Shane Long

[Royal Rother]

Nice one.

[tlcs]

Good attitude

[Snowball]

Interesting. However, usually when players go through "major body changes"
like Michael Owen or Theo Walcott did, it takes a while for them to get back
in tune. Shane's touch could get worse before it gets better.

Cue, no doubt, a series of dumb jokes.

[ZacNaloen]

Probably explains why it looks like he's put on weight over the summer.

[readingbedding]

It could be his last season with us if he doesn't improve.
I've rated him, but he has seemed to have plateaued out.
Good luck to him.

[Royal Rother]

Can we assume this is a part of Rodgers' new approach to training? Minimise traditional gym work because that is boring and does nothing to sharpen the mind etc.

Perhaps he has identified specific types of training that will give additional benefit to each squad members' skillbase. A lot of boxing skill is about fast reactions, upper body strength and spring in the legs - not a million miles away from attributes a top striker needs.

Just a thought.

Anyway, I'm sure it's not revolutionary but I like it.

[ZacNaloen]

He started it midway through last season Rother, so not likely.

[Hoop Blah]

Can we assume this is a part of Rodgers' new approach to training? Minimise traditional gym work because that is boring and does nothing to sharpen the mind etc.

Perhaps he has identified specific types of training that will give additional benefit to each squad members' skillbase. A lot of boxing skill is about fast reactions, upper body strength and spring in the legs - not a million miles away from attributes a top striker needs.

Just a thought.

Anyway, I'm sure it's not revolutionary but I like it.

Doesn't it say that McDermott got Long onto it a few months ago? I think it would be pushing it to give Rodgers credit for something that kicked in before he took over.

[Tinrib]

Can we assume this is a part of Rodgers' new approach to training? Minimise traditional gym work because that is boring and does nothing to sharpen the mind etc.

Perhaps he has identified specific types of training that will give additional benefit to each squad members' skillbase. A lot of boxing skill is about fast reactions, upper body strength and spring in the legs - not a million miles away from attributes a top striker needs.

Just a thought.

Anyway, I'm sure it's not revolutionary but I like it.

Doesn't it say that McDermott got Long onto it a few months ago? I think it would be pushing it to give Rodgers credit for something that kicked in before he took over.

Agreed. And Shanes performances did seem to improve in the latter half of the season.

At 22 he's still got room for improvement, especially as he didn't start playing football seriously till his teens, and even then that was his second sport, behind hurling. I think Shane falls into the late developer category.

I'd like him to get a bit more 'angry' on the pitch.

[papereyes]

Agreed. And Shanes performances did seem to improve in the latter half of the season.

I thought some of the games towards the end he was superb.

At 22 he's still got room for improvement, especially as he didn't start playing football seriously till his teens,

I'd actually disagree a bit and say that players that rely on more than raw physical talent peak a good couple of years later than that. I still think he should have been out on loan in that first Prem season to get games but he's looking more likely to get there than not.

[Royal Rother]

Don't forget that Rodgers has super-powers. He probably has prescience and may have influenced McDermott's thinking from afar...

Ahem... reading and commenting 5 hours apart, probably not the best thing at my age!

[Royal Rother]

I'd like him to get a bit more 'angry' on the pitch.

Really? He generally looks like the angriest one on the pitch to me! He has taken a number of unnecessary bookings through minor shows of petulance and temper.

[Thaumagurist*]

I'd like him to get a bit more 'angry' on the pitch.

Really? He generally looks like the angriest one on the pitch to me! He has taken a number of unnecessary bookings through minor shows of petulance and temper.

Worse attitude than Leroy Lita!

[Deathy]

Long has special training in bid to improve performance
6:30am Thu 16th Jul 09:: written by Steve Spencer

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/ ... rformance/

Lol

[Ian Royal]

I'd like him to get a bit more 'angry' on the pitch.

Really? He generally looks like the angriest one on the pitch to me! He has taken a number of unnecessary bookings through minor shows of petulance and temper.

Yeah, he does seem to be one who gets frustrated and angry very easily when decisions aren't going in his favour. His head goes down to easily and he does have too many moments of petulence.

End of last season he looked like he could come pretty good. I'm not convinced it'll happen, especially in a system which will likely be 1 central striker and two wide forwards. Possibly one in the hole as well.

I don't thik Long is our best bet for a wide forward by a fairly long way. And I'm not sure he's suited to a lone central role. It's going to be interesting.

[Snowball]

I think in a 4-4-2 this year he would have blossomed, with his power and hard-running as he showed a few times towards the end of 2008-9

But in a 4-3-3, on the right presumably, he's going to have to compete with Henry/Church (and maybe Smith) and unless he has hours and hours of specific skills training I can't see him ever competing with those three players.

With most players you play to their strengths, and much as I'm a fan of Shane's, close-to tricky ball-skills is not what he is about. His three rivals will suit 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 better than Shane, I suspect.

I don't believe he will ever be a Jason Scotland type hard-to-shift target man in a 4-5-1 (PS Scotland would have been a very useful replacement for Doyle) but he might be developed as a player running on to through balls.

I may be wrong about how I see Rodger's teams turning out, but from Shane's POV I suspect he might not suit the set-up. On that basis, a 2M move would be good.

I still believe, barring serious injury, that Shane will score 20 goals a season in the Championship for someone.

[Snowball]

I should have started that post with "Agreed"

[Yorkshire Royal]

Damn shame he couldn't have one on one training on how to play football.

Actually, maybe he's thinking of a career change to boxing.. Might hit a target for once...

[Ian Royal]

Not sure about the confidence on 20 goals, but otherwise spot on.

Shane Long is a story of tragedy. A player who could have been such a big player now, had he got regular first team football on loan in any of the last 3 seasons. As it is he's a player who is still struggling to get off the nearly pile and could never manage it.

[Yorkshire Royal]

Or alternatively. He's just a bit sh1t...