Current Player #2 Sam Long

[WEYellow]

if Stevens was a lad who came through the academy and Long was the loanee right back, I'd say 99% of fans would rather Stevens in the team. He's a superior player for definite

 

[dickwalton1964]

To go against the grain, even with that backpass, still think Long has shown more in his limited appearances than Stevens does when he plays. Wins headers, offers support (actually made a couple of decent runs last night into space to cross) and generally defends adequately.

Stevens is often anonymous as an attacking threat and a liability defensively. Doesn't offer for the ball, goes missing and is relatively weak in the air.

Hope if Stevens does come back in he proves me wrong, but think the Sam Long horror show is somewhat overblown right now.

Stevens over Long every time for me. Long has become a liability and I hope we get rid of him in the summer. On his performances over the past year though he'd be lucky to get any better a move than O'Donkor got. NL looks his habitat.

 

[38yearsofpain]

Stevens over Long every time for me. Long has become a liability and I hope we get rid of him in the summer. On his performances over the past year though he'd be lucky to get any better a move than O'Donkor got. NL looks his habitat.

I think he is a better centre back than full back. His lack of pace and suspect passing ability is less exposed in that position. He is more than useful in the air as well.
He could certainly play league 2 and possibly lower league 1 at centre back and definitely so in a 3.

 

[Jster]

You know when we started the season under Liam Manning? Those 15 games when we did really well, and were clear in second? Sam Long started every one of those for which he was available (3 were missed due to injury.) He's almost certainly not our best player, but he's also not such a liability that we'll automatically do badly if he's in the team. So much hyperbole everywhere.

 

[BrockBuster]

Just looked this up on fotmob.

Fin Stevens pass completion in the league this year is 71.4%. Sam Long's is 73.6%. Case closed your honour.

There's some other nonsense that shows Stevens creates chances at almost three times the rate Long does and is among the top crossers in the league whereas Long is among the worst but I'm choosing to ignore that.

And the fact that Stevens is rated a 6.85 overall, while Long is a 7.21 on there

And in terms of duels, these stats make Long like Inigo Montoya compared to Stevens.

 

[Jster]

Our record in league matches this season in which Sam Long played 90 minutes (there were 2 other league matches in which he appeared - injured after 7 minutes in our win at Lincoln, injured after 34 minutes in our defeat at home to Barnsley (in which he did score an own goal!)

W9 D5 L2

12 were under Manning, 4 under Des (our four most recent matches).

He's really not as much of a liability to our chances of doing well as one might think.

My point is not that he's amazing, just that all sides, even successful ones, have players that are not as good as others of their players. (They are often the sort that give their all, game after game, as he does.) Playing Sam Long doesn't mean we can't still do well.

 

[Joey]

And the fact that Stevens is rated a 6.85 overall, while Long is a 7.21 on there

And in terms of duels, these stats make Long like Inigo Montoya compared to Stevens.

No argument that Long is stronger in that part of the game than Stevens, especially in the air. However I would say that both are liabilities defensively and are often beaten or caught out of position, whoever plays there it's blindingly obvious that team target our right side. Smyth was also awful there against Pompey and Negru pretty hopeless against Reading, we just don't have a great option there. My point was that Stevens offers much more in possession.

I also wouldn't take much notice of the ratings. The stats will be accurate as far as passes, tackles, shots etc go but it's then up them to decide how each action is rewarded. They show Long as our second best player this season behind Cam and ahead of Moore, Brown and Leigh just in terms of defenders. I can't see even his most ardent supporters agreeing with that.

 

[Followtheox1]

I'm really surprised people think Stevens offers less attacking threat and less on the ball than Long. His pass completion percentage will be lower I'm sure as he tries more adventurous passes but if he'd been in some of the positions Long got into last night I'm far more confident we'd have got something from them.

