The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Accrington Stanley Saturday 25th November @ 3:00pm

I didn't think it was a nervy ending at all. I thought we managed the 7 minutes of injury time very well and looked comfortable.

 

Thats what I keep saying, you dont need a pot of money and the top lower league players to get out of L2.

Get Pattison fully fit, Jake Young recalled (x2 yesterday) and bring in another option at CB/CM and we have enough imo. Down to GA then...

 

Which is fine but Stanley score from that dreadful back pass and we absolutely don't have enough to come back and win that game.

Fine margins.

 

What is the latest on Pattison, not heard much?

 

Funny how we see things differently. Yes 100% with your last sentence.

 

Wasn't there a comment during the week that he was "back on the grass"?. If so good news but suspect another 2/3 weeks to get fully back.

 

I agree with Idle. I thought Cook looked leaner yesterday than he has most of the season. If I'm right with my eyesight it bears out that I heard yesterday training is twice as hard as it has been.

 

To some extent, yes, but the stats for the match are very even, 50% - 50% possession, 12 shots each. It's not like either team dominated the other. I just expected more from the opposition after how well they'd played last week. If anything, I think they underestimated City.

 

Agree Chris. A death 'in the family' will have had an impact of some sort. The result was not what they expected but to be fair Andy Holt was very philosophical after and just accepted they didn't perform as they can. "On another day..." but for us it wasn't another day, it was our day. Needs following up now on Tuesday, looking forward to it for once.

 

RE Jake Young. Its a big call whether to recall him. If we get a bit of momentum and get into January with a settled Cook-Smith partnership, it’s not a simple decision.

He was someone would would have fitted into Hughes’ 4-2-3-1 system as one of the wide men behind Cook but we have a better shape in this 5-3-2 now and you aren’t dropping Smallwood, Gillead or Walker, and you’ve already got Pattison, Pointon and then Chapman and Oliver waiting to replace Walker and Smith, respectively.

Is Young playing more as a striker now, or still as a wideman?

 

That’s the first brick in the wall. Plenty of work ahead.

 

Thanks, it will be interesting to see where he fits on returning and who “ moves aside” .

 

Look at the results yesterday - Notts County losing to the same scoreline they beat us by last week, against a team we got 3 points off, league leaders Stockport getting beat by a team we hammered, and Wrexham putting 6 past Morecambe after losing last week to the team we have just take 3 points off. There is nothing or no one to be scared of in this league, and if GA can instill that into the players and we go into every game believing it, we might still have half a chance of a top 7 finish this season.

 

He was left if a 3 when I last saw him. I doubt if Swindon can remotely afford to buy him, so it’s either withdraw him and see if he “ fits” , or withdraw and sell .

Coffers in the bank or someone going back into a squad where game time may not be a “given”?
Quite a conundrum?

 

I think Halliday made mention to it the other week when speaking to Rayner. He said something along the lines of training being a lot harder and it being something they as players have needed for a long time.

 

I think with Cook its also lifestyle. Cans of fizz on his way home from matches etc and he strikes as the type who would enjoy a kebab (like us mere mortals tbf). Not one that follows a strict players diet I would imagine - the Robbie Blake of 2023.

I think he needs to be in the right frame of mind to sharpen up and maybe he got disillusioned start of the season when results were poor and his goals dried up? Hopefully he’s invested in what GA wants to achieve and knuckles down now. We need him to be burying those headed chances like the ones he’s missed at Notts C and yesterday. But he contributed overall yesterday and sprayed nice balls out wide.

 

Agree. I think we had control back yesterday and the players looked suited to the new system GA has worked on.

 

It is indeed a conundrum Kev. I know you have never been a fan and on that we disagree, but as much as I would love him to return in January and continue in the same rich vein of form as he is in with Swindon, I'm really not convinced he'd be happy about coming back and bringing him back in that scenario wouldn't benefit us or the player. If GA can persuade him otherwise I'd be all for it, but I'm starting to think the best outcome all round might be for a decent offer to come in from a league 1 club - more money for GA's war chest and it also weakens a league 2 rival.

 

From what I can tell Swindon play a 352, with Young a part of their front 2 as a striker.

In his short time with us Young operated mainly wide left. My impression was he was very direct, had a great strike on him, but was often wasteful in wide areas.

Looking at Swindon highlights he always seems to be down the middle, either picking up the ball from deep and driving at the defense, or bang in the middle of the 18 yard box ready in goal shooting positions. He seems really good at creating half a yard for himself and getting shots away.

Personally I think we should recall him in Jan, as he'd ideally suit our new way of playing and would offer direct competition to Smith.

 

That pretty much sums up every football match in the lower leagues monkey to be fair. Like last week when Cook missed the header at 1-1, every game has those example. But then football isn't decided on what ifs, merely what happened. In the end it was a routine save for Lewis from the back pass.For the record i don't think we were much better than them yesterday but what we did was look far more solid than of late. The stats for the match were almost identical. The game probably hinged more on the fine save from Lewis at his right post after a mistake from Platt. But apart from those two errors we didn't look like conceding.