The Voice - Match preview #14: Bradford City vs Lincoln City Tuesday 28th October 2025 7:45pm

Won’t belong before the “scapegoat” tag is thrown about

 

Its an emotional game we at some point all lose our shite

 

But nobody has said anything about friction in the dressing room or our strikers being crap?

 

Kavanagh gives his all, but he doesn't have the ability. That said, he wasn't alone last night in terms of poor decision making - it was poor across the team in the final third.

 

I think part of the reason for the injuries is that Alexander is very much safety first with a lot of knocks and if there is doubt or they are not 100% he won't risk a player as he trusts the squad. From what was said last night, if we really wanted to we could have played all of Pennington, Pattison and Humphrys but for different reasons we didn't risk them. Likewise with Cook I think we've been extra cautious when other managers might have played it a bit more risky and given him a start last night or earlier.

 

He gave him a mouth full because he cut inside and shot instead of playing it for the unmarked over lapping Byrne

 

Thought we played reasonably well last night after a slow start to the game. Lincoln are a well established League 1 team and we more than matched them. Take the point and move on. A solid and satisfying start to the season.

 

Does Kavanagh give his all though? Lincolns best chance last night came from him not challenging their defender for a header last night, and I thought his work on the press was poor - potentially a fitness issue but I think Swan offers a lot more on that front.

 

Agreed. It feels like a myth is building to try and back Kavanagh as there's not much else he actually brings to the table at the minute.

In defence of him though, playing him deeper is the thing that's killing him after a very decent spell and goal scoring return as a line front man last year.

 

We've managed to be unbeaten against two fellow top 6 sides with irreplaceable players injured and one or two others having a dip in form. That's the most I can say about the last two games. We're second going into a more favourable run of games with players returning so hopefully the wins will follow.

 

Kav can do a job in this league, but not from the wing, and definitely not when he's fighting 6ft+ defenders in the air for the ball

Ditto for Swan; gave him next to no service, every ball in the air or overhit

like we cant expect to play the same way we do when we have Cook and Humphries on the pitch, as they are both strong in the air and the former two clearly arent

 

Some really valid points and after spending six years in a lower division it's obviously going to be a learning curve.
I personally think our tactics have been rumbled by the opposition lately a classic example being the repeated long diagonal ball to Josh it's so blatantly predictable in every game.
We are undefeated at home and second in the table which is an astonishing achievement with our current injury list in my opinion.

 

Steady on. You're absolutely right though. Playing him in the Pointon role is like sticking Sarc at left back (he'd probably still do a job).

His main attributes aren't pretty, he unsettles defenders and allows us to win possession in the final third allowing Pointon, Sarc, Humphrys etc to pick up the scraps. I think it's our most effective strategy when it comes to scoring goals. I know he loses the ball and sometimes doesn't look pleasing on the eye but I rate him as a focal point of the attack. It worked well enough last season and he did the job well enough against Barnsley. I'm not giving up on him yet.

We played long ball to him last season, not for his hold up play or his ability in the air but for the way he forces defenders into messing up headed clearances and allowing other attackers to capitalise.

 

I think had we put Barnsley to the sword then last nights point would have been easier to take ......

 

Good point that but also a bit of a worry. I don't know the stats but I feel like the majority of our big chances come from that tactic. Big part of our attack and if we've been sussed then we've lost a chunk of our attacking strategy.

 

I think Pointon is proving to be a huge miss. He brings a bit more variation to our attacking play. The last few games have been focussed on switching to the wing backs and crossing the ball, over and over again. Pointon mixes it up, and can spot an alternative pass/option if it’s on.

Kavanagh will run all day but his first touch and interplay/passing leaves a lot to be desired compared to Pointon.

 

Do you have a link Tony I couldn't find any updates on our players recovering from injuries.

 

No, just heard it in the car (BBC Leeds) on way to the pub after the match....

 

Whatever it was for IMO it was an over reaction from our Captain, hopefully they both acted like men and sorted it in the dressing room after the game, as some have said Power gave short thrift to a few players during the game this one possibly stood out more because it was near the final whistle and the cameras panned in on Powers reaction.

 

Could it be this...?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0mccdbm