The Voice - Match preview #25: Bradford City vs Cardiff City Saturday 17th January 2026 12:30pm

After being outclassed in the first 30 minutes, the lads showed honest endeavour but lacked quality in the final third.

Time to get the cheque book out and buy a quality CM and ST which will make the difference.

NB Tilt is a warrior and had Salech in his back pocket. Definitely man of the match.

 

Outclassed 1st half. 2nd half we showed promise and matched them. That said we are far too predictable. Balls out to the wing backs and balls into the box.

Hardly any of our play goes through the middle looking to unlock the defence. Sadly we lacked quality today.

Wasnt a disaster though, they are top of the league. You can see why and I think we have enough to maintain a top 6.

 

Magic 'moments'.......

 

Am told it's official now
Liam Manning in post before we play them

 

Official at 10.00 They can’t even sack a manager properly .

Old manager lets a player costing 3.2m go on loan a few hours ago, buys a player for £1m who was bab on debut , then sacks the manager . What a shambles?

 

Is that Bernard's lad, I've never heard of the guy, on reading wiki he's managed a few clubs.
Managerial career
2020–2021 Lommel
2021–2022 Milton Keynes Dons
2023 Oxford United
2023–2025 Bristol City
2025 Norwich City

His last managerial position at Norwich City
On 3 June 2025, Manning was appointed head coach of Norwich City, signing a four-year contract through to the summer of 2029.

He was dismissed on 8 November 2025 after a run of 3 draws and no wins from 11 matches, leaving the club 23rd in the league. His final game was a 1–2 loss at home to Leicester City, where Norwich conceded in stoppage time. Under his tenure, Norwich lost every home game.

Sounds the perfect replacement for Grant especially the last highlighted comment .

 

What a load of waffle/bluster 8 minutes long and Grant said nothing.

 

He was another one of those who got roles because he "played the right way" at MK and Oxford.... in other words, wants 70% possession and to pass it about for 3 weeks before shooting.

 

Lot of interesting comments today

Think it goes without saying that we shouldn’t expect to win every game, home or away

Understandably, we can be angry when the team plays shit, players are played out of position, the team selection is a mare, the strikers cant hit a barn door with a bazooka or a combination of all of the above, also known as Mansfield Away. That isnt the case today

Cardiff were excellent. Even though it was a brief 20 minute cameo, their ability to pass their way out of trouble and into attacking positions was impressive. They were a constant threat and their midfield showed by they are top of the League and will most likely finish there come end of the season

That being said, we did match them in the second half and came close to getting something out of the game. If we can go toe to toe with Cardiff, then we shouldn’t fear any other team in the league. The squad does need a few tweaks, Wright isnt good enough LWB at this level and although Sibley is an improvement, im hoping theres more from him because my assessment is still mixed from his cameos. The Newcastle lads look like good additions to the squad

a loss ultimately but the team gave it their best against a team whos budget is probably 3 times more than ours. Onwards and upwards to next week

 

On a side note, why the feck did huddersfield have to sack Grant right before we play them

 

We lost some attacking balance putting Sarc on the left 10 position today.

 

I hate to say it but we must move on.

 

I was talking to my friend who I go with today and saying similar, both Bobby and Sarce are good individual players and have done great this season. But longer term if we want to get to where a Cardiff are or beyond you need either pace or power in that front three. Both are clever and skilful players but both lack them attributes.

 

Ok, just watched the extended highlights on YouTube. Now my eyes aren’t the best these days but at the end after the game, did the Cardiff manager go into our box and shake Neufville’s hand?

 

I said last week that I feared he would not be in post by the time we get to them. Shambles!

 

Sack the most successful manager since Parky? The guy who has created the first upwardly mobile winning culture at the club in a decade? Do you not remember Adamzzball, or the turgid crap under Hughes?
Perhaps it’s a piss take.
Perhaps it’s immaturity?
You’re entitled to an option of course.
Laughable.

 

He gets off on angling for bites mate.

 

Cardiff were defending a lead which put a different emphasis on their play. But what was encouraging in the last part of the game was that we looked much more cohesive as a team. On the left we had Touray, Sibley and Sarcevic combining, on the right we had Ashby, White and Humphrys working together, which was also giving options for Power and Metcalfe to aim for. That was a huge contrast to the first half where we really struggled, a lot down to how well Cardiff played. It does give me confidence going forwards that we can maintain our challenge for the rest of the season.

Curtis Tilt. I find it hard to believe that he's been languishing in L2 for the last few years. He was outstanding yesterday. That moment early in the first half when Salech tried to run through him, slightly off the ball, and just bounced off him. It's not just his physical play, his positioning and calmness on the ball is equally impressive.

Although we lost yesterday, it was one of those games where you have to accept that the opposition were that little bit better - even if they did look to slow the game wherever possible for much of the second-half.

 

He’s a full on WUM who only typically shows up when we lose, or are in bad form. Best ignored.