Transfer Rumour Sean Longstaff

[Noisy noise annoys]

Another non-goal scoring, not creative midfielder to add to the ranks.

just what we need

Like Allan and gana you mean?! Non scoring or creating I mean

 

[nsno-chris]

Like Allan and gana you mean?! Non scoring or creating I mean

Yes, exactly.

I mean, I did say “another”

 

[nsno-chris]

I mean, this really is important. We need others contributing. We need a dynamic midfielder. We need to shift some of the absolute crap before adding more crap to the pile of crap we have.

He's about as creative as a scared little virgin in a bedroom of pornstars is our Benitez the horrible whopper faced meff.

I have no words lollollollollol

 

[davek]

Unlike your balanced and measured views on the lad from Rangers then lol

What's unbalanced about me saying he's decent going forward but terrible in defence?

That's the very definition of balanced.

 

[davek]

He’s a no 8 all day for me.

@BlueToff reckons a 6.

 

[davek]

Well I went into detail using actual raw data from this season earlier to show his strengths and weaknesses defensively, as someone asked for them. Here are his possession/attacking stats for a midfielder (compared to Everton and Newcastle current midfielders to have played in the League this season)

Goals - 1
Assists - 1
Chances created - 5
Big chance created - 0
Passes/crosses into the box - 16
Passes total - 368
Accuracy - 81.25 (impressive, the best of any Efc or Newcastle midfielder to play over 10 games)
Passes in op half - 186
Passes accuracy in op half - 76.34
Long passes - 52
Successful long passes - 28
Passes into final 3rd - 46
Possessional passes - 374

So, those stats back up what I've said. He takes care of the ball well. But he is in no way creative. He is, in no way, an attacking midfielder and he doesn't play as an attacking midfielder. Howe has him playing in a 5-man, flat midfield, with wingers pushing on either side to represent a bit of a 433 in attack. Benitez doesn't play 433. Maybe he would if Longstaff comes in but, as I've said, it doesn't solve the issue we have which is Allan lacking the positional discipline to play deep and Longstaff also lacking it.

Like I said, I don't think it's a bad signing. It's a middle of the road signing if we make it. But he shouldn't be the priority with whatever money is available right now, because right now he doesn't desperately add what we need.

I do rate his ability to keep hold of the ball and i do rate his ability to press but as we've already discussed today, he gets bypassed easily because Newcastle - like Everton - don't press as a unit, or at least they didn't do under Bruce. They've been a tad better at it under Howe.

But those passing stats when it comes to playing attacking passes into the box or the final 3rd are not at all the numbers of an attacking midfielder. Because he isn't an attacking midfielder.

It's fair to say your real opposition to Longstaff is that others in the Everton midfield dont allow for his inclusion here.

That's something I'd disagree with.

 

[BlueToff]

@BlueToff reckons a 6.

No I don't!

I said he came through at first and was compared to Carrick, a bit like a 6 but he never really looked comfortable playing there long term under Bruce. He only played nine games under Benitez.

I don't think he's a 6 at all. I've said, repeatedly, he isn't a sitter. Like in pretty much every post in here that I've made I've said that phrase.

He's not an attacking midfielder either. As I said, he's a bit of a water-carrier. Neat in his passing, not very progressive but keeps the ball ticking over well (and our midfield could use that, though we don't play with any control and that seems to be tactical to an extent). He likes to press and hassle, which is again why I said he isn't suitable as a 6 because he would leave his position just like we see with Allan, and you'd be wasting one of his better attributes.

 

[BlueToff]

It's fair to say your real opposition to Longstaff is that others in the Everton midfield dont allow for his inclusion here.

That's something I'd disagree with.

No it's not at all. It's that in this current system that Benitez has played (541 or 4411) I don't see him adding what we need to make it work and I'm not sure playing him in a 433 works if Allan is behind him, but we might be able to muddle through if it's Allan and Longstaff being a bit deeper as a double pivot (kind of) and let Doucoure do the roaming. that would mean Allan and Longstaff being drilled to take turns in moving forward while the other one sits. It's doable, I just don't know if I trust the tactical genius to do it as he's shown no inclination of even trying such flexibility so far.

