCEY]

Re AP. I am not arguing with you re Lita or indeed Cox for that matter. Where I disagree is regarding Long. I have not argued that he should be in the starting line-up. However he has made a positive impact on many occasions since coming off the bench which seems lost on a lot of you.

[cmonurz]

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

..Ok lets go further then and say that in addition he has played a crucial role in the build up to goals being scored and/or has created chances for his fellow players. There will as I have said on that post be other examples of Long's positive impact as the examples I gave came from the top of my head.

But all players do that. I don't see why the bar is being set so ridiculously low for Long.

[PEARCEY]

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

..Ok lets go further then and say that in addition he has played a crucial role in the build up to goals being scored and/or has created chances for his fellow players. There will as I have said on that post be other examples of Long's positive impact as the examples I gave came from the top of my head.

But all players do that. I don't see why the bar is being set so ridiculously low for Long.

Do they?

[Royal Lady]

Long is coming up for 22. How old does he have to be before he's no longer an "up and coming youngster"?! He's been with us 3 seasons already, this is his fourth. If he was going to become a top quality player, I venture to suggest that he would have become one by now. It's not his fault, however. NHunt is streaks ahead of him with regard to skill/talent.

[Ian Royal]

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.

If he's a frontline striker for this club, why has he never started 10 games back to back? Because he's not good enough.

He has his merits for 10-15minute cameo's but sorry if he's going to be our 3rd choice striker he HAS to offer a LOT more than that.

The much maligned Lita is 2 years i believe older than him, he has a 30 goal season under his belt, a 15 goal season for us including some of the best finishing I personally have seen from anyone in a Reading shirt. We have to forget about him because he's useless should be kicked out, offers nothing etc etc etc yet we should perservere with Long as a 'hot prospect' What has Long done over his now 4th season here to suggest he is more worth perservering with than Lita?

IMO neither are currently good enough and the thought of losing N Hunt or Doyle isn't worth contemplating.

But Long has contributed more in the last 10 games than Lita has in the whole of last season and all of this. At least Long can create chances and spook defenders, even if he is often atrocious. Lita, as Papereyes often points out, has had two relatively short purple patches in our side in 3 seasons. Other than that he's achieved very little outside league 1.

[rg6royal]

Long is coming up for 22. How old does he have to be before he's no longer an "up and coming youngster"?! He's been with us 3 seasons already, this is his fourth. If he was going to become a top quality player, I venture to suggest that he would have become one by now. It's not his fault, however. NHunt is streaks ahead of him with regard to skill/talent.

Lita is better than him as well...

[Alan Partridge]

Re AP. I am not arguing with you re Lita or indeed Cox for that matter. Where I disagree is regarding Long. I have not argued that he should be in the starting line-up. However he has made a positive impact on many occasions since coming off the bench which seems lost on a lot of you.

Well he has but is that enough to be a 3rd choice striker for a promotion chasing team? At some point in this season N Hunt and/or Doyle will be missing and possibly for a considerable time (there is also the very possible reality that Doyle won't be here from January), that means Shane would start. Is he good enough to do that? Previous evidence says no.

I don't doubt Long has made contributions from the bench, lots of players do that tbf and who's to say if we had a better 3rd choice striker than Lita or Long then we wouldn't be in this division for starters. I personally believe that once we get to January this is an area that needs addressing, maybe Mooney can do it? I haven't seen anything of him but i think we need someone with a bit of pedigree to come in. A fit, firing and confident Leroy Lita would do but that seems a way off currently. Maybe a Nugent or someone like that proven in this division who could come in and really improve our frontline.

Has Long made at times contributions from the bench, Yes absolutely, does that mean he's good enough, no not for me.

[Ian Royal]

Long is coming up for 22. How old does he have to be before he's no longer an "up and coming youngster"?! He's been with us 3 seasons already, this is his fourth. If he was going to become a top quality player, I venture to suggest that he would have become one by now. It's not his fault, however. NHunt is streaks ahead of him with regard to skill/talent.

Lita is better than him as well...

Shame he hasn't demonstrated it over the last season or so.

[Royal Lady]

Like Shane you mean?

[rg6royal]

Indeed. I say we give Mooney a go!

[Ian Royal]

Please put forward your arguement that Shane Long has contributed less to the team in the last 18 months than Lita. I'll be interested to see it.

Please take note that at no point did I say I particularly rate Long. In fact I'm more than happy to agree Lita is a better player. But he has still been worse than useless for ages, and rarely contributed a huge amount.

[Alan Partridge]

Mentioning those purple patches and the season in League 1 would still mean he has achieved more than Long imo. It proves that Lita has it in the locker, I also think to say he played in patches of our promotion year is false. I thought over the course of the season he played a very full part up to his injury at Burnley. Not always scoring but for a first season in CCC to score I think 11 league goals as a 20/21 year old isn't that bad, 15 in total.

With regard to Lita I want to know why they can't get the Lita of 2006 and then that spell in the Premiership where at times he was unplayable out of him now? This lad is a good striker that can score brilliant goals, how has it gone so wrong for him? For even the most ardent Lita fan it's exceptionally hard trying to defend his performances for RFC over the last year, in short he's not been close to good enough. His one major trait is goalscoring, he hasn't produced at all in the last 18months. The one thing in fairness to him was he'd get 1 game maybe 2, if he didn't score he'd be out of the squad for ages so that went against him and made his record in that time look worse than it possibly could have been.

