Should have had a hat trick, I actually looked at the price for that, was about 125-1 iirc.
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Should have had a hat trick, I actually looked at the price for that, was about 125-1 iirc.
You'd have made a cool £4 from that I reckon.Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
£625 if I had put my free £5 bet on it. Well if he had got three which he didn't so it wowuld have been £0.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
gentleman, we've discussed posting about betting in the Ireland forum before. There's a betting folder, use it.
Long was immense tonight. The reason he wasn't given MOTM in the first place was because he was only on one goal at the time it was awarded and the goal was somewhat dubious- not sure whether it was deliberate or not, but he managed to trip Koscielny who was tracking his run. The result was that Long was unmarked at the backpost to finish the pass from Mané. The referee missed the trip which would have been deemed a foul, regardless of intention or lack thereof.
The second goal he got was much more clear cut. In fact, he should have had a goal in the first half too. He made a terrific run off Mané who played a lovely ball over the top for him. Long was through, with pressure from Merstesacker, but took a delightful touch with his head to tee it up for the shot. Long tried to lob it over the oncoming Cech with his right but drove it high and over. The lob would have been beautiful if he had executed it correctly but the best option appeared to be a low left leg.
Overall, he was immense and was singled out for it on BT. He constantly ran the channels and was fundamental to Southampton's gameplan i.e. play deep, suffocate Arsenal's attacking options (Walcott, Giroud, Ozil) and then break with Mané supporting Long. Long's runs and hassling of the two centre-halves was crucial to 3 of the 4 goals (the first from Martina will be among the goals of the season, a brilliant finish from nothing). He gave Koscielny and, in particular, Mertesacker a torrid time.
Watching the game, myself and the lads felt that he did well not to get a second yellow. The first was just about warranted but he was such a pest to the two centre-halves that a second could have eventually came about. Wenger admitted that his side didn't have the luck of the decisions but that was always going to occur when such pressure was being applied by Southampton. Not that the pressure was high-pressing, it was more of a counter-attacking press that was dangerous. On the other hand, Arsenal looked completely blunt and were thwarted going forward. They had very few chances at all.
It was the Shane Long performance that you all can imagine, even if you haven't seen the game. They had almost zero attacking options on the bench (Juanmi and Tadic, one untried and the other a midfielder moreso) so Koeman persisted with him after a simply decent first half. It paid dividends in the second as the gameplan was perfectly executed by Long in his relentless and physical hassling of the last line of defence of the opposition.
There was even a lovely moment in the post-match interviews. It was Long and the goalscorer Martina and Long was spoken to first to discuss his MOTM performance. They moved on to Martina and basically asked him how surreal it was to get such a cracking goal having barely featured. Martina stumbled through a tough one to respond to but Long intervened saying how well Martina was going in training and that he had said to Martina his chance had to come and it was a credit to him for taking it.
Please don't direct that type of spectacular after eventing to the betting forum. It was bad enough to read in here!Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Seems like I can't win!
Anyhow maybe Long will get to start more games now?
Or will he be back on the bench again?
I would not be too surprised if he was.
Was Pelle injured or dropped?
Injured, out until early January according to Fantasy Football
Assist for Long, Southampton 1 up
In light of the legacy banter about Long-Cox on this thread, I just noticed Pugh-King in the Bournemouth line up. Sickening.
As a precaution against flooding Leicester City have been playing King Kanute in midfieldQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Third start in a row today for Long. First time this season he's started more than two games in a row for the Saints, never started more than four in a row.
They've Palace next week in the cup, be interesting to see if he starts that or not.
Good and bad from Shane. Aggressive and good in the air. Pretty good all round performance… but one too many touches on a good chance and did not convert.
Yeah, was thinking the same but it wasn't easy by any means. He had a lot to do and it'd have required a really good first touch to set it up right. Keeper did well too. Koeman looked frustrated which doesn't look good.
Great header by Long to score the first goal against Watford. Smart run to get in front of the defender and a firm header from about 12 yards out.
Interesting how we go on about Long missing chances, however he has 5 goals in 839 minutes, the average for the other player on 6 goals is about 1400 mins (for all 5).
His shots per goal (2.4) is about average or maybe slightly above, but not as high as Rooney (2.6).
There are only about 7 players who have fewer minutes per goal, and not many of those play for Southampton. :)
ah stuff the stats though, just seeing him over the years is enough to doubt his reliability in front of goal. Maybe not so much this year as he looks to be doing better. Lovely headed goal on Wednesday, super stuff.
Newstalk felt the need to mention the Irish Daily Star linking him with a move to Tottenham or Liverpool this morning.
A lot of our players are in good form, it's kind of scary.
Seems to be better with his head than with his feet, although I don't know if he is as bad as we tend to think, trouble is were expect him
to put every chance away, was the same with Robbie Keane you would curse every chance he missed.
I think he is often running at pace when he gets chance with his feet, that tends to limit your time and options.
I would agree a lot of our players seem to be in good form, were look stronger than we have done for quite a while, more options
available.
he is definitely not as bad as some on here think. He brings so much to the teams he plays for. Speed, skill, the right kind of aggression not to mention his leap and his heading ability and the ability to find the net. His goals per chance ratio might be average but everything else he brings is above average. He terrorizes defenses.
I agree. I don't think he's bad at all, I think he's a super player. Just not a really reliable finisher, but signs he's getting better. I was critical of 25 year old Robbie Keane's finishing. His early career one on ones were awful.
