Match Thread Grimsby Town vs Bradford City Tuesday 13th August 2024 @ 7:45pm

We've got players who can play on the half turn, which is an effective tool in this league, (Mansfield and Notts County from memory). This allows you to play through the thirds, but for some reason we try to always play the wingbacks in from deep. The quality of balls into the box either from open play or set pieces is appalling and severely limits our good chances on goal. I really hope the next arrival is a decent defensive midfielder, because we are hamstrung with Smallwood as it stands.

 

Disappointing not to progress but our primary focus has to be to get out of the khazi league, so if fewer games means less injury risk and a stronger squad then that works. Just hope we don't do too well in the pizza cup. The FA Cup still has more magic so happy if we get it right for those games. All that said let's see what Saturday brings and see if MKD was a flash in the pan, as last night suggests it may have been

 

[QUOTE="Onside, post: 902897, member:
"At this level teams feed off set pieces. It is a big part of your game. That is why I am astonished that neither Hughes or GA have identified that we need a set piece specialist someone who can be relied on to put say 50% in good areas for the team to score" -
Spot on. I have beaten this drum for years especially at VP where teams turn up to stifle/ and defend deep. We waste far too many of these opportunities.

 

Cheers. Concerning, but not surprising. Both players were squad filler at their previous clubs, signed for the illusion of recruiting 'promotion winners', on the cheap.

 

Amazing how folk can easily dismiss cup competitions especially one that gave us ine of the best seasons in living memory and i put money on that squad was smaller.

I get it if we do go up but how many years has this bullshit been wheeled out when we go out early only for us to end up doing fook all in the league anyhow.
The way some of us talk you would think we where a Man City who didnt need a cup comp distraction us from going after the title than a bog standard league 2 club.

 

Signing one of them you could understand as a squad filler but with the talk of investment in the squad you would have expected a better cental defender to have been signed.

 

Some thoughts on last night.

Halliday just not up to speed yet.
Walker looks brassed off.
Smallwood was dire. I think time is catching up with him fast. He's OK in close situations or when he has the ball in space but, as at times on Saturday, he can't cope with pace against him. He was running in treacle last night. And his set pieces, oh my. If I've heard it right didn't Sarcevic play deep for Stocport last year. Could he take Smallwood's role?
Kavanagh has had two awful games. Another who seems to be going backwards. I've no idea why he's coming so far back into midfield.
Byrne was frighteningly poor.
Richards not very impressive.
Oduor excellent when he was involved but played far too wide in the first half. Much better when given a specific role at LWB.
Oliver did little to make a case for himself but got precious little service.
Cook and Pointon looked bright.
Generally, a very poor performance. Our midfield was nothing like tight enough and they frequently just ran through us.
I like Shepherd and think he should play in the middle where he has before and bring Kelly back instead of Byrne.
So, reasons to be concerned but it's still very much early days so we'll see how we go.

 

Just got round to posting on last nights game but I agree with what most people have said that it felt exactly like last season where we dominated large parts of the game but the end product just isn’t there.
Halliday had so much of the ball but never delivers a meaningful ball into the danger zone.
We looked much brighter when Pointon and Young were on but why didn’t they start?
I thought Grimsby were poor and are likely to be in a relegation scrap.

in a side note for those who drove yesterday, did anyone get diverted accross the Humber Bridge because the M180 was closed?

 

It's a fair point about Smallwood but is Sarcevic any quicker? He looked a bit sore and ponderous against MK I thought although he did show quality when he had the ball.

What I'd give for an Anthony Grant type DM right now. He was nothing fancy but was disciplined, full of running and positionally was superb. That's the type of player we'd benefit from I think.

Oh, and a couple of Centre half that are at least Football league standard to replace Baldrick and Byrne. That would improve us dramatically and although LWB and striker may be an issue I still believe addressing those two areas could be enough given what we have further forward.

 

Same to you.
It’s the same old, same old though.

 

Thats why i cannot get giddy or down about it ......... not expecting much yet again i aint even sorted my seadon card out yet not that fussed if i actually missed Saturday thats what this club has done for me i hope im massively wrong i hope we actually walk this league but signs are there already that we are in for an up and down season
Folk can go on about posistions etc but the main aim for me was to get a leader on the pitch in someone who can put a decent ball in from time to time but while Smallwood stands in that role then i expect more of the same ...........sadly

 

One bright side about losing last night but if we would have won (all completely hypothetical of course and 1 different result would change a lot of the ball numbers) we would have been drawn away to Shrewsbury.

 

I'd love to see us get Callum Guy in, someone of that ilk

 

Just had a look to see if he was still at Carlisle and he hasn't played since November. Apparently did his cruciate and must still be working back to fitness.

 

Sounds perfect!

 

Called the defence being rubbish from the first game and got called "negative"

 

Although the defence on Tuesday night wasn't great it was not them that cost us the game, when you miss penalties the oppositions get a lift which we saw, 31 minutes Smallwood misses pen 36 minutes Grimsby take the lead, then we're chasing the game, early days win Saturday with a clean sheet IMO .