I'm a huge Long fan but despite a goal and two assists I thought he was very wasteful...I'm aware that sounds a bit contradictory!
Not sure why the Referees were changed, Mike Jones 4th Official at Sunderland tomorrow and taking the Spurs match on Monday. As far as I can tell Neil Swarbrick didn't have a bad game but there wasn't much controversy around.
I've been a Shane Long admirer for several years, even when managers of his previous clubs seemed not to be that particular. He has always been a player who is in and out of a team, and apart from Saints, I can't really think where he's made a huge-ish impression. Undoubtedly, he has benefited greatly from being at SFC, and having Saints staff to coach him, because he's improved a huge amount over the last couple of seasons. When he was with Reading and WBA I wondered why he kept being left out as much as being selected, and it wasn't always for injuries. I'm not usually that interested, but Long is an interesting character, so I took the trouble to look. When Saints paid nigh on £12M everyone and his or her dog raised their eyebrows, including me as I put him in the £6-8M bracket tops, but now he really could be considered the £12M man, if you squint a bit. Good for him. I'll still find him frustrating when he misplaces a pass to an opposition defender when it was easier to get the ball to his teammate, or when he blazes the ball wide when it would have been easier to score, but that's what you get with Shane and overall he's a lot more positive than negative. Anyway, Ron likes him, and that's good enough, after all.
Just watching Match Choice, Long did miss a few chances! Their goal was down to the failure to cut out the cross from the left (Cedric?) and Bertie and Romeu getting in each others way in the penalty area.
Knew it would be hostile today, but JL really took the brunt of it & rightly so. Bet he was hoping Gabby would make an appearance just to take some of the heat! We were so wasteful though, woodwork twice, goal disallowed for O/S & somehow we still let them back in. Poor defensively, or just kind to a buried Villa team, I don't know. Enjoyed the gallows humour, think they appreciated us joining in. Paper aeroplanes got the biggest cheer of the day!
Lescott took much crap for that. He clearly wasn't trying to rile the fans up. I think he was just trying to put a positive spin on things. It had been pretty obvious for quite some time that Villa was going down. So I believe what he was trying to say was that now the inevitable had finally happened, perhaps the players can clear their minds and play better the rest of the season, and build for the future. Something like that. And yeah, he said it badly but really the Villa fans were just out for blood (understandably) so pounced all that little snippet of his remarks. If you read the whole thing, he said he was disappointed, that he'd like to close out the season strong for the fans, that the players including himself have to take responsibility, etc. Not sure how sincere he was about all of it. But point is, he was *trying* to make the proper conciliatory relegation speech but just mis-spoke.
There's more to it than just that. He posted a pic of a sports car after a defeat & said his phone sent it while in his pocket. His performances have spoke volumes this season, he is the flag ship of hms don'tgiveadamn & is getting the flak. A proper mercenary in my eyes.
Second half much the same, their second goal saw several players ball watching and failing to mark on the edge of the area. A mixture of bad luck, good blocking and some glaring misses by Long. We should have filled our boots, but the last goal was pure football, a level above what had gone before.
Yep, hes unlucky. He had just been running around for 90+ minutes, easy to mix your words in that situation. He obviously didn't mean it in a negative way. He has been ****ing atrocious though. How he still hasn't been dropped is an utter, utter mystery
Cedric got done on our right hand side and both Fonte and VVD went across to cover leaving the penalty area empty bar Bertrand and a retreating Romeu, basically comical defending from the entire back line
Long is a pretty wasteful striker. However, he generates -- for himself and others -- a tonne of chances. It's a worthwhile trade-off, particularly in a squad that doesn't always offer much by way of creativity.
I hope I don't no.7.... Particularly after the game at the lane! I'll do a special anniversary thread instead
Yeah, I'm not excusing Lescott. Just saying people were making too big a deal out of that statement. And also to some degree the car photo (though claiming he pocket-posted it was stupid). He's played quite poorly. That's the real problem. That Villa team is legitimately lacking in talent and might have been relegated anyway, but to only have 16 points? Yeah, I can understand why their fans are mad. They have every right to be upset with his behavior while on the pitch and during the games, including that thing with Guzan.
I smirked to myself when I read all those comments about long today. Goal and assists but didn't play well. Here is one rule. Over here is another rule for someone else.
