The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Barrow Saturday 11th November 2023 3:00pm

EFL LEAGUE TWO FIXTURE #17

Saturday 11th November 2023 15:00
Bradford City (16th) vs Barrow (8th)
University of Bradford Stadium (AKA Valley Parade)

22/23 Results:

06 Aug 2022: Barrow 3 – 2 Bradford City
18 Feb 2023: Bradford City 0 – 1 Barrow

Head-to-Head Form: LLWDW (most recent first)

Won: 23
Drawn: 14
Lost: 16

Current League Form:

Bradford City: LLDWW
Barrow: WDWDD

BARROW

Pete Wild’s Barrow finished 9th last campaign, narrowly missing out on the play offs, and find themselves in a very similar position with just over a third of the season gone. The continued success of the Cumbrian side is a huge credit to the club, manager, and players, particularly in light of losing their top two goalscorers of the previous campaign: Josh Gordon weighed in with 15 league goals before moving on to League One Burton Albion, while 9 goal striker Billy Waters switched life in Barrow-in-Furness for Wrexham.

Emile Acquah (5) leads the way this season in terms of league goals, having been purchased for an undisclosed fee from non-league Maidenhead, while Dom Telford (2) joined from Crawley Town for another undisclosed fee. 22-year-old Kian Spence (2) arrived from non-league Halifax Town, and he and veteran defender Sam Foley (2) as well as Dean Campbell (2), a free capture from Stevenage, round out the club’s multi-goal offerings so far this season.

Barrow, a team that mostly combine astute non-league raids with free transfers, are a side that could only dream of having Bradford City’s riches and attendances – but they make it work, and Pete Wild’s leadership has been crucial in guiding them to the cusp of a promotion challenge, a feat they may improve upon this year.

The Cumbrians field two ex-Bradford City players in the ever-present Niall Canavan and former Phil Parkinson signing Jamie Proctor, two physical players who have both pitched in with a league goal apiece this season. Canavan will be expected to play at Valley Parade this coming weekend, and should be ably assisted in defence by George Ray – though Wild has mixed it up a fair few times this season, having called upon the services of no fewer than 9 different defenders to start league games.

The midfield has been much more settled, with ever-present Dean Campbell (16 starts) playing alongside the likes of Kian Spence (13), Elliot Newby (11), and David Worrall (10), with players like Robbie Gotts and Tom White looking to break through on a more regular basis. Up front, only Emile Acquah (11) has made more than double figures-worth of starts, as Wild has rotated between Dom Telford, Gerard Garner, and, less frequently, Jamie Proctor and Courtney Duffus. The options are there for Wild, and he has not been afraid to tinker with the starting line up.

While some fans prefer a more settled side, there’s a sense that Barrow are really growing into their campaign. A recent run of 4 wins and a draw from their last 5 league and cup outings combined has not only seen them climb the League Two table to their current 8th placed position, but they have also progressed to the second round of the FA Cup with a fine 3-1 win over Northampton Town last weekend. What’s more, on Tuesday evening Wild’s side beat Liverpool U21’s 2-1, though they did not do enough to progress from the group stage in that particular competition.

In league action, Barrow have racked up 4 consecutive clean sheets, an impressive feat for a side that don’t ordinarily score too many goals. Barrow are a side built on defensive stability, and a fantastic run of form that has seen them concede just twice in 6 league and cup games combined – including against higher level opposition – shows they seem to have struck the right balance.

Barrow haven’t lost a league game since October 3rd, when they fell 2-1 away at Grimsby Town, and they even avenged a subsequent 3-1 EFL Trophy defeat at Morecambe by beating Derek Adams’ men 1-0 at home in the higher priority league fixture.

Barrow will head to Valley Parade in great spirits, enjoying their best form of the season. Their 4 consecutive defensive shut outs will be a head ache for Bradford City, another low scoring side, and there are signs Dom Telford is just beginning to find his feet for the Cumbrians having scored 2 goals in their last 3 league outings.

Expect a very well-drilled defensive unit who won’t take too many risks and will try to avoid leaving themselves exposed at the back. They play to the strengths of key players such as Niall Canavan, who is a significant unit. Possession in not the name of the game for Wild’s men, and the chances are they will surrender the majority of possession to their opponents – but with a much tighter back line than the Bantams, and while scoring at a similar rate of just over a goal a game on average, they will not be one to overlook.

BRADFORD CITY

Bradford City welcome the appointment of Graham Alexander on a two-and-a-half year contract, and the former MK Dons boss will look to make amends immediately for a failed run at the Buckinghamshire club. An extremely experienced former player with more than 800 appearances to his credit, the former right back will make Bradford City his sixth club as full time manager.

