Match Thread Bradford City V Salford - Tue 23 January 2024 7.45pm

I've been critical of Halliday in the past but this season his tenacity and determination have outweighed his shortcomings. Good fitness levels too.

 

Player of the season. And he's playing a position that isn't his natural one.

 

For all Hallidays determination and workrate, how many times does he put a decent ball into the box? I’ll go with next to never and with Ridhalgh on the other side also putting shite crosses in it’s hardly any surprise we aren’t scoring many goals.

 

I agree and I said the same to a mate last night. He's great as an overlapping fullback and I suppose he'd be fine at wing back if we had a left sided threat but at the minute everything has to go through him and when he's isolated like he was at one point in the second half he struggles to either beat a man or play the right ball.

That said, he's been out most consistent player yet again and all while playing an unfamiliar role.

 

Yup, I would go as far as to say last night his delivery was particularly poor. That said he got in where it counted for his goal and if the rest of the team showed the same effort and drive we would be a much better team.

 

And Halliday has the same amount of league goals as Gilliead (2) and Oduor (2).

Which is also unsurprisingly 2 more than Smallwood (0)

 

Its just dog shit top to bottom

Stubbs an Taylor, shouldnt play together. Too bleeding slow

Ridehalgh dog shit. Making Halliday do everything

Smallwood an Gilliead, useless. Ineffective. Inadequate

Odour is wank

Wright not at match fitness

Cook isolated

We play with 7 defensive players, an still concede a shit goal

we play with 3 actual attackers, an GA expects us to score goals

what a fecking clown

 

I've left it a while so people on the forum had a chance to read the posts but have a look at how many 'likes' (for that, read agree) you've had on your Cook posts compared to the amount of agreement I've received. I'm not sure you've even received a single one yet which is telling.

You might not be on your own as you suggest but I suspect you're in a vast, vast minority.

 

Odour came as a left wing back, the position he'd played at Barnsley. If he doesn't want to play there or isn't good enough just sit him in the stand or on the bench because he certainly isn't an attacking midfielder.

 

It’s those square pegs again.

 

The problem is now though that we've so many square pegs it would almost be easier to somehow find a board with square holes rather than change them all out, one by one for round pegs again!

 

He’s never been that sort of player though has he - one who leads the press. He’s a big unit and his place in that team is to take knocks and give us shape. If he comes back and presses the when we get the ball who is up front? He needs to conserve himself to get through games like most big men do.

its frustrating seeing him have no Impact on games but GA picked a slow side and we didn’t overlap enough and get enough of the ball as we lost the battle in midfield.

Watt showed his quality and was pinging balls about for fun!

Ridehalgh and the CBs struggled for pace and Odour and Wright did very little all game.

 

Totally with you Vladimir. Since Parky left, it's been a shit show from season to under-performing season. Footie friends of mine ask me how can a club with such a massive fan base at L2 level continue to be so poor? It's Impossible to answer.

 

He’s another osadebe. Positionless. Jack of all trades, master of none

 

Kinda easy to answer, though, really.

You just put someone in charge of running the club who isn't knowledgeable, talented, or intelligent enough to run the club.

In terms of expertise, Sparks bring absolutely nothing to the table, and his appointments and the mentality behind his appointments are embarrassing.

 

It's pretty obvious why we struggled last night. Cook was on his own and can't create chances by himself. Our so-called wingbacks tried their best but their crossing, as usual, was woeful. Smallwood and Gilliead created nothing bar the goal, and hardly ever do. Oduor, a couple of cameos apart, was anonymous. Wright wasn't match fit. I suspect most fans could have predicted this before the game. So why can't our manager?

 

I reckon it was nearer to 10,000 but whatever, a very telling reflection of fans voting with their feet. We are a in a total mess as a club. As a team, our Salford performance was barely National League standard. The ball was in the air far longer than on the grass and we couldn't put three or four passes together throughout the game. Poor, so very very poor.

 

He only touched the ball NINE times in the first half.

Four of those were headers.

We failed to use him last night. It was very little to do with him and a lot to do with a load of aimless punts up the pitch.

 

The unofficial crowd was just over 6,200. That's official.

 

Halliday is a cracking athlete and a great player that I'd like to see stay for years to come.

But as a wing back, he's providing defensive balance to... and even more defensive left flank.

It makes absolutely no sense at all.