Sean Longstaff

[80]

45 minutes ago, gbandit said:

It's such bizarre copy, I like Caulkin's writing as well

 

40 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

Thank God he clocked Streets of Rage 2 in Toronto rather than go out and take in his surroundings.

 

What a bizarre piece 

 

34 minutes ago, vexred said:

It reads like a piss take.

 

"This interest in law enforcement shows a different side of the midfielder's personality, one that appreciates the structure and challenges of a career in policing." 

 

That bit tickled me. 

A lesson in self-sufficiency for you all  

[gjohnson]

1 hour ago, Big River said:

I like Sean, but it's no coincidence the "easy targets" are typically our worst performers

 

it never seems to be personal (I can't speak for what he sees/reads on social media, obviously)

Everyone in the team is a target, some are just harder than others. Ones that don't contribute to wins and/or cost points are the easy ones. Put two and two together Sean and you're not getting 5 here. He's an easy target as he's making himself one...if anything he gets off lightly be being local. 

 

He must have some awareness about whether he's had a bad game or not

[Crimson Cardigan]

I think the level of vitriol they get online is ridiculous. They have limitations but they give everything. Longstaff is clearly not shit, he’s a standard premier league midfielder and easily worth a squad place. Reckon some people need to realise we’re not going to have an Isak or a Bruno in every position for a long, long time, if ever.

[TRon]

3 minutes ago, Crimson Cardigan said:

I think the level of vitriol they get online is ridiculous. They have limitations but they give everything. Longstaff is clearly not shit, he’s a standard premier league midfielder and easily worth a squad place. Reckon some people need to realise we’re not going to have an Isak or a Bruno in every position for a long, long time, if ever.

 

I agree, he's a fine squad player, so is Miggy, so is Murphy. IMO Anderson and Minteh were even better squad players as they were younger so had a higher ceiling as well, but we had to sell them for PSR reasons. If we could keep everyone and just buy without selling, that would be ideal. The only reason we have to contemplate selling Longstaff is because selling is the only way we are currently allowed to bring top players in.

 

That said, no one deserves abuse, Longstaff has been a stalwart performer for Newcastle down the years.

[Bimpy474]

Well I would point out, he's not making tackles, lacks pace, falls/dives over at the slightest touch, his passing is OK, his short passing is terrible. His finishing is OK.

 

He's probably a standard midfielder as stated in the Premier League, however, and this will sound arrogant, but it's not meant to. He's nowhere near the standard required for us to kick on.

[huss9]

4 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

Well I would point out, he's not making tackles, lacks pace, falls/dives over at the slightest touch, his passing is OK, his short passing is terrible. His finishing is OK.

 

He's probably a standard midfielder as stated in the Premier League, however, and this will sound arrogant, but it's not meant to. He's nowhere near the standard required for us to kick on.

As with shola back in the day, this lad doesn't pick himself and is only as good as what he is.

[et tu brute]

Comes across as a decent lad and obviously should be thanked for his service, but I still can't wait for the day when he is not at the club anymore 

[Upthemags]

Longstaff usually seems genuinely likeable, but if PIF cosign Staveley's ambitions, this lad can't be anywhere near the starting XI. There are relegation-battling sides he wouldn't get a start in.

 

Happy for him to get the odd 20 30 minutes as needed - think he can be serviceable as a squad player. But being nice doesn't put points on the table. Also, not for anything, but you'd hope the lad would have a bit more self-awareness after a truly awful season. Bit strange to impliedly lambast fans and make yourself out to be the victim when you can't go 30 seconds without flopping onto the pitch. Would've been much more honorable to say I didn't have the season I wanted to (due to injuries, new kid, what have you) and I'm eager to come back better next season.

[Upthemags]

11 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

Well I would point out, he's not making tackles, lacks pace, falls/dives over at the slightest touch, his passing is OK, his short passing is terrible. His finishing is OK.

 

He's probably a standard midfielder as stated in the Premier League, however, and this will sound arrogant, but it's not meant to. He's nowhere near the standard required for us to kick on.

Think his one above-median quality is his positioning. Always seems to find the right spots in the box before launching it 30 meters wide of the mark.

