Most liked posts in thread: Away vs Mansfield Jan 25th

Today we saw very little fight from the players, we hear it quoted many times when the opposition go in a goal or two down they have nothing to lose by throwing the kitchen sink at us but that performance both first and second have was a shambles.
I can accept a defeat but what I can't accept is lack effort and today there few who could hold their heads up and say I gave my all, one thing for sure Doyle cant be accused of sulking and going missing.
I've said I dont think Bowyer will be sacked with us still in or around a play off place but that performance today cant be defended.

 

Yeah, bringing Donaldson on was a surprise, I was expecting Paudie.

 

This post really winds me up. How patronising do you think it sounds when you ask questions like “out of interest who would you take” or “what formation would you have used”. We are just supporters. There are qualified personnel - so-called experts - managing and coaching the team. It is up to them, they are the ones getting paid, supposedly outwitting the opposition. The fans can clearly see if it isn’t working, they aren’t stupid. But that’s where the manager shows his nous and does the correct thing. But bringing on a defender at 2-0 for a winger, even the most amateur football fan can see that is the wrong thing to do

 

Mellor coming on made no difference whatsoever

 

The only time we've looked a remotely decent balanced side was when Donaldson played the lone striker role with a 4-2-3-1 (some may say 4-3-3). On Saturday it was clear from the start the balance was all wrong, it looked like a 4-4-2 (4-4-4-1) with McCartan dropping between attack and defence when needed. Problem is when he did offer himself Reeves ignored the option. The problem then arose that how was Doyle going to be utilised to his get the best out of him like Swindon did so well. Well in four games it's still not been worked out, in truth it can't be worked with the way we play. Going back to Saturday the two creative outlets for Doyle were Connolly and Pritchard. I like Pritchard but his best position is more central, Connolly offers nothing in terms of assists bar winning the odd corner. With Reeves and Taylor being asked to sit in midfield it left McCartan and Doyle isolated, the whole set up left the players with the usual long ball outlet to Doyle which we all know does not work.

The only way I can see progress is in the summer when loan players can be returned and a clear out of the dead wood is instigated. Bowyer or whoever is in charge needs to sit down with the rest of the management and look at what formation they want to prioritise for the season ahead, then plan the recruitment and identity of plausible transfer targets to meet this formation criteria. At the moment we have a completely unbalanced squad, not necessarily full of poor individuals but individuals who don't fit into a workable compatible formation. 28 games in to the season and Bowyer has no idea what his best formation and line up is when everyone is fit. He was left with a lot of poor options not of his doing, the likes of Robinson, Patrick and Akpan, and others who clearly don't fit his preferred line up. That said, others he's brought in haven't really done the business for varying reasons, Palmer has been disappointing, Henley looks average to poor and retaining the likes of Anderson and Devine has achieved nothing. His inability to sort the middle of the field out has hampered a forward line that should be capable of scoring more at this level and is the number one priority at the end of the season. As a short term measure I'd like to see us bring in a central defensive midfielder as a matter of urgency although that looks increasingly unlikely. A place in the playoffs is still up for grabs though from what I've seen this season I would not expect us to be promoted. If Bowyer is to be kept on I want to know what his plans for the team are moving forward.

 

We simply have to win on Saturday.

If we don't we will be out of the play off places and the pressure go into Tuesdays game will be too much.

A draw isn't good enough.

 

I know. Amazing words from GB but I am sure there's a different set of words for the players.......but, then again, perhaps there isn't and we'll be passing back to the keeper at every opportunity

 

For when the inevitable happens, these are some important stats to look back on:

Mansfield conceded at least 1 goal in 86% of their home matches
Mansfield have lost 57% of their home matches.

Bradford City's form hasn't been good, as the team has won only 5 of their last 34 away matches
Bradford City have been scoring 0.93 goals on average in their away games in all competitions

Also seems like most (if not every) bookie has Mansfield odds on to win this match, just to paint a picture for how bad we're actually doing at the moment. Since some people say "we're 5th look at the table we're fine" - we're 5th and a team 20th in the league and 24th in terms of form are favorites to win

 

How bad has Reeves been..... deary me.

 

The only one who knows what hes doing when he has the ball is the keeper.

 

NOt that he will
HT
Donaldson for McCarten
Devitt for Reeves
Cooke for Taylor

 

The “why do you want the manager sacked when we’re in the playoffs” brigade now have their answer. Most of us have been calling this for several weeks at least. Bowyer is a bang average manager and you’re an utterly deluded, happy clapping, Bowyer arse licking twit if you still can’t see it.

 

But Ricky most division two players won't improve much without decent coaching to help them learn from errors and build on their strengths. The problem is we don't seem to coach our players, they just train.

 

Where's Park Bantam when we need cheering up

 

This beating has been coming, no hiding place now. We are finished this season, no promotion, the only good thing is we probably won’t go down!

 

Hope you've plenty of internetiness available tonight (or whatever you call it) or this site is going to crash again.

GET BOWYER OUT NOW!

 

You might have hit on a plan here Jon. If we can just make sure the teams below us don't play any more games, we might just stand a chance of keeping a play off place.

 

As long as he isn't in tomorrow.