Shane Long

[Wax Jacket]

Shane Long is shit

[The Positive One!]

OK Scarface & Wax Jacket - you basically haven't got a clue what you are talking about!!! Do you watch football?

[RobRoyal]

And it's a fact that IR is a knob-head.

Aren't you embarrassed yet?

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

If you're just talking goals scored/appearances, that's fine...but choose between a player that you like because of his non-scoring abilities, like Kitson, then your judgment is skewed on who is better than who. It's not Top Trumps, it's the whole package that makes up the perception of a player, and that element is missed.

There was once a stat that Ray Wilkins completed the most passes in a season and from that some people made the conclusion that he was the 'Best Midfielder'. A controversial choice, given that Ray was known for his favouritism towards the simple sideways pass. (But he was, however, a regular England International, so he cant have been totally derisory)

I agree with you that choosing a player's most favourable statistic (or a number of highly related statistics) and using that solely as the performance of the player is a futile activity (Andy Hughes for instance had a very favourable "Average points won per game"). That is almost a shame as Shane Long (who i actually quite like as a player) does indeed have a goal scoring record that is worth mentioning in a thread. I just dont believe it is worth mentioning in the fashion it has been, i.e. to compare him to regular strikers, when the comparison made is, at best, dubious. I would certainly need a lot more to convince me that Shane Long should be a regular starter for Reading.

This season could actually be an interesting role reversal if, as some of us would believe, Shane is to be promoted to regular starter with Simon Church as the first name on the susbtitutes bench. Will Shane then be able to compare stats wise to Doyle or Hunt. And how will Church get on with his 15 minute appearances? That, to me, would prove a lot more than the stats on this thread, because, at the moment, its hard to pull out all the good stats from the noise.

Sorry for the boring posts today.

Saying that I can often do the reverse and use somebody's worst stats to put them down. Anybody want to get into a pissing war about Matejovsky?

[Hoop Blah]

Didn't Peter Schmeichel also come out of one game with the most distance travelled, just by constantly jogging around his area, to prove a point how misleading stats can be?

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

Didn't Peter Schmeichel also come out of one game with the most distance travelled, just by constantly jogging around his area, to prove a point how misleading stats can be?

I dont know, but possibly!
On sober reflection, I like Agent Balti's Top Trumps analogy best of all Ive read here.

Stats arent totally meaningless, but they can be represented as such. The irony of this thread is that you come away liking SHane Long less than when you started reading it.

[Hoop Blah]

I was almost right...he is rumoured to have out done one of the forwards in high intensity sprinting!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/dec/30/sport.comment1

I think James pretty much hits the nail on the head in that article.

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

I was almost right...he is rumoured to have out done one of the forwards in high intensity sprinting!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/dec/30/sport.comment1

I think James pretty much hits the nail on the head in that article.

Thanks for that, that was a surprisingly good read.

[papereyes]

Didn't Peter Schmeichel also come out of one game with the most distance travelled, just by constantly jogging around his area, to prove a point how misleading stats can be?

When United were attacking, he'd often sprint the 18 yard box, just to ruin the stats.

He did it on purpose.

EDIT - read the link I'm quoting from memory

[Hoop Blah]

Didn't Peter Schmeichel also come out of one game with the most distance travelled, just by constantly jogging around his area, to prove a point how misleading stats can be?

When United were attacking, he'd often sprint the 18 yard box, just to ruin the stats.

He did it on purpose.

Cheers, I took your lead and Google'd it!

[Ian Royal]

I think that is a superb article and totally sums up my opinion about the relationship between football and stats. Which may help to explain why I got so frustrated with snowball before I put him on ignore.

[Snowball]

Though there were some prepared to back Shane early in this thread, there were plenty to condemn him.

The following is about a player who was, this season, on just 13 starts (7 goals)
our third-best goal-scorer with 9 league goals overall,
just behind Noel Hunt (11 League goals) who played 1.5 times as many minutes


(Page 1)

Royal Lady: Shane isn't a good player imo. He's had 4 years to prove himself and he hasn't.

Ian Royal:

Long has been dire almost every time he has started.

He has a poor first touch and poor decision making.

His record is not really in the least bit impressive,

he just doesn't score enough.

Yes he's never had a decent run in the side, but that's because every time Coppell has tried to give him one he's been too awful to leave in long enough.

Add to that his attitude is extremely suspect.

He gets very petulent (sic) when things aren't going his way (most the time) and he reacts badly to decisions not going in his favour and is quite rash. //

I think we should get rid.

Baines: Nice lad. Completely out of his depth.

Page 2

Smoking Kills: How many times have we had this thread? I know I started one after the Derby game away, the season we went up. He hasn't kicked on since then, we keep having false dawns. He's been 3rd/4th choice striker all this time, put in some terrible performances when he has started games and never established himself. He's been playing a terrible standard of football in the reserves, against kids mainly. Saying his confidence has gone is an excuse I know. Maybe he plain isn't good enough. He's had so many chances, how many more does he get?

RG6Royal: Ok Long sometimes is a decent impact sub but he cannot run with the ball and just falls over. He has however scored some important goals so that has to be taken into account as a positive. I still don't think he is good enough at this level though.

[papereyes]

Cheers, I took your lead and Google'd it!

I do prefer the 'autism, socially inadequate' alternative, tbf.

[Snowball]

Ian Royal:

Long has been dire almost every time he has started. = 7 goals in 13 starts and 9 league goals overall

He has a poor first touch and poor decision making. Yet has 2 assists compared to Noel Hunt's 3 and is the deadliest finisher in the club

His record is not really in the least bit impressive, = 9 goals in 13 starts (18 "games")

He just doesn't score enough. = Club's third-top scorer this year despite only starting 13 games

Add to that his attitude is extremely suspect. = 3 yellows in a whole season

He gets very petulent (sic) when things aren't going his way (most the time) and he reacts badly to decisions not going in his favour and is quite rash. (3 yellows in a season)

I think we should get rid. (Yes, Ian, Thank-You)

[SLAMMED]

Shane Long = Jizz in my pants

[Snowball]

Shane Long = Jizz in my pants

I hate it when the intellectuals pile in...

[SLAMMED]

I believe thats strike 3...

[Ian Royal]

I believe thats strike 3...

That's not an insult, this is an insult you retarded, monkey loving, rhino cock guzzling deserver of AIDS.

[Snowball]

What is wrong with loving monkeys?

And what's wrong with being retarded?

And if you haven't guzzled a rhino...

[leww_rfc]

Shane Long is shit

oh please could you be readings number 9 then.