[LFEE]

5 minutes ago, et tu brute said:

Comes across as a decent lad and obviously should be thanked for his service, but I still can't wait for the day when he is not at the club anymore 

Yet we were a defensive mess without him in the team and our fortunes only changed when he replaced Tonali and we started a winning run and tightened up at the back.

 

Im no big fan of his but let’s never forget he’s been quite pivotal in his role since EH arrived.

[et tu brute]

Just now, LFEE said:

Yet we were a defensive mess without him in the team and our fortunes only changed when he replaced Tonali and we started a winning run and tightened up at the back.

 

Im no big fan of his but let’s never forget he’s been quite pivotal in his role since EH arrived.

Disagree totally, but entitled to your opinion 

[Upthemags]

1 minute ago, LFEE said:

Yet we were a defensive mess without him in the team and our fortunes only changed when he replaced Tonali and we started a winning run and tightened up at the back.

 

Im no big fan of his but let’s never forget he’s been quite pivotal in his role since EH arrived.

I don't mean to be rude but did we watch the same team last season? Opposing teams cut through our Longstaffian midfield like butter. That's not to say he didn't have a couple of nice games after Tonali was out/beforehand.

[OoOGazOoO]

There isn't really a need for hatred or rude comments to be made to him or about him, but his performances last season were below average.

 

That is ok to say. They are pro footballers, earning a fairly sizeable wedge each week which a lot of normal folk would have to work a lifetime or at least years for. Criticism is and in fairness, should be, part and parcel of the game.

 

A lot of the basics were just not there with him last year, possession easily lost, not clinical when in advanced areas, falling over a lot of the time.

 

We could have a team full of lovely guys, and play in the Championship, or we can have a team full of talent to progress us in future years. I certainly don't think the club just wave a white flag to attitude and what they are like as a person, so I don't envisage someone being an absolute tool but an amazing player, it's pretty clear the club look at what the person is like and don't just base signings on footballing ability alone.

[janpawel]

It was clear Tonali lacked an understanding of our team and tactics in the first few games. 

 

If I remember correctly, he had some good games and some quite poor games. He was also playing in a few different positions in midfield I'm sure (Milan away I remember him being close to the touchline on the left hand side) 

 

With Longstaff it feels like his job is just to 'steady eddie' the position, he doesn't really offer a lot defensively or offensively 

[Bellars]

Let's not forget how many minutes he was forced to play. Essentially two 90+ minute shifts / week. 

 

Maybe it's not a total coincidence that his best form was early in the season before the injury crisis and cup runs.

 

 

[The Butcher]

Aye, played way too much. Even when extremely out of form and that's not his fault.

[TRon]

I think you can always gauge a players worth roughly by how much interest there is in him, and what sort of clubs want to buy him.

[LFEE]

30 minutes ago, et tu brute said:

Disagree totally, but entitled to your opinion 

 

28 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

I don't mean to be rude but did we watch the same team last season? Opposing teams cut through our Longstaffian midfield like butter. That's not to say he didn't have a couple of nice games after Tonali was out/beforehand.

He came into the team that had conceded 7 goals in 4 games losing 3 and we went on a run of…

Brentford 1-0

AC Milan (A) 0-0

Sheffield Utd (A) 0-8 (scored)

Man City (Injured/Rested) 1-0

Burnley 2-0 

PSG 4-1 (scored)

WHU (A) 2-2

Palace 4-0 (scored)

 

Then subbed against Dortmund finally losing 0-1 at home.

 

He then played 

 

Wolves (A) 2-2

Man Utd (A) 0-3

Arsenal 1-0

 

Then we lost again against Dortmund 2-0 away.

 

W 7

D 3

L 2 both against UCL finalist 🙂

 

If that’s not a significant change of form after being introduced to the team I’m not sure what is TBH.

 

I think we should sell him this summer (1yr only left on contract) for PSR but let’s have it right. In EH’s system he clearly does a decent job.

 

Do I want him in the team or on the bench this season? Ideally not. Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what he’s done in the past whilst clearly running on fumes at times.

 

 

Edited August 7 by LFEE

[Kid Icarus]

The idea that they get stick just because they play badly isn't exactly true like. 

