Long

[superdimitri]

If you don't score any goals at home against a team in the division below then you can't really blame the defence.
People are so used to us winning fine margins because they've been spoilt by great defensive teams, but at the end of the day to move forward in the cups, we need to be able to score more goals.

Goals win games, you can't play in the game using fine margins like you can in the league, the percentages may favour us in the long term, but not the short.

Our weakness is taking teams apart, we need to get better at it when we're the better team.

[CharlieinNewMexico]

Just thinking that some of the above posters will be absolutely on the ball first thing Monday morning performing at 100% efficiency and never making a mistake as they cruise through their own working day.

Or turn down a massive wedge from a company you’re already settled with to move to a new job in a different part of the country with a firm that you don’t know if it’s going to work out for a fraction of the money because it shows “ambition”

[aggi]

Watching the replay of that first goal, the bit where he realises he's totally lost his man is painful.

[Leisure]

Well played last night Kev. Amusing reading some of the comments on this thread!

[burnley007]

He is our 3rd choice central defender. How bad has our recruitment been in the last couple of years to allow that situation to happen??
Kevin Long is a very poor player, League 1 standard. Tarks had to carry him through the game last night. Thank God Mee is back for the weekend!!

[Steve1956]

People hailing him as a saviour last night...we were playing a Championship side....his level
Well played last night Kevin.

[TheClaret]

I don't blame Kevin Long for anything whatsoever.

How many of you would turn down how ever many £thousands a week he is on?

It's the employer that's the problem, not the employee.

Maybe it’s the people that subscribe to sky, bt and pay per view.

[Spijed]

He is our 3rd choice central defender. How bad has our recruitment been in the last couple of years to allow that situation to happen??
Kevin Long is a very poor player, League 1 standard. Tarks had to carry him through the game last night. Thank God Mee is back for the weekend!!

Aside from a small number of PL clubs I doubt any other Premier league side has a centre half as good as their first choices.

We can't afford good players being sat on the bench.

[CaptJohn]

I thought he had a decent game. If he'd have kept that header down in the 1st half we could have been celebrating a win with him on the score sheet.

[CrosspoolClarets]

It’s not Long that’s the problem, if he was 4th or 5th choice that would be OK. One or two games a year in a crisis. That’s his level. He tries his best. Every now and then he gets through a game without incident. But sooner or later his lack of pace, turning speed and awareness costs him, and us.

But if he is starting every cup game, and some league games, as first reserve because our £18m third choice has a problem playing for Dyche, that’s bad for us, very bad. That’s not a situation we can blame on directors, the blame can only sit with Dyche and Gibson.

[Burnleyareback2]

Had a great game last night - well done Kevin Long

[claretonthecoast1882]

It’s not Long that’s the problem, if he was 4th or 5th choice that would be OK. One or two games a year in a crisis. That’s his level. He tries his best. Every now and then he gets through a game without incident. But sooner or later his lack of pace, turning speed and awareness costs him, and us.

But if he is starting every cup game, and some league games, as first reserve because our £18m third choice has a problem playing for Dyche, that’s bad for us, very bad. That’s not a situation we can blame on directors, the blame can only sit with Dyche and Gibson.

Any reason you have increased Gibson's fee ?

[Darthlaw]

It may come as a shock to some but top quality Championship and average PL standard defenders will not come to Burnley to sit on the bench. This being most clearly demonstrated by Gibson.

Long is adequate cover and perfect as he's happy to sit on the bench for a decade and step up when (rarely) needed.

[jedi_master]

Played 16 league games the season we finished 7th.

[warksclaret]

It’s not Long that’s the problem, if he was 4th or 5th choice that would be OK. One or two games a year in a crisis. That’s his level. He tries his best. Every now and then he gets through a game without incident. But sooner or later his lack of pace, turning speed and awareness costs him, and us.

But if he is starting every cup game, and some league games, as first reserve because our £18m third choice has a problem playing for Dyche, that’s bad for us, very bad. That’s not a situation we can blame on directors, the blame can only sit with Dyche and Gibson.

Agreed-yes a very good game today, but the PL will catch him out in a run of games. A good 4th choive CB, but I could not see him as 3rd choice at WBA, Sheff utd, or Fulham.

Sadly we have compromise all round. We have three left footed footed wingers , and no right footed one, and we have a striker in Vydra who has not scored a PL goal in over 12 months, and again would not feature for any of the PL teams , even on their bench. In some ways SD shoots himself in the foot by getting the group to over perform and believe in themselves, so we tolerate a ridiculously small squad and many square pegs in round holes. Whose to blame I dont know but all seems to have gone quiet at "Chairman " level after a lot of noise in this area in January

[fatboy47]

Played 16 league games the season we finished 7th.

And the silence in response is deafening...best draw a discreet veil over that bothersome fact.

[Bosscat]

Played 16 league games the season we finished 7th.

To paraphrase https://youtu.be/Y7tvauOJMHo

Ah but what has Kevin Long ever done for us ...

