Stephen Humphrys

He was up front with Swan him on the right swan the left and Sarcavic in the middle just behind them

 

I need to get this off my chest as it's been bugging me for weeks now... he's not a left winger, he's a centre forward and always has been. He's said it in interviews, more importantly Alexander said it in no uncertain terms in an interview. The entire idea of him being a left winger is entirely based on Barnsley fans saying he did well when he went there for a few games at the end of last season. Please let's draw a line under saying he's playing out of position every week as he'll only go on the left under Alexander in case of injuries

 

Nobody is advocating him as a left winger in the old sense , the left of a front three or left of two behind a “9” is what is being referenced. We don’t play with wingers , who does these days ?

 

Do you want to tell him that then?

https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/news/2025/april/10/humphrys-/

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/archive/2025/07/09/

 

Argument finished.
Close the thread.

 

Do you want to tell Alexander that then?

GA on Stephen Humphrys - I see him as a centre forward and I was clear about that to him before signing him. What he wants to achieve and how he wants to play, we both came to the conclusion that it is his best position, if you want to play on the left, do not sign for us.

 

Hopefully those of us who think he'd be better on the left will end up looking really, really stupid.

 

And yet, the only direct goal involvement has come from when he cut in from the left.

Twice against Wycombe and once last night he found himself in the middle with good opportunities and all three he's fluffed.

Doesn't make for good reading considering the stubbornness of the recent statement released by GA.

 

Just needs a goal and then we'll start to see him fly. Or summat.

 

Where is he going to play when Cook returns

 

Let’s hope him and GA don’t fall out over it then

 

He sees himself as a "nine hybrid" which is exactly how he plays in our team where he has a bit of a free role and can drop deep rather than needing to stay high and central like a traditional 9 would do e.g. Cook. You can see from his touch map in the 2 games he's doing exactly what he said he wants to do

 

Ssssh , you aren’t supposed to ask difficult questions

 

He's nearly 28 and has never threatened "to add goals to his game" in his entire career.

I hope you're right but I suspect, as the session goes on, it'll be clear as day that this lad isn't an out and out centre forward.

 

The WYS GA interview I posted in the Blackburn thread goes into this in detail .

 

I think this is the problem though. For us to pick up points and be comfortable he'll need to get to around 15 you'd think and it's something he's never done in his career.

If he only gets 10 that's a huge amount of pressure on the midfielders.