Shaun Long

[Maguire]

Shane now has the best scoring rate at the club.

He was on that sort of hit-rate last season too, when he bagged his 9

Same number of goals as Church on half as many starts this season

ST sub Played goals G/G assists..............Mins/goal
10 08 11.33 05 02.27 01 09-10 0204 Long
22 03 22.50 09 02.50 06 09-10 0225 Gylfi
05 07 06.17 02 03.08 01 09-10 0278 Noel
18 08 19.33 06 03.22 00 09-10 0290 Rasiak
20 04 20.67 05 04.13 00 09-10 0372 Church
14 06 15.00 02 07.50 01 09-10 0675 Howard
13 13 15.17 02 07.58 02 09-10 0683 Kebe
16 03 16.50 01 16.50 00 09-10 1485 Cisse
24 00 24.00 01 24.00 07 09-10 2160 Jobi

Of course your goals/mins ratio should be better if you're always coming on as sub. You're a fresh player playing against tired defenders often at a time of the game when it's a lot more open and there are a lot more chances.

Flawed analysis.

[Snowball]

Shane now has the best scoring rate at the club.

He was on that sort of hit-rate last season too, when he bagged his 9

Same number of goals as Church on half as many starts this season

ST sub Played goals G/G assists..............Mins/goal
10 08 11.33 05 02.27 01 09-10 0204 Long
22 03 22.50 09 02.50 06 09-10 0225 Gylfi
05 07 06.17 02 03.08 01 09-10 0278 Noel
18 08 19.33 06 03.22 00 09-10 0290 Rasiak
20 04 20.67 05 04.13 00 09-10 0372 Church
14 06 15.00 02 07.50 01 09-10 0675 Howard
13 13 15.17 02 07.58 02 09-10 0683 Kebe
16 03 16.50 01 16.50 00 09-10 1485 Cisse
24 00 24.00 01 24.00 07 09-10 2160 Jobi

Of course your goals/mins ratio should be better if you're always coming on as sub. You're a fresh player playing against tired defenders often at a time of the game when it's a lot more open and there are a lot more chances.

Flawed analysis.

Ah, thanks for that. That must be why Rasiak has played 18 starts and 8 sub appearances (same as Shane) and scored one whole goal more.

[Maguire]

But you always bang on about how many sub appearances Shane has had as if it's detrimental to this fricking ratio you always bang on about when spun the way I have above, it isn't.

Rasiak is shit as well, not disputing that.

[Snowball]

Match program has goals scored as

00-15 = 7
16-30 = 6
31-45 = 6

46-60 = 7
61-75 = 3
76-90 = 8

ET = 1

Or to put it another way 13 goals in the first third, 13 goals in the second third and just TWELVE goals in the last third (including extra time)

So it is total BS that this season it's an advantage scoring-wise to come on in the last 30 minutes, and the advantage of coming on for the last 15 is very small

[Millsy]

About bloody time! Showed what he might be capable of last season.

Piled on the pounds over the summer and looked very chunky early season, no wonder he had an ankle problem. Couldn't take the strain.

Needs to sustain his performances for the rest of the season to be anything more than another flash in the pan. But Shane, I apologise, your better than I've given you credit for and might just make a first choice striker yet.

Could not have put it better than this....

Neither could I.

Except for perhaps using "you're" instead of "your"...

(Don't worry we know you better than that Ian: just kidding! Good post. Go Long!)

[Dirk Gently]

Match program has goals scored as

00-15 = 7
16-30 = 6
31-45 = 6

46-60 = 7
61-75 = 3
76-90 = 8

ET = 1

Or to put it another way 13 goals in the first third, 13 goals in the second third and just TWELVE goals in the last third (including extra time)

So it is total BS that this season it's an advantage scoring-wise to come on in the last 30 minutes, and the advantage of coming on for the last 15 is very small

For a team, maybe - but there clearly has to be an advantage for an INDIVIDUAL. Coming on fresh against tired defenders can only be a good thing - so whilst your statistic may not be true it's not particularly relevant.

[Maguire]

Match program has goals scored as

00-15 = 7
16-30 = 6
31-45 = 6

46-60 = 7
61-75 = 3
76-90 = 8

ET = 1

Or to put it another way 13 goals in the first third, 13 goals in the second third and just TWELVE goals in the last third (including extra time)

So it is total BS that this season it's an advantage scoring-wise to come on in the last 30 minutes, and the advantage of coming on for the last 15 is very small

That covers goals scored by the entire team, not by players coming on as substitute. More false argument.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Not so sure Long's problem was bit of extra timber.

He now seems freer to do what he does best, channeling his stength and drive, not trying to play some hybrid striker role for ten minutes at a time in a 1-2-1-3-5-4-3-12 formation that changes to a 5-6-7-1-2-3- when the wind changes direction and there's an "R" in the month.

