The Voice - Match preview #40: Bradford City vs Northampton Town Friday 3rd April 2026 3:00pm

They're both on BBC sounds:
Alexander - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0nbhvbp
Humphrys - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0nbhy75

 

He's very frustrating at times, first half yesterday he had the ball running at the Northampton defence I think it was Sarcevic who pulled away to his right awaiting an easy pass and a run in on goal, but Humphrys tried to get himself into a position to take the shot on and it was IMO a very good chance missed, he makes the pass Sercevic scores we go 2 - 0 up it becomes a different game, no pressure from there on in and we may have got the 3/4- 0 result we wanted fine margins.

 

I was talking about his interview and him calling him a strange player, rather than his overall laziness.

 

Humphrys can be summed up by a 2 minute period late on yesterday, IMO.

One minute he is running full pelt for a long ball, holding off a very physical challenge from Walker-Guinness (a pretty big and athletic full back), and duel he wins, then he fires a fantastic low cross in that causes problems. He gets a standing ovation.

Great, that's wonderful.

Now, confidence boosted, he gets the ball a minute or two later and... runs headlong into a crowded penalty area and is easily dispossessed by one of four or five waiting defenders.

He's such a strange player. With no confidence he is pants because he doesn't do what he needs to, and with too much adrenaline he's also pants because he doesn't make the right calls.

He has a mental sweet spot where he could be a Championship level player with those physical attributes and his ability, but he's going to find it maybe 10 percent of the time... if he's not better than the opposition like maybe he was when he played for Rochdale, he's just so unreliable.

Honestly, I don't think he will ever do the job at this level as I just dont think he will ever find the exact conditions to play really well for a consistent period


Shame, because he could easily be good enough. Best thing that could happen to him is to find a side like Bromley in L1 seeking to replace Cheek or whatever, a team who will play him every week and do okay. He could shine for them. For us? I'm sorry, I don't think it will happen barring a miracle where he just gets his head right and figures out that less can be more on the ball, but not in terms of effort.

 

He's lead the line for the best part of a full season in a side that's 4th in the league. He'll do for me. I honestly think his goals tally is a completely misguiding factor in many people's judgement compared to what he offers us in terms of points on the board. I'm happy for stats to prove me wrong but I'm fairly confident he's been instrumental in a large chunk of the goals we've scored this season.

Having said that I agree with parts of your post. I think he sometimes makes the wrong decision but so what? He's not perfect. He's a damn sight better than any viable alternatives or other league 1 forwards we've seen this season.

 

Regardless, he is the best and most effective CF we have. Its a bad bunch but...

Id be keeping him and Swan and adding 2 with some CF quality.

 

That pass to his feet just after he came on that he let run under his foot was really poor. If he'd have taken that on the half turn there was a 2 on 2 opening up. Even his burst of pace down the right side was a great run and then he turns and passed it straight into touch.

Perhaps he's putting himself under too much pressure and needs to relax but we certainly can't afford to keep hoping he'll come good. Our bigger problem though is that none of the others seem to be grabbing their chance.

 

Possibly, it certainly makes sense but almost just conceding the away games doesn't really sit right with me, regardless of the end result.

 

Would it surprise you to hear he has only made 18 starts?

Not being a smart arse, but when you said "most of the season" it made me wonder how many starts he'd made. Of course he's made a further 15 sub appearances too so has been present a lot.

7 goals is an okay return, not good, not horrific.

 

That does surprise me to be fair. As for his goal ratio it doesn't come close to telling the full picture. Give me a striker who contributes to winning performances and it doesn't matter a jot whether or not he's scoring or not.

 

Yeah as long as someone is

Someone has to find the onion bag but doesn't matter if it's Sarcevic or Joe Wright to be fair.

 

It's only 1795 minutes he's played in total too. Which is equal to 20 games give or take.

1 in 3 essentially.

 

If we are comparing goal scorers then lets bring the runaway leaders into the discussion. Their top scorer is on 9, same as Bobby and 1 less than Sarc. Humphrys 7 goals would see him 4 top scorer for Lincoln and 2 behind their top. Its a myth that you need one player scoring 25 goals, you need the whole team to contribute in modern football.

 

Agree, but I think he and we, all know the squad’s limitations ?

 

100%. Easy to judge the efficacy of a striker by comparing numbers, much harder to assess impact by watching the game and judging their contribution to the success of a team.

 

Wise words sir, wise.

 

On the other hand they have outscored us by 25 goals,.75 to 50.

After a blistering start, we have averaged a goal a game, 30 goals in around 30 games.

That should not be enough and explains our streaky form post Christmas because it wasn't sustainable

 

It’s not on the other hand, it’s the same hand. You can score plenty without 1 number 9 doing it all is my point.

 

It is indeed ironic Andy Cook scored over 30 goals for us one season and we still didnt get promoted.
Ballard, Wareham and Fletcher are all in the top 5 scorers in league 1 this season yet their clubs have all been teetering on the edge of the relegation battle for much of the season.

I would prefer the goals shared out for sure.

We will never know whether we would have been promoted if Andy Cook hadnt have been injured on New Years Day last season and kept with same formation and tactics.

GA has found a formula since Cook's injury to win far more matches than defeats. This is why I found the signing of Mullin puzzling by the way.

 

Fair.