Anyway, SSN saying Long is a target for Liverpool. A great accolade that Klopp rates him, if true, but Liverpool can be an unforgiving place for forwards.
Does anybody actually think this though? I find that he's a very popular player amongst supporters, despite his undoubtedly erratic finishing. I think the majority (maybe even everybody) on here acknowledges what a handful and generally good player he is. Open to correction though.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
It's mentioned in the online Sky Sports transfer centre but they source The Sun, as opposed to their own sources. Southampton are on the verge of signing Charlie Austin though so who knows?!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Edit- Southampton have completed the Austin signing. Apparently Koeman said last month that the injuries to Jay Rodriguez might force him into the market though.
You can't edit posts on the mobile without it deleting. I basically said in 3 or so years when he loses/starts to lose his pace I'd be worried about hkm
Well a Shane Long without pace is obviously not going to be the same player, but he may not lose it that early i.e. 30/31... and the end is in sight for the majority of players beyond that anyway.
Lots of talk in the gossip columns in relation to Graziano Pelle at the moment too- being linked to Juventus and Fiorentina. Austin is probably a more similar player to Pelle than he is Rodriguez (even though Austin and Pelle are intrinsically different).Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Long is going to be 29 soon. He looks as quick now than he did when he signed for West Brom. For evidence, compare his performance against Arsenal to those that Roy Hodgson waxed lyrically about in the first half of 2011/2012 when he was 24. Hopefully it won't be an issue for a while.
Interesting to note he's up to 5 goals so far this season. He got 5 in the entirety of last season.
The fact that it's just the Sun that's reporting this rumour is a disappointing. Nothing concrete to it, it appears. Maybe Southampton are so grateful to Liverpool for taking Caulker off their hands that they'll give them a cut-price on our Shane?
No goal or even assist for Long today but his link up play looked excellent, including some lovely passes, one which directly let to a penalty and a brilliant flick in the build up to the third goal.
There has to be two assists in there.... Let loose the stat people.......aaargh..........Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
No assists in the stats, but I had to re-watch the highlight to confirm that, he had a very effective game though.
He got a good rating 7.54, pretty good without getting a gaol or an assist.
I know it's the Mirror, but there's a report that Southampton have rejected a bid from Liverpool: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...r-move-7195174
The £8m thing is a bit of a joke. Surely if Liverpool did come in with that as their opening bid Southampton would reply with something along the lines of... "you know we paid £12m for him just a year ago right? okay, so kindly p*** off and stop wasting our time".
I think it should be clear enough at this stage (even to Koeman) that Long will score at least many goals as Pelle but offer a lot more besides, not to mention being a bit younger. He's also more versatile when trying to accommodate Austin and/or Rodriguez. A couple of big Italian clubs are linked with Pelle and he has only a year and a half left on his contract. I wouldn't see the point in giving him a new one as he'll be 32 when his current deal expires, so they might as well just cash in.
Common sense tells me Long will stay and Pelle will go, but football and common sense aren't exactly the best of friends.
It'd be interesting to see Long at Liverpool though. It's probably a risk from his own perspective in terms of game time at club level. I don't think it's a risk from an Ireland perspective as it won't make much of a difference given that he doesn't start a whole pile.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Liverpool do have better attacking players in Firmino and Coutinho (I think Mané is good but not as good as those) so maybe his goal ratio would improve. And that Arsenal match was one of the best exhibitions of 'gegenpressing' you'll see from a PL striker.
Also, I'm not sure how much they fancy Benteke and Origi had one good game before getting injured. Obviously Sturridge is a quality player when fit and well ahead of Long but the opportunity could be there to be a squad player at Liverpool. Not many players could turn their nose up at that.
I agree with all your points re Koeman and Pelle. They should cash in on him whilst he's an Italian international and has a premium for interested Serie A clubs. His goal per minute ratio probably isn't much better than Long's. 54 games-18 goals versus 45 games-10 goals with more of Pelle's games being starts. Different players, obviously.
Yeah I agree with all that. Basically it would probably be a bit of a short-term fix from Liverpool's point of view and too big an opportunity to turn down from Long's. Southampton are the ones with nothing to gain and plenty to lose in the potential deal, unless Liverpool's alleged offer is increased significantly, which may be a little too desperate from their perspective.
I think Long would see plenty of game time this season and possibly even a lot of starts. The problem for him would probably materialise at the start of next season as Liverpool are bound to do a bit of damage in the summer. That might not be the end of the world for Long though, he's been through a string of clubs anyway so if he moves on again so be it, or if he's getting game time at Anfield (even from the bench) better still. From an Irish point of view I think it would be good to have a player at one of the big clubs but I can't really see it happening.
I would love to see this move happen from an Irish perspective but I am not sure totally sure it's really what Liverpool need but listen every signing is a gamble as such. Does anyone know who is actually reporting this please other than the mirror?
Nobody of any note as far as I can see, Sky Sports themselves sourced The Mirror so they obviously haven't anything concrete either.
Danny Murphy agrees with you, although his comparison to Benteke is dumb.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
In the poll 65% want Liverpool to sign Long. 15% Vardy, not sure who the others are.
9/4 is his price to go to Liverpool in the transfer window. Or 1/3 to stay where he is.
Has the Spurs rumour died? That one actually made more sense to me with their lack of cover for Kane.
it'll take 12m for Liverpool to sign him, according to the sun today.
As with all transfer rumours, and especially where the sun print anything connected to Liverpool, take it with a pinch of salt