With injuries depleting Claue Puel's striking option's he must turn to the man who rescued Ronald Koeman's season last year.

When Saints fans look back on last season the rose tinted spectacles come out, they mourn the loss of Pelle and Sadio Mane and say that we haven't got a goalscorer in the squad.

But they overlook the contribution that Shane Long made to the campaign, in the mid season period when Sadio Mane failed to score a Premier League goal in five months and Pelle struggled with injury, a new hero emerged and that was Shane Long.

Indeed Long only scored one league goal less that either Mane or Pelle and he did so in less league minutes on the pitch giving him the best goals per minute ratio of any Saints player last term.

It was in that mid season period when we seemingly couldn't buy a goal or a win that Long broke the seal and scored a double against Arsenal on Boxing Day and then in January with Saints slipping down the table he broke the deadlock against Watford that set Saints on the way to a run of straight wins that got the momentum going and set the tone for the remainder of the season.

Now with Manolo Gabbiadini out for the Palace game and probably for the trip to West Brom Claude Puel needs to turn to Shane Long as did Koeman before him.

It is something that he has seemed very loathe to do in the Premier League, the Irish striker has started only 7 games with substitute appearances in another 17 of varying lengths.

His strike rate is therefore remarkably good having scored 3 goals in that period, but he has not got a decent look in under Puel and he really should have done given our striking issues throughout the season.

He has not started a League game since the trip to Swansea on 31st January, a game where he looked lively and scored the goal that dragged us back into the game before we gifted them a winner.

Given his performance that day it is rather strange that he has not started since, indeed it was baffling why he was not in the starting line up against Bournemouth at the weekend, Jay Rodriguez had fallen behind him in the pecking order and therefore Long should have started ahead of him, in football it is about your squad knowing if they put in the performances they will get the chance to play and that has not been the case this season, not just for Lon but many other members of the squad.

So for the game against Crystal Palace Puel really needs to put Long into the side and get him to kick start the season as he did a year ago, we are coming into a crucial run of games and after the results last night dropping us down to 13th, this is a game we really need to win and with the quality of our squad, should win.

Photo: Action Images

perazi added 10:16 - Apr 5 Nick - you are so far off the mark in your recall of Mane it's not funny. Much as I like Shane Long, if we are relying on him to kick start things and fend off mild relegation worries, we really are in trouble!!!!
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SonicBoom added 10:39 - Apr 5 Le'ts be honest a lack of goals has been our achilles heel for most of the season. Gabbiadini seemed to solve that, however even he couldn't be expected to keep that ratio up. We lack goals right across the team, not just the strikers. We really should have seen more from Boufal and tadic in particular. You cannot rely on one striker in each game to get your goals.
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Sanguin added 10:45 - Apr 5 perazi, I think Nick's exactly on the mark with Mane. He's not subjectively recalling his thoughts on Mane, he's objectively providing statistics and evidence to back up his claims. Michael Gove would disagree but It's difficult to be off the mark when you're stating facts. I agree with you though that Long has had a frustrating season, in particular I remember away at Arsenal where we should have won with the number of chances that Long failed to put away and would have put away last season. Hopefully he can recapture some of his form before the end of the season.

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SaintNick added 11:58 - Apr 5 Perazi, so you are saying that I missed something between 25th October 2015 and 20th March 2016, that Sadio Mane did score a Premier League goal ? Five months without a goal is unacceptable for a Premier League striker, give that he did have some good games in that time notably Arsenal at home but in the main they were few and far between, I dont think he wasnt trying, but he was appalling in some of them.

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SanMarco added 13:32 - Apr 5 I think it was Mane's finish to last season and then his excellent form this season that perhaps colours our memory a bit. The thing is he has gone so let's stop worrying about him. Long, however, is, for the moment, still with us and needs to be given a run. He was certainly a player who contributed last season and I would prefer to see him more often - Puel, however, obviously has other thoughts.

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BoondockSaint added 15:51 - Apr 5 Uh, the season started last August.... Teams know they just have to shut down our lone striker and it's game over. OK, so Mane didn't score for a while....but he assisted and opened up space for Long-who seems to need 3 chances to score one. This season he has been doing the same for the Scouse. Lalana's production is way up over last year, to name one. While he was at the African Cup this season, they were winless in 5 Premier games and crashed out of the League and FA Cups. Gabbiadini back in would help everyone.

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