Sean Longstaff

[Sandrotastico]

Just now, Oregon_Geordie said:

Nah, I'm shite but I'm hitting a higher percentage than him the last year.

I can find my desk in the morning.

[dcmk]

4 minutes ago, TRon said:

He just seems to get worse every single game if that's possible. Not sure he found a single pass.

Nearly had an assist if Isak had a better touch when through on goal.

[Kid Icarus]

Just now, Pilko said:

 

YES THERE ARE

 

We've had a fit senior midfielder on the bench (one of Willock or Anderson) for the last handful of games. The whole midfield is like a saloon door anyway every week and Eddie doesn't seem to want to change the shape to fix that. Sean being there isn't helping.

 

We absolutely haven't like. Both are coming back from injury and Willock's just broken down yet again. 

[PauloGeordio]

1 minute ago, madras said:

Got the numbers now but I'm not sure of Willock or Anderson on Bruno's right.

Anderson if anyone but he’s better LM. Just gonna run him until he breaks or the crowd lynch him! 

[Bondedcrown]

1 minute ago, Oregon_Geordie said:

I can find my desk in the morning.

Well done! 

[Shak]

I mean we're very obviously stuck with him until the end of the season but I do hope that he's moved on in the summer.

 

Nowhere near good enough to be a starter for us if we want to push on and you want Miley and Anderson getting some minutes from their reserve roles.

 

Think there'd be interest in Longstaff, he could do a good job for a lower half team and rarely misses games.

[Sandrotastico]

Just now, Bondedcrown said:

Well done! 

Thank you  All joking aside, I like Longstaff, but he should be rested.

I hope he finds some form, or improvement in the basics.

I'm off to work.

[Pilko]

5 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

We absolutely haven't like. Both are coming back from injury and Willock's just broken down yet again. 

 

We have I'm not making it up FFS.

 

Anderson played an hour today and 71 mins against Everton on Tuesday, why couldn't he have started today?

 

 

Edited April 6, 2024 by Pilko

[Shak]

3 minutes ago, dcmk said:

Nearly had an assist if Isak had a better touch when through on goal.

 

True, Isak could have done better.

 

However, the pass was needlessly way behind Isak instead of put out in front of him. Don't believe for a second he was trying to nutmeg the defender either, was just a shite pass that was lucky to get to Isak at all.

[Sibierski]

We all know now he’s poor and woefully out of form, but just one of those things we’ve got to suck up because of lack of options. Hopefully if all goes well in summer, he’ll hardly be a starter next season.

[toontownman]

11 minutes ago, Pilko said:

Eddie's harming him by not taking him out of the firing line, it's beyond a joke now. He's a decent squad player capable of contributing but he's being ran into the ground when he's lacking in form, confidence and I suspect full fitness.

 

 

It's the exact same as Burn. He needs rest. Unlike the Burn situation we don't have the luxury of resting Longstaff. There is no one else to play.

[Scoot]

He's shockingly bad but I'm not going to say anymore as it's all been said a million times already this season.

[Bondedcrown]

17 minutes ago, Pilko said:

Eddie's harming him by not taking him out of the firing line, it's beyond a joke now. He's a decent squad player capable of contributing but he's being ran into the ground when he's lacking in form, confidence and I suspect full fitness.

 

 

Who is his direct replacement?

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, Pilko said:

 

We have I'm not making it up FFS.

 

Anderson played an hour today and 71 mins against Everton on Tuesday, why couldn't those be from the start of the match instead of the bench?

 

We have 5 players available for 3 positions. 2 of them are just coming back from injury and 1 of them keeps breaking down and tbh also isn’t playing well.

 

I understand why Howe's playing Longstaff.

[Sandrotastico]

5 minutes ago, Bondedcrown said:

Who is his direct replacement?

I'd start you. And I've never seen you even run.

[Pilko]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

We have 5 players available for 3 positions. 2 of them are just coming back from injury and 1 of them keeps breaking down and tbh also isn’t playing well.

 

I understand why Howe's playing Longstaff.

