Back in January, Southampton manager Ronald Koeman was regularly forced to bat away speculation linking Shane Long with a move away from St. Mary’s. “Nobody will go out, maybe I have to repeat it 80 times more,” the Dutch boss said. Liverpool were credited with an interest at the time. Tottenham too. Reports of a move away began to properly mount in the days following the capture of Charlie Austin from QPR in mid-January.
Koeman has frequently favoured a system utilising a long frontman, which left Graziano Pelle, Long and Austin battling for one starting spot. Yet, despite the constant rumours, Long - true to Koeman’s word - remained a Saints player once the winter transfer window slammed shut. The Republic of Ireland international has come under some scrutiny following his big money switch from Hull City for £12m in 2014.
It was a hefty fee to pay for a frontman who had never scored more than eight league goals in a single Premier League season and, as one might expect, heaped the pressure on Long to succeed straight away. However, with his impact under scrutiny, the 29-year-old managed just five goals and five assists in 32 Premier League appearances in his debut campaign at St. Mary’s. Despite that, Long has since established himself as a key member of Koeman’s Southampton squad.
Any memory of the fee Saints paid Hull to secure his services is now being forgotten, despite an inability to consistently hit the back of the net. In that regard, his importance is magnified in this Saints side. Austin is more an old fashioned English number 9, with the former QPR man more reliant on chances being created for him. Pelle, meanwhile, operates better with his back to goal, holding up play efficiently and bringing teammates into action.
Long, though, will relentlessly chase down the opposition in hunt of the ball. He won’t often be on the receiving end of crosses into the box akin to Austin or Pelle, but will instead help the team defend from the front, reinforcing his statistically calculated WhoScored strength of ‘defensive contribution’. This in turn helps present Saints with more goalscoring opportunities, allowing for the south coast side to capitalise on any excess space left behind by the opposition.
Of course, his approach will land him in hot water with officials. Only Victor Wanyama (1.8) is making more fouls per game of Saints players in the Premier League this season than Long (1.5), who is willing to utilise his tenacity to heap pressure on opposing defences. However, while Long’s style of play will often see him reprimanded be referees, he has picked up just one yellow card in the Premier League this season, which was for dissent in the 4-0 thumping of Arsenal on Boxing Day.
It’s clearly a beneficial approach, however, with Long able to create chances for teammates (1.2 key passes per league game - the joint-third most of Saints players) or go for goal himself (2.1 shots per game - the third most of all Saints players). His relentless energy levels and dogged determination are clearly a crucial part of Saints’ game plan. It’s no wonder, therefore, that Liverpool and Spurs were credited with an interest in him in January, with Long perfectly suited to both team’s high-pressing approach, hence why Koeman was so keen to ward off interest in the striker.
Long runs 8.7km per game according to data collectors Opta and with the average for Premier League strikers around the 7km mark, it goes to show just how hard he works off the ball in order to force the opposition into mistakes and sacrifice possession. With Saints averaging 49.6% possession this season - a mid-table return - it further amplifies just how crucial he is in Koeman’s current set up.
The tenacity he brings to the side helps ease the defensive burden on the likes of Jose Fonte, Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama, but can also prove to be the difference between one point and three. Since his arrival, Saints’ win ratio with Long starting (51.4%) is considerably better than without him (37.8%), while the number of games drawn has also dropped from 29.7% without him compared to 11.4% with him.
With Long running the defence ragged, opponents are more prone to committing errors that result in goalscoring opportunities for Saints. He may not boast the star quality of some of his teammates, but Long is one of the club’s key players.
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