Our Signings are poor…..your alternatives (and why)

I think his second booking was very unfortunate though there was nothing there

 

Even more reason to be ultra careful having been booked, some of the yellows were uncalled for but its the new directive from the powers that be, I posted this after 33 minutes "This is becoming a joke two seasons ago you have to be bleeding to get a foul against you now you look at an opponent and get a yellow, this wont finish 11 v 11, joke refereeing" if we could see it why cant players.
I was watching Talk TV last night and they had the old referee Keith Hackett on saying this new directive from above yellow cards had gone through the roof on Saturday but he believed it would take a while for referees to not over react for want of a better word, he also believes 10 minute sin bins will be brought into the game at some time in the future as apparently its used at certain levels with in the football pyramid.

 

I'm not a person who follows players at other clubs over much, any suggestion I would make would be based on looking
at stats, age, level played at, and availability (including with a fee).
The suggestions put forward look decent shouts.
On our recruitment, on paper all looked to be in with a chance of success, although on Ash Taylor, he's no Critchlow, opinions of supporters of his former clubs are not good, and have been borne out over pre-season and at Crawley.
To be honest, I don't like the system MH wants to adopt, as
1) You need very good specialist players (for L2) for it to work, and we haven't signed them,
2) To compound this, MH may talk about flexibility, but our recruitment has made us less flexible as we don't have a single winger available for selection.
If possible we need to bring in wide men of the quality of Wright and Banks, if we don't overall I think we will be weaker than last season, and we don't have long to put it right.
The 3 centre halves + wing backs could be the downfall of MH.
I agree 100% with those who can't fathom Saturday's team selection, made to be overrun in midfield 11 men or 10.
When's Billy Sharp being unveiled by the way?

 

One game is ludicrous.

What irks me is this idea that 'you can't blame the ref' so have to focus every bit of frustration on Hughes and the players.

It's like in order to not be perceived as naive, we've gone the other way and are naive to an even more extreme extent.

Shouting and balling on day one when ten lads have just narrowly lost is pathetic. Where do the fans go from there? HATRED? Hughes Out after 2 games?

Chill out, dipsticks. It's a sport, you aren't entitled to spit 'venom' because you paid for a let down.

Horribly entitled attitude.

And again, as you point out: ONE GAME. We've had worse one off performances and didn't have to throw tantrums.

 

Those that say you can’t blame the ref would be the same one’s saying we only won because the opposition had 10 men if the shoe was on the other foot, as some actually did last season.

Refs can and do cost teams games, they aren’t bias but they’re human and make errors that cost results. I don’t think one expert, player or manager would suggest anything else. Refs can be blamed same as players and managers when they make errors. They don’t deserve the abuse they get certainly, but the same can be said for land managers.

 

Losing Stubbs was as bad a blow as Hughes could imagine at the back. He's a natural leader and I can see why he tried the much maligned Taylor in his absence as none of the others are leader material. I also don't think Hughes envisaged the much praised Lewis to get beat from that range, I said to my lad there's no way they'll try and beat a keeper like Lewis from there. But let's face it, that wasn't a free kick that lead to the goal, neither was Ogeyeke's first yellow in my opinion. Hughes can help himself by picking the right formation when players are fit but the luck calls deserted him on Saturday.

 

Stubbs was a massive miss he is a cut above. I think McDonald will help with his experience when he is ready

 

I don’t think players go out on that pitch without trying and from what I have seen and from what I heard from a friend who was there going forward we played ok.
I never boo during a game and seldom at the end of it because it’s counter productive. I did feel a real sense
Of frustration at the side Hughes picked with five defenders. I was really hoping for a real change of attitude this season with a pressing game let’s hope it’s not a forlorn ambition

 

We still have everyone in the box for corners and freekicks, you can't change stubborn.

 

I think the goal was on Lewis, not because he necessarily should've saved it, but because the wall was set up so poorly. Pattison and Walker as two thirds of the wall was suicide - god only knows why Taylor and Kelly weren't in the wall. Surely they'd done their homework and knew the lad was a free kick specialist?

 

I think sin bins for two yellows would be a massive progression.

 

Kelly and Taylor were in the box incase of a cross. We can't have Walker marking a centre half for example.

Ridhalgh, Cook, Halliday or Oyegoke could do that job though I suppose.

Did the free kick go over the wall though or did it go around it? I've only seen it live so I'm not sure.

 

I don't understand why Hughes felt the need to bring in Taylor at all, unless he expected (or expects) to lose Platt before the window shuts. Stubbs & Platt together are as good as we need, evidenced by the goals conceded from the end of Jan to early April last season. Odusina & Kelly are decent enough back up.

He could even have kept Songo'o as back up as he never let us down at CH.

If his plan was to play 3 at the back, hence bringing in Taylor, why didn't he bring in two fully fledged wingbacks ?

Time will tell, I'm not about to jump on any Hughes out bandwagon, but a poor start could well see him out of a job before the clocks go back.

 

Went over Walker who was on the end of the wall from memory.

 

If it isn’t lack of trying then it’s lack of skill and quality. I don’t know which is worse considering Hughes has now had 3 transfer windows to sort this out.
His stubbornness of playing 3 at the back and a lone striker will cost him is job here, I’d guess around the November point of the season.

 

I’ll ask you again, were you at the game?
Did you travel 500 miles in the pissing down rain for 10 hours+ and spend £100-150 or so in the process?
You are right that it’s just one game but the travelling fans had every entitlement to vent at the players / manager after the game.

 

You'd be starting a thread discussing the bus top Parade through Bradford City centre and congratulating Hughes on a wonderful season if we'd stuck four past Crawley. You can't have it both ways.

 

I expected a sizeable win, so no, no open top bus - just a sense of satisfaction at winning possibly the easiest game of the season (on paper) against a club in utter disarray.

And no @Loyalbantam I did not go, nor would I have been entitled to behave like a petulant child or spoiled brat if I had.

You paid, and travelled, to watch 90 minutes of football. You got what you paid for. Nothing more, nothing less. It didn't go our way this time. That's not what you were owed though. You were owed a spot in the ground and that's it.

 

I’ll recall this post when we hear the boos ringing out round Valley Parade from people who’ve paid pittance. The only thing that 15000 fans are entitled to is a seat in the stadium. The performance, quality, effort, result is all irrelevant and they should just suck it up and accept what’s on show.
That’s your philosophy right?

 

To be fair I am on board with your point about fans making out like travelling the country to see City is an obligation and an honourable duty. People go to away games because they enjoy it. Not sure why people feel they should get a pat on the back for something i'd love the time and money to afford to do.