Some Saints supporters have questioned why Saints paid £12 million for Shane Long, at Ipswich the Irish International went a long way to showing them why.
When Saints paid that fee for Shane Long many asked why the club had paid so much for a striker whose goals per game ratio was at best 1 in 4, on the face of it that sounds a fair question, but the answer is that that is the going rate for in the Premier league for a striker that will get into double figures in season, if you want one that gets 15 goals then look at how much Everton paid for Lukaku or Manchester City for Wilfrid Bony or indeed how much Jay Rodriguez was worth.
But Long is more than just a goal scorer and as he showed last night it is his willingness to chase down the ball which creates confusion in a defence and that leads to chances and goals for others.
Against Everton Long showed that when he got to a ball first and was blatantly tripped, it should have been a penalty but a corner was given from which we scored the opening goal, Long's endeavor had lead to that when it looked an easy clearance and it has been like that all season, sadly some supporters only see goals scored.
But although his workrate and the ability to panic defences and keep the ball active when it might be cleared there is more to his game and as he showed last night he has a knack for scoring vital goals.
Last night at Ipswich he paid a chunk of his fee with the winer that puts us into the 4th round, likewise when he scored at Stoke in the Capital One Cup that was vital and again repaid some of his fee, perhaps the most important goals though were the brace against Leicester when in the final 20 minutes he came on as sub and won the game, these 3 points may prove vital come the end of the season and i can see more where that came from.
You can tell the value of a player to a side by the reaction of his team mates and Long's fellow Saints seem to appreciate his effort.
Football though is all about a squad game and with everyone fit in the final months of the season Ronald Koeman has a plethora of players capable of getting 10 goals or more and one of those is Long, do not underestimate his value to the team with both goals and assists, however look at his game, the real contribution is that ability to create panic which often leads to chances and goals, but too often supporters do not recognise this as perhaps they should as they only really coundt goals scored or at best assists, rather than looking at just why we kept the pressure on in the first place.
So next time you watch Long, look at his overall contribution don't just judge him on what you perceive to be a high fee on a goals per game ratio.