Bar last season we always start badly under Robinson. Between 18/19, 19/20 and 20/21 the highest we ever were in the table after nine games was 17th, which was the 19/20 campaign. The other two seasons we were in the bottom four at that stage. That’s just how it goes most of the time. That said, two home games coming up in the space of a few days against teams most would expect to finish in the bottom half provides a great opportunity to get some points on the board. Win them both and suddenly it looks like a pretty decent start points wise; get a win and a draw and it looks steady albeit unspectacular. We won’t know whether we’ve had a decent start or a bad start until towards the end of September.
What I’m most confused by currently, having just listened back to the RadOx post-match from today which included calls and texts, is the amount of people questioning where the goals will come from. Sorry? Where’s this suddenly come from? Taylor is one of the league’s top scorers every year - he’s actually scored more goals each season than he did the season before since he arrived three years ago. I’ve seen and heard numerous people call Browne, Bodin and Henry players of Championship quality. Plus the likes of Murphy and Baldock to come back in the next month or so, plus the lad Joseph who chose us over Sheffield Wednesday, plus players like Brannagan and Bate pulling the strings in midfield. And that’s not even including Jones. How is anybody looking at that and going, “Cor, blimey, I don’t know how we’re meant to score goals with such a lack of threat and creativity”? Yes, we need a bit more direct pace, but I’m really struggling to understand how anybody could look at the players that are here on paper and think it looks a bit dry and unadventurous. We have done almost nothing but sign attacking players this window, as per usual. If there isn’t any proper goal threat then most of the window has been a total waste. Which is it?
I think the main problem is that we’ve got a bunch of players in based on individual characteristics and ability, rather than anything being tailored to a specific system or formula. We seem to collect shiny players and then try to fit them all together later, which is never a good way to build a balanced squad. When you’ve had the same manager for nearly half a decade that simply shouldn’t be happening. It’s really poor in that regard.
Let’s see where we are next Saturday at 5pm. Two wins and everything looks a lot better.