 

I think it's fairer to say that they maybe gain a reputation for not performing well, then they become an easy target after that almost regardless of how they play or whether they're to blame, until they overcome it. Then for some it sticks and that's it, forever.

 

Longstaff didn't perform well last season (output notwithstanding), but it definitely applies with Miggy at times and, I think that 100% applies to Dan Burn last season. You'd think he was having 3 Bramble moments a match the way some people went on. 

 

We all know what our fans are like for scapegoating. 

[Pilko]

He was crap for large parts of last season but he played nearly every minute through knocks and injuries because there was literally nobody else, so I can see why he'd be frustrated with the criticism to a degree. It is easy to forget the season we finished 4th that he was excellent and whenever he dropped out of the side we looked much worse for it.

 

8 goals in all comps last season wasn't a bad return either for someone who's apparently a shite, donkey work midfielder.

 

Said it loads of times but when he reverts to his rightful position as squad player and substitute & is playing without injury he'll look a lot better for it. He's no world beater but he can still be a very useful contributor for us.

[timnufc22]

39 minutes ago, huss9 said:

As with shola back in the day, this lad doesn't pick himself and is only as good as what he is.

 

I would argue Shola was very much bordering on lack of effort on the odd occasion, very much a Rashford-esq vibes at times between him and the fans. One of SBR's biggest mistakes was constantly picking him over LuaLua (which was even more baffling considering he identified years earlier that a pacey Bellamy type player alongside Shearer was the best combo).

 

Longstaff doesn't help himself as he often appears laboured and definitely dives far too much. But once he crosses the white line he should be supported as much as possible and you can't deny he's had some great games for us too.

[Upthemags]

4 minutes ago, LFEE said:

 

He came into the team that had conceded 7 goals in 4 games losing 3 and we went on a run of…

Brentford 1-0

AC Milan (A) 0-0

Sheffield Utd (A) 0-8 (scored)

Man City (Injured/Rested) 1-0

Burnley 2-0 

PSG 4-1 (scored)

WHU (A) 2-2

Palace 4-0 (scored)

 

The subbed against Dortmund finally losing 0-1 at home.

 

If that’s not a significant change of form after being introduced to the team I’m not sure what is TBH.

 

I think we should sell him this summer (1yr only left on contract) for PSR but let’s have it right. In EH’s system he clearly does a decent job.

 

Do I want him in the team or on the bench this season? Ideally not. Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what he’s done in the past whilst clearly running on fumes at times.

 

 

 

Didn't mean to get chippy if I came off that way. He definitely had a nice little run I recall once Sandro went down. And I recall it being, in the moment, the right choice to start him over Sandro during Sandro's struggles. From my perspective, he is neither technically capable, nor athletic, and usually, you'd like one of the two, and preferably both.

[Bimpy474]

By the way there's no dislike of the lad, I cheer him as much as I would Bruno for instance, just with more moaning.

 

However, alongside Miggy, Murphy and BDB to name a few, you can see they need to be upgraded. It's the unfortunate way of progression that some players will get squeezed out. 

 

As squad players they're fine, but that's rapidly coming to head as we do indeed upgrade.

[TRon]

7 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

By the way there's no dislike of the lad, I cheer him as much as I would Bruno for instance, just with more moaning.

 

However, alongside Miggy, Murphy and BDB to name a few, you can see they need to be upgraded. It's the unfortunate way of progression that some players will get squeezed out. 

 

As squad players they're fine, but that's rapidly coming to head as we do indeed upgrade.

 

We also have to realise that if we are keeping these players around for whatever reason, that does come at a cost of selling others who we might prefer to keep instead.

[Geordie_once_removed]

2 hours ago, gbandit said:

It's such bizarre copy, I like Caulkin's writing as well

I'm not a fan of his style at all but that piece doesn't read like him at all. Very bizarre.

 

Re: Caulkin, I think him moving to The Athletic ruined him for me. His style was refreshing and different when you would get one piece on Newcastle every couple of months. But I find it quite grating when you have an article a week. Also his celebrating not know tactics and statistics etc. also annoys me given sports writing, where this is part and parcel, is literally his job. You can choose not to focus on it but to celebrate your ignorance annoys me.