Current Player #2 Sam Long

[Cass63]

So, for balance, does that mean Greg Leigh only plays against crap wingers?

No, opposition team don’t target him for a good reason.
Sam long has been a great servant for Oufc for years, KR left a real shitstorm when he went which we are still getting over, we had plenty more issues over the squad than RB, but as the time has gone on we are sorting it but now the weakness’s of some of the players is showing, in a way it’s a good thing, it shows we are getting rid of KRs f**k up.
Sam’s earnt his wages and always wants to play, weird that players like Murphy come good just when their contract comes up.
Sam long had a fuckin nightmare 45 min v Wigan but wasn’t it his long ball up field that led to Murphy’s goal?
I’m not saying he’s playing well or that he doesn’t need replacing m just thankful for his service to the club.

 

[Swaby39]

No, opposition team don’t target him for a good reason.
Sam long has been a great servant for Oufc for years, KR left a real shitstorm when he went which we are still getting over, we had plenty more issues over the squad than RB, but as the time has gone on we are sorting it but now the weakness’s of some of the players is showing, in a way it’s a good thing, it shows we are getting rid of KRs f**k up.
Sam’s earnt his wages and always wants to play, weird that players like Murphy come good just when their contract comes up.
Sam long had a fuckin nightmare 45 min v Wigan but wasn’t it his long ball up field that led to Murphy’s goal?
I’m not saying he’s playing well or that he doesn’t need replacing m just thankful for his service to the club.

To be honest if we’re clutching on to a single incident as justification to excuse months upon months of poor performances then fine, it’s no wonder I have such a hard time making the point with him every time.

His second half vs Wigan wasn’t good in the slightest, it was just less damaging than the first. His Blackpool performance was good, he held his own well in that game and didn’t force daft passes like he normally does. I think it helped having Burey ahead of him forcing people back or thinking twice about over committing. It gives Sam an insurance policy that he BADLY needs because he can’t cope at this level.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

I never really understood this ‘But he gets no help!’ argument.

If you’re a fullback then at some point in a game you’re going to have to face your winger 1 vs 1. Yes it would be nice if you constantly had two defensive players to double up on them, but that simply isn’t going to happen every time.

And yes, if you’re constantly getting doubled up on yourself, trying to defend on your own against two players then you do have a point, but that wasn’t the case against Wigan or Wycombe… it also wasn’t just the fact he was beaten, it was the manner of it, just absolutely done all ends up, a bit like watching one of those YouTube videos where a recent ex-pro plays Sunday league and just walks past players. It was embarrassing to watch.

I remember Ashley Cole played a few games against Cristiano Ronaldo at his peak when he was still a tricky winger running past people for fun, and memorably didn’t get beaten once. Now Sam Long is no Ashley Cole (but neither was he facing young Ronaldo-level dribblers), but it goes to show that it actually is possible for a fullback not to just get absolutely bamboozled by someone feinting to cross and then cutting back again a couple of times.

 

[Osei Yaw]

This is feeling a little bit like the Simon Eastwood discussion last season. Good pro, had some great moments for us but now we need to move onto better in the future.

 

[Jster]

I always thought Long was at his best when he had Henry ahead of him. They always linked up well, and Henry had enough defensive nous to help out a lot.

 

[BDJ]

Ha! Yeh, I was probably being a bit too nice. He's a really low level L1 player at best. He'd do well in L2. His lack of pace has always been an issue. He was rubbish today and on Tuesday night.

Lack of pace? Don't be ridiculous. Can't you remember KR telling us he was the quickest in the squad?

 

[Yellowmania]

Lack of pace? Don't be ridiculous. Can't you remember KR telling us he was the quickest in the squad?

To be fair at one point in his career he did look speedy enough, I think it was around Covid time when he was actually playing very well & bombing down the wing. Hazy memory but I think he then had an injury, hamstring maybe?
When he came back both my son and me thought he looked slower and never recaptured that period of form.

