The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Swindon Town Saturday 7th October 2023 3:00pm

Fascinating to read other people's mood/confidence heading into tomorrow. I think my own expectations quite often match the Voice's with these previews, but not this time, nor with many of those replying!

I have been fed up watching City for a very long time now and so now Hughes has gone it feels like a cloud has been lifted. I have no idea if McDonald is well liked in the dressing room or has the attributes to make a good manager, but given the short turnaround after Hughes' sacking, we had to put someone in charge!

I don't expect he'll start himself, so, firstly, that means Ritchie is coming back in.

How does McDonald get an instant lift from this group? I think he needs to put an arm around Lewis. He was one of our best players last season and, as the saying goes, form is temporary....... get that howler from Tuesday right out of his mind. The fans have a bit of a role to play here tomorrow as Lewis feeds off the fans more than most (maybe even more so than Cooky). Let's back him. He's a good keeper.

Defensive wise, we know we look best with a back four. Halliday has ousted Oyegoki (sic) and Ridehalgh is the safest option on the left. Stubbs is effectively our main leader - just without an armband - and him and Platt pick themselves in the back four.

CDM wise, if Richie is playing, we MUST get him to be positive and hit forward passes and ping it wide for the wide men or Cook. Gillead is a must at the minute if McDonald will reside in the dugout and given Pattison is injured, as we need his legs. Oyegoki is not a CM in a million years. We must not see him there again. Ever.

I would like us to throw caution to the wind and play 4-4-2. I don't think it will happen. I think we'll have Walker, Wilson (who looked very encouraging at Tranmere) and then A N Other, maybe Smith (or Odour if he can bounce back), playing behind Cook.

I just think we need to adopt a more positive mindset. Get balls into the box. You cannot score goals if you don't get balls into the box. I don't really care if we play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, just brief the lads to get balls into Cooky. He is one of the best in the air in the division aerially and teams run scared of him. Swindon showed at Notts C they are leaky at the back and can be got at.

Do not play with fear against these, or anyone. Remind yourselves how big this club is in this god damn cesspit of a division and let's stop being content with being second best. Go out and play with a swagger, feed Cooky, and we should be looking to beat everybody at home.

2-1 or 3-1 City I'll go. Let's hope the lads respond well to McDonald....if he keeps winning then he might even throw his hat into the ring and it gives us a bit of time to consider our options! The last thing we need is to get turfed, forcing the board's hand into making a quicker appointment ahead of a difficult run of fixtures.

 

The problem is in a lot of what you said:

1. Platt picks himself alongside Stubbs, but shouldn’t do. We see the gap left by Critchlow week after week but was failed to be recruited for. Tomkinson might be that player, but how do we even know?!?

2. Smallwood. I don’t believe for one minute Hughes was to blame for his backwards play. It took playing TWO other CMs alongside him last season to mask over the achilles heel this is to us. If he plays, having only Gillead alongside him makes for a pretty weak CM IMO and any decent opposition will quickