The Striker Arsenal Have Longed For
Do you see what I did there? Of course you didn’t, I haven’t started talking about my subject yet but hopefully you’ll soon be groaning at my word play.
It’s easy to talk about the flavour of the month and Arsenal signing them. It happened with Ba, Cisse, Benteke and Michu, all prolific for a while and strikers Gooners clamoured for Arsenal to sign, heralding them as our goal saviours who have all tailed off a bit in the goal tally stakes.
The current flavour of the month is Shane Long and someone the media have linked with a January move to a bigger club, Arsenal one of them.
Shane Long is a player I admire much and someone I feel Arsenal should consider as more than just flavour of the month.
My admiration for Long goes back to his Reading days and I mentioned him as a potential signing in May 2012. I said in a recent Goonersphere Podcast, and a 3BTA Podcast, that I would like Arsenal to consider him again.
Shane Long
Arsenal were linked with Long a few years back so in some respect he wouldn’t be flavour of the month for Arsenal but his current form does no harm in highlighting his qualities to Arsenal once again ahead of the January window.
Two things are quiet clear amongst Arsenal supporters in general. One, Arsenal need a striker in January. Two, January is a notoriously bad/hard time to shop for top quality additions.
Shane Long isn’t a world-beater, nor is he a prolific goalscorer but that’s okay because all title-winning sides include the odd “very good” player and Long fits that bill.
Some argue that Podolski and Theo cannot be considered as genuine backup or rotational options to Giroud as they can’t play with their back to goal or hold up play. Shane Long can.
Long could be the player we thought we signed in Chamakh and more. Long is another hard-working, gutsy player and he holds the ball up well and is comfortable and suited to a number of formations. Shane is able to play upfront on his own, in a partnership, right or left in a three or wide in a five. He is strong, good in the air, stretches defences, brings other players in and is good in defence. I don’t think he is going to oust Giroud any time soon but he would be a fantastic rotation option and is someone who is actually able to influence a game from the bench, unlike Bendtner. He’s not prolific but he is so much more than just goals and personal glory.
Shane is a powerful striker able to bully defences or use his strength to bring others into the fold, qualities that are lauded in Giroud’s play for Arsenal.
Perfect backup for Giroud?
He only averages one goal per five matches featured in, in the Premier League but with a midfield like ours he could easily improve that or use his attributes to assist others in scoring more goals.
Top quality players aren’t easy to come by in January, especially not centre-forwards or goal-scorers. Arsenal aren’t going to buy Suarez in January and it’s unlikely that we’d get Lewandowski either because BVB won’t sell/he has signed for Bayern
Arsenal are much better served by signing an experienced forward who can slot into Arsenal’s team with minimum fuss who won’t cost the earth nor become deadwood within a season. That way we are covered in numbers and quality and a prolific goalscorer can be signed in the summer.
Long is out of contract at the end of the year and almost went for £5m last summer. A bid of the same amount should be enough to tempt West Brom.
If you think the lad lacks the technical quality to play for Arsenal then you should watch his goal from Monday night against Villa.
Arsenal need a striker in January and West Brom have one that makes financial sense and wouldn’t kick up a stink about a bench role as he doesn’t have the World Cup to worry about.
In my opinion, not only is Long a viable alternative to Giroud when required, in many respects I believe he is the perfect one. It’s also been far too long (see what I did there? *groan*) since Arsenal had an Irishman at the club.
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Shane Long would be great, Just the kind of player Arsenal needs. We can’t always have flair players who can’t get stuck in. He and Kevin Doyle where my successors to Paul Dickov in terms of hard working strikers. Add a right back ( sagna can play CB) and another Flamini and I’ll be doing my victory dance in March. #goonerfamily
Totally agree. Another defensive addition and a hard-working striker would see us through to the summer when we can do our real business. January isn’t the best time to shop for a worldie.
Very good article. I have to say I’ve never thought about Shane long as a viable option for arsenal, I’ve been thinking of agblanhor as I think he’ll be a good chance of style when he plays. But reading your article, I see your point. We have a style of play where the midfielder are involved and with long, that style of play won’t change. I also love the fact that he’ll be cheap and won’t hinder us from going after a top striker in the summer.
Exactly that. Someone who would be a decent option until we can bring in a top class addition. If Shane manages to play his way into contention after that then that’s only a good thing for Arsenal. If not then we won’t be short on offers from mid-table teams wanting to pick up an Arsenal player.
plain and simply, i couldnt agree more. sign him up!
I agree for the most part, but Shane Long’s existing deal also includes a one year option in the club’s favour and so he wouldn’t be available this summer and certainly not on the cheap.
A deal was in place with Hull this summer for around £6million and it was Hull’s attempt to renegotiate that that caused the move to fall through.
