Speculation : Shane Long to return

[Victor Meldrew]

It will be interesting to see in the Euros who gets selected up front by Trappatoni from Doyle,Cox,Keane and Long.
Cox has done better for Ireland than at West Brom and I get the impression that the manager likes him as he selected him for one of those important qualifiers when Keane and Long were both avaiable with Doyle IIRC injured.
Personally I wouldn't want Long back-we have moved on a bit from the long-ball game that suited his chase everything style.
Like most others I haven't seen enough of the more mature Cox to have a valid opinion as to whether he is what we want.

[Snowball]

This Season's Premiership

07 (11) 0 Goals Simon Cox
24 (08) 8 Goals Shane Long

[RoyalX]

This Season's Premiership

07 (11) 0 Goals Simon Cox
24 (08) 8 Goals Shane Long

Come on now, this isn't the Snowball I know and love. In all competitions:

Cox 1109 minutes, 4 goals: 1 goal every 277.25 minutes
Long 2196 minutes 8 goals: 1 goal every 274.5 minutes

Very similar EXCEPT that Cox made only 3/11 starts in all competitions up front, the rest were on the wing. One against Arsenal, one against Norwich (Cup) and one againt Cardiff (Cup - where he scored a hat-trick). Also one of Shane Long's goals was a penalty. So really 1 goal from open play every 313.71 minutes.

[Royal Lady]

^ yeah - I was surprised there were no goals attributed to Cox this season - as I knew he'd defo scored a couple!

[Ian Royal]

How dare you introduce facts snowball has deliberately ignored so he can prove his point.

[Snowball]

Let me make it easy for you and the squrimy Ian Royal

Here is the exact text of my original post
which was posted without any comment whatsoever

This Season's Premiership

07 (11) 0 Goals Simon Cox
24 (08) 8 Goals Shane Long

So just to be clear, Cox failed to score in the Premiership in 18 appearances, 764 minutes

He's a striker. If he played some games on the wing, presumably that was because he wasn't good
enough to oust the strikers like Long (8 Premiership Goals) and Odemwingie (10 Premiership Goals)

Shane Long got 8 goals in 32 appearances 2,186 minutes

Simon Cox, Striker: Age 25 and 1 Month

07 (11) 0,764 Minutes for 00 Goals 2011-12 Age 24 at start of the season
08 (11) 0,773 Minutes for 01 Goals 2010-11 Age 23 at start of the season

15 (22) 1,537 Minutes for 01 Goals. A goal every 1,537 Minutes (Premiership Career)

Yes, to be clear, he has scored a whole Premiership Goal in two seasons

Shane Long, Striker: Age 25 and 4 Months

24 (08) 2,186 Minutes for 08 Goals 2011-12 Age 24 at start of the season
07 (22) 0,781 Minutes for 03 Goals 2007-08 Age 20 at start of the season
09 (12) 0,824 Minutes for 02 Goals 2006-07 Age 19 at start of the season

40 (42) 3,781 Minutes for 13 Goals. A Goal every 291 Minutes = 5.28 times more prolific than Cox



I made no comment then, except to post the [b[PREMIERSHIP STATISTICS[/b],
which I believe is what we are discussing... players to bring in to keep us in the Premiership

[Snowball]

How dare you introduce facts snowball has deliberately ignored so he can prove his point.

And what point was that, as I didn't make one.

[Victor Meldrew]

Let me make it easy for you and the squrimy Ian Royal

Here is the exact text of my original post
which was posted without any comment whatsoever

This Season's Premiership

07 (11) 0 Goals Simon Cox
24 (08) 8 Goals Shane Long

So just to be clear, Cox failed to score in the Premiership in 18 appearances, 764 minutes

He's a striker. If he played some games on the wing, presumably that was because he wasn't good
enough to oust the strikers like Long (8 Premiership Goals) and Odemwingie (10 Premiership Goals)

Shane Long got 8 goals in 32 appearances 2,186 minutes

Simon Cox, Striker: Age 25 and 1 Month

07 (11) 0,764 Minutes for 00 Goals 2011-12 Age 24 at start of the season
08 (11) 0,773 Minutes for 01 Goals 2010-11 Age 23 at start of the season

15 (22) 1,537 Minutes for 01 Goals. A goal every 1,537 Minutes (Premiership Career)

Yes, to be clear, he has scored a whole Premiership Goal in two seasons

Shane Long, Striker: Age 25 and 4 Months

24 (08) 2,186 Minutes for 08 Goals 2011-12 Age 24 at start of the season
07 (22) 0,781 Minutes for 03 Goals 2007-08 Age 20 at start of the season
09 (12) 0,824 Minutes for 02 Goals 2006-07 Age 19 at start of the season

40 (42) 3,781 Minutes for 13 Goals. A Goal every 291 Minutes = 5.28 times more prolific than Cox



I made no comment then, except to post the [b[PREMIERSHIP STATISTICS[/b],
which I believe is what we are discussing... players to bring in to keep us in the Premiership

I think they still use a ball and play for 90 minutes in all competitions so it would have made sense to produce wider stats than just those in the Premiership.
BTW I see that Doyle and Keane are expected to start for the Irish today which implies to me that the manager favours Doyle over Long which is what I FWIW do.

[RoyalX]

Snowball,

I know that you said Premiership only; I was trying to show that this (deliberately or otherwise) doesn't show the whole picture. I believe that you have previously used cup competitions and international appearances to justify your argument, which is good and you should continue to do - despite others' belief that these aren't important. Which is why I was disappointed not to see these here.

FWIW, I wouldn't really want to see either back here.

[Friday's Legacy]

Just given Ireland the lead.

[JimmytheJim]

Anyone who wouldn't take Long back is insane.

[Basingstoke-Royal]

Would LOVE us to get long ... Loved everything about him especially he's Work ethic + flick ons

[Victor Meldrew]

Anyone who wouldn't take Long back is insane.

Count me in for the asylum.
We don't want long-ball back thanks-we got promoted by using our central striker to bring others into play,let's keep playing like that.

[RockheadRumple]

Anyone who wouldn't take Long back is insane.

Count me in for the asylum.
We don't want long-ball back thanks-we got promoted by using our central striker to bring others into play,let's keep playing like that.

But with Shane, the long-ball play was so effective because of his work rate, pace and strength. Both styles are good, and playing a Long-Roberts combo could even prove to be extra effective. I'd take him back whatever the price.

(Besides, Long played some nice passes through the middle occasionally and ran the channels very well. Where do you think all those assists came from?)

[Royal Rother]

Agree with that.

[JimmytheJim]

Anyone who wouldn't take Long back is insane.

Count me in for the asylum.
We don't want long-ball back thanks-we got promoted by using our central striker to bring others into play,let's keep playing like that.

You don't want us to get Long because you think that means we will automatically switch to playing long ball?

And since when did we stop playing long ball anyway?

We have played direct attacking football all season. Roberts just made it more effective. As did Long the year before.

Just admit that once again you have a personal prejudice that clouds your judgement of a footballing matter, and we can leave it at that.

[ZacNaloen]

I like the suggestion that Long didn't get other players involved in play, how many assists did he get last year?

[Snowball]

I like the suggestion that Long didn't get other players involved in play, how many assists did he get last year?

I Prem & 1 Championship

18 Championship assists the season before plus 1 in POs and 1 in Cup

[ZacNaloen]

I like how you took my last year question litetally, I obviously meant the previous season

[RockheadRumple]

I like how you took my last year question litetally, I obviously meant the previous season

Oh, Snowball!