OK, so the numbers aren't right, but you know what I mean. Sometimes it takes a clever man to realise it's a simple game.

[Snowball]

Late goals for Reading this year

STARTED 86th Minute Howard
STARTED 72ND Minute Rasiak
STARTED 80th Minute Siggi
STARTED 88th Minute Siggi
STARTED 90th Minute Siggi
STARTED 92nd Minute Long

SUB 100th Minute Long
SUB 90th Minute Church
SUB 72nd Minute Rasiak

So just a third of our late goals are scored by subs, TWO thirds by players who started the game. Next spurious defence?

[weybridgewanderer]

Shane has got really fit, he's looking after himself and we are now seeing the player we always knew we had.

nuff said

[Maguire]

Late goals for Reading this year

STARTED 86th Minute Howard
STARTED 72ND Minute Rasiak
STARTED 80th Minute Siggi
STARTED 88th Minute Siggi
STARTED 90th Minute Siggi
STARTED 92nd Minute Long

SUB 100th Minute Long
SUB 90th Minute Church
SUB 72nd Minute Rasiak

So just a third of our late goals are scored by subs, TWO thirds by players who started the game. Next spurious defence?

You tell me - you always go on about Long's record at RFC and use the number of times he's been on the bench as an argument to make his "ratio" even more impressive. I hold it's easier to play against a tired defence when you're fresh for 15 mins than it is when you've already played 75

The key stat is really that since 2005 LOng has scored 21 (?) goals ever. And four of those have come in the last three games.

[Snowball]

Shane has got really fit, he's looking after himself and we are now seeing the player we always knew we had.

nuff said

You mean the player that 2% thought we had and 98% said was utter crap and should be got rid of...

[Dirk Gently]

You mean the player that 2% thought we had and 98% said was utter crap and should be got rid of...

Justify those numbers, please. Or are they just made up.....?

[Snowball]

Late goals for Reading this year

STARTED 86th Minute Howard
STARTED 72ND Minute Rasiak
STARTED 80th Minute Siggi
STARTED 88th Minute Siggi
STARTED 90th Minute Siggi
STARTED 92nd Minute Long

SUB 100th Minute Long
SUB 90th Minute Church
SUB 72nd Minute Rasiak

So just a third of our late goals are scored by subs, TWO thirds by players who started the game. Next spurious defence?

You tell me - you always go on about Long's record at RFC and use the number of times he's been on the bench as an argument to make his "ratio" even more impressive. I hold it's easier to play against a tired defence when you're fresh for 15 mins than it is when you've already played 75

The key stat is really that since 2005 LOng has scored 21 (?) goals ever. And four of those have come in the last three games.

Nope. I have said time and again that he needed to play 90 minutes and for sequences of games.

Long's goal-scoring per minute played matches the best players at the club

Often he was brought on very late just to harrass, not expecting to go for goal.

After Xmas last year he was brilliant and scored over half of RFC's goals.

This season he has won it for us at Liverpool, home to Barnsley, again today and led
the line very, very well indeed. And he's just 23, a kid who will get better.

I said at the start of this season that he WOULDN'T do well under Rodgers.

[weybridgewanderer]

i'll say the guy piled on the weight over the summer

he has trimmed up and is starting to do what we pay him for

i also think other players look fitter, we can cope with 90 minutes now instead of dying on our feet after 45

I remember when brendan started he said he didn't think working on fitness was so important and wanted the players to do more ball work

shane got fat and lazy

in his physical condition before christmas shane would never have reached the ball before the defender in the build up to his first goal

personally I still don't think he is a number 9, his biggest asset is his energy. he lost that under rodgers owing, in my opinion, to the poor training regime.

he has worked hard and got that back and deserves credit for that

i hope he proves me wrong and gets 15 to 20 goals this season now

[Snowball]

You mean the player that 2% thought we had and 98% said was utter crap and should be got rid of...

Justify those numbers, please. Or are they just made up.....?

You have to be kidding me. Long has been pilloried on HNA
and so have I for daring to say he'd be a very good striker

There's a 60+ page thread which is all the justification I need.

[Snowball]

I'd say it was down to his injuries

now he's not injured and moving better.


As for his build he was being called fat the day he took his top
off and showed he was anything but. He did a lot of gym work
to bulk up and get extra strength, started boxing training etc

If you change your shape quickly it takes time to adjust to the new body

[weybridgewanderer]

In terms of his weight, i was more worried about the size of his arse than his torso

I think McD's comment tonight has indicated there has been a weight problem

You put it down to his injuries, i put it down to the training regime

[Royal With Cheese]

Wow - we're still on this. Snowball - give it up. Surely you understand if you haven't convinced people by now it's not worth any more bandwidth.

FTR - He's never been brilliant.

[Snowball]

WBW I'm no particularly interested in players arses, but...