Long - Time to go.

[Victor Meldrew]

Unfortunately we all knew what would happen when Shane got a couple of chances-either they would be straight at the keeper or wide.
He can strike a dead ball very well into the corners of the goal from a dead ball but he has great difficulty whenever the ball is moving.
Unfortunately for him the ball is moving for a lot of the time in football and in fact for the penalty he had kicked it much too far in front of him to ever keep the ball in play.
Oh for a central striker.

[cmonurz]

snowball seems to be genuinely heading towards some sort of mental collapse at the moment.

This.

Still bleating on about how everyone hates Long when his performance yesterday has pretty much across the board been welcomed, save for his rubbish finishing.

Thank fcuk I take the penalties.

[Snowball]

You know

As much as I find Snowball utterly utterly infuriating with his stats and his demeanour to being questioned on said stats.

He's actually sparked more debate/discussion on this board over the last month or so then anyone else and made it compulsive daily reading

I work in mysterious ways

[Snowball]

snowball seems to be genuinely heading towards some sort of mental collapse at the moment.

This.

Still bleating on about how everyone hates Long when his performance yesterday has pretty much across the board been welcomed, save for his rubbish finishing.

Thank fcuk I take the penalties.

That must be why you say he should be dropped for Watford
and Ian join-in Royals says strongly thinking Hunt for Long


and what's the title of this thread?

[cmonurz]

I can't help thinking NHunt and Church will be a good partnership and one I'd like to see up front - that doesn't mean I think Long played badly yesterday, he just showed no composure in front of goal. I've already said that he played well outside of that.

Do I think Long would have finished like NHunt did for his goal? No. Do I think NHunt would have failed to score having chested down Harte's pass? No.

It's just my opinion, and that's why I'd like to see NHunt and Church up front at Watford.

[Snowball]

Do you think Long would have headed that utterly free header over?

The one that Hunt missed. I mean

[roadrunner]

Do you think Long would have headed that utterly free header over?

The one that Hunt missed. I mean

His goals to shots ratio would suggest yes. Why don't you show us.

[cmonurz]

Do you think Long would have headed that utterly free header over?

The one that Hunt missed. I mean

Why do you need to be so combative about everything? It's just my opinion.

[Snowball]

PS What is the title of this thread?

Has there ever been a PRO-Long thread (as opposed to a prolonged thread)?

PS Long, now 82 Starts 33 Goals 3/5ths of Doyle's goals (145 Starts)

[roadrunner]

PS What is the title of this thread?

Has there ever been a PRO-Long thread (as opposed to a prolonged thread)?

PS Long, now 82 Starts 33 Goals 3/5ths of Doyle's goals (145 Starts)

33 goals since 2005.

Sub apperances as well?

What a player!

[Snowball]

Do you think Long would have headed that utterly free header over?

The one that Hunt missed. I mean

Why do you need to be so combative about everything? It's just my opinion.

BECAUSE

Hunt misses chances
Church misses chances
McAnuff scores 1-2 a year and misses bucketloads of chances, one goal in 31 shots!

But those misses are quietly swept under the carpet

Long has failed to hit the target with a shot a total of 13 times this year.

You people talk like he's missing dozens of gilt-edged chances
The other strikers have missed 52 between them. The great Gylfi
was averaging more than 2 misses per game!

Church is clearly inferior at getting the ball on target. Only Hunt shows any (relative) lethality.

08 On Target 61.5% On Target 05 Off Target 2 Goals Hunt
17 on Target 56.7% On Target 13 Off Target 4 Goals Long
15 On Target 53.6% On Target 13 Off Target 4 Goals Kebe
12 On Target 48.0% On Target 13 Off Target 3 Goals Church
03 On Target 25.0% On Target 09 Off Target 2 Goals Siggurdson (in just 4 games!)

Last Season

31 = 61.70% On Target 20 Off Target 12 Goals Kebe
28 = 54.90% On Target 23 Off Target 09 Goals Rasiak
24 = 54.44% On Target 20 Off Target 09 Goals Long
71 = 54.19% On Target 30 Off Target 20 Goals Gylfi
30 = 47.61% On Target 33 Off Target 12 Goals Church

[Snowball]

PS What is the title of this thread?

Has there ever been a PRO-Long thread (as opposed to a prolonged thread)?

PS Long, now 82 Starts 33 Goals 3/5ths of Doyle's goals (145 Starts)

33 goals since 2005. Sub apperances as well?

