by Sanguine »
02 Mar 2021 10:06
John Madejski's Wallet Sanguine Winston Biscuit Shane Long to Bournemouth. Didn't realise how bad his scoring record was at Southampton tbh. Only got above scoring 5 league goals in one season.
Not a lot to dislike about Shane Long - and he's a real example of someone rinsing every ounce of ability out of himself. 539 career club appearances so far, and 85 Ireland caps. Yet he's only got to double figures in league goals twice, and scored a quarter of his total league goals in one season (2010-11) for us.
It's not just goals with Long. He lasted so long at Saints as he causes chaos in oppo defences when running the channel and challenging for balls. So he gives an outlet and attacking pressure that allows others to score
I get that to an extent (I think 'chaos' is a little over-cooked), but I nevertheless think he has done stupendously well to prolong his career as a forward (as he isn't a Sterling/Sancho type runner from wide) to over 600 appearances.