Alexander’s longest spell was his first: nearly 3 years at Fleetwood Town, where he managed them to League Two play off success, before enjoying even more successful spells statistically-speaking at Scunthorpe United, where he took them to the cusp of the Championship, and Salford City, who he guided into the EFL for the first time in the club’s history.

Since then it has been less impressive – a forgettable 69-game spell at Motherwell was followed by a 16-game stint at MK Dons, who dismissed Alexander after a poor run of form and with a sense of disquiet about the style of play.

Bradford City fans, however, might just take to Alexander’s style of play a little more. Calls for more direct football under Mark Hughes and the potential for a more blood-and-thunder type approach could be appealing, with City fans typically demanding that their players wear their hearts on their sleeves. It’s critical that Alexander gets off to a good start with his new charges, as for the sake of his own career, failure at Valley Parade could close the door on future opportunities.

Whether Graham Alexander can get more of a tune out of this squad than Mark Hughes was able to will be the key question. The back line initially looked to relish the freedom of not having to maintain possession and constant recycling of the ball under caretaker manager Kevin McDonald (as well as Mark Trueman), but a run of 3 straight league and cup wins was followed by a dismal stretch of 3 defeats in their last 4 games. A humbling at Alexander’s former club MK Dons to a tune of 4-1 was as poor a performance as the Bantams have put in this season, and defeat at bottom side Sutton United ensured the alarm bells continued to ring among the Valley Parade faithful.

A pair of cup performances were somewhat more positive, with the Bantams beating Manchester City U21’s 3-0, and a spirited performance despite going down 2-1 at League One Wycombe Wanderers earned praise from Wanderers manager Matt Bloomfield. Ultimately, though, with only the league and EFL Trophy still to play for this season, 3 point hauls will be what Graham Alexander is judged upon.

Seeing what formation Alexander employs and what personnel he decides to rely on will be interesting from the off. While Bradford City have played 4-2-3-1 for the majority of the last two seasons, Alexander is more known for a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 – which could favour hat-trick hero Tyler Smith, though both he and Andy Cook appear to prefer the same central striker’s role. Could they be a little-and-large partnership to bring success for Graham Alexander? Certainly there was little wrong with Smith’s finishing as he put the Manchester City game to bed before half time, with Andy Cook getting a well-deserved rest after slugging it out in league games with a heavily strapped knee.

If Cook and Smith can produce a successful partnership, Alexander will already have one-up on Hughes, whose side was struggling for goals and equally unable to put together a string of clean sheets. That brings us to another of the major challenges for Graham Alexander: the stuttering form of his back line, and the poor performance of goalkeeper Harry Lewis. That will be just as much a focus for the new gaffer as making things work up top, particularly after dismal recent outings from Sam Stubbs and Ash Taylor.

There’s a lot of work to be done, and we will see on Saturday what Graham Alexander has been able to accomplish after just under a week in charge.

 

THE BREAKDOWN

23/20: Bradford City
9/4: Draw
12/5: Barrow

Barrow beat Bradford City twice last season and come into this game on far superior form. They have tightened things up at the back and been impenetrable in the last 4 league games. That is not news Bradford City fans will want to hear. Their own inability to score freely has seen them pretty reliably scoring just 1 goal per game, as well as only managing 3 clean sheets across all games all season. Needless to say, the math has not added up in terms of on-pitch success.

Bradford City have had some reasonable excuses in that key players such as Andy Cook and Alex Pattison haven’t been able to maintain much in the way of good fitness levels, and last season’s stand out League Two ‘keeper Harry Lewis has also been on poor form. With their supposed best players not enjoying much success so far this campaign, it can be no surprise that the Bantams find themselves entrenched in the bottom half and with a huge amount of work today if they are to match last season’s play off-achieving final league position.

While Bradford City under-perform, Saturday’s opponents Barrow continue to exceed expectations under Pete Wild. Unless Graham Alexander is able to coax out a significant improvement in terms of tactics, formations, and performances, Barrow should be considered the favourites for this tie. Barrow’s tight defence and improved recent results look like a nightmarish proposition for an under-confident, under-performing City side, but while Barrow have been undefeated at home in league action this season, away from home they have been more susceptible to defeat (3 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses) and have conceded exactly 1 goal per game – more than at home, where they have let in just 5 goals from 7 games.

Bradford City, meanwhile, haven’t been particularly poor at home statistically, with 3 wins, 3 draws and only 1 defeat, but they certainly haven’t been able to impose them in a way that Bantams’ fans would either appreciate or expect.

While the temptation is to bank on a new manager bounce, Barrow’s own form must be treated with respect, and so the pick is a 1-1 draw. Hopefully, by the end of the game, Bradford City fans are a little happier leaving the stadium than they have been in recent games, even if they don’t get the full complement of 3 points.

PREDICTION:

Bradford City 1 – 1 Barrow