I don't think either are the answer for a promotion chasing team, Stevens struggles defensively but there seems to be a train of thought still that Long is solid. He got caught miles out of position and then skinned against Wigan and in the first half last night the only time they threatened apart from the goal we gave them was when Long came charging out of position to the centre circle with no hope of winning the ball and they played a simple pass into the acres of space he'd left, almost exactly the same as Wigan. If you have a look at the full match it's around 36 minutes in. As an aside at 28 minutes he made a good run down the right and found loads of space but with Leigh and Harris in the box and Murphy, Bodin and Rodrigues attacking the edge he slammed a cross almost perfectly between them all. It's impossible to prove but I think you give Stevens that opportunity and he picks someone out.

I really don't think his pass completion will be lower (someone will prove me wrong).

 

[WuTang]

Longy is a great player to have in the squad. Low wage, covers the entire back 4 positions and gives 100% work rate every game. If we could name our best 11 without injuries he wouldn't be starting, but that's not the case in football. He's rarely injured and not carrying permanent injuries unlike others who get less stick from some on here.

His overall quality may not be top end League One but you need players like Long in the squad otherwise we'd be up sh*t creek when injuries come about.

He can be frustrating but we could do a LOT worse for squad players.

 

[Leysboy]

Longy is a great player to have in the squad. Low wage, covers the entire back 4 positions and gives 100% work rate every game. If we could name our best 11 without injuries he wouldn't be starting, but that's not the case in football. He's rarely injured and not carrying permanent injuries unlike others who get less stick from some on here.

His overall quality may not be top end League One but you need players like Long in the squad otherwise we'd be up sh*t creek when injuries come about.

He can be frustrating but we could do a LOT worse for squad players.

Yep he’s versatile, and useful, but for a team looking to progress, sadly Sam Long wouldn’t be apart of that. He’s at best a lower Lge one player. He’s also been a great servant, and will get my thanks when he does go at some point.

 

[Swaby39]

You know when we started the season under Liam Manning? Those 15 games when we did really well, and were clear in second? Sam Long started every one of those for which he was available (3 were missed due to injury.) He's almost certainly not our best player, but he's also not such a liability that we'll automatically do badly if he's in the team. So much hyperbole everywhere.

The difference there was we played in an extremely (overly at times) rigid and regimented structure. Manning’s way was ‘when this happens, you need to stand exactly here’. ‘If you get the ball and see that, pass it there’.

Long hasn’t changed all that much for 2 seasons. He was poor for the last 18 months of Robinson being here which coincided with the time the wheels came off tactically as Robinson started thinking with his plonker. Djavan Anderson was a FAR superior footballer but also fell foul to a lack of planning from Robinson. He then gave Long a 3 year contract which meant whether Manning liked it or not, he had him.

Manning scooped Long up and gave him an extremely disciplined role to play which he did to reasonable effect, but let’s not pretend there weren’t blips. His first 45 mins at derby stands out as one of the more tragic episodes. He got tackled as the last man at home to bristol rovers to cap off a dreadful game. But his job was to cuddle Moore and stop any need for him to leave a central position which again suited Moore. Good management.

Mills arrived as an excellent runner ahead of him, a great carrier of the ball, and that instantly made Long’s limitations less of an issue. But the problem didn’t go away, Manning just squashed it brilliantly and allowed Long to stick to a limited job where he couldn’t cost the team.

Long is still that player but Des is encouraging a much more open, chaotic style of play which is just inviting teams to smash us to bits wherever the space is and we’re not athletic enough to cover. Guess where that is?

If Des wants to side with Long or at least get through this period where we have no alternative, he needs a plan because Long is not nearly a good enough player to be left to his own devices.

 

[Gordon]

I've never had a problem with Sam Long, and have always admired his commitment to the club, and his attitude on and off the pitch. He's always had his limitations, especially as an attacking full back, but the worry now is that he's starting to get found out more and more often defensively as well.

Based on his age he is unlikely to improve much in the future, so in my view he should be no-more than a squad player now. Capable at right back, and good cover for centre back, but he should not be first choice in either position.

As for his "level", I think he is still a good lower level L1 defender, but if we have ambitions to stay at the top end of L1 (or possibly go even higher) we can't be relying on him as a regular in the starting 11.