The Voice - Match preview #7: Luton Town vs Bradford City Saturday 19th September 2026 3:00pm

In League 1 this season we have a cross success rate of 22.3% with an average of 6.1 crosses per match.

In the EFL Cup it’s 32.1% success rate with an average of 8.3 per match.

So overall 27.2% of our crosses this season have been ‘successful’ with an average of 7.2 crosses per match.

 

I was down at Kenilworth Road for the game, in amongst the Luton supporters at the same end as City fans but in the main stand in the corner. A great performance, defensively, right across the team but ... (you knew this was coming) ... lack of goals does worry me. there are only 3 teams in the division who have scored less and two of them are bottom and next to bottom. Defensively we are playing out of our skins but at some point, like at Plymouth and at home to Cambridge, teams will get their noses in front and we have to play out. When this happens, the game opens up, we become more vulnerable at the back and, well, the two results where we have gone behind, show what happens. I still believe Beesley will score goals, the the team will click, offensively, over the coming games but to do this we need some creativity and for that I am going to be bold and put it out there that I believe Humphreys will be the man that eventually does that for us. He is the only one we have that is likely to play the ball that no one is expecting. So, seven games in, 5 clean sheets, 5 wins, realistically we could, should, have beaten Cambridge, so let's be happy and ride the wave for all it's worth.

 

F×*ck me, he's tipped Bobby to shine!
Sorry Bobby, been nice seeing you in a City shirt, oblivion now beckons I'm afraid to say.

 

Spot on NC, although we sit proudly on top this morning, the shortage of goals is worrying.
We don't seem to be able to put games to bed ie Cambridge and Mansfield come to mind.
I believe that GA said that he wanted to address that this season but so far nothing seems to have improved in that dept.
Here's hoping that he can find an answer!

 

We’re still too week in midfield
Sarcevic can’t do the job
Beasley takes a lot of weight off the team

 

Its a simple recipe. Goals and scorers get you promoted. Defences and defenders keep you from been relegated. Ambitious managers go for goals negatives ones go for strong defences. It keeps them employed

 

Good attacks count for little if you can't keep them out at the other end, Barnsley show that last season scoring 68 goals last season yet finished 16th. The best 2 defenses got automatically promoted.
Being ambitious doesn't mean you're better, having the right balance is what makes the best managers. Nobody is saying our goal output is brilliant or exactly what we need - Alexander has said more than once this season we need to improve our decision making in the final 3rd - but what the defense has done is keep us in games and keeps us picking up wins whilst we find ways to improve in the final 3rd.

 

Well you claimed we ‘leak goals’ the other week, so it’s a bit hard to take what you’re saying too seriously. It’s funny because many pros have said build from the back, defences win championships. But Trev knows better, bit like your expertise on the pitch…

 

Top teams do both as Lincoln and Cardiff did last season. To be fair we aren't really doing anything we didn't do last season, our defence was generally very good last season and the primary reason we finished as high as we did. And it's not like we don't have the potential for goals in the squad I think 5 or this squad hit double figures last season. And we've shown as we did against Orient that this team can pass the ball around if given the opportunity. I guess it's how much a pragmatic manager can tweak his managerial principles and offset the defensive risk that being more open would bring.

 

Well, Touray's have been pretty poor so far this season.

I think our best crosser this season has been Pointon. He normally seems to find a teammate either in the air or to feet.

 

Spoke to my Luton supporting neighbour earlier today. He said "once you scored we felt we'd struggle, it was like playing Lincoln last season".

Not a bad compliment. Hopefully, we'll start scoring the goals like they did as the season progresses.

 

we have one on the bench one not in the squad

 

We've won 3 of our 4 league away games this season 1-0, something we only managed once last season against Plymouth, the only team this season to beat us away from home. Whilst we all want to see us score more goals, we also want to see us winning more games away from VP and being able to do that 3 times already this season by only scoring once is a massive improvement on last year.

 

He seems to have his preferred centre halves now. I still think the central midfield needs change

 

It's not a criticism, merely an observation in my opinion of what is needed to gain automatic promotion. I'd be very harsh taskmaster if I was criticising a team with 8 wins out of 10 games.

 

I'm not blaming him to be fair, just playing devil's advocate that given the number of crosses put into the box we can't write them all off as poor service so there's clearly another reason why the centre forward doesn't look much of a goal threat.

Strangely though, Nick Powell who plays the same role, does. And with exactly the same type of service.

 

Perhaps the one on the bench and the one not in the squad will have a chance to show their credentials and shine on Tuesday night.

 

I didn't read your post as a criticism in any way and I absolutely agree we need to find a way to score more than we are doing. I guess I'm just pointing out that whilst it's still early days, what we are seeing so far this season is very encouraging as holding onto a 1 goal lead away from home is not something we've done well in recent times.

 

We know Nick is too talented for this league but his fitness dictates that this is the level he is at. I think the main reason is build/physicality, Jake is tall and thin and doesn't seem to have a great deal of strength whereas Nick is much stronger and seems able to be able to arm wrestle the defenders much more convincingly.

 

Pretty sure George Graham and Jose Mourinho wouldn't agree and they've got plenty of league title medals between them to back it up.