[warksclaret]

And the silence in response is deafening...best draw a discreet veil over that bothersome fact.

And how many of those 16 games were won, and how many of the other 22 games did we win where he did not feature. I would also say that the Mee/Tarkowski partnership is one of the strongest in the PL. You cannot now watch a Burnley game when the pundits dont make reference to this combination. LIsten you need honest players like Long in their squad. His reading of dangerous situations, and his tackling has improved over the years, and he showed it last night. But no one can tell me we are not weakened when Mee (who is playing the best foiotball of his career) is missing. Mee's distribution has improved immensely-Long will simply push it right or left, and offer no pressing when we are in a good situation. As SD says, its all about "fine margins" and thats what wins Burnley games the way we set up. Had Brownhill been on the post yesterday instead of Brady, we could have got 3 points

[ElectroClaret]

It may come as a shock to some but top quality Championship and average PL standard defenders will not come to Burnley to sit on the bench.

This.

[claretonthecoast1882]

And how many of those 16 games were won, and how many of the other 22 games did we win where he did not feature. I would also say that the Mee/Tarkowski partnership is one of the strongest in the PL. You cannot now watch a Burnley game when the pundits dont make reference to this combination. LIsten you need honest players like Long in their squad. His reading of dangerous situations, and his tackling has improved over the years, and he showed it last night. But no one can tell me we are not weakened when Mee (who is playing the best foiotball of his career) is missing. Mee's distribution has improved immensely-Long will simply push it right or left, and offer no pressing when we are in a good situation. As SD says, its all about "fine margins" and thats what wins Burnley games the way we set up. Had Brownhill been on the post yesterday instead of Brady, we could have got 3 points

Every single team in the world is weakened if 1 of their best 2 centre halfs are missing

[daveisaclaret]

Played 16 league games the season we finished 7th.

By my quick count in that season
With Kevin Long starting played 15, won 16 points, conceded 20
Without Kevin Long starting played 23, won 38 points, conceded 19

[ClaretLoup]

It may come as a shock to some but top quality Championship and average PL standard defenders will not come to Burnley to sit on the bench. This being most clearly demonstrated by Gibson.

They won't come to play in the first team, going by the last two windows.

[Gordaleman]

And how many of those 16 games were won, and how many of the other 22 games did we win where he did not feature. I would also say that the Mee/Tarkowski partnership is one of the strongest in the PL. You cannot now watch a Burnley game when the pundits dont make reference to this combination. LIsten you need honest players like Long in their squad. His reading of dangerous situations, and his tackling has improved over the years, and he showed it last night. But no one can tell me we are not weakened when Mee (who is playing the best foiotball of his career) is missing. Mee's distribution has improved immensely-Long will simply push it right or left, and offer no pressing when we are in a good situation. As SD says, its all about "fine margins" and thats what wins Burnley games the way we set up. Had Brownhill been on the post yesterday instead of Brady, we could have got 3 points

No one is saying that Long is better than Mee. However, he is a loyal servant who does a job for us when needed, and last night, he did a very good one.

[Woodleyclaret]

Kev Long gets unjustified dogs abuse
He is a steady defender who puts in decent performances ,missed a decent chance tonight but Fulhams forwards got little out of him and Tarks all night. He is a very valuable squad player and as such gold dust for Sean.

[warksclaret]

It may come as a shock to some but top quality Championship and average PL standard defenders will not come to Burnley to sit on the bench. This being most clearly demonstrated by Gibson.

Long is adequate cover and perfect as he's happy to sit on the bench for a decade and step up when (rarely) needed.

Any player we are thinking of signing who thinks he cannot get in the first team, is not worth buying. This element of "not wanting to sit on the bench" is rubbish amongst good professionals. Look at the benches of all the other 19 PL clubs and you will see some real quality. Chances come. Look at Dawson he has gone to West Ham, initially on the bench, now he is putting in regular top performances in a side sitting in the TOP 6. How many years did we "woo" him ??

Bear in mind that the whole world knows about our threadbare squad-anyone thinking they cant start for Burnley at some time is not worth considering

[ksrclaret]

Kevin Long did indeed have some good games during 17/18, but he also had some really poor ones too. I remember him handing Bournemouth the win on the last day of the season with an inexplicable mistake, for example.

There's a reason we then spent the whole of the next summer chasing Craig Dawson to replace him as third choice CB, and then settled on spending a joint club record fee on Ben Gibson.

[jedi_master]

I don’t think Kevin Long is good enough to be a starting centre back in the Premier League. I also want a Ben Gibson-esque third choice to be honest.

Putting that aside, my stat on his appearances that season was merely to show he has been a useful member of the best squad we have had for 40 years for just over a decade. Good player, probably not. He’s probably on a relative pittance and doesn’t care whether he starts or not. I’d love to find a better version of Kevin Long for a similar cost to fulfil the same squad role - good luck with that.

