Kevin Long

[Rumbletonk]

Time after time this lad comes up with the goods when called upon. The most underrated defender in the Premier League in my opinion. It must be so difficult to wait in the wings for your chance over such a long period of time, do a proper job, then have to take a step back and still stay positive. Far too good a player to be a bit part but that's just a testament to our strength in that position.

I wouldn't swop our centre halves, or keepers for that matter, with any other club in the Premier League. Fair play to Kevin Long. Lets hope Gibson has the same attitude.

[gawthorpe_view]

Steady last night but he's got 2 Bens and a Tark ahead of him in the pecking order.

[IanMcL]

Ideal squad man.

[FactualFrank]

SD has pretty much the perfect keeper/defence squad.

With enough time, he'll get it across midfield and attack too to make up the entire squad.

[ClaretLoup]

Indeed at the extended post match press conference Dyche himself said that he is satisfied with his defence and midfield ( presumably when all are fit) but the attack is a work in progress or words to that effect.

[Roosterbooster]

SD has pretty much the perfect keeper/defence squad.

With enough time, he'll get it across midfield and attack too to make up the entire squad.

Whilst I agree in the main part about our keepers and defence, we seem to struggle to sign midfielders, and in my opinion, Dyche doesn’t have a great record when it comes to signing strikers.
I think he can get the midfield sorted with time, but I really do wonder about our frontline

[DCWat]

Defensively, I’m more than happy with our defence and midfield, and a good OP in relation to Kevin Long, who certainly does a good job whenever called upon.

Offensively though, there is some way to go with our midfield. It will be helped by the return of Brady and Defour but has to start providing more of a cutting edge. The difficult bit being to achieve that without severely impacting the fantastic defensive side to our game.

[claretspice]

Long was excellent last night, and he's a really good back-up centre half, if that's what he's comfortable being. Really good captain of the 2nd XI type material.

His weakness will always be his distribution, and as last season went on, one of our challenges that teams were letting him have the ball, and challenging him to use it constructively.

[Dark Cloud]

I can't believe another club hasn't tempted him away with the lure of a starting berth pretty much guaranteed. Especially an aspirational Championship or newly promoted PL type club.

[FactualFrank]

Whilst I agree in the main part about our keepers and defence, we seem to struggle to sign midfielders, and in my opinion, Dyche doesn’t have a great record when it comes to signing strikers.
I think he can get the midfield sorted with time, but I really do wonder about our frontline

He signed Chris Wood, who has been unlucky with injuries and bites, and often looked like he just lacked enough support. Yet he's still a 15-20 goal a season man when he shakes off the injuries. That's not bad at all.

Vydra is the sort of person we've been missing. A player who will drop back a bit, asking for the ball - pick the ball up, run at defenders and have an eye to assist a goal, or have a pop himself. We've missed that, and I think we need to give him the chance to show what he can do.

We also could do with Defour back, because I just know that Defour in midfield, with Vydra behind Chris Wood, would be dangerous.

[Likeavydra]

dyches methods with players reminds me of the old Liverpool boot room days.

[Claretforever]

I’m guilty of being less than complementary of Long. Not on here as such, but with friends before odd games. Last night was no different. In that I saw his name and was annoyed Dyche seemingly played a weakened team.

Long was brilliant last night. I was saying he was man of the match 10 minutes before he got it from the sponsors. He was everywhere, and seemed to win everything. Well done the lad.

These European games might actually help us this year. We’ll have a good number of players not first choices who will be match ready having played important games in front of a crowd.

Anyway, we’ll done Kev Long. Yet another great performance.

[tiger76]

When you consider he is effectively 4th choice now he was solid enough last night how quickly him and Gibson have formed an understanding.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Time after time this lad comes up with the goods when called upon. The most underrated defender in the Premier League in my opinion. It must be so difficult to wait in the wings for your chance over such a long period of time, do a proper job, then have to take a step back and still stay positive. Far too good a player to be a bit part but that's just a testament to our strength in that position.

I wouldn't swop our centre halves, or keepers for that matter, with any other club in the Premier League. Fair play to Kevin Long. Lets hope Gibson has the same attitude.