Clarke didn’t particularly want to let Long go, and Long is settled in the area so would stay as long as he was playing, this combined with the news that Hull are still interested along with Newcastle and potentially Arsenal would only drive the price up.
Potentially. I get what you are saying but also that 12 month extension has to be mutually agreed as far as I am aware. £5m this January would get him I think. Any more than that and we shouldn’t bother but if we can get him in cheaply it solves a lot of problems. It gives us depth, allows us to rest Giroud so he is fitter for the big matches and allows us to keep a lot of powder dry so we can get the top class centre-forward everyone so desperately craves.
Hi Dan. I know you don’t like negative feedback. So let’s keep this objective. Here’s the thing: Shane Long just hasn’t been very good with a football prior to this weekend. He has all the physical attributes you could want, as you point out: he’s speedy, he’s fairly strong, he can win headers, he can score with either foot and he will track back and work his butt off all day for you. He hits the target more often than not as well. All that is great. But the issue is, when it comes to integrating into a side like Arsenal, he just doesn’t have the goods. He is neither a good enough finisher, as a 1:4 goals to games ratio suggests, nor is he particularly good at setting up team mates (5 assists in two years), nor can he really integrate effectively into our passing game, nor can he beat defenders off the dribble to set up his own shot (0.2 dribbles per game). So what does he bring? He would be another warm body who could theoretically play instead of Giroud, but comparisons to Giroud reveals that, well, there is no comparison. Giroud nearly triples Long’s Squawka overall score, is a full point higher on Whoscored ratings, and needless to say, has more than three times as many goals. So, even if we signed Long, would we trust him to start instead of Giroud? And if the answer to that question is no, then he’s doesn’t do much more for us than Nick Bendtner.
You might argue that Long would score a lot more with Ozil, Cazorla, et al. providing the firepower, but I’ll remind you that Lukaku and before him, Odemwingie had no problems scoring for WBA. Even more damning, Long wasn’t even deemed the best striking option on his own team for much of this season.
If Long continues to play the way he did last weekend, I’m fully on board with you. Maybe it’ll be his breakout season. Unfortunately, at 26, the more likely conclusion is that this is a flash in the pan from a player who is useful, but not more than likely not going to contribute to AFC significantly.
A decent enough argument but not one I agree with. I would happily debate this with you but frankly I’m offended by your opening gambit.
He was injured for most of the start of the season chief. #youdontknowwhatyoureonabout
….hmmm…Baggies fan here; well reasoned article and, well, I’ve got a soft spot for Arsenal and I think he’d be a terrific signing for you.
However, I hope he’s not! Very underrated player all round, runs his socks off and is actually inspirational to team members re the effort he puts in. As Monday showed (as you say), he’s got better ability with the ball than is generally thought too.
Don’t think he’d go for 5-6m as HOPEFULLY he’ll now get a good run in the team > get a few goals > good performances > up goes the price…..that’s how it goes, eh?!
Anyway, good luck for the rest of the season and I hope you stay RIGHT where you are!!
Thanks buddy, always nice to get the opinions of the guys on the other side. If he wasn’t “cheap” (but modern standards) then he wouldn’t be as attractive as I think he is (for Arsenal) but agree, increased form etc often increases the price. Good luck for the season too.
Secondly, signing a player like that as purely stop-gap is only productive if it’s a loan. Otherwise you’re taking on a sizable contract (at least 50/wk) and a multi-year deal on a player you only really intend to use for 6 months… and you have to find space for him in the squad (24 man roster, isn’t it?), and he’s not homegrown by any means.
I say if Arsenal really want to sign their striker, they should sign their striker. I don’t know who that is, but it sure isn’t Shane Long. Easier said than done, yes, and Long would be a decent option for a short term loan, certainly, if we can’t find the player we want on this team for years to come on the January market. But to offer him a multi-year deal, knowing we can and will do far better in the summer, just doesn’t make sense.
Am a bit surprise it has to be Shane Long….. Sure, he’s been a threat the few times I watched him, the game against Villa inclusive. You put up a good statistics about him, a goal in five games, that could be a long time sometimes especially when results are needed immediatly. I admire him quite well but am not very comfortable with him, he may as well go ten games before he adapts to Arsenal’s style. I’d prefer Nick stays if Arsenal can’t get a prolific striker in January. After all, we are scoring.
I agree, there is always an element of risk when signing any player and he could take a long time to adjust to playing at a higher standard. What can I say? I like the guy. Maybe he isn’t up to the standards we are all hoping for or expecting but I think he could do a job. If indeed another player of greater ilk becomes available in January then by no means should be pass that player up for Long but as far as physically powerful, back to goal strikers who may be available in the January window I certainly think Long is worth a look.
