Long - Time to go.

[Maguire]

Has the uselesscunt gone yet?

[Snowball]

Well done Snowball - at least someone is talking some sense! The rest of you leave the strikers alone - service is all they need and that will come when the midfield is settled and the service is there.

Remember - it is a TEAM game - stop picking on specific players - it is totally unnecessary!!

CHEERS!

Of the 18 goals we have scored this season Long scored two, won the penalty for a third (taken by Harte), laid on a tap-in for Antonio for a fourth, got a man sent off at Burnley (where we THEN scored two more goals).. so that's five directly or indirectly he had a part in. The McAnuff goal came from a free-kick for a foul on Long (six goals, a third of ALL our goals)... that's just off the top of my head, there's probably more. Oh yes, his hard work helped to set up Gyfli's goal at Leicester... that's 7 out of 18 goals.

He's also had two opponents sent off, at Preston and Burnley, and he wears down defences allowing us to score a lot of our goals late on

[Snowball]

Has the uselesscunt gone yet?

Sir, I'm sure your post will be treated with all the respect it richly deserves.

[ZacNaloen]

I actually think Maguire quite likes Long and was just joking Snowball

[Snowball]

I actually think that with a settled midfield Church is likely to be the more prolific striker, he's shown flashes of brilliance (he does seem to start seasons without his shooting boots on though) and ended up scoring a respectable number of goals with only a handful of starts last year.

He played more games than Long, just for the record.

22 (14) (10 Goals) League .... 27 (15) (12 Goals) 42 Appearances All Games Church

22 (09) (06 Goals) League .... 24 (12) (09 Goals) 36 Appearances All Games) Long

But Long does an excellent job and as long as others are scoring goals as well and Long is doing the job the manager asks him to do there's not much room for complaint. We just struggled with goals in the last couple of games, so criticisms will be raised.

Agreed, but our GOAL DIFFERENCE is right up there. We play it tight, create less chances

[ZacNaloen]

How many of those were starts though?


I seem to recall he knicked most of his goals as a sub and that Long was out of the team a lot under Rodgers, hence his lack of appearances.

[Snowball]

How many of those were starts though?


I seem to recall he knicked most of his goals as a sub and that Long was out of the team a lot under Rodgers, hence his lack of appearances.

It's in my post 22 League STARTS, 5 cup starts


This is why I like FACTS. My memory was that Shane was an almost ever-present except for suspensions, and Church was the back-up boy, yet clearly that was not the case.

[Snowball]

I actually think Maguire quite likes Long and was just joking Snowball

If you say so. The irony/sarcasm was a bit subtle.

[Hoop Blah]

Church has a cunning knack of scoring flukes too, something Long doesn't seem to have in his locker.

Not only his goal on Saturday, but the one that went in off him from Karacan's shot (can't remember who it was against now) plus he scored a similar off his knee last season. You can't knock that luck and just being in there is a start.

Snowball, can I just say that you've actually made a couple of interesting posts on the last couple of pages! You really don't need all the added stats and rhetoric though.

I totally agree on the need for a dominant central midfielder too, it would give us so many more options tactically. The 3 options at the moment just aren't quite that player (yet in Karacan's case but I don't think he'll ever be quite that player).

[Snowball]

Church has a cunning knack of scoring flukes too, something Long doesn't seem to have in his locker. Not only his goal on Saturday, but the one that went in off him from Karacan's shot (can't remember who it was against now) plus he scored a similar off his knee last season. You can't knock that luck and just being in there is a start.

Maybe, when through on goal Church should try to square it, then when he mis-kicks he'll score.

Then we sell him to Liverpool for £9 Million. Sorted.

[Snowball]

Snowball, can I just say that you've actually made a couple of interesting posts on the last couple of pages! You really don't need all the added stats and rhetoric though.


Cheers!

I totally agree on the need for a dominant central midfielder too, it would give us so many more options tactically. The 3 options at the moment just aren't quite that player (yet in Karacan's case but I don't think he'll ever be quite that player).

That was why I wondered about Pearce in for Zurab, Zurab to run the game from in front of the back four.

PS I do NOT see that as weakening the defence.

I see it as using more of Zurab's talent and making us HARDER to score against, while also improving our mid-field with "a general"

[Ian Royal]

Long's time to go has been for the last three seasons. He certainly hasn't been helped by the formation and position he's been asked to play this season, but he just isn't a player who will consistently score goals IMO. He's had successful sub appearances and two short purple patches.

Playing upfront alone isn't helping him a great deal though and he does put in a lot of good and important work when he plays there. Just looks about as likely to score as I do. But we'd be insane to get rid of him until the end of the season. Even if we can bring someone in in January, we'd be mental to then let Long go and stick with 3 strikers.

Personally I'd like to see Church or Hunt given a go upfront on their own, or in a pairing together. I like Church - because he's come through the youth, has excellent movement and is good comedy value with some of his goals.

[ZacNaloen]

How many of those were starts though?


