Oh, I just tipped the balance. 34 to 33. Sorry Shane, thanks for the good season and all that. Fans dont really get on his back. They're too preoccupied getting out of the way of his shots. LOL!! Lol.
The question l ask myself is by keeping him what value does it bring to the team? My conclusion is very little at the moment; "nice guy", "model professional", "scares people with pace and industry" are all very valid points, but when you balance that with his general lack of contribution on the pitch; he is an expensive bench warmer with a limited shelf life.
Your lack of contribution on the pitch is based purely on how many goals he scores, I see his worth to the team differently, he has contributed to the team and created goals for others, so it is wrong to conclude that he contributes very little IMO.
Surprisingly, my view is the same as it was the other day. If the cub want to keep him (and he wants to stay), then keep him. But if we want to replace him, then do that. He's not a great, but I like him. And more fundamentally, he's down at third choice. I'm really not going to spend much time giving thought to who our third choice striker is. Unless of course the club would replace him with someone to challenge Gabbi, with Austin dropping down to third choice. Then it's a totally different scenario, because we'd be going well beyond just replacing our third choice striker. But that would probably be expensive, and I couldn't see happening. Plus, spend it on a goalscoring midfielder or two instead.
On the contrary; its not just about the number of goals he has scored or the opportunities spurned (there are a lot of those I might add) - but we clearly have differing opinions on his level on contribution on the pitch; passing and crossing are average, got a good leap but does little aerially and can overrun the ball too much for my liking. My point, however, going back to my question; does he add a lot of quality and frankly I do not think he does not. At no point have I said he is rubbish but why keep him?
I'd keep him because he offers the team something different. He runs the channels and can turn defences with his pace and stretch them, opening up the game.
Fair enough; l do think part of the problem is the midfield fail to pick up his running off the ball and fail to see sometimes he had created space for himself
All defenders hate pace and it is the one skill that can't be taught. We are lacking in pace, so I like having Long to bring on....especially near the end of a game when players are mentally and physically tired. Sims has pace....shame he's out for a while.
Good defenders don't give a damn about pace with no brains, the wrong runs or no end product.* I get your point Fran, just mentioning that good defenders can deal with "only pace" quite easily. * not aiming all that at Long by the way. ** ** just some of it
Defenders know that Long is an international striker...I'm sure they are wary of him. He may not score that many for Saints, but no defender would want to risk it being his day for Shane to strike and have an Anfield moment. So in his case, pace is effective....puts doubt in a defenders mind....could be long enough for other players to be neglected.
I did say my point was not aimed at Long, but pointing out that pace alone doesn't scare really good defenders.
To be Fair to Long......he may be a bit wasteful at times but it is definitely true that defences never know what to expect from him. As such he is still a useful player because of that. The defences will think this could still be his day when he gets one in the net............
^This When we had Papa Wago he used to scare defences as they never knew if he would trap the ball or if his attempted trap would land 10 feet away. Unpredictable. it's a good trait