Away vs Mansfield Jan 25th

You're arguing with a poster that only disagrees when there is a consensus.

Good luck, it's going to be a long slog.

 

and this is where stats can be deceiving.. how many of those passes have been 'key passes' or nice 5-10 yard passes that you'd expect any central midfield player to make. Cooke isn't the type of player not to want to be the one on the edge of the box popping shots off and effecting the game further up the pitch.. from what we've seen of him, do you think he'd be happy being the one of the two central midfielders that has to sit just in front of the halfway line when we're attacking to break up play when out attacks break down? he's not that type of player, I've seen a lot of him at 'boro when he was younger and that isn't his game. as one of a three he'd be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

 

sorry, who is your third striker if you're playing those 4 of Devitt, Pritchard, Taylor and Connolly in midfield? or is Connolly your third striker? only one wide man would leave one side of the pitch completely open and the full-back on that side outnumbered.

 

All about opinions mate, I fail to see the point of taking a player who's told his manager he could only do 15/20 minutes, halftime we were crying out for someone who could offer the team something different Donaldson being the obvious choice.
I've replied to his request what changes I would have made then said it was 442, from his comment with regards fitness and various kinds of injuries (soft tissue) as an example hes obviously had experience with regards athletes injuries which I enjoy reading and he gives us a different perspective of what those injuries might mean to the length of time a player may be out etc, now Norman is something else .

 

There isn't a third striker, as I posted hopefully Connolly is our main supply out wide.
Taylor was playing the wider position on the other side why would that change.
Phil Parkinson played Thompson in that position for years as Stuart did with Nick Law, they weren't out and out winger but when attacking they took that designated position.

 

but you posted you would have played a 433, bit lopsided if you're sticking Connolly out wide right on his own. all that happens there is the Mansfield left-winger drops in and Connolly is out of the game with zero input. Taylor wasn't playing wide left in the first half, Pritchard was.

is your midfield 3 narrow or wide? narrow and our wings are exposed, wide and they play the ball around us.

 

For Cheltenham I would get back as near as possible to the formation where we were at our best in September and October
Reeves or Palmer Cooke pritchard Connolly Donaldson Vaughan. Possibly switching Devitt for Connolly

 

We looked our best when we got the ball to Ismail in the final 3rd but can't keep him fit. We actually looked a threat and he made things happen. Connolly Is a one trick pony and not a very good one. Literally got no one fit who can trouble a team on the wings making us easy to defend against.

 

As I posted it was a formation used many games during the Parkinson days and we didn't do to bad, and a formation that McCall also used.
Yes your correct it was Pritchard who played wide any wonder fans are confused with Bowyers formation, I seen all the games Taylor has played for us since he was brought in and can't see what he brings to the team.

 

Awful signing, alarm bells should've been ringing for Bowyer when no one snapped him up after we missed out in the summer. Would've much preferred a proper left winger or someone with a bit of genuine pace to stretch teams. He's brought an identical midfielder in to the rest of them but is worse than the current crop we had at the time of signing him. What a mess that midfield is.

 

I called it at the time. He was doing a mate a favour. Joke signing.

 

so is it a 442 you are playing or a 433 ? it's not really a difficult question to answer. possibly even an unorthodox unbalanced 4312 with Connolly playing between the lines but wide right? Parkinson and McCall set up predominantly as a 442 with one of the wide midfielders tucking in slightly. the big difference between now and then is that we had full-backs that were solid, put one of our current full-backs into one of those sides and we get exposed like we do now.

we need to stop this obsession of looking back as a club, 'this is what Parkinson did', 'this is what McCall did' - spend too much time doing that and we'll never progress and we'll take our eyes off the current and the future.

the club needs a totel re-structuring from top to bottom. it's ok saying we want to get to the championship or even league one, but without a plan on how to get there or what we'll do once it happens it's all pointless.

 

happens all the time.. when you look at which managers and players share an agent and where players end up it's scary.

 

Why do we need to stop the obsession of looking back to eras which we did well in? I don't see anything about learning from our successful spells.

 

I've answered your question you've even quoted it, why should I stop telling you that Parkinson played a formation with Thompson a wider midfield role as McCall did with Law, seems you dont have an answer so you trot out ths obsession quote, certainly under Parkinson they were some of the best times in my many years of watching Bradford City.
We had full backs who were solid, well if your suggesting we can't play a similar system because our full backs aren't solid you know who's to blame for that, stop digging fella.
Wouldn't it be great if Rupp came out with a plan going forward.....just a minute didn't both Rupp and Rahic make a statement about where they wanted to take the club during the first week they came to the club.
Julian is a paid employee so is limited to any statement he could make without Rupp backing him, so maybe Rupp should take a couple of days away from his passion of car racing and give a clear indication of where he wants us to be, or even take a hit on his original investment and get the hell out of our club.

 

because it's not going to help us now. just because certain things worked for a certain manager at the time with a certain bunch of players doesn't mean that it's going to work now. there were elements to those teams that we don't have in our current squad. it's also easy to gloss over the fact that some of the performances under those two managers in particular were awful, turgid football. the club is completely different now than it was then. if you look back too much you miss the here and now.

 

I think you're right and that's what managers do.They may have a good experience with
a player earlier at another club and think they will do the same again.To me a player
you managed earlier has got older and possibly worse with age so why go after these
type of signings? I think it's because they think they're a better gamble but everything
changes and a good manager should be able to recruit the right type of player through
scouting and research rather than hoping someone who was ok before will be again.

 

who do you suggest he sells the club to?

 

Because he was losing the arguement, both Stuart & Parky played that formation very well, looks like he's blaming our full backs not being solid for us not being able to play a similar formation now.

 

You ask the most inane questions! How on earth would @Bronco know who he should sell the club too. Somebody who is very wealthy and willing to invest in Bradford City on a long term basis.