The Voice - Match preview Most liked posts in thread: Barrow vs Bradford City Saturday 6 August 2022 @ 3:00pm

Yesterday had all the hallmarks of seasons gone by. Loads of possession, loads of sideways passes, minimal shots on goal. A lone target man getting frustrated due to lack of service. General lack of energy from our forwards and little creativity or directness from the midfield. Conceding against the run of play, then waking up and starting to look like we’ll nick it, only to get hit on the counter due to lack of concentration.

I was really hoping MH would have stamped out all of the above, and still think he will, but it’s frustrating to see the same pattern of play and end results time and time again. We should be better than that,

 

We've seen 2 games. Let's all calm down.
I think it's clear we have a better squad than last season.
We have a lot of new faces and there was always a chance it would take a bit of time.
We probably look like we are a Number 10/ Winger short after the injuries but I'm sure that will get addressed in the transfer window.

Sooner or later we have to show some patience and give the Manager some time. The smattering of boo's at the final whistle yesterday was shocking.

 

Exeter, FGR and Bristol Rovers all played decent football to get out of league 2 last season, Rovers taking the best part of half a season to get the team playing like that. This idea you have to play hoofball like Parky did is a myth, if you have the right players in the right formation you can win promotion playing good attractive football. Hughes hasn't got his team set up right yet, it's only two games into the season so no need to throw the football manuals out of the window and go long ball. It will take time.

 

So, a week in and we have:

Harrat suspended
Walker out for 2 months
Paddy out for six
Eisa possibly finished for good
Gilliead still crap
Delfounso back wearing a vadaine Oliver cloak

Did Derek really leave ?

 

I dont think Oliver is shite his record is ok, is he being played to his strengths and being given The right service, get the ball into the danger areas for strikers, sounds like we aren't doing that.

Losing Pierra and Vernam sounds like a blow now as we haven't replaced them and have suffered early injuries to compound the lack of quality in wide areas.

 

There's been a distinct lack of intensity to our opening two games. No one prepared to run at the opposition or run in behind, other than Young today. All slow, safe, predictable. No intensity off the ball either. Piss poor opening and it needs to improve lots, and quickly.

 

On the face of it, 2 lethargic performances. Conceding right after scoring was piss poor. An we are already getting hammered with injuries : Osadebe, Eisa, Walker.

I’ve not been a city fan as long as others on this forum, my experiences only go back about 10-15 years. But from that time, there’s many examples I can pick from where teams have started off poorly an have then gone on an smashed the league. Even starting that run as late as December, we’re not even at the end of August yet.

Id also like to point out that last year under Adams, we were cruising in August, we were beating teams left right an centre comfortably. Id also like to point out that not all of the players are up to speed yet i.e. Halliday, Oliver, Chapman.

Im not trying to sugar coat things, Im just trying to add a bit of perspective. I am still confident that Hughes can get this team to click, an that there will be a few attacking minded signings to come through the doors in the final weeks of the window

 

That's because Oliver has knvak all to work with. I'm not sure what we are trying to achieve with the formation we've started.the first time game with, it doesn't help either Oliver or Angol. Those two.aint gonna create their own chances but we.have no real strategy on how to supply them with those chances. Both games so far we've looked a little better when the subs have come on because it either took one of Oliver or Angol off or both of my then. They aren't bad players just squareholesand round pegs in that formation. Hard to describe how much we miss the moment and guile of Periara and Vernam, without them out options seem to be very limited when looking for creativity.

 

The formula for success in the lower leagues is proven. 4-4-2
A keeper who does the basics right but nothing special.
A tall / strong back line
A leader in midfield who wins every 50/50 partnered with a clever playmaker.
2 direct fast wingers who’s only aim is to get to the goal line and cross to 2 big strikers.

Only at the very highest level do you have to dick around with silly formations.

 

Don't want to hear any of this 'we need months to gel' nonsense.

Barrow, new manager plucked from under our noses, massive summer player turnover, and flying start. They obviously didn't need time to gel

 

Seriously unimpressed with our first 2 games.

We lack in intensity and pace going forward. The system doesn't look right at all. We lack width and creativity. And for all the 'trying to play the right way', we're seriously dull to watch. And we look shit at the back.

Unimpressed with Hughes too tbh. Did nothing to change the game against Donny and the same limitations were on display today. Changed the front 2 and kept it like for like, when it was more about the system being an issue. OK, the front 2 scored, but that's not really the point. The system amd performance were piss poor.

A long way from being good enough so far.

 

Not gonna write an essay.

that was shite !!!!!

 

I did mention it will take a while to get so many players to gel. Forget them having a few extra weeks pre season, mean absolutely nothing. I did also say that Chapman isn't a wide player, more of a support player. And we still haven't replaced Vernam or Periera which means we don't do what we did well in the last three games of last season. Also with moving Angol wide.weve negated a lot of what we started to do well in April and May. A long long way to go but just looks a disjointed mess at the moment.

 

There were things to be positive about -
Halliday was excellent
Ridehalgh defended well
Young was a real threat
East played well

Definitely room for improvement overall but let's not go overboard because we conceded a last minute winner.

 

I had the same thoughts yesterday, it's almost like the players believe they've won the game without having to work for it. Successful teams in this league work their bollocks off. That's something we need to learn and learn it very quickly.

 

Tesco lease most of their stores, their delivery vans, their tills and a lot of their fixtures and fittings

 

A poor performance cost us any chance of any points. Let's not pretend it was just a minute of poor game management.

Attacking intent was non existent up until they scored and we changed things, then, lol how poor we made them look at the back with going slightly more direct.

Let's hope MH learns from this because we simply aren't good enough to play through the thirds all of the time BUT we are good enough to dominate and hurt teams if we can learn when to mix it up.

 

Their keeper got a clip!

 

Difficult to know what to think after today. What is for sure is that just about everything that could go wrong so far has done. But it's very early days and our eventual position won't be decided by bad luck.
Regarding the team, Oliver and Angol were just like last week, miles off the pace. Cook and Young were far superior. Chapman had some good spells but I don't know what his best position is supposed to be.
In midfield I thought Smallwood had a poor game and lacked the enthusiasm shown by the Barrow players. East was busy but ineffective and Gilliead his usual completely ineffective self. Who was supposed to be playing in Walker's position? The defence played well for much of the game but then fell to pieces. Halliday was bright in both attack and defence in the first half but then faded. Ridehalgh anonymous, especially in attack. Crichlow ok but seems vulnerable in the air and Platt isn't the dominating presence I hoped he would be. Lewis, apart from one Pickford moment, was fine and couldn't be faulted for the goals.
Generally, we were pretty clueless going forward and the midfield and defence faded badly.
I said some time ago that my only concern about Hughes was his lack of experience at league 2 level. I hope he adapts quickly.

 

Passing for the sake of passing means nothing once again we had loads of possession but few making forward runs, they'll train all week with regards having the ball and forwards or midfield pushing forward and then not do it on a Saturday so frustrating that was a poor Barrow team IMO even thought they have 6 point from two games.