Im sorry I don’t agree, Long is a decent striker but he’s not quality. One thing Arsenal have now is quality depth in each position except striker and Long is not quality I dont even see him fitting in the Arsenal way of playing, I fear he would be classed as “deadwood” within 12 months. Arsenal finally have money to spend and we need to be patient so we get quality to compete with Giroud not a passenger that will watch him play. This is not a dig at Long, he is just not at the level we are playing at right now, we need quality or at the very least potential to be quality i.e Chamberlain
So, given the choice, you would rather we bought no-one in January if it meant going for a superstar in the summer?
It’s a nice idea but we do need more players upfront who are similar to Giroud (physically) and sadly Bendtner isn’t him.
True Bendtner is not the guy and Long is definitely better than him but he’s not at the level we require. We need better and I fear with him we would be settling, I don’t want Arsenal to go back to those days.
I’m always miffed when I hear that a player isn’t at the “level” we need.
What players do you think are realistic targets who are of the right quality?
Look Dan, this was not a great blog. It was narrative driven, almost blindly so. I tried to point that out without being rude, but you took the first line of my comment and ran as far down a blind alley with it as you could (for the neutral observer, I got about 10 tweets at once from Mr. Cowan explaining his outrage).
I’m not a psychiatrist, but I don’t have to be to see plain as day that you take yourself and this blog far too seriously. A combination of making poor arguments (and this is not the first such that I’ve read), and then being defensive about it, does not suggest you were put on this Earth to write compelling arguments on the internet.
Needless to say I won’t be following your blog here or your twitter account any longer. I have observed some of your other twitter battles in the past and I’ve kind of thought to myself, this guy spends too much of his time arguing with idiots. Maybe that’s why you’re so quick to jump the gun. I don’t know. In any case, I don’t wish anything bad upon you, in fact, you’re as enthusiastic a gunner as any on the net and you have my respect for that. I hope your blog generates lots of gooner feel good moments in the future. But you are not one I care to have an interaction with after today.
If you want to see if you’re being defensive or not, read your own comments. You agree with all the ones that agree with you and disagree with all the ones that disagree with you. Where’s the objectivity? Anyways, I’ll move on now.
Wow, this is incredibly dense. Of course I disagree with the ones that disagree with me. That’s the point of holding an opinion. If someone present an argument that makes me think differently I’ll say so.
So then you clearly feel your readers don’t ever make a point that’s worthy of acknowledging or valuing on equal ground with your own. Otherwise you might change or revise your opinion, but you don’t. So if you’re not going to change your opinion regardless, what’s the point of soliciting it by making it a matter of public forum? To garner praise for your genius?
Do you stop reading after a certain point or have you taken up trolling as a pastime? I never said I wouldn’t change my opinion, I said I would change my opinion if someone present me with an argument that did so. That’s kind of how debate and opinions works.
I also get why you call me Dan now. It’s seems you do a lot of transference.
First off “Dr Gooner”, my name is Daniel not Dan. Nowhere will you find me refer to myself as Dan. You may find this to be petty nitpicking but a mans name is important and you should be respectful enough to use their name as they present it to you.
Secondly, what kind of manners do you have that you think you saying “I know you don’t like negative feedback” isn’t rude. It’s very presumptuous. You don’t know me from Adam so you don’t know what I do or don’t like apart from what I tell you. I don’t love negative feedback but I don’t dislike it as long as I can take something from it.
Thirdly, 10 tweets is an exaggeration. I’m sure there is a psychological term for why you do that. Also, there are things called character limitations.
Lastly, you keep mentioning how you aren’t going to follow me any more as though it’s something I should care about. You know buddy, if you had left out the presumptuous crap then we probably would have had an open discussion about it. Ultimately we probably wouldn’t have changed opinions but we would have respectfully disagreed as I have with everyone else. I’m not an idiot so I appreciate that people have different views.
I must say that I also find it hilarious that you think I take myself too seriously. You are the first person I can remember accusing me of that and had you listened to my podcast or spoken to people who actually know me then you probably wouldn’t say that.
I’m not going to do this with you, Daniel. I love you too much to lose you. Can you ever forgive me for giving the cleaner head?
Wise words. I shall cherish them.
I had to wait for that little argument to end…. personally I think we missed a trick in not signing Benteke, 22 year old who scored more goals than any other striker in the Epl for 2013 before he got injured, an Arsenal fan with lots of potential to work with and he wanted out of Villa, real shame. I guess we got caught up with Suarez but that’s what can happen sometimes, we missed with him but got Özil and I think that’s how big we must think now. It’s quite late here in South Africa but I have to say I do love your podcast hilarious stuff. Have a goodnight
Cheers buddy, glad you enjoy the podcast. I do allow myself to get drawn into these arguments, it is a flaw but I can’t be bothered to work on it 😉
I agree, Benteke would have been a great option in the summer. Maybe next summer if he has another good year.