The Voice - Match preview #23: Mansfield Town vs Bradford City Thursday 1st January 2026 15:00

Wright was awful against Doncaster in the league, he wasn't great against Barnsley and Byrne played neither of them games. It wasn't Byrne's fault Wright got beaten for pace twice or a terrible pass to Metcalfe which he got away with or shanking a few clearances.

 

Byrne is a bad joke at L1 level. Didn't we lose 3-0 last time he played (Bolton)? He was rubbish then too getting done for positioning and pace for a goal, needs to head into non league pronto, we will go nowhere with him in the side.

 

LOL

 

He does repeat himself a lot. Lost count of the number of times he said the goals were down to poor defending. He did say we missed Baldwin today.

Anyway I would like to hear what GA was thinking with that team selection. Raynor said that we haven't won any of the games where Byrne has started.

I hope the recruitment strategy is in full swing cos today has shown what a weak squad we have outside the best 11.

 

Give it up. He came on against Burton, which is our second worst performance of the season and we looked even worse.

We weren't creating nowt. You could have had Erling Haaland in our team today and he wouldn't have scored.

 

GA on the official club app usually says he is "frustrated" after a loss,
Every time
Every soddin' time

 

Yer, a good summary. Especially how the back 3 could have been configured differently.

 

Having watched the replay, Metcalfe chose the wrong moment to scan whilst the ball was coming to him, so id say that pass was on Metcalfe

I do see reason with your point though, that being said, this backline can only afford one liability and today we had 3, 4 if we include halliday

 

And it was well documented on here before the start of the game, but once again we had good positions to score but made bad choices when in possession.

 

Spot on bud this team is a midtable team that has pushed way above its level to sit 3rd lets not forget that .................very poor today but how many times has that happened this season and how many times has GA got it wrong ??? Hardly any................this squad need massive help now and that down the powers that be to help GA out

 

The 3/4/3 often looks terrible. GA knows this, because he's changed it a few times (i.e. Stockport) but didn't today.

I maintain if Pointon or Sarc are not starting then its detrimental to us. 3/5/2 makes far more sense as we don't have anyone to play those wide roles with the quality that they have.

 

Not today Dave he single handedly cost us 3 very valuable points with his team selection at 2.30 every fan could see what was going to happen (and it did)
Worryingly Kav and Byrne could add in Wright started today which to me indicates they are staying all bottom half L2 standard at best and who i hoped were leaving
Even more annoying when you see Cardiff and Lincoln dropping points a big chance to catch up on Cardiff and widen the gap to the chasing pack
This defeat has been coming for a while other teams have sussed us out
The biggest question is does he have the nous/personnel to change our dipping performances
So no not today very disappointing from team selection to final whistle

 

That's weird because looking at the chance that Swan missed, I have never seen Haaland miss those.

(Tbh I would have started Swan)

 

All the defenders you mentioned are left sided defenders and Byrne certainly did cut it in league 2 and was part of one of the best defence in league 2 . I agree league 1 is a step too far for him but it was more down to Joe Wright today that it went wrong. With Baldwin unfit we are short of right sided centre backs.

 

Yes. I nearly chose him, but he was culpable for a lot of misplaced passes - just not as many as the others.

Agree about your second point - but GA must have had good reasons. Although Swan starts ahead of Kav every day for me as he does that front line roll a lot better.

 

OK. You've got me there!!! And the Halliday misses.

Good control from him - I've no issue him missing it, he does seem to sniff out chances far better than most of the others

 

We won’t win every game. We dust ourselves off during what is a very busy period for the players.

 

I've voiced my doubts about Joe Wright from the first game of the season. No pace, easily bullied by smaller players and little footballing ability. Together with Byrne and Kelly we have three league 2 donkeys which we need to replace as soon as practicable. Halliday also could go for me. All grand lads I'm sure but not good enough.
Kavanagh and Tyreik should also be made available too and GA really must admit he's been wrong all along about playing Humphrys down the middle.
Some big decisions needed if we're to stay in the mix so we'll see where we are by 1st February.

 

How have other teams sussed us out ????
I get it if where getting beat week after week and all the teams where playing the same system but they aint and in all honesty today like probably are other losses is down to our own piss poor mistakes then teams sussing us out.