Steve Morison has hailed the immediate impact new signing Callum Robinson has had on the training ground and hopes he can provide that quality in front of goal to fire Cardiff City up the table in the coming weeks.
City started the season in fine fettle but have just struggled to convert draws into wins and losses into draws over the last five games, a period in which they have gained only two points.
While their defence has, by and large, been solid, the real problems have been at the top end of the pitch, where they have failed to turn chances into goals with any regularity.
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However, the signing for Robinson for £1.5m from West Brom represents the arrival of a Championship forward with proven goalscoring pedigree, something City didn't previously have in their ranks.
One suspects Robinson will usurp Max Watters, who has only one goal in 19 Bluebirds appearances to his name, in the pecking order, a move which may well bolster Cardiff's ability to put the ball in the back of the net.
"He’s been great," Morison said in his Monday morning press conference of Robinson. "He’s had a bit more time training with the lads. He arrived on the Thursday, trained on the Friday and was in consideration for Millwall game. But we just felt and he felt it was too soon to start. So we got 45 minutes in his legs.
"We have had a good time to train with him now. It puts him in a much better place than he would have been if the game would have gone ahead on Saturday, from a positive point of view.
"He has had two or three days extra training with the group than what he would have had previously. He is an excellent player, top drawer. He brings that quality to the group straight away with everything he does. I'm really pleased."
Robinson made his debut in the defeat at Millwall, playing the entirety of the second half, but while few chances fell his way, he did look spritely after his introduction.
With Cardiff now five games without a win, they find themselves in the bottom three of the Championship. Admittedly, it is still very early days and, looking at it the other way, they are five points off fifth place.
Upon further reflection of the Millwall game, Morison spoke of his frustration at how his side were unable to convert their own chances and understand they must be better at doing that if they are to get back on the winning trail.
"It’s frustrating," he said of the Millwall game. "After the game you are like, 'We didn’t perform well'. But the reality is they had a couple of moments in the first half where they had chances at the edge of our box, but Rocky (Ryan Allsop) didn’t have to make a save that he shouldn't have made.
"We missed a header from six yards out, which we should have scored, hit the post twice and they have gone and scored from a set piece. Then it's end-of-the-world conversations, but the reality is that we were very close in that game. We have got to start putting the chances away. We will keep creating them.
"Would we like to have 10 or 20 clear chances per game? Yes, but that isn’t reality. No one has them. xG (expected goals) is what people look at now and it tells you what it is for everybody. The reality is xG is always between one and two and it's about being clinical in those moments.
"It’ll be up and down. We started like a house on fire. People were talking about us getting promoted after the first four games of the season! Then you have a couple of draws and a couple of losses and it’s panic stations.
"We are eight games in and a work-in-progress. You win on Tuesday night and you are back into mid-table. Anyone can beat anyone and we need to keep working on what we’ve been working on and I think the tables will turn again for the better.
"No doubt, after we have a run of good results we will have some down results as well. That's got to be the expectation. Do we want a consistent level of performance? Yes. That will give us more wins than losses."
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