 

By the way - I'm not suggesting he doesn't play Sean at all, I get that we aren't mega blessed with options, but I don't get why he hasn't taken the option to sit him down even once in the recent run where we've had a few bodies back. He's stood out as being incredibly poor and dipping him out even for one game might have helped, who knows.

[The Butcher]

Joe White

[Kid Icarus]

4 minutes ago, Pilko said:

 

By the way - I'm not suggesting he doesn't play Sean at all, I get that we aren't mega blessed with options, but I don't get why he hasn't taken the option to sit him down even once in the recent run where we've had a few bodies back. He's stood out as being incredibly poor and dipping him out even for one game might have helped, who knows.

Actually hold on, it's 4 players for 3 positions.

 

I know Howe like him anyway, but I totally get why you wouldn't have a Bruno, Anderson, Willock midfield like. 

[Pilko]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

Actually hold on, it's 4 players for 3 positions.

 

I know Howe like him anyway, but I totally get why you wouldn't have a Bruno, Anderson, Willock midfield like. 

 

I completely understand why you'd not choose that too, but when you watch the midfield of late and the way various teams run through it at will anyway with Sean in there, I think you may as well lean into the end-to-end basketball match style and have three lads in there who can pass.

[nufcjmc]

27 in October and I think 2 years left on his contract come the summer. It feels like it's now or never for him. We can't keep offering contracts to passengers. You know what your going to get from him week on week but where we want to be not I am sure that's good enough. 

[jonny1403]

Quote

 

For Longstaff, this has now been a full year of discomfort, far from ideal for someone whose game is based on ceaseless running. It is not just matches; it affects the day-to-day. “Sean needs to train regularly to get his best rhythm and that’s been disrupted,” Howe said.

 

“I’ll always put the team ahead of myself and people will either see that and appreciate it or they won’t,” says Longstaff 

Longstaff ploughs forward. “We played at Everton last April and I basically broke my foot,” he says. “I played in the last home game of the season (a draw with Leicester, which secured Champions League qualification), when it was still pretty much broken and then, because of that, it didn’t heal properly.

 

“We came back for pre-season and we bring Sandro in and it’s like … well, you don’t want to lose your spot in the team. I did lose it because I wasn’t fully fit and then went through a spell where it got better and I got back into the team and thought I was playing really well. Then I got injured again at Bournemouth in November.

 

“It was a 10-week ankle injury and I came back in four. It’s hard enough playing with one bad foot, but when you’ve got a left foot that’s sore and a right ankle that doesn’t move properly, it’s never going to be the easiest, especially at this level. It is what it is. I’ll always put the team ahead of myself and people will either see that and appreciate it or they won’t.”

 

Longtaff had an injection last month to keep playing, to keep running. West Ham on March 30 was “the first time in a while I’ve been excited to come and play, just because I know I wasn’t going to be in pain.”

 

 

Hope people bear the above in mind when giving him dogs abuse every week.

[PauloGeordio]

20 minutes ago, jonny1403 said:

 

Hope people bear the above in mind when giving him dogs abuse every week.

Cant train properly, risking further injury and poor performances effecting his fragile mental health. Should he even be playing? If needs must and all let’s just keep breaking players! 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2024 by PauloGeordio

[SteV]

VAR reviewed that tackle at Everton by Tarkowski that broke his foot, as it was in the box. Not a foul apparently…

[Checko]

On 06/04/2024 at 17:56, Kid Icarus said:

Actually hold on, it's 4 players for 3 positions.

 

I know Howe like him anyway, but I totally get why you wouldn't have a Bruno, Anderson, Willock midfield like. 

My guess as well is that he thought neither Willock or Anderson were ready to play 90 minutes yet, he did seem to be rotating them, so didn't want to start both with only one CM as a sub.

[Conjo]

Just a reminder that a lot of people were happy when Longstaff came back start of the season as Tonali wasn't playing very well beyond his debut, and we saw a clear improvement in performance results.

 

Not saying Longstaff is the solution to our best XI, but fully fit he can be a valuable squad member with added benefit of being home grown for European competition.