Match Thread #39: Burton Albion vs Bradford City Saturday 21st March 2026 3:00pm

But we don't have to win the away leg, just score 3 or 4 at home......!!

 

I think we will end up on around the 75 points mark so will be fine for the playoffs.. then it’s all about nerve. Our fixtures aren’t too bad and we now have a good break to let the players have a rest. I think we win our remaining home games and hopefully can get something at Wycombe and Exeter.

 

Can’t imagine what GA DOES,NT see in Lapslie to not even put him on the bench.

 

Key thing is avoid defeat against Plymouth, Stevenage and Bolton. Beat Northampton and then somehow pick up points at Wycombe, Exeter and Barnsley.

I think we need another 9pts minimum from the last 7 games. What I will say is 4th looks more appealing than 3rd. That 6th place will be taken by an in form team like Plymouth IMO. Rather play Stockport.

 

Lee Evans’ pass for our late goal showed up something we’ve been missing all season – a midfielder who can create scoring chances without us having to spray the ball wide.

I’d like to see us set up away from home in a 352 or 3511 (with either Bobby or Sarc in the 10 role) with Power, Metcalfe and Evans in central midfield. All three are good tacklers so would make us harder to break down. With the bonus that Evans can provide quality passes through channels or over the top centrally for Wright, Neufville and Swan/Wheatley/Jackson to run onto. We’ve become too easy to defend against because everything goes out wide and other teams all know this. We need someone in midfield who can utilise Swan, Wheatley or Jackson’s ability to run behind off the shoulder of the last defender, to give opposition defences more things to worry about. Evans can do that, whereas Power and Metcalfe don’t.

 

Problem is we only have 3 CM's in the squad. We let 2 go and signed 1. Im not counting Sibley or White because neither are traditional CM's and they are both absolutely shite.

 

Exactly. Look he isn’t fully the answer to all the questions, but looking at what we’ve seen of him and others then he deserves a shot. He’s not a messiah but what we have is a player GA signed, and kept in the summer, but has hardly played. He must have signed him last January with an eye on league one so at some point he must have been deemed capable? And from what we’ve seen he looks capable. Even if he doesn’t take 30 players on and smash a goal in the top corner etc..

it seems like some players just disappear. But with lapslie he’s about sometimes and others not. Weird

 

Lapslie maybe a battle of egos...... lots off insider programmes show fights Internally.... GA on the Salford programme was a reeeet gobshite...

 

Lapslie could be on the bench and can play right side of central midfield if required due to injury to one of the starting midfield three.

 

Hopefully after the break Baldwin will shed his protective mask. On the extended highlights there's one incident in the penalty area when he has no idea where the high ball is.

 

I’ve made the same points about Lapslie - I’m sure I read that GA considers him a superb professional who certainly hasn’t caused disruption so that cannot be the reason for his baffling omission from match day squads - I hope he still can have a part to play this season

 

exactly

 

That's because we don't have anyone better but what I'd give for someone like Sonny Bradley in there just to martial them.

If he's starting though it should never be in that central spot.

 

I agree, Metcalfe and Power have no killer pass in their lockers, they just spray it out wide to the wing backs who ‘sometimes’ put a good ball in to a non existent no9……..

 

On paper and on the pitch it looked a very poor transfer window. And so it has turned out to be. I don’t recall anyone posting on here saying that fans from the clubs we have dragged these players from were sad to see them go??

 

We weren't slow yesterday we made two excellent chances but didnt convert either we should have been 2 -0 up before we conceded.

 

Come on then, who do you realistically believe we could have brought to the club in January that fans of other clubs would have been devastated about losing?
Remember when we lost Nahki to the dogs, we were very upset but it cost them 1.4million 12 years ago. A similar striker in 2026 would cost how much?

 

At the minute theres only one guy for the central mid and thats Joe Wright. Player of the season twice at kilmarnock, and brilliant winning most high balls coming into the box. Looked a revelation when he joined,Tilt and Baldwin have been found lacking in the centre of defence.G A needs tostop switching the back three every game.

 

Fans have different takes on players, games and obviously now the manager but some of the stuff I'm reading is straight out of la la land, I get fans are p1ssed off with regards our away performances but lets keep the comments realistic, we are in a play off place and it will take a disastrous loss of form to not stay in a play off position that's if the chasing pack who many play each other can continue to pick up points, we saw how difficulf a run in can be last season I'm sure the chasing pack will be of that same mindset.
Now is not the time for snipping at certain players or the management team, individual players will make mistakes which are costly with regards the final result as we saw yesterday either Bobby's or Tyeiks efforts go in its a different game, they know they should have done better with their reactions after the miss, they don't miss to wind fans up.
We've witnessed some great football this season and we've seen the other side but come on guys no one can predict what will happen in the play offs, who'd have thought from the four teams in last seasons play offs Wimbledon would have got promoted.

 

When the high press ain't working, which it hasn't for most game recently, this is pretty much what we offer going forward especially away from home.