"Fear" might not be the right word but I can guarantee that defenders hate playing against him (Long). Defenders hate being closed down and hurried and Long does that (reminds me a lot of Ormrod). Also, for a little guy, he wins a heck of a lot of headers.
We do harry defenders. We couldn't have expected the glory of Sunderland's first OG, but things like that result from causing uncertainty. Long's speed and style certainly attract the attention of the opposition, then someone like Cork can skip in unnoticed. The challenge for other teams is to decide which Saints' player to mark.
I'm not starting a campaign against a player but are people happy with Long at this point in the season? I've seen him have good and bad games, I know he's industrious and I know he hassles and is tenacious but what is the point if there's no end product. I'm wondering where people see his overall contribution at this point in the season and should we be scoring more goals from his position? I would really like to see him scoring more goals than he is. reviewing his contribution so far he's great physically, no argument - fast, can leap but he's not getting enough end product. 2 goals and one assist is dissapointing when we really need someone to bang in some goals. Too often I seen him ending up with a set-piece like that's his contribution. Run around, get the ball, get tangled up, win a free kick. I remember people predicting he would be a 2 goal a season striker and its looking like he will be a 4 goal striker unless he can become more direct. If he were playing for another side would anyone be impressed?
Think he needs to play more centrally to be more effective. He's always a threat with his pace and gets us free kicks, but I think we need another striker in January as we lack goals/depth up front.
I'm delighted with his contribution. He's incredibly hard working which is why we bought him. We wouldn't be where we are without him.
I wasn't so happy that we paid so much for him, but aside from that I'm fairly satisfied with him. He is what he is. He works hard, he keeps defenses honest, he's willing to defend, he seems like a nice guy who gets along with teammates and represents the club well. Always reliable. Better header of the ball than I would have thought. He's not a great finisher or dribbler, but he does make good runs, and between that and just sheer effort he could probably knock in 8-10 in a season if we let him start every game. But he won't start that many, or at least I hope he doesn't. But at any rate, I'm pretty satisifed with him as a frequent sub/sometime starter/injury depth. I think Mane is more talented, but I'm still not convinced if he'll be consistent enough and if he does put it together, I feel like he will leave. So I think winger/striker is an area that needs to be strengthened by bringing in a first XI kind of player. But I wouldn't want to get rid of Long. He isn't great but he's certainly okay and that is quite useful. Especially if we have European competition next year.
I love his work rate as well but if we hadnt bought him and bought another player who delivered us 2 goals and assist we'd be exactly where we are now. There's also the possibility that we would have got 9 goals ala Pelle and be even better placed isn't there? If we end up finishing 9th and Long delivers 4 goals at the end of the season, the fact that he's hard-working will be somewhat hollow.
[QUOTE="He isn't great but he's certainly okay and that is quite useful. Especially if we have European competition next year.[/QUOTE] I like that we can consider the possibility of needing him for Europe. Totally agree with you about Mane. I'd expect Long to be more loyal and personality wise I agree he seems like a decent guy. Looking back at his history, he's never exceeded 8 goals for a season so he's obviously not valued for his prolific goal scoring. Hopefully we can get more than his recent 3-4/season out of him.
I just don't think that's true. We'd possibly have scored more goals (which player would you suggest would score quite a few from outwide that was available to us in the summer) but we'd have conceded more purely because he works so hard. He creates goals for others with his pressure and constant runs at and through the defence.
I like that we can consider the possibility of needing him for Europe. Totally agree with you about Mane. I'd expect Long to be more loyal and personality wise I agree he seems like a decent guy. Looking back at his history, he's never exceeded 8 goals for a season so he's obviously not valued for his prolific goal scoring. Hopefully we can get more than his recent 3-4/season out of him.[/QUOTE] Loyalty? Didint he leave hull after half a season to join us? I think he is a useful player from the bench,not a starter in my opinion tho.like others have said,he will run and run and run for the team
I understand people's frustration as he's not scored many goals, but, two things that may not have been factored in are i) the fact that he's not playing for 90 mins every game, and is used as a squad player, and ii) I think we've had at least 3 clear penalties that Long would've won turned down, each of which is as good as an assist in my book. Long and the short (no pun intended) is that a few people seem to be judging him based on the transfer fee alone regards their expectations, but totally missing the fact that before we signed him we had no pace up front running off Pelle at all. We needed one through the door at that time to help shape the balance of the team. Also he's the right type of character to have the kids learning from regards work ethic on the training ground, even if we hope that a few of them reach a higher peak technically.
Not really. We offered Hull price that was too good for them to turn down. They were actually *hoping* he'd agree to leave at that point. The Hull fans didn't seem mad about the way he played for them or the way he left or the money they got.
12m or so was too much but that's not his doing. The club decided to offer that much for him and it was accepted. Seems wrong to judge a player for a club decision. As to your question, yes I'm happy with what he's doing. The number of times i've seen him force a defensive/clearance error due to harrying is impressive and his willingness to be a team player and perform at 100% every game is great. I don't think he'll ever be a goal scoring machine or game changer but you need players like him in a squad to do the dirty work and chip in when they can.
We paid high for Long because we wanted him and we were known to have money. I think he works hard and does a lot for the team...as long as we keep doing well, he is earning his money. A few goals wouldn't go down badly, though
This is what I'm interested in because I just don't see his harrying and hassling creating opportunities. He's no diver but invariably seems to end up tangled and on the ground. Was it the Chelsea game where he got nothing given (including the ridiculous up-n-under)? I've started to think he's got a reputation building with the ref's and we are starting to see fewer and fewer decisions go his way. I'll watch more closely to see what his influence is on the wider game.
I have been happy with Long so far, he is someone who hassles the defence and it has created chances for us. I see him as a lesser talented version of Jay. Someone who will bust a gut across the pitch, but Jay has shown that he can finish a lot of the chances created, as well as fluff quite a few.
