Saints have signed Shane Long from Hull City for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £8 million plus around £4 million add ons.

Saints have again splashed the cash in aquiring the services of Hull City striker Shane Long , there are some Saints supporters who have turned their noses up at this signing and question his pedigree but I am not one of them.

These people are wondering why Saints are signing Long and are failing to attract the likes of Hernandez etc, a swift dose of reality here is in order, look at the Premier league goal scoring charts over the past few years and Long's record isn't bad for a striker outside of the big five clubs, at West Brom he made 60 starts and made 21 appearances as a sub in the Premier League scoring 19 goals, in effect a 1 in 4 average although the reality is in terms of minutes on the pitch his strike rate would look much better given the number of sub appearances, at Hull Long hit 4 goals in 15 appearances, similar to his West Brom record.

If we equate this to a full Premier League season we are looking at Long averaging around 9-11 goals a season pro rata, initially this doesnt sound great but when you consider that most seasons 12/13 goals would get you in the top 10 scorers in the Premier League, then Long isnt too far off the pace, indeed if you also consider that most of those top 10 scorers play for the big 5 then Long's record holds up against the majority of strikers in the other 15 clubs in ang given season.

Indeed Rickie Lambert's goal scoring record is much vaunted but with 4-5 of them per season being penalties then his goals in open play ratio is not disimilar to Long's

What Saints need after a summer where we have mainly bought outfield players from abroad with no Premier league experience is a player who knows what the league is like and what is expected of him, we are buying a player who will need no settling in period or to get up to the pace he is ready to go.

It is clear as well that Ronald Koeman is looking to have different options to hand rather than the rigid system employed by Pochettino and agains Long offers this with his high tempo game vital in games where we have to chase the ball.

I welcome the arrival of Shane Long, yes there are a few who I would have liked to have seen come here ahead of them, but we have to be realistic and in who we are after.

This takes Saints summer spending up and over the £40 million mark with options on our two loan players possibly adding a further £17 million, we have scope for a player or two yet.

Ronald Koeman has concentrated on building a squad as well as a team, and that is something lacking last year, we may well be a little weaker in terms of a starting XI than last season, but perhaps the points we might drop because of that will be more than compensated by those we will pick up because we have competition for places, different options and a manager who will not just sit on his hands and make like for like substitutions when Plan A is not working

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NewburySaint added 16:55 - Aug 14 Brilliant-my enthusiasm for the coming season, which was severly lacking anyway, has now vanished completely! And it's not about getting a Hernadez as most of us with some grasp on reality know we cannot attract players like him and Rojo for instance, but we could and should certainly be buying players of the quality that fall in between Long and Hernadez's ability. Unfortunately we cannot attract these types of players because of the muppet that is negotiating transfers! By the way i would love to be proved wrong about Long, Pelle et al as i will & still support them, and sing my heart out for them, but it doesn't change my opinion that they aren't good enough for us!

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 17:06 - Aug 14 Shane Long's best attributes: He's quick, work's hard, has great stamina, hassles defenders, runs the channels, looks to get in behind defences, generally has good movement. Shane Long's main weaknesses: He's a very poor finisher. VERY POOR. Last season 45% of his 52 shots were on target which is good. BUT he only scored with 7 of them, a 13% shot conversion (very poor), especially when you consider 43 of the 52 shots were inside the area!!! What does this tell you? He puts everything straight at the keeper! No class or composure to pick a spot. Another stat, and you can take what you want from it, for such a great 'team player' he only got 2 assists last season. 2,334 minutes played and only 2 assists. For a player who runs the channels and should be making things happen in the final third surely he should setting up more than one goal every 1,167 minutes. He's a bad signing. The most average Premiership striker you can find. Swansea signed Bony for £12m. Why couldn't Saints take a punt on someone like that from abroad.