 

[Followtheox1]

To be fair at one point in his career he did look speedy enough, I think it was around Covid time when he was actually playing very well & bombing down the wing. Hazy memory but I think he then had an injury, hamstring maybe?
When he came back both my son and me thought he looked slower and never recaptured that period of form.

It can be hard after a hamstring. Obviously I have never played at Long's level but I was a relatively quick player and tore my right hamstring while playing. I can honestly say it shocked me and I was never the same player. Psychology I struggled to run at full pelt again.

 

[Berliner]

To be fair at one point in his career he did look speedy enough, I think it was around Covid time when he was actually playing very well & bombing down the wing. Hazy memory but I think he then had an injury, hamstring maybe?
When he came back both my son and me thought he looked slower and never recaptured that period of form.

He did indeed have pace, certainly enough to get forward and (this is the crucial part) also to get back again.
The problem here is that over time and (probably) due to injuries he has also lost the initial explosive movement needed when you've stood up a winger or when they are bombing at you. Which is why he gets rinsed almost every single time by your stereotypical tricky winger, who is quite obviously told that he is the weak spot on defence.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

He did indeed have pace, certainly enough to get forward and (this is the crucial part) also to get back again.
The problem here is that over time and (probably) due to injuries he has also lost the initial explosive movement needed when you've stood up a winger or when they are bombing at you. Which is why he gets rinsed almost every single time by your stereotypical tricky winger, who is quite obviously told that he is the weak spot on defence.

Long's greatest moment in a yellow shirt was his goal away to Plymouth. He isn't good enough to start for us, but if we didn't have him who could have played RB yesterday?

Someone said we needed a "Greg Leigh" on the right hand side earlier in the thread, agree whole-heartedly.

 

[Witneyoldfella]

Whats the latest injury update on Stevens?

 

[QuietYeller]

Not much battery left, so Stevens is no right back. Wing back maybe?
But definitely not worth what we pay him.

I read online somewhere that he’s on 17k a week, our highest paid player. I’m assuming Brentford are paying most or all of that !!

 

[RyanioBirdio]

I read online somewhere that he’s on 17k a week, our highest paid player. I’m assuming Brentford are paying most all of that !!

Someone probably saw it on that awful Salary Sport website, which is really not anywhere near as accurate as most people seem to think. It’s got the vast majority of our player salaries wrong, in some cases by a good couple of grand per week.

Fin Stevens isn’t even on half that at Brentford. Not even close.

 

[QuietYeller]

Someone probably saw it on that awful Salary Sport website, which is really not anywhere near as accurate as most people seem to think. It’s got the vast majority of our player salaries wrong, in some cases by a good couple of grand per week.

Fin Stevens isn’t even on half that at Brentford. Not even close.

Ok thanks for clarifying !

 

[ECYellow]

Great work, Sam. Lovely 50 yard back pass to nobody .

Negru should do better and perhaps it could have been given as offside. Unfortunately for Sam, if he doesn’t make such a ridiculous pass in the first place then we aren’t in the position to begin with.

Shame really, he’d been a solid 6 out of 10 up until that point tonight.

 

[Mystery Yellow]

Fantastic Sam with wonderful back pass

Just get him out the side NOW i don’t give a sh:t that we haven’t got another right back available he’s a bloody liability.

 

[bazzer9461]

Wasn’t at the game tonight but have been worried that Sam Long has been so poor since his return from injury that most can see it but not the coaching team

 

[dickwalton1964]

Yes, Long is terrible. Worst player on the pitch. When is Stevens back ?

 

[WokinghamYellow]

That was the most Sam Long thing Sam Long has ever done.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Long had a strange game last night. Most of the time he was very wide out right, but when he got the ball his default setting was that he had his back to goal and just passed the ball back to where it had come from. Then he had a period of being way up the pitch - Murphy was the furthest man back quite a few times - and that wasn't only after he'd bombed forward. He did put in a couple of decent crosses, and then that back pass...

We need to (somehow) get to a point where teams just don't automatically target our right side, because they are all doing it and it produces results more often than it should.