The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Gillingham Saturday 22nd April 2023 @ 3:00pm

We cannot play for 45 minutes and expect to win. So a draw was about right. However I would take a last minute winner any day of the week deserved or not.

We were nervous and riddled with mistakes mostly at the back. Nerves and going to pot when the opposition scores. It has been like it all season which is why even if we qualify for the playoffs I don’t fancy us.

At this level you need guts as a player, no prisoners taken. Without the high resilience to set backs you will get trampled on. I have been saying this all season we need a stronger leader on that pitch and we don’t have one. Put that at the top of the shopping list.

onto next Saturday

 

The results at home this season. Sackable offence for most managers. Total abject surrender. Hughes is a joker.

 

Hughes definitely has to take responsibility and if it has to be next season then he needs to fix the struggles of this season

 

Yeah and kiss goodbye to all your BT TV live coverage of your games. Lucky if you get 2 live games a season.

 

Agree. Smallwood is not the leader I hoped he would be. He does not drive the players on or do anything really as captain.

 

Agree totally but would just say these knobs are not football fans, just keyboard warriors who attach themselves to football so they can spout their purile comments for attention

 

You can lead in different ways but we need a captain that can kick our players arses. He’s to passive.

 

Based on what?

 

You’re quite right, but it’ll be interesting to know if they have season tickets etc.

I hope the club investigate it further and make it publicly the punishment.

Hughes and the players have a lot of reflecting and improving to do if we don’t go up this season, but so do some of the fans. The behaviour at times is absolutely shocking and an embarrassment to the club.

 

Disappointed about this week as no doubt we all are, I now fear for our playoff place never mind the autos, but should the unthinkable happen and we miss out on the playoffs or lose in the playoffs I for one won't be throwing toys out of the pram by calling for MH to be sacked, end of the day however horrible and frustrating it is still progress and hopefully MH learns from his mistakes from this season and kicks on a level next season.

 

Most folk I heard from pre season saw Perreira signing as a massive plus. I sure did.

 

The difference being they took us to the Premiership, I accept they also took us through two admins, but this guy and his muppet partner Edin gave us nothing but season on season failure, and at the time of taking over had the cheek to make a comment about (I believe his words were a club within a club) people at the club making money out of the club, a shame when they got rid of a certain lady at the club for said fiddling he didn't do his due diligence on Edin.

 

that will make me sleep a lot better tonight.

 

My thoughts on today's game

Lewis - 6 - Fecked about in the first half. Made 2 world class saves. Only to then bottle it at the end an flap at the cross. 6 is fair
Ridehalgh - 6 - Got an assist. Standard performance from him
Stubbs - 6.5 - Our best defender. Again
Crichlow - 4.5 - Haven't got a clue what he was doing today tbh. Not the sole reason for our draw however
Halliday - 6 - Decent performance from him
Smallwood - 6.5 - Decent
Gilliead - 6.5 - Ditto
Banks - 7.5 - Our main creative outlet. Has been all season
Walker - 7 - Think he played well. Needs to find his shooting boots though
Nevers - 3 - Bambi on ice comes to mind
Cook - 7 - Always steps up when it matters

Im not gonna solely blame the players for what happened today. They raised their game in the second half after a shocking first when they couldn't string a pass. That being said, whether this was a player decision or that of the manager, when you have over 10 minutes to see a game out, the last thing you do against a physical team is sit on the edge of your penalty box an invite crosses in. Besides Derbyshire, nobody was pressing the Gillingham players with the ball. Every time a ball went into our box, it was chaos. What is the solution you might ask? Stop the ball from getting in there in the first place. Its not the first time we've invited pressure an conceded as a result, it wont be the last. So im gonna say they're all liable, Players an Manager.

Mathematically, Autos aren't out of reach. We play Northampton who are missing key players an we have a game in hand over them with Stevenage an Carlisle struggling for form. That being said, I don't think this group of players has the bottle for a fight, an its evident judging by our collective thought of going up through the Play-Offs.

I think it'l be Northampton an Stockport that go up. They look the strongest on paper. We should get into the Play-Offs, at which point, the only team that can match us on paper are Carlisle, but going back to our lack of bottle, I doubt Stevenage would struggle against us an we happen to be their bogey team.

 

Disagree about Banks. Would be near top of my shopping list if there was a chance of getting him back.

 

Once Banks left the pitch we lost our only effective outlet. Gillingham could then push on without fear of the counter. It could've been a good opportunity to bring Dion on, with his ball retaining skills had he been on the bench. I also think Clayton has been a bigger miss than we think with his knack of being in right place to receive the ball and tidy things up. Our current midfield has reverted to the type unfortunately, at exactly the wrong time.

For all the talk from the players of cup finals, they've put in probably the worst two 45 minute performances of the season in the last 2 games. Will we get anything at Northampton, probably not. They will press our back four again and wait for us to cough up possession, just like the home game. They won't give us anytime on the ball and with a victory being enough for them, I can't see anything other than a convincing defeat. Big week in training this week and I don't want to hear a word from the players. Actions speak louder than words. We somehow have to find 7 points from next 9 on the table.

 

Yesterdays draw has just shifted the ‘must win’ game to next weekend.
With the right attitude we are more than capable of getting a result.
The autos are still possible but now out of our hands.
The play-offs are still all down to what we do.

 

Sounds like Clayton and Abo Elisa could be available next Saturday.

 

Clayton would be a plus, not sure Abo adds a lot with regards our attacking options.

 

Yes based on the promise he showed during the initial loan, primarily because he was better than what we had originally. When he came back this season , he wasn’t better than those around him , he didn’t or hadn’t “kicked on“ in football terms, so he didn’t get selected.

Some you win, some you lose.