I seem to recall he knicked most of his goals as a sub and that Long was out of the team a lot under Rodgers, hence his lack of appearances.

It's in my post 22 League STARTS, 5 cup starts


This is why I like FACTS. My memory was that Shane was an almost ever-present except for suspensions, and Church was the back-up boy, yet clearly that was not the case.

I'm going to pick a hole here because I don't think it's fair to include the time spent under Rodgers in these figures. Can you cut that info out?

[cmonurz]

Psst, Brainiac, you see how I UNDERLINED that bit of Hoop's message?

I was ANSWERING THAT, SEE? You know, "trouble the top teams", GEDDIT?

So I referred to the TOP TEAMS WE HAVE TROUBLED.

And see the other bit of Hoop's question, about challenging for the play-offs?
Well that's why I pointed out we were currently eighth.


Please try harder.

And the fact that we have lost matches to teams at the bottom end of the table suggests that our 'record' against the top teams may be no more than an anomaly, hence my post.

[Snowball]

Psst, Brainiac, you see how I UNDERLINED that bit of Hoop's message?
I was ANSWERING THAT, SEE? You know, "trouble the top teams", GEDDIT?
So I referred to the TOP TEAMS WE HAVE TROUBLED.
And see the other bit of Hoop's question, about challenging for the play-offs?
Well that's why I pointed out we were currently eighth.
Please try harder.

And the fact that we have lost matches to teams at the bottom end of the table suggests that our 'record' against the top teams may be no more than an anomaly, hence my post.

Don't BS. You mentioned selective stats when I was answering a post not about ALL our
games but against top clubs. Admit it. You got it wrong.

Burnley awesome record at home including beating Bolton, before yesterday but drew 0-0 with bottom club Bristol and were 0-3 down against second bottom Preston.

It happens. The margins in this league are small. Sides that do well usually grind out an extra few results or have one/two players who can do the magic.

We could (not saying we will) win at QPR and lose at home to Leeds. That proves not a lot except this is a very tight league

On Friday the bottom side almost beat the top side

[Hugo Boss]

He's useless- plain and simple.

What is a worrying sign is that he is now one of Reading's best performing players and the fans would prefer to see him start in front of others. That shows how far this club has fallen

Won a Penalty. Scored a Penalty.

One brilliant assist, tap-in laid on for Antonio

Tackled back like a demon.

Ran Burnley ragged so the subs could score in the last ten minutes.


Agree. Useless.

YAWN

One swallow an' all that.

[Snowball]

He's useless- plain and simple.

What is a worrying sign is that he is now one of Reading's best performing players and the fans would prefer to see him start in front of others. That shows how far this club has fallen

Won a Penalty. Scored a Penalty. One brilliant assist, tap-in laid on for Antonio

Tackled back like a demon. Ran Burnley ragged so the subs could score in the last ten minutes.


Agree. Useless.

YAWN

One swallow an' all that.

But it ISN'T "one swallow and all that. Shane has played well all season. Hence his regular selection by McDermott

[Sarah Star]

Makes you think though, if Shane does work so hard and tirelessly for the team putting in good crosses and passies to his team-mates, creating chances, flicking on etc etc but doesn't score goals like you'd expect a striker to do (ignoring penalties), why doesn't he get moved to midfield?

[Tinrib]

The one up top role played by Shane is the hardest role for any Centre forward to play, and for the uneducated might appear that he's not fulfilling the requirements of a Centre Foward.

But he is.

BMcs lays his team out that we are tight, and we don't get overrun in Midfield. The outball is always to Shane, and Shane only. Not only does he have to run his ass off down the channels, & win his headers when a highball is lumped upto him, but he also has to be combative against a pair of CB's. whose sole role is stop Shane playing. Its a tough tough role to play for 90 minutes, and I think he's getting better & better.

The downside of that role is that his chances to score are minimised. He's got no-one to play directly off. His role is to bring others into play and they create/score chances.

Measuring Shanes performance vs his goals tally is somewhat shortsighted. Saying that, I'm sure Shane will be champing at the bit to improve his ratio of games to goals.

He's a very good player, certainly at Championship level and no doubt there is more room for him to improve, given he's still learning the role.

Great game on Saturday too.

[bcubed]

Makes you think though, if Shane does work so hard and tirelessly for the team putting in good crosses and passies to his team-mates, creating chances, flicking on etc etc but doesn't score goals like you'd expect a striker to do (ignoring penalties), why doesn't he get moved to midfield?

We often hear about Long's workrate but I think it is overstated

He does work hard in challenging for the high ball (which to his credit he wins more often than not) and closing down defenders, but I am not sure that he really works hard apart from that.

Where we actually need him to work hard (or smart) is in the box. Perhaps the reason that Snowball can tell us that he misses so few chances is that he deosn't create many. And you can't say it's all down to the rest of the team - he just doesn't make the runs into the right areas (perhaps he doesn't have the natural instincts, as some have suggested) and he deosn't attack crosses as if he really believes he can win the ball and score