The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Salford City Sunday January 1 2023 @ 3:00pm

Totally agree Dave, really enjoyed it.

 

Just reading the BBC report on the game and it said it was Eisa first touch I think it was also Cooks first touch what great substitutions .
The guy who sits next to me was bleating on about the subs Hughes was warming up and said surely he can't take Oliver off and bring Cook on, I said I can't see Hughes playing both up top, a minute later the lad makes the assist for Eisa to score the winner.

 

Changed formation and the team all seem happy and far more effective. Who'd have thought it?

 

We need to get Wright signed in Jan , he’s a free agent in June. As you say the reverse pass to Walker was sublime, as was Walkers running off the ball for it. It was a move Man City would be proud of!

 

We shall see?

 

37 appearances in total for Salford..

3 goals.

2 of those were today.

Yeah he looked good, but we dodged a bullet there IMO.

Not consistently good enough, flatters to deceive.

 

That was great vision from both Wright and Walker, maybe a fully fit Walker would have made it 4, but no complaints here.

 

If only Suttons technical ability and his decision making were on the same level as his heart and stamina. If only?

 

We were back to 4-2-3-1 when we made the winning substitutions, though.

 

It happens every now and again. Totally agree @Fordy117 . We definitely transition much easier without Mr Slow Motion Teflon leading the line. I did suggest a while back that as a team we can score more without him in there, to some ridicule IIRC. He will not be with us next season regardless of the league we are in. Also seems to have put some weight back on.

Admittedly he has exceeded my expectations scoring wise.

Maybe he'll join Ronaldo in Saudi?

 

What's important today is that we wouldn't have won the game if we didn't have Oliver AND Cook, so there's no need to split hairs about who does what IMO.

The other refreshing thing was Eisa scoring; a couple of games ago, the idea of Oliver and Eisa bagging the goals seemed an impossibility.

This is our strength: squad size, depth, and quality.

We should be celebrating that.

 

Better again today. Oliver offers more effort than cook although cook made the 3rd with a good header. Cook is lazy off the ball. Walker contributed more than Chapman in half the time and will hopefully bring us some intelligence at the top of the pitch. Mixing up our play suits us far more. Decent performance vs a team with threats up the pitch. Thought Watt had a good game for them. We need to secure Wright. He is a significant asset.

 

that’s what the big pisser for me had it happened weeks ago we probably wouldn’t be playing catch up ............ 3 months without a home win backs that up .........

 

Cook seemed to never stop calling for the ball and battling their centre backs, and seemed to win most duels.

I'm assuming by lazy you mean he doesn't make runs off the shoulder, because it looks bloody hard work to me

 

Superb game - really enjoyed that.

expected 1-0 either way but happy to have a goalfest any day of the week. The switch to 4-3-3 suits us so much better. Sutton gets up the pitch, gillead, and smallwood both had very good games.

its great to have long diagonal balls and crosses pumped to Oliver - he’s a nightmare for defenders. We’ve been too easy to defend against for too long. Id like to see Banks in for Chapman but otherwise we look to have found a decent side to work from here. Just need to shoehorn Walker in too.

will Hughes dare go 4-3-3 away? I dunno. Let’s beat Rochdale and worry about that after.

Feeling a lot more positive after the last two games. After zero shots on target at Carlisle it was imperative he mixed it up. Thank the Lord he did.

 

Doesn’t run into channels nor close down their defenders in possession. Example of Halliday looking for an out ball late in the second half. Cook made no effort to run the channel for that out ball gifting Salford the ball. As we saw we were hanging on at times. It can make all the difference. Agree he battles 50/50s played up to him.

 

Chapman is just frustrating if Walker found himself in the posistions he gets in then I think we would get a lot more goals .......... that effort at 2-2 was just typical of his finishing

 

Great game of football and a very good performance and win against a good side, both looked like promotion contenders whereas against Harrogate both looked lower mid table.

Feels good to do the double over them two minnow teams, when so often in the past these type of games are our Achilles heel.

Oliver looking like the player we hoped we’d signed these last couple of games, and hopefully the goal or two will help him kick on. Really happy for Eisa after all his injuries to score the winner in a big game. Wright class above again, hopefully we can make the transfer permanent asap.

No bad performances, great team effort, hopefully our home form has turned a corner. The squad just needs one or two tweaks and we should be up there.

 

It does sound like we kind of agree in fairness, just think we need someone with his energy but better technical ability. I've always insisted every squad needs a Milner and the same applies to Sutton

 

Not just the formation. We were clearly playing to a style that’s more direct. Hughes post match comments are telling too:

“We’ll still play our football in the opposition half and create and play good stuff but I think they [the fans] can see elements in our play now that they really want to be happy about.”

I think he’s realised that he needs to adapt and be more varied in his approach.