But to be clear, again, I don't think Longstaff is a 6, I don't think he's an 8 either. He's just a central midfielder who can be neat and tidy on the ball and hassle off it. Which is fine, I'm not hugely against the signing, I just don't see where he helps us massively unless Benitez changes the system. I don't think Longstaff is the player he was when he played 9 league games under Benitez in the 541 shape either. I think he's developed into a player who wants to press a bit more and that's the better part of his game. It does leave him open to being bypassed, like it does with Allan, and leaving space though.

EDIT: If we're doing the numbers thing, he might be like the Spanish No.5. in a 433 they'd be the Busquets type but in certain teams they're the midfielder who is simply responsible for keeping possession and getting about the pitch a bit, and i'd say he falls into that second category. It's all about the blend in midfield.

 

[BlueToff]

To be honest, a midfielder that can keep the ball is an improvement to the squad we have. None of them are good in possession - even that pointless 3rd season Martinez passing for passing's sake type of possession.

I don't think he's a great player, and he's not going to get us into the top 7 on his own, but if he has something that we're missing (like Townsend and Gray have shown), then I can at least see the logic in it.

What's depressing is that we've gone so far backwards that signing a player with the same attributes as Morgan Schneiderlin is now a positive step.

I agree, especially on that last part.

He probably has the attitude part at least that Schneiderlin, bar that brilliant first half a season, didn't.

I'm not hugely against the signing, I just worry it'd be shoehorning a player into a way of playing that doesn't really get the best out of him. Dave's right on that part at least, that is at least in part down to the other current personnel. But also, he's not a player any other manager would target. I mean, he's out of contract in 5 months and we're literally the only team who've had any documented (by reliable reporters) interest in him

 

[ZissouBlue]

@ZissouBlue so in 18-19, in his 8 league starts under Benitez, he played 7 times in CM in a 541 (which Benitez now seems to want to use here and it's absolutely horrific) and then once in CM in a 352.

Interesting. Thanks for looking! It's honestly a bit bizarre that this is the player that Benitez seemingly wants over any other available CM, considering he didn't actually play many games under him. I'm trying to consider it through a positive lens (kind of similar to how I viewed the Townsend signing), but I just can't even get there. After Rondon I genuinely don't want any other players that Benitez wants to sign.

 

[Neiler]

@BlueToff reckons a 6.

In the same way Doucoure is a 6 at a pinch mate, but we know Doucoure is a natural 8 where he’s at his best.

Longstaff is an 8 all day, in the way Gerrard (spits) was an 8.

My opinion anyway.

 

[maccavennie]

He's not a 6, or an 8, he's crap and we've already got that position filled in the first team and on the bench.

 

[ForeverEverton]

At the start of the season some fans on here including me were saying Rondon and Longstaff will be in before we knew it, both in amongst some of the poorest players in PL history....

Rondon is the worst signing I`ve ever seen in an Everton shirt, even worse than Iwobi. Instead of bringing this clown on you may as well just take a man off and play with 10.

Longstaff is no better than Davies, Delph or Gbamin and definitely worse than Gomes, Allan and Doucoure. Onyango is going to have his growth stunted by Longstaff who is absolutely pony, so bad.

RB is obviously the problem, Brands been scouting Mykolenko and Patterson hence why we`ve had an interest since before RB, RB`s players are Rondon, Begovic, Lonergan, Gray, Townsend and Longstaff. Only 1 of them 6 is good quality and 1 other will prove to be a very good squad player, the rest is ABSOLUTE TRIPE.

Sack now, cant let this Kopite rat carry on.........

 

[jonnyboy316]

Putting my cards on the table I would hate this signing. Newcastle fans see him as a championship level player. He has had a major injury. Presumably because of his age we would give him a minimum 4 year deal. He is not what we need at all

 

[ForeverEverton]

Linked to Nottingham Forest yet in come Everton to nick a player that should be going to the Championship... Absolutely scandalous from our manager and our club... absolutely seething at the state of the club yet our signings are players way way way below the level we should be aiming for.