Oh I agree. If everyone is fit and available then he’s nowhere near the side but my point here is he’s been the next available forward when we’ve played 1 up top. It takes Theo four or five chances to get a goal. But he’s a workhorse and I guess with a better ratio he’d never be in league one
Absa bloody exactly
It's been a weird season. We're 10th, yet if you speak to a lot of people, we're diabolical, terrible season, Powell must go, we play negative football etc.
Chris Powell needed today. We needed Sam Hart and Stephen Humphrys, and the reasons why should be very clear now. Our threadbare squad has been on its arse for weeks, perhaps even months. You could argue that the Gillingham game massively papered over the cracks that have been forming for a while, but last week we were so short it was almost embarrassing.
Hendrie needed competition for his place, for me he's not really good enough to be playing week in, week out. Sam Hart looked strong and aggressive, he picks up a lot of yellows going by his record but we do need someone like that - the lack of bite has been telling recently.
Last week was dismal but I don't think I have ever looked at a Southend team and bench and been so pessimistic about our prospects. Today, what a difference with Moore back, two new signings and the lack of pressure that comes with playing away from home.
Make no mistake, Bradford were tough opponents. No goals conceded at Valley Parade since November 3, second in the form table. Powell had to make yet another change to the formation, as he's basically been almost forced to do every week, to accommodate Bunn's injury. Neither Kightly or McLaughlin can justify starting at the moment so the starting line-up won't have surprised many.
But what a difference Humphrys can make. Robinson, as Ayrshire rightly says, is a player that gives his all and causes defenders a lot of problems on his day, but to be fair is not the striker you'd want starting every week in a League One side. Humphrys looks a handful, a real aggressive, mobile striker with a point to prove, two good feet and the ability to bring others into the game.
It always puzzles me why whenever we sign a new striker, his goals per game ratio is taken as the main indicator of whether it will be a good signing or not. Clubs like ours don't sign established 30 goal a season strikers. We sign other strikers and hope they will turn into 30 goal a season strikers. Mainly based on their attributes and how they fit in. Before he signed, Hopper hadn't been prolific. Nor had Corr, nor had Barnard. Charlie MacDonald had. He left us with two goals to his name back in about 2009. Probably the last time we signed a striker that had a strong recent goalscoring record.
Strikers at our level need to deliver a lot more than goals. That's why McCoulsky was binned. They need to win the ball high up the pitch, put pressure on defenders, make intelligent runs and bring others into play. It's why Theo Robinson has played quite a lot of Championship football - off the ball there's not actually many better strikers at this level (XG fans will know this from his stats this year). Goals are also nice. But if they don't do the ugly stuff, you're playing with 10 men. McCoulsky will get you 20 goals in a team that puts the ball on a plate for him every week. We're not that team.
That said, only 8 teams have scored more this season. Chris Powell is no defensive manager, when the choices are available to him. We all saw that at the tail end of last season. He's also only played one up top when he's had to. Our home record needs fixing, but who knows? The lift that the new boys have given us might give us a bit of momentum to see the season out and win a few more home games.
Today's a big result and a big relief. Five more wins needed to make sure we stay in League One, in a season where we've been without, long term, our goalkeeper (Oxley), the player signed to be our main central defender (Lennon), both full backs (Demetriou/Coker), our main striker (Hopper), and three back-up options (Gard, Kyprianou, Barratt). I know I go on about it, but it's not going away.
️