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richardmdcooper added 17:37 - Aug 14 Reedy - in answer to your last question - we did already. Osvaldo!
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StEdmund added 17:38 - Aug 14 The loss of Jay-Rod for the first half of the season was going to to the biggest problem for the club, so getting in a player with EPL experience was vital (even accepting his limitations). Look at other clubs throwing money at Championship players who probably will not make the grade. Maybe not the best signing but wait and see, I think that we will do better than people think

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GeordieSaint added 17:41 - Aug 14 Quality if a little overpriced. He is one of the hardest working players in the league and is pretty quick. He also gives different tactical options as he could operate as a lone striker, in a traditional two up top or as part of the 3 koeman will probably play. Pelle in the middle with Rodrigues on the left and long on the right sounds pretty decent to me. I love reading this website but some of the comments leave me gobsmacked, it seems like people will moan about saints signing players for too much then complain about transfers not being done quickly enough. There must be some balance. Some people complaining long is not a 20 goal a season man, how many of them have saints ever had? 3, maybe 4? Three lads up top who can get into double figures sounds great to me and with tadic and the Algerian lad we have goals and the option to be incredibly flexible tactically which was the main complaint last year. Give the new board, manager and players a chance before slagging them off.

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landsdownsaint added 17:51 - Aug 14 I'm your typical Saints fan ! Unimpressed when I heard we were interested in him,but now really excited he's on board,! Could be a great signing !
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SaintGeorge added 18:20 - Aug 14 Had to laugh at Koeman's comment on the OS "Shane is a very good player. As a striker, he’s different to Graziano Pellè, which is something we needed. He brings ambition and a great mentality – he’s always running and always working, and he’s very down-to-earth." -presumably meaning Pellè is "a very bad player, with no ambition and a lousy mentality — static, lazy and basically living in cloud cuckoo land..."

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saintmark1976 added 19:54 - Aug 14 NewburySaint, that's the problem now,he is good enough for us.You and I can see it but the people that matter but are unable to recognise a good footballer if he bit them, are running the club.
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Zambucco added 20:05 - Aug 14 SaintGeorge he said different, not the complete opposite! ;-) I have a feeling it could be a match made in heaven the way Pelle holds the ball up and his short distribution is excellent, he also has a surprisingly light touch for a beast! ( not to be taken in a homosexual way!) So Long could be feeding off him and creating chances. Gardos has signed I'd like 2 more CBs please, just to finish the squad off nicely, Vlaar and VanDijk will do nicely, Europe here we come! COYR!

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 20:08 - Aug 14 Yeah Osvaldo turned out to be an awful signing and its always hit and miss buying from abroad but he had the potential to score 20 goals a season when we bought him. Long doesn't have that potential. You look at the great players who've been signed by our rivals in recent years: Bony £12m, Remy £8m, Benteke £8m, all players who have done brilliantly and are now worth well over £20m. This is the type of signing Saints should've been looking to replicate. Newcastle have signed Riviere for £7m who has this potential, as does Valencia for West Ham. Its risky but its a hell of a lot more ambitious than signing an average mid-table striker. Top teams don't have a striker in their team who's best attribute is hard work. They have strikers who can score and create goals. 7 goals and 2 assists in 29 games is not good enough for a team with ambitions of finishing above mid-table. Or are our ambitions that low now?

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SaintDownUnder added 22:37 - Aug 14 I hear Hull will now make a $14m bid for Welbeck. I know Bruce has Utd connections but that would really put this deal into context. Not hugely excited by this signing. But then I suspect he'll be played out wide as part of a 4-3-3 as Geordie Saint suggested which could be interesting, still feels a bit 'journeyman' and not Europe man. Still we've got Tadic who will tear it up this season. COYR

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SaintGeorge added 23:50 - Aug 14 ffs i was only having a bit of a laff at the unfortunate turn of phrase. some people. jesus.
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anwicksaints added 07:06 - Aug 15 Its not what he has done its what the coaching team can turn him into,as with other players its what they can work on , im now looking forward to the season with alot more optimisum , up the saints
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