Long sold + 7 M + Good standard replacement = Fantastic Deal
Long sold + 7 M + Journey Man replacement = Average gamble
Long sold + 7 M with no replacement and hoping Anelka / Sick Vic come good
or the two youngsters step up = Big Gamble IMO.
If we aren't looking at getting a replacement I'd sooner keep Long until the Summer , Mel must be backed JP!
It does look like Shane will be gone and i wish him well , not half as bad as some make out IMO and as for having Hoof ball pinned on him ...well if your Head coach allows it for 30 odd games then for me that comes down to him not the player.
Can't agree with that at all. He was a total liability. By no means just because of the hoofball (as you say, thats not really his fault), but because of his very deficient technical ability to play football at this level.
A liability at this level because he lacks the touch. His basic control is not good enough. Nine times out of ten the ball bounces off him. That means we are better off with him not on the pitch than on it, because if he is on it, people will pass to him and we will therefore lose the ball and turn attack into defence.
Whereas if Anelka, Berahino, Anichebe, Gera receive the ball, it will stick. (Vydra and Rosenberg more suspect so far, but both need/would need time).
It if we only have ten men, we still have a chance of keeping the ball. Once we pass it to Shane, there is a very high chance we have lost it. That's if it doesn't go over his head anyway.
Also, his close finishing is woeful, longer shot very poor, crossing poor, can't beat a man etc etc.
He was an actual liability. We are positively better off without him. I would have given him away. It's a miracle that Hull are paying that (anybody know what the base price is?)
New coaches (except Mourinho apparently) always want another striker, but Shane doesn't need replacing. We have 5 strikers, good blend of young hungry and massively experienced and different styles, others like Gera who can play in the hole, good attacking midfielders including with width etc etc.
What we need is two new fullbacks.