Burton Away 26th Jan

Disagree completely.
This squad is good enough to stop up. Scannell will not need to be the saviour as you put it. There is enough talent in the squad to keep us up.

 

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/bradford-city/11618815/burton-1-1-bradford

Keepers playing there part in that result today, great save pushing that volley from Scott Fraser onto the crossbar and over.

 

If we don't stay up we will be in the crap even more.

 

Really well 29 games in and it isn't showing, league table doesn't lie and all that.

 

We part as friends.

 

You have a selective memory. We lost about 15 games just down to lack of match fitness and a piss poor pre season.

 

No I know the Edin era wasn't all down to the players but apart from a mini spell in December the squad as underperformed which ever way you look at it. Personally think we just have enough to stay up but only just but to be certain we still need 3 possibly 4 players in this week IMO

 

Is there? League table suggests not?

 

If we'd started the season now with this team as they are and their fitness I think we'd be fine. We'd win some and lose some but get enough points for 10th or something

Whether this current team starting now in the position it is in can gather enough points to stay up is a tough ask imo.

I think it will go to the wire and I can see 4/5 clubs still in it, fighting for survival in the last 2 games.

 

Sure there is. Dont you think we will avoid relegation?

 

I'm not sure, myself.

It takes more than talent to dig a team out of the mire.

We have shown a distinct lack of the required qualities at times.

That today was the first time we've got a point after going behind is, frankly, embarrassing - if the situation weren't so critical, it would be laughable.

 

December showed we can do what is required. What Hopkin needs to do is forget the negative tactics and get on with the pressing game that brought us those results

 

I think with 3 more players we will have a squad good enough to stay up. For me the concerns are with Hopkin. He's done a good job of getting them fitter, more motivated and working harder but his onfield decisions and tactics leave a lot to be desired.

 

December just highlighted a fact; this squad is mentally weak, lacking confidence, probably sick of playing catch up, and while they can tear certain teams apart when all is going right, when the tide turns, they vanish.

If teams come with a strategy to beat us at our own game, ie Southend, there's nothing in reserve.

The fact they are so brittle tells me we need a lot more than a few flashy wins to stay up.

 

We’re a mid table team with a 20 point penalty due to the nonsense. We could easily still go down but we’re not fragile because the players are intrinsically weak, we’re fragile because they were being asked to work in basically farcical circumstances and are still trying to recover. No excuses, we should stay up, The manager and the players are responsible from now on.

 

I'll accept that narrative, because it allows for the fact that we are indeed brittle and fragile - the danger is the damage is already done, and recovery is beyond our means.

December looked like we'd found our feet, and the notion of relegation seemed ridiculous when we won 4 from 6 with so many clean sheets - but failure to beat Southend and Burton suggest we might not quite be a midtable-quality side, but something less.

Even if we are, can a midtable-quality side with the mileage we've got actually acquire the requisite number of points?

Put it this way, I'm not assuming anything here, and there's only one team in this division who in are more danger of going down than we are.

 

29 games into the season and you're putting it down to a lack of a good pre season?

Aaron McLean? It's that you?

 

Look at Man Utd. No change in personnel but they have chopped out a destructive element and things change. Therefore a league table doesn’t always tell the full story. However it’s the only thing which matters at the end of the season

 

Agreed. I think we are still fragile and we are second favourites to go down at evens. I hope we have enough obviously but I don’t think the players are strong or weak as individuals

 

He has never had the one player that I think could make the difference a centre forward who can hold the ball up and bring others into play. Needed at this level because very often in this league midfield is crowded out and a long ball ( Not continually) is necessary