I know Coppell favours Long over Lita on the bench which again I feel Lita is worth having around, i remember him coming on against Man Utd in the Cup (not Burnley) and very much helping change the game including a brilliant diving headed goal.

As I say earlier, if they can't get the old Lita back, the goalscoring change the game Lita then we need to be bringing in a higher class of 3rd striker in January.

[PEARCEY]

Re AP. I am not arguing with you re Lita or indeed Cox for that matter. Where I disagree is regarding Long. I have not argued that he should be in the starting line-up. However he has made a positive impact on many occasions since coming off the bench which seems lost on a lot of you.

Well he has but is that enough to be a 3rd choice striker for a promotion chasing team? At some point in this season N Hunt and/or Doyle will be missing and possibly for a considerable time (there is also the very possible reality that Doyle won't be here from January), that means Shane would start. Is he good enough to do that? Previous evidence says no.

I don't doubt Long has made contributions from the bench, lots of players do that tbf and who's to say if we had a better 3rd choice striker than Lita or Long then we wouldn't be in this division for starters. I personally believe that once we get to January this is an area that needs addressing, maybe Mooney can do it? I haven't seen anything of him but i think we need someone with a bit of pedigree to come in. A fit, firing and confident Leroy Lita would do but that seems a way off currently. Maybe a Nugent or someone like that proven in this division who could come in and really improve our frontline.

Has Long made at times contributions from the bench, Yes absolutely, does that mean he's good enough, no not for me.

Good post AP. I think Long is a squad player and should be recognised as that and make an impact from the bench. Is he good enough to start?...probably not based on past evidence. However how many starting appearances has he actually made at this level? Not very many. So perhaps he deserves a run if one of our first choice strikers is injured.
One other point. You make reference to Long not playing ten consecutive games so therefore he is not good enough. How many games has Bikey ever played consecutively????? Is he good enough? We both know the answer to that.

[Ian Royal]

I think he found himself in that situation due to playing in a poor team with little to no service, but that his personality and attitude have kept him there.

He may work hard in training, but I just don't think he has enough up top to really make it as a top professional player.

Of course a new club may kick start his career, but staying here would be suicide as far as his chances of ever really getting it back and making it are concerned.

[floyd__streete]

Shane Long has his merits; his strength can be a very useful asset in the last twenty minutes against a tiring defence and for this reason I have no problem with him being in the XVI. He simply does not do nearly enough to warrant a starting place though, hence why I was bemused when he started 3 consecutive games recently.


Current pecking order is undoubtedly:

Doyle
N Hunt
Long
Mooney
Lita


Wouldn't necessarily be my order to be honest, but with 26 goals from 10 league games it's hard to argue otherwise. And when Doyle inevitably leaves in January we will suddenly be looking rather weak in this department.

[Alan Partridge]

Re AP. I am not arguing with you re Lita or indeed Cox for that matter. Where I disagree is regarding Long. I have not argued that he should be in the starting line-up. However he has made a positive impact on many occasions since coming off the bench which seems lost on a lot of you.

Well he has but is that enough to be a 3rd choice striker for a promotion chasing team? At some point in this season N Hunt and/or Doyle will be missing and possibly for a considerable time (there is also the very possible reality that Doyle won't be here from January), that means Shane would start. Is he good enough to do that? Previous evidence says no.

I don't doubt Long has made contributions from the bench, lots of players do that tbf and who's to say if we had a better 3rd choice striker than Lita or Long then we wouldn't be in this division for starters. I personally believe that once we get to January this is an area that needs addressing, maybe Mooney can do it? I haven't seen anything of him but i think we need someone with a bit of pedigree to come in. A fit, firing and confident Leroy Lita would do but that seems a way off currently. Maybe a Nugent or someone like that proven in this division who could come in and really improve our frontline.

Has Long made at times contributions from the bench, Yes absolutely, does that mean he's good enough, no not for me.

Good post AP. I think Long is a squad player and should be recognised as that and make an impact from the bench. Is he good enough to start?...probably not based on past evidence. However how many starting appearances has he actually made at this level? Not very many. So perhaps he deserves a run if one of our first choice strikers is injured.
One other point. You make reference to Long not playing ten consecutive games so therefore he is not good enough. How many games has Bikey ever played consecutively????? Is he good enough? We both know the answer to that.

With regards to Bikey, a lot of the time that's been down to a) him going off internationally and then someone else stepping into the team and doing well or b) the fact for a long time Coppell simply favoured Sonko, again with little recent evidence to suggest he was a better bet.

Bikey had a lot of competition for a CB spot, he's always won his place back and is now rightly our best CB, Long has had tons of opportunities, Lita misfiring made him 3rd choice, Kitson's injury problems and then doyle's chronic loss of form before just recently, in all that time Long has never nailed down a first team spot for any length of time.

[readingtillidie]

Shane long there's only one Shane long

[Platypuss]

I'd still love to know where this "constant abuse" is.