[Darthlaw]

Any player we are thinking of signing who thinks he cannot get in the first team, is not worth buying. This element of "not wanting to sit on the bench" is rubbish amongst good professionals. Look at the benches of all the other 19 PL clubs and you will see some real quality. Chances come. Look at Dawson he has gone to West Ham, initially on the bench, now he is putting in regular top performances in a side sitting in the TOP 6. How many years did we "woo" him ??

Bear in mind that the whole world knows about our threadbare squad-anyone thinking they cant start for Burnley at some time is not worth considering

Belief in ones own ability is one thing. Belief that chances will come is quite another. Like it or not, Dyche in the main sticks with players, even in poor form, until he's forced to change it. See Duff/Mee/Ward as a perfect example.

Also, looking at the benches of the other 19 clubs is also an interesting point. It's probably easier to sit on the bench at £40k-60k per week and wait for your chance than sit on ours at £20k.

[warksclaret]

I don't think theres too many sitting on the benches of Sheff Utd and WBA on £60k a week

[NottsClaret]

The Ben Gibson situation is what's causing this fuss. Dyche obviously saw Long as 4th choice, and surely nobody can complain about that, he's ideal for that role. It just happens that almost no opportunities came up for Gibson and he wanted out. Mee and Tarks are so ridiculously consistent it's a hard pair to crack.

Not sure what you do really, but I suppose Dawson would have been ideal as he'd be less likely to make a fuss if he spent time on the bench at his end of a playing career. I imagine, all being well, we'll look for someone similar in the summer. Or if Tarks leaves it'll be a whole lot more work.

Whatever, it's unfair giving grief to Long. He's done a useful job over the years.

[Darthlaw]

I don't think theres too many sitting on the benches of Sheff Utd and WBA on £60k a week

So you want a reserve defender from two sides almost nailed on for relegation?

Right then.

[claretonthecoast1882]

So you want a reserve defender from two sides almost nailed on for relegation?

Right then.

No, as good as Gibson but paid little, cheap to sign and reliable when called upon.

Cake and eat it springs to mind

[Leisure]

Kevin Long did indeed have some good games during 17/18, but he also had some really poor ones too. I remember him handing Bournemouth the win on the last day of the season with an inexplicable mistake, for example.

I'm sure that Tarks and Mee have also made mistakes!

[Jakubclaret]

Any player we are thinking of signing who thinks he cannot get in the first team, is not worth buying. This element of "not wanting to sit on the bench" is rubbish amongst good professionals. Look at the benches of all the other 19 PL clubs and you will see some real quality. Chances come. Look at Dawson he has gone to West Ham, initially on the bench, now he is putting in regular top performances in a side sitting in the TOP 6. How many years did we "woo" him ??

Bear in mind that the whole world knows about our threadbare squad-anyone thinking they cant start for Burnley at some time is not worth considering

Some people clearly don’t & BG was a prime example, nobody can offer reassurances for starting slots as it all is based upon form & rightly so, but if you are a decent player who plays reasonably well it’s normal to have the expectations of starting it’s irrelevant to the player that there’s other players who are better footballers starting ahead, he doesn’t see that, the hunger & drive to be starting overshadows everything & them players usually have the desire to make it to the top, settling for second best doesn’t even factor into the mindset, i don’t start then I’ll find another club where I do start, it’s too short of a career to be hanging around waiting for opportunities you grasp the opportunities yourself before you are too old.

[Spijed]

Look at the benches of all the other 19 PL clubs and you will see some real quality.

Aside from those clubs where money is no object that's simply not true.

And let's not forget that Man city have spent £200-£300 million on some real dross in recent seasons as well.

[warksclaret]

So you want a reserve defender from two sides almost nailed on for relegation?

Right then.

I did not say that-I dont see your logic in coming to that conclusion. I was making the point that there are subs on the bench in the PL on nothing like £60k a week. Apart from the two clubs I mentioned you also will find them at Southampton, Palace, Brighton, Fulham,, Leeds. Include us and thats 40% of the PL. Yes there are subs at some of the bigger clubs on massive wages, but we dont need to fish in that pond. The trouble is we are not fishing in any pond

[tiger76]

Kev Long did all that was asked of him last night, and he's a useful squad player to rely on in an emergency, however the reality is he's not going to be first choice even if Tarks leaves in the summer, and if Ben Mee is available for West Brom then he'll return and make us much stronger, however Long wasn't the reason we didn't win last night, if people want to point the finger, look at Brady for their goal, and also missing a good chance to win the game, and I'll wager he's cost us far more in fees and wages over the years then Kev Long has.

[boatshed bill]

If we had spent exactly the same on wages for 10 years on 10 different players to be 3rd/4th choice centre back would anyone give a ****?

[Leisure]

[quote=warksclaret post_id=1506222 time=1613685004 user_id=1366) , but we dont need to fish in that pond. The trouble is we are not fishing in any pond
[/quote]

More likely we're fishing but just not catching anything at the minute. Fishermen have to have patience!