He reminds me of a more disciplined version of yourself

[Rumbletonk]

Long was excellent last night, and he's a really good back-up centre half, if that's what he's comfortable being. Really good captain of the 2nd XI type material.

His weakness will always be his distribution, and as last season went on, one of our challenges that teams were letting him have the ball, and challenging him to use it constructively.

I disagree with you there Spice. I think his distribution and pace are an attribute rather than a hindrance, 2 aspects of his game where I think he's superior to Mee. If Mee was more comfortable on the ball Keane and Tarks would never had a sniff at England. It's a semantic argument though because of an embarrassment of riches.

I know our defensive unit is flattered a little bit because of of how SD sets us up but his true test will be how he moves us on In an attacking sense. If he gets that as good then I think we'll win the World Cup, Strictly Come Dancing and Love Island.

[Rumbletonk]

He reminds me of a more disciplined version of yourself

Everyone is a more discaplined version of myself

[piston broke]

Whilst I agree in the main part about our keepers and defence, we seem to struggle to sign midfielders, and in my opinion, Dyche doesn’t have a great record when it comes to signing strikers.
I think he can get the midfield sorted with time, but I really do wonder about our frontline

I think it could be finance that holds him back.
He definitely got the best out of Vokes/Ings, although he didn’t sign them. He’s since signed the Championships 3 top scorers and Gray didn’t let us down, Wood’s goals/minutes is above average and we are yet to see Vydra but we’ve missed his style of player.

[SussexDon1inIreland]

What about Super Ash Barnes we paid a small fee for and he’s made an excellent contribution

UTC

[Colburn_Claret]

Re strikers it's a double edged sword.
A 20 goal a season striker would cost too much.
If we buy cheaper, like Wood and Vydra and they turn into a 20 goal striker it would be almost impossible to hang on to them.

It's probably in our best interests to have a strike force that spread the goals around 10 to 12 each would do nicely.

[Colburn_Claret]

P.S.

Kevin Long has long been underrated. There's a reason he's the longest serving player at the club, he would have left years ago if he wasn't good enough.

[jrgbfc]

Due a testimonial at the end of this season isn't he Before last season bet he hadn't played more than 10 games for us!

[elwaclaret]

Due a testimonial at the end of this season isn't he Before last season bet he hadn't played more than 10 games for us!

I don't see what playing first team games has to do with service. If he is granted a testimonial year for doing ten years service I think he would be fully justified in accepting one. The fact that Long has remained with us says tombs about the lad for me. He is just the kind of player we need around the club. I for one can see him ending up in the backroom team eventually. Look at how Roy Evens chose club loyalty over his own career.... did alright for him in the end. Loyalty has always been a rare commodity in football. It deserves recognising when it occurs IMO.

[jrgbfc]

I don't see what playing first team games has to do with service. If he is granted a testimonial year for doing ten years service I think he would be fully justified in accepting one. The fact that Long has remained with us says tombs about the lad for me. He is just the kind of player we need around the club. I for one can see him ending up in the backroom team eventually. Look at how Roy Evens chose club loyalty over his own career.... did alright for him in the end. Loyalty has always been a rare commodity in football. It deserves recognising when it occurs IMO.

One could argue he's shown a lack of ambition by being happy to sit on his backside and pick up his wage...

[Ashingtonclaret46]

Due a testimonial at the end of this season isn't he Before last season bet he hadn't played more than 10 games for us!

He had appeared for us in 31 games before the start of last season, when he made a further 19 appearances.
He celebrates his 28th birthday today and can look back on Thursday night with a lot of satisfaction.

[RingoMcCartney]

He signed Chris Wood, who has been unlucky with injuries and bites,.

I bet was a sentence you didn't think you'd be typing a month ago!

[boatshed bill]

One could argue he's shown a lack of ambition by being happy to sit on his backside and pick up his wage...

Not really, his contracts have been renewed for a reason.

[KefkaClaret]

I can't believe another club hasn't tempted him away with the lure of a starting berth pretty much guaranteed. Especially an aspirational Championship or newly promoted PL type club.

Doubt he would start for any of the PL clubs, could easily get into a top championship side though.