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Just now, SteV said:

Indeed, to be just rocking up at that level and playing you’d need to be. 
 

I’m actually playing at Tynemouth on Saturday (on the pitch behind the main Tynemouth CC one, cos we’re at a much lower level), and Tynemouth firsts are at home again, so if he’s playing I’ll try and watch for a bit.

Definitely worth a watch

 

Also played against Steve Harper a while ago when he played for Seaham, he's not so good. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 08/06/2023 at 15:44, SiLvOR said:

You'll find plenty of posts of mine giving Longstaff a lot of grief. I'm delighted to say how wrong I was about him as a player. Always thought he was a great lad and so on, but I thought he dawdled on the ball too much, and didn't really offer anything. As soon as he was out of the team for a bit this season, we saw what happened. So pleased that he's become an integral part of the team, and that interview is so nice. Chuffed to bits for him.

What happened?

 

Crushed Southampton

Crushed Brighton

Played an even game against Arsenal

Leeds game was very poor ok.

Chelsea game doesnt matter since we didnt have a midfield at all

 

And thats all considering we had no player of his type to replace him with.

Tonali is going to be a huge upgrade.

 

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Longstaff will raise his game next season, I reckon. 

 

He's already become integral because of his work ethic. I think he's use of the ball will improve now too. 

 

Better players coming in elevates the standard of the players you already have. 

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6 minutes ago, Dr Jinx said:

I think it's going to be Tonali, Bruno and Longstaff - with Big Joe left forward if we play 4-3-3.

Bit harsh on Willock given his more recent performances, and we need the rotation anyway with the extra cup games. I'd expect everyone to get regular game time so we don't have a situation where they're running on empty come March. Your depth options after that being Anderson and hopefully one more, which injuries notwithstanding isn't a bad spread.

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I'm not singling out anyone that needs to be dropped, i'm more basing it off every time we start to think Longstaff is a weak link in the midfield, he'll miss a game and then we really see some holes in the setup.

 

Underestimate him at your peril.

 

The way I see it now, i think it's more likely that Bruno was stretched doing defensive work and also being kicked from pillar to post all year.

Tonali coming in will help massively there.

 

We're going to see better from several players. Not sure what the plan for Anderson is but he may struggle to get game time, at least in early part of season.

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People have to remember despite his age he has effectively only really had two and a half years of genuine first team coaching. Rafa's last year and the 18 months under Eddie. There’s every chance this guy thrives under the increased competition and takes his game up another level this year.

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20 minutes ago, Dr Jinx said:

I think it's going to be Tonali, Bruno and Longstaff - with Big Joe left forward if we play 4-3-3.


I don’t see it like that, Tonali is like a supercharged version of Longstaff. Joelinton/Willock for the one other spot if the formation is still the same. Plenty of games for Longstaff to play at too.

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6 minutes ago, Ghandis Flip-Flop said:

People have to remember despite his age he has effectively only really had two and a half years of genuine first team coaching. Rafa's last year and the 18 months under Eddie. There’s every chance this guy thrives under the increased competition and takes his game up another level this year.


There’s definitely room for improvement based on what he showed under Rafa. His shooting was a strength back then but really poor in the past season. IIRC his passing was more ambitious then too. He just seems to embrace the workhorse role and not even try anything risky now (which is fine).

 

 

Edited by Pata

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I’m not wanting to play down Longstaff’s contribution last season but he was missed because we had no other RCM that could play there, as Willock and Big Joe prefer the left side and if we played Bruno there we wouldn’t have anyone to pass it out from the base of midfield.

 

Tonali is the upgrade on Longstaff at RCM and will likely allow Bruno the ability to rotate getting forward.

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One of Longstaff’s better individual performances came when Bruno was out in February (might’ve been against West Ham where weren’t great collectively, but Longstaff was the best of the bunch iirc) and he had to play at the base of midfield.

 

He had a couple of stinkers early in the season playing there but that was before he’d gained any confidence back really. I think he’ll be able to back that position up as well as rotating for the right-sided 8 slot. He’ll get plenty of game time.

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Yeah his game is totally different to when he came through. His season on loan at Blackpool he scored loads of long range goals, and when he first came into the team at NUFC there were some comparisons to Carrick because of his passing range. 

 

Now he plays like a workhorse cog in the system. Endless running, overlapping, short passing patterns on that side to allow Trippier and Bruno to be more expansive. That's fine. It's probably perfect for what we need him for as a squad player. The one thing that would be great is more goals in the box but I'm not sure his role in our system is ever going to require him to do much more expansive work because other players are better at it.

 

 

 

 

Edited by ponsaelius

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I think Tonali will get the Bruno treatment and be eased in after a month, particularly with him playing in this U21 competition. Could see the first CL game being his first start and going from there.

 

I think Botman was going the same way until Targett's injury. I reckon if he'd not got injured it'd have been another few weeks until he was a regular and it'd have been Burn that made way. 

 

 

Edited by Optimistic Nut

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Imagine this season he'll be in the same role as Lee Clark in the first few prem years under Keegan, won't start many but dependable enough to come off the bench when needed.

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I wouldn't bet against him making 25+ starts across all competitions this coming season, I think as said above Tonali will be eased in and that his work rate will still be vital for us, particularly away from home.

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Aye there'll be games where Bruno needs a break, Tonali brought up to speed with the PL, games where Joelinton starts on the left, etc. There'll be 17-18 players who get a fair number of games this season..

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  • 2 months later...

I think we’ve taken a hit in him not featuring and not being match fit. However, long-term it’ll be a temporary hit. I really like him and I want him to be here for a while in the squad but I do wonder whether he’s the type of player who needs to be playing every game to be sharp. We are massively missing his reading of the game and the amount of yards he covers

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