"Patience will be key ahead of competitive campaign" - Waterford FC's Keith Long
Blues manager Keith Long is asking that fans be patient ahead of the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division season that kicks off with an away trip to Sligo Rovers this Saturday. Photo: Noel Browne.
As Waterford FC Head Coach Keith Long faces into his second full season as Blues boss, he is wary of the challenges that lie in ahead in what he describes as one of the most competitive League of Ireland seasons to date that gets underway for his side away to Sligo Rovers on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of the new season, Long said: We’re looking forward to it and It's a new campaign, so everybody's ready to get going. Our league campaign starts with a tough game away to Sligo.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces around the squad, and there’s lots of challenges in terms of bringing new faces in, trying to shape your squad, strengthening areas that you need to strengthen.
“We’ve brought in nine new faces over the course of the off season. We're looking forward to the challenge of the new campaign. Like I said, there's been lots of change on and off the pitch and new personnel into the club, but we're excited about the season, and we're looking forward to it.
“We have a pre-season for a reason. We got six weeks, and prior to pre-season, we would have had sessions with a number of the players you know at the end of the season.
“Our job is to integrate those players you know, to make the squad cohesive, to make the environment good in terms of how we train, how we operate, and how we want to try and play.
“I think the boys have responded really well to what we've asked them in the in the in the course of the pre-season. We’ve played a number of games and we've experimented with different formations, different personnel and different systems.
“I suppose between now and Sligo, we will become a little bit more tighter in terms of how we how we want to try and play. You know, our organization, all that type of stuff, will be building towards the opener against Sligo.
“It can be difficult with all the new faces coming in, and that's the challenge as a management team, to try and integrate those players. I think they've adapted really well, responded really well to the message that we've been giving them.
“Day One against Sligo on February 15th is exactly that, it's day one. We’ll be looking to be the best version that we can possibly be of ourselves at that point, but recognise also that, it's a process, and players will get better as the season progresses.
“They’ll get fitter, get sharper as the season progresses, and hopefully become a cohesive team, a competitive team, and a team that has a clear identity in terms of how it wants to try and play. That’s what we're looking forward to, and that's the challenge for us.”
Results in pre-season mean nothing to the Blues boss. “Results are immaterial in pre-season. It's more around performances. We've been playing a number of games experimenting with different players, different positions, different formations and so on.
“But we're building, we're building minutes, and we're loading players in terms of what they need. We've had some injuries and niggles throughout the course of pre-season. A number of players have still yet to feature.
“It’s our job is to try and make sure that we have the strongest possible squad available to us when the season kicks off. So like I said, results are immaterial. Performances is what we're looking for, and there's no doubt we can improve on both scores.
“Hopefully results will improve, but as a result of our performance levels and that integration of the team, the players, the new players, and trying to round in on what, what our best 11 is, round in on our best formation, and benchmark against the opposition that we face week on week.
“So I think we're quite adaptable in terms of the squad, the personnel that we've got. We've got competition throughout the squad. I'm a little bit more experienced in terms of age profile of players that we brought in, maybe less so in terms of league experience, with the exception of Andy Boyle that's come in.”
Long added: “We got some good players. The environment, the training, the players, like I said, have been very receptive to everything that we've asked them to do, and we've got a challenging year ahead of us, because it's going to be such a competitive league.
“When you look at the landscape of the league, you know, clubs having increased their spending exponentially over the last number of years, year on year, the league is becoming more competitive. “There's more money available which is good as it brings on the standards and to raise the bar. We're a progressive club at Waterford FC, and we want to try and move forward. We’ll get better, and get stronger as a football club. We're really excited about the season ahead.
“You can never say never in terms of players coming in, but I feel that we're more or less done. At this moment in time, we’ve brought in nine new faces, like I said, and that is a job in itself, to integrate those, those players, over pre-season.
“We’ve been impressed with what we the business that we've done with the players that we brought in. But, you know, the league is the acid test. Pre-season can be false, can be phony, and the league opener against Sligo will give us a real idea of where we're at as a team.”
Long concluded by asking the fans for patience. “I think the fans need to understand that we are very much a work in progress, so patience will be required from the supporters. The Blues supporters are fantastic. They've always got behind the team, and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.
“One thing that I can assure all the supporters is that the team that goes out on the pitch will try and reflect the punter in the stand, the people that are paying their for their season tickets, coming through and paying their hard earned cash that they can recognise the honesty and the integrity and the work ethic of the team.
“I think that has to be our platform for us moving forward as a as a club and a team. We will never lack for effort. Patience will be required in terms of nine new faces coming into the team. It will take time for them to adapt, for an integration, you know, to the league, adaptation to the league.
“We got the league champions at home second game in. We got Cork City in a massive Munster derby. They're great games for us, and certainly will whet the appetite of the Blues supporters if we were to put in some really good performances over the over the opening game.
“So that's our ambition. We want to try and move forward as a football club. We were solid start last year, back in the Premier Division, and for long periods of the season, we were occupying a top five position tapered off a little bit towards the tail end of the season.
“We lost a number of key players, as you know, but our job is to try and keep progressing as a football club, to move the club forward. Our supporters are at the core of that and once they recognise that honesty of effort, I think supporters will get behind you, and I've no doubt that Blue supporters will continue to do that into the new season. We’re all looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