What a player!

YES, what a player. His goals per minute played matched Doyle
and I will bet good money that when Long has started 145 games he will have more than 55 goals

[Wycombe Royal]

PS What is the title of this thread?

Has there ever been a PRO-Long thread (as opposed to a prolonged thread)?

PS Long, now 82 Starts 33 Goals 3/5ths of Doyle's goals (145 Starts)

33 goals since 2005. Sub apperances as well?

What a player!

YES, what a player. His goals per minute played matched Doyle
and I will bet good money that when Long has started 145 games he will have more than 55 goals

And will have played a lot less Premiership matches and scored less premiership goals. I'm sure there is player in league who will have scored more than 55 goals after the same number of appearances but would he be a better player than Long?

[Ian Royal]

Long has scored one goal in open play this season. A screamer from distance. He has missed a fair few decent chances, including several headers, so I think it's entirely possible he would have missed that header.

Hunt & Church have made some spectacular misses, but they've actually buried some chances inside the box as well. Then again, neither of them really have the strength and sheer bloodyminded determination that Long quite often shows. On the other hand I think they've got better passing and control.

Back to the thread title... it's not time for Long to go until we bring in at least one more striker, preferably as a better option than him.

[cmonurz]

Do you think Long would have headed that utterly free header over?

The one that Hunt missed. I mean

Why do you need to be so combative about everything? It's just my opinion.

BECAUSE

Hunt misses chances
Church misses chances
McAnuff scores 1-2 a year and misses bucketloads of chances, one goal in 31 shots!

But those misses are quietly swept under the carpet

Long has failed to hit the target with a shot a total of 13 times this year.

So?

We've had plenty of stats about this, I even posted up my own where I highlighted how poor NHunt's scoring record was comnpared to my perception and that the strikers had but a fag paper between them in that sense, but it doesn't change the fact that I like NHunt and feel he is a more effective forward than Long, and would like to see him start alongside Church at Watford.


No-one is sweeping anything under the carpet, the deficiencies of all our strikers have been highlighted at some point, but your intense paranoia can't appear to deal with people having different opinions.

[Ian Royal]

I don't know what it's got to do with McAnuff, he's not a striker and no one has ever said he should be, or has anything but a poor scoring record from us. And you can usually see why when he shoots. He very rarely catches it cleanly and his shots are usually through a crowd of players.

[roadrunner]

I don't know what it's got to do with McAnuff, he's not a striker and no one has ever said he should be, or has anything but a poor scoring record from us. And you can usually see why when he shoots. He very rarely catches it cleanly and his shots are usually through a crowd of players.

Excellent winger and should be used purely for beating his man and getting those crosses in. On his day he's unplayable at this level.

[Snowball]

Hey, if we are taking out Premiership goals and games, I'm up for that.

You agree Doyle had two INCREDIBLE seasons?

He was absolutely FLYING in 2005-6 in a record-breaking side (which would obviously make it easier to score)
and he had a very good season in the year following relegation. OK so far? He's a top top man and sold for 6.5 Million
He's also 3.3 years older than Long.

Let's compare Doyle and Long. Let's remember that this team is not a patch on the 2005-6 team
and last season we were absolute pants for half a season, but no matter

Obviously Doyle will come out better, and he does.

6,042 Minutes for 22 Goals. A Goal every 274 minutes (3 Games) Shane
7,530 Minutes for 37 Goals. A Goal every 203 minutes (2 Games and 23 Minutes) = 6.5 MILLION


Sorry, for a relative kid playing most of those minutes in a mid-table side that "274 minutes" looks GREAT
when compared with Doyle's 203, a hit-rate achieved in a season where he was in the best-ever Championship
team, and a second season with a number of top, Premiership quality players, and we came 4th.

Now stand up like men and admit that Long doesn't look that shabby after all

[Snowball]

I don't know what it's got to do with McAnuff, he's not a striker and no one has ever said he should be, or has anything but a poor scoring record from us. And you can usually see why when he shoots. He very rarely catches it cleanly and his shots are usually through a crowd of players.

So, you know you score once every 30-40 shots but shoot anyway.


WHY?

And in a 4-5-1 you EXPECT YOUR TWO WIDE MEN TO SCORE GOALS

Kebe stepped up.

[roadrunner]

Snowball, FFS.

Doyle was more than goals, it was his all round game. Shane Long isn't fit to clean Doyle's boots!!