Away v Chesterfield 23rd July

The worst post of the year is already here

 

Give it 10 games into the season. We'll have a decent idea of how we're likely to fare by that point.

We're neither as good as 'beating a championship side 2-0' or 'losing 3-0 to a conference side' would indicate. We're still building a team, and pre season friendlies aren't a huge indicator of whats ahead.

All in all, a decent preseason, but now the real work begins. I personally think we might start slowly.

 

I hope not. City fans are renowned for their patience but I think you might be right. Hughes will have to find his best 11 and until all are available, it may take a few games.

 

Last I heard he was ill. Not much information on whether he is better now and back in training?

If he is back in training, I assume he will be a bit behind in terms of fitness compared to the others.

Be good for an update on the ones that are currently out though

 

Yes Gillead is like the forgotten man

 

10 games !!!!! 10 games !!!!! You watch the mass meltdown if we lose next Saturday these lot who are waiting for it to go wrong should learn a lesson from 1998 and how badly that season ended and how brilliantly it finished but they won’t .............. October is the time to judge what we are doing not pre season not the first few games like you said 10 games in

 

We can only lose 4 games max in the first 10 if we are going for autos.

 

Lost 4 out of first 6 games in 1998/99 and ended up in 2nd place.

 

I'm just stating facts....

 

How many out of 10 in 98/99?

 

I’m in the camp that players need to be able to think on their feet and adjust, and that the management need to give them the freedom and responsibility to do so. We’re all hoping that Smallwood will be the leader on the pitch who can make that happen. What was disappointing about yesterday, and concerning if repeated, is just how little he influenced the game. Hopefully he becomes more influential as the squad gets to know each other.

Some things we might learn from yesterday.

Harrat and Osadebe
If we are going with 4-2-3-1 then on yesterday’s showing we can’t play both of them at the same time. Both left their fullbacks exposed (they swapped on occasion but generally Harrat was on the right and Osadebe on the left). Osadebe got better at this, but Harratt left Halliday often with 2 on 1. Chesterfield had the freedom of our left side for much of the match.

Harrat’s best moment was a superb chipped finish over the advancing keeper’s head when through 1-on-1,, chalked off for offside. He shot from the left side of the box after a move involving Osadebe. By then however Chesterfield had had 2 goals disallowed for offside, both from good crosses after skipping past the fullback, with the Centre Halves struggling. Harrat’s instincts are to be up with whoever is leading the line. Going to need a fair bit of coaching to shoehorn him into yesterday’s formation/pattern. So...

Chapman
A nailed on starter in the wide right slot (on yesterday’s showing...). We threw in the towel after the 3rd went in and there we’re multiple subs from both benches. Nevertheless they kept their very useful left back on for a while and Chapman changed the dynamic for a bit, simply by playing as a winger. He gave Halliday, who had a very unhappy afternoon, a target for balls down the line, and suddenly they were worrying about us rather than the other way around. Halliday was even able to overlap and attempt a couple of crosses himself before he was replaced by Threlkeld (who didn’t disgrace himself, for the Threlkeld watchers out there). Chapman then seemed to be moved centrally and Ford replaced him on the right. He did ok, and was aggressive when he needed to be. Crashed a shot off the bar late on.

Smallwood, East, Walker
Walker seemed to be trying to play on Oliver’s shoulder, as it were. Fair enough, but the net effect given how Osadebe and Harrat were performing was that we effectively had a front 4 detached from the rest of the team. Huge acreage of grass for Chesterfield to roam into when our moves broke down. Smallwood and East left struggling with so much space to cover, the former manfully, the latter, well boyfully. He applied himself and he’s neat and tidy but, he is lightweight.

Sutton got a few mins, was similarly effective as East had been. The strikers were isolated for the most part. Cook when he came on must have thought it was Groundhog day. One shot he had that rolled into the keepers gloves was the first attempt of the 2nd half, on about 72 mins. The score line didn’t flatter the opposition. Let’s hope we look back on it as a good learning experience.

 

Without going into detail with regards each Bradford City player your account is pretty much the same as the two radio commentators yesterday on the game, Bradford City were second best and the score line could have been larger, and certainly didn't flatter Chesterfield.

 

What is the obsession with comparing the pre season results with past seasons? These are different players, playing a different style of football. As another post says, give it until mid September to understand the style of football this team will play and what is the preferred starting 11

 

Just watched the highlights and twice did Crichlow lose his opponent or was in no man’s land to concede two of the goals . You were right about Halliday being left on his own several times. I can’t blame him at all.

 

4 we started our run of success after the first 6 games. Could be similar this season with so many new players.

 

So say we lose 5 out of the first 10 then we are out of the automatic chase and even with another 108 points to play for ?????

and I bet that there are plenty of clubs out there who have started of poorly and come charging through at the end

 

I would say it was the 8th game bud ......... WBA showed that there was deffo something in that team and it proved it in the end

 

Sadly folk just cannot see the bigger picture

 

Friendly or not, too many players were under par yesterday.
Osadebi, Harratt and Oliver all quite poor 1st half. Didn’t create much.
East was a passenger in midfield for much of the game.
Chesterfield found it way too easy down the wide positions. Foulds simply isn’t good enough and Halliday was left exposed by Harratt.
It’s up to Hughes to find his strongest starting XI but for me that wasn’t it yesterday if Chesterfield can cause us so many problems.

 

Did we play 4-2-3-1 or a Diamond?