Shane Long

Having been at the two recent home friendlies and watched the last one on TV I think it's safe to say that Long is great in the air but with the ball at his feet (when he has time to think) rarely just shoots on instinct and often tries to do something clever.

He had a couple of chances against Italy to just put his foot through the ball and always took the wrong option.
I just don't think he has the deadly finish in him that Robbie has and John Aldridge had.

I'd like to see Stokes get a start in one of the upcoming matches (is he in the squad/jail?)

Injured his calf pre-Italy game. Probably wasn't going to the US anyway.

Stokes was injured for the Italy match and has been left out of the trip to the US so that he has a proper break before Celtic start their Euro qualifiers.

shame

In fairness to Long he has tried to finish every which way at this stage, which probably isn't a good thing anyway! He doesn't seem to have any set way of finishing like most good strikers. Was it against Serbia that he went for that horrendous attempt of a chip? I suppose he scored a lovely one of those against Villa during the season. He just tried to smash his one in Stockholm (I think) and ended up slicing it badly. Maybe that's why he's reluctant to just put his foot through it at times. It does seem like something that should improve from dedication on the training pitch, but one would have to assume he's not slacking off in that regard.

He's not slacking off but as you said doesn't have any set way of finishing. So a few things probably go through his head instead of just not thinking about it and finishing it
But the ones against Sweden was 25 yards out whereas against Serbia it was a one on one where he just had to round the keeper

It's okay, don't we have Robbie waiting?

Long scores in a preseason game against Barnsley, Conor Hourihane equalised. We really need Long to be a the top of his game as we become more reliant on him.

Edit: Link doesn't work, so take my word for it!

a link here
http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...ainst-barnsley

Starting up front for Hull tonight, won a penalty but Townsend took it, it was saved and then he clipped the crossbar from the rebound!

Huddlestone missed it. Jelavic is on the bench so he presumably would have taken it otherwise. I'd imagine Brady will step up once he attains full fitness.

Long is usually worth 3 or 4 penalties a season. I don't know why he isn't taking them. It would push him into double figures every season and raise his profile. Nobody remembers the guy who wins the penalties. They just remember the guy who scores/misses them.

I do know he missed penalty at West Brom a couple seasons ago but Brunt and Odemwingie missed several too FFS. He needs to be more ruthless and demand to take them.

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Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

I do know he missed penalty at West Brom a couple seasons ago but Brunt and Odemwingie missed several too FFS. He needs to be more ruthless and demand to take them.

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Most clubs not do penalty drills to decide a pecking order? He can demand to take em all he wants, if the manager says no way then there's not much he can do.

Looks like Long is off to Southampton for £12m. 100% profit for Hull in little over six months. Miaow.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Looks like Long is off to Southampton for £12m. 100% profit for Hull in little over six months. Miaow.

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I heard he was looking at property in Liverpool for next summer.

Wow. That really came out of nowhere. He'll be playing off a big man in Pelle and that Tadic lad is supposed to be an excellent supplier. I'd argue it's a move upwards rather than sideways. Southampton have lost some real quality players but they can still field a front 6 of Tadic, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Long, Rodriquez and Pelle. Not shabby.

Steve Bruce is getting one large pat on the back off the owners for that one. Seemed an audacious outlay for two strikers in January for a side like Hull. He's now recouped that expenditure 100% and is still left with one of the pair.

Looks like people like Ronald Koeman, Brendan Rodgers, Steve Clarke and Steve Bruce get it.

Are these all managers that have bought Long? I'm sure they all get that he's a fantastic athlete and has a great attitude and defenders find him hard to play against. They'd be getting the same thing that everyone I know gets. I'm not sure any of them will compliment his finishing though.

Hopefully a fresh start will lead to goals. Not just the odd goal here and there but proper 15-18 goals a season stuff. Strikers often score in streaks and we could do with Long finding a vein of goal scoring form.

shane long has one more league goal than carlton cole in 3 years.

Remember the season he got 23 goals in the Championship for Reading? I absolutely love Shane Long, but that feels like a career ago.

Just thinking of the managers he's played under; Steve Clarke, Roy Hodgson, Brian McDermott, Steve Bruce, Steve Coppell, Brendan Rodgers- All British managers (effectively). Will be a nice change to see him under a manager like Koeman who has managed in the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Could it make a difference? Maybe.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Looks like Long is off to Southampton for £12m. 100% profit for Hull in little over six months. Miaow.

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Seems Liverpool used the Suarez money to buy a load of players from Southampton and hence Southampton are splashing out.

Will be nice to have an Irish player at Southampton, will make their matches more interesting for me.