The Voice - Match preview #4: Grimsby Town vs Bradford City Saturday 31st August 2024 3:00pm

Morning Park

 

5 games in and yet has anyone seen anything that has you thinking we will be around the top 7 .............Grimsby confidence cant have been all that good letting in 9 goals in there last two games ..........what do ??? Allow them to run the game and in all honesty we got away with a 2-1 loss .......... thats why i simply cannot get angry with it anymore its gonna down the same path with the same shit recruitment despite investment ?????? We have a manager who seems to think that sitting our best player on the bench is the way forward

Still Carlisle next week a team short on confidence we know the script let them feel nice and cosy and allow them to walk away with 3 points

 

Ooooh get you.

 

It only threw the balance because GA changed the whole back line instead of making one replacement. We then had 3 CBs who couldn't shout ee aw to each other and being up against our slowest meant open season for Vernham.

 

You deserved it. When Lingaard came in and took Bowens place I felt like a naughty school kid when posting

You got your revenge though and in the long term I'll concede that Bowen has certainly proved to be the better player so you were definitely right in that regard.

 

I think we will have short spells of good form, followed by bad. So very up and down, a common feature since we came back down to this level. I’ll stand by my sort of 7 -10th place finish. One shit result doesn’t mean we’ll be near the bottom like some think, but it tells me we aren’t a Stockport/Mansfield etc. from last year. Which is criminal for this club.

 

I'm away, so didn't listen to or watch anything of the match yesterday.

However, sounds like bad management from GA when Baldwin was injured, by changing the position of each central defender as opposed to bringing on Diabate.

I then read GA post match comment that he still thought it was the best decision for the team, really??

I presume we missed Sarcevic yesterday?

Surely Jamie Walker has to start next week?

 

Why isnt starting anyhow ?,?,
Didnt we have our best form last season with him in the team ?????
Honestly it baffles me whats he protecting from ?????
We know he aint got the best injury record but that could happen anytime even in training just bizzare yet again and i bet the player feels the same

 

Its not just yesterday its the previous games that are bothering me we simply dont look like a side that will challenge in arguably a much weaker league.

I presume Grimsby aint had so called investment im sure our squad cost more than theres ................but they looked a far better side and with better finishing ut could have been very embarrasing indeed

 

Jamie Walker would always start for me, unless totally out of form.

 

I said earlier that I didn’t think the starting 11 for the first 3 games would be the best 11 and I fully expect Walker to be in there. With the nous of Walker and Sarcevic those two should definitely be in there. Just watched the highlights (particularly the missed shot after the first goal) and it’s criminal how Smallwood jogs back to “help” the defence when he should be busting a gut and leading by example. Will GA make multiple changes, probably not, although he will be forced into at least one in defence and could do with making another in midfield and one up top.

 

Mid table mediocrity is the phrase you are looking for
Which surprises me after Mr Rupps investment in team strengthening
Yesterday I would say GA was culpable, crazy decision to totally revamp the back line maybe he felt Diabate wasn't quite ready give him the benefit on that one symptomatic of last minute signings
At 2-0 down why on earth he kept Walker on the bench, regardless of new signings he and Pointon should be one of the first names on the teamsheet they were instrumental in picking up the points at the end of last season and are by far our best pairing
Its a long season but hopes of an automatic promotion spot seem unlikely Grimsby did there homework on us and so will all the others, does GA have the players and more importantly the inclination to change things around when backs are against the wall I doubt it
Time for Mr Sharpe to give him the benefit of his experience

 

Walker has to start if fit. The only player who can instill some momentum in the middle. Pattison needs to be further forward, he offers little when asked to play deep. Same with Sarcevic, looks better further forward. Without Walker or Oduor there is simply no pace in the team bar Wright at left wing back.

 

I hope that surprise comment is tongue in cheek

As for Mr Sharpe, I think it’s safe to say we’re all struggling a bit to see his added value. Suppose we will just have to wait and see as with everything else, trouble is we always have to do that and under this stewardship the result is always the same…

 

Smallwood Pattison
Walker
Pointon Cook

Thats my pick for Carlisle. Give Kavs role to Bobby. Kav has been bloody awful.

 

During pre-season I made a point that we'd used the games to build up minutes and the teams put out in various halves and thirds "shouldn't be read too much into" (quoting GA). I made the point that if groups of players such as the back 3 or 5 or wing-backs/wide players don't get time together then they don't know each other's game and the team collectively will look like a bunch of strangers.

A few people didn't agree with that and the replies were like "most of the team played together last year" or "they train together every day, how can they be strangers" but what happened yesterday was proving my point - the team didn't press well and we had big gaps in midfield and attacking wise there wasn't the combinations to create chances until Oduor came on and started running forwards taking Wright with him.

Of course, these things can be fixed but again it puts us in that position of trying to catch up on others and so far we've only played one of the promotion contenders so GA needs to get working on them now. We should be using Tuesday as a chance to score some goals and get some confidence up ahead of a difficult match on Saturday that the players need to be right up for.

 

Glad I was one of the few who didn't get suckered.

 

I wouldn't disagree with the personnel, but I'd go with
Smallwood
Pointon Walker Pattison
Cook

 

Could see it coming a mile off
Change staff as often as you like they are NOT the root problem

 

The thing learnt from today is that the only position that Byrne can play is in the centre of a three and even then we're not convinced he's good enough. GA should surely have seen in training and been able to weigh up that moving him wide was not going to work. He should have just done a straight swap for Baldwin with Shepherd, OK, maybe not his favoured side but switching around the back three was a bad idea.

If we're being really fair, the players who have come on and looked to make a difference are Pointon and Oduor. Pointon with his goal and Oduor who looks to drive forward.

It may be one of those classic "players often get better when sitting on the bench" kind of things but Walker needs to show something when he comes on. Tbh, I'd switch to something like a 3-4-3 with Cook up front on his own as I don't think any forward has shown enough to play and try and get Oduor and Walker in there. Maybe Oduor deeper so he can drive on, or maybe Walker plays alongside Cook? The 3-5-2 ain't working.