The Voice - Match preview #10: Bradford City vs Blackpool Saturday 27th September 2025 3:00pm

My CB order of merit currently...McIntyre could easily move up and down.

Touray
Pennington
Baldwin
J Wright
Tilt
McIntyre
Byrne
Kelly

 

In what way did he show petulance at MKD…..he sat in the wrong seat ? That’s not petulance. It was all fully detailed what happened yet their soulless fans got the hump and made a mahoosive deal out of it. The club and fans with zero tradition!
I ain’t defending him for kicking a bottle but you can’t use MKD as an example. That stretches credulity for me JB?

 

Leave a big gap between Kelly and the rest….

 

I feel the same about Tommy Leigh, I think we are extremely lucky to have the squad that we've got this season.......

 

Kelly is on a par with Byrne, absolutely no doubt about it.

 

Tommy Leigh had an average game. Nothing worse. Some of his passing was poor, but a few passes got us up the field very quickly. What he brings to the team is a calmness in the middle and I think his issue will be he isn't particularly fancy and doesn't go around fist pumping etc so will likely go under the radar for things he does well.

He made a run with the ball and lost it instead of releasing it and they nearly counter attacked, but those things can be worked on. And it was just trying too hard which isn't always a bad thing.

In all we weren't amazing but we looked very solid at the back. I was pleased with Mcintyre, he had a great game. Byrne was very solid when he came on too.

Can't wait to see more of Metcalfe. Kid looks good.

I think he should have hooked Bobby instead of Swan, but in hindsight it's probably that Swan was out of the team Wednesday so managing minutes. And it wasn't that Bobby was poor, he just looked knackered in the second half.

 

Early days, I know, but I can see McIntyre moving up to being a regular first choice CB. Which then begs the question whether he plays centrally or left side, potentially displacing either Baldwin or Touray, both of whom have been excellent so far.
A back three of Pennington, Baldwin and McIntyre would be defensively solid but also very good creatively, with Baldwin pinging his effective diagonals to our wing backs and the other two comfortable carrying the ball forward into midfield. That would create competition for left wingback between Touray, Wright and Richards (when fit).
Good problems to have for GA.

 

Not for me Dave , but Kelly is our real weak link . He’s now got to be fourth choice for left centreback if all are fit and available . Third choice if we determine Touray is wanted at LWB

I’d put Tilt, McIntyre ( he’s left footed) and Touray way ahead for the role .

The right side is a right permutation , but Pennington followed by Baldwin for me at the moment .

 

Not so much the individual players but the dynamic wasn't right first half. Desperately needed drive down the middle as our wing backs couldn't cross a road never mind a ball. Patto is a different player to Leigh and made a huge difference. That dynamic also saw Bobby completely anonymous bar the cross for the goal and meant Swan was a passenger. Alexander managed the game well.

 

Remember what I said on Sat?

Good teams learn to win ugly …….

That special player can always beat the deadlock.

Seems like we have found a way especially after such a heavy week…Three in 7 days at opposite ends of the country , with little time in between.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0m5d392?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Very good interview with Sam Walker

 

I don't think he is anywhere near top end L1 quality. I wasn't impressed with him last season if I am honest. Might be great to have around the club and on the training ground but if we have ambitions for promotion - I don't think he will help that cause. We need far better than him.

Not having a pop at Byrne, just don't think he good enough....but as a 6th choice, fine.

 

Everyone seems to have forgotten the back end of last season when Byrne was integral to the extremely leaky yet previously solid defence.

The fact is that he was very shaky in L2 so we absolutely shouldn't be thinking he could easily make the step up to a higher level.

 

Not luck Tony. For the first time in years, we have had a recruitment strategy in place in January.

 

Not often we get to say this but we have got to give credit to Stephen gent on finding josh neufville who apparently he had been monitoring for a while even before last season. Yes we can say some of his finds haven't been great but credit where credit due.

 

Recent bias idle….as he’s hardly played!

he was solid off the bench last weekend, accepted.

I still have nightmares against his blunder on halfway against Fleetwood last season though when they dispossessed him and should have gone one up…

Sam Walker does spare our blushes at times.

 

Any danger our game to Lincoln might be postponed due to international break/call ups? Only asking as I was listening to a podcast with an Imps fan saying he was hoping it will be cancelled due to our form. So assuming they have some internationals in their team ?

 

AI says...

"Lincoln City has several players involved with national teams, including Dexter Lembikisa (Jamaica), Reeco Hackett (Saint Lucia), and Justin Obikwu (Trinidad) for senior teams, as well as players like Sean Roughan and Joe Gardner who have represented Ireland at the U21 level. Other players, such as Ivan Vafolomeev, are also noted for potential international involvement. "

 

They played last international break so doubt they will have enough players missing.

 

Off com dun he sounds like manager.......... future