Shane Long Vs Simon Church SEASON WATCH

[leww_rfc]

Good Thread, to be honest unless we get someone like Priskin or Smith, it is gonna be Long or Church that's gonna be called up along side Nhunt. I'm guessing that most people have different opinions on who to play, including Mooney who i think should also be mentioned in this thread. I personally think that we should start off on the best performances in pre-season, and from then on match to match with whoever comes on or whoever starts and performs the best.

[floyd__streete]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

[Deathy]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

Same for Long.

[winchester_royal]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

We haven't even started pre-season yet and already Floyd is writing off a player we've only seen 45 minutes of.

It really is going to be a long season.

[cmonurz]

Agree with Winchester.

I'm an avid follower of Wales/Wales U21's and have to say Church is a very good player but doesn't score enough goals. His scoring record for Wales U21's is fantastic but alot of that is down to quality supply by Aaron Ramsey and getting onto flick on's by target man Sam Vokes.

He works abit 'too hard' if you see where I'm coming from...he won't get you many tap in's and he's the man chasing the ball to prevent goal kicks, throw in's etc. As a result, he isn't in the box too much.

Don't know if this has been said yet, but isn't that description of Church not far off a description of Doyle, who helped himself to a few?

[SLAMMED]

Long.

[The whole year inn]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

Yep.

Reading will get nowhere near the top 6 with their current strikers.

[leww_rfc]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

Yep.

Reading will get nowhere near the top 6 with their current strikers.

bet you were thinking the same when we got Doyle from Cork.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Long is a better player than Church.

CHurch doesn't have a great goal scoring record. Long at the end of last season was playing well enough for him to be our main striker.

Rodgers really rates Mooney btw, so expect to see him ahead of Church

[JS28ZoD]

Shane Long was the only player who impressed me in the final third of last season. Not only was he our only constant goal threat, he constantly wanted to stand up and be counted (by wanting the ball) unlike all of the more 'experienced' players. I'm expecting Shane to step up next season and be our main man, however if it doesn't work out I imagine his time at Reading will be up.

I get the impression that BR will play 4-5-1 come 4-3-3 next season (after reading his comments about utilising harper & marek) so I think it'll be between Long and N.Hunt for the strikers slot, two players which I think can do the business in this league.

[largetrousers]

I just haven't seen enough evidence to suggest that Long will produce the goods week in week out. His speed of thought isn't up there, his touch is poor, for us to be up there with the rest of them we need to replace what we've sold/let go and not rely on Long etc to partner NHunt. Yes he can head a ball, but so could Jason Lee! Church had a good 1st half against burnley, his speed of thought and genuine pace looked fantastic, although his limited chances to finish weren't taken - but from that alone showed lots of promise, considering he was also playing right wing. We still need to invest in another 2x quality forwards to compete. I'm hoping Mooney shows his worth this season too, when we were in the mix to get him, Cork fans were labelling him as something special so fingers crossed.

[SteveRoyal]

I want it to be Church's season.
I can't help but feel it will probably be Long's, though.

[leww_rfc]

I want it to be Church's season.
I can't help but feel it will probably be Long's, though.

+1

[leww_rfc]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

as much as i know i'm gonna get shot down here, but i went to watch Church;s Debut for Wales against Estonia and he looked really good and ran onto every ball that went through and it made me think that, thats the enthusiasm we need in our team, the kind that want to do well and get results.

Also Long who in the last few games of the season, Norwich for one showed his ability and how he wants to do well also.

Both i have a feeling will do very well this year.

[Arch]

Long.

^

[Hoop Blah]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

as much as i know i'm gonna get shot down here, but i went to watch Church;s Debut for Wales against Estonia and he looked really good and ran onto every ball that went through and it made me think that, thats the enthusiasm we need in our team, the kind that want to do well and get results.

Also Long who in the last few games of the season, Norwich for one showed his ability and how he wants to do well also.

Both i have a feeling will do very well this year.

That was a glorified U21s game though, and the standard that Church has played at for Wales is well below the league football he's played in during his loan spells, where he has worked hard, impressed to a certain extent because of it, but just lacked that ability to score. He's played the majority of his loan games out wide in a front 3 or as the winger in a 4-5-1 so that might explain his lack of scoring success to an extent.

Personally I think it's more down to him lacking that little bit of extra quality to go with his hard work and effort. That was the difference with Doyle. He worked so bloody hard but when he got the ball he was good enough to be able to do something with it and make telling contributions because of it. Church just isn't in the same league.

As for Toshack singing his praises and claiming he could be better than Bellamy, since when has the drivell spouted on TV over such games by pundits and managers ever been worth anything?

Long is a terrific instinctive finisher who will score you a few goals if given chances in the box. He'll work hard too and as someone else said earlier is pretty decent in the air. His alround game is still lacking though and even during his little purple patch at the end of last season he was still too easy to mark for any half decent centre backs, especially when starting games where they get to suss him out from the off. Coming on as a sub against tired minds and legs it has always been a bit of a different matter though.

I totally agree with SKDD who said that Long's development was held back by Coppell's unwillingness to let him go out on loan.

Who will have the bigger role to play? I think Long will have the greater role to play, but Church might get a look in on the right as I think he and Henry might be competing against a new player for that role on the right.

If either Long or Church are playing a key role though I reckon we'll struggle, but Long will be the one of the two to contribute the most.

[Thames]

If we're relying on Simon Church to deliver the goods for us in 09/10, it could be a really long season

as much as i know i'm gonna get shot down here, but i went to watch Church;s Debut for Wales against Estonia and he looked really good and ran onto every ball that went through and it made me think that, thats the enthusiasm we need in our team, the kind that want to do well and get results.

Also Long who in the last few games of the season, Norwich for one showed his ability and how he wants to do well also.

Both i have a feeling will do very well this year.

That was a glorified U21s game though, and the standard that Church has played at for Wales is well below the league football he's played in during his loan spells

Thats complete rubbish you absolute prat. For a start, Wales only have a very young squad to choose from for one reason or another. Secondly, the current Welsh squad contains several Premiership/Championship players and has shown to only nudge past Estonia/Azerbaijan meaning those two sides are probably of a League 1/2 standard where Church has played last season (League 1 for Orient and 2 for Wycombe).

Research things properly you clueless twassock.

[Maguire]

I think Long will totally outperform Church in this coming season, and finish comfortably ahead on 6 goals to Church's 2.

[Hoop Blah]

The majority of the football Church has played for for Wales is at U21 level though!!!

Just have a look at the sides he's played against for Wales U21's.

The majority of his appearances are against the likes of Malta, Luxembourg and Bosnia. Their senior teams (Bosnia apart) would struggle in League Two let alone their U21s.

Yes he scored against England in the play off games, but you can't take U21 games against the minnows as a real guide to ability if you want to draw any meaningful conclusions.

Even his full caps were against Azerbaijan and Estonia. Between them they've got how many players playing at anything like a decent standard that would compare to League One or the Championship? Just because Wales failed to beat them by many goals in a meaningless friendly with a scratch team out doesn't mean they're any good.

[Gordons Cumming]

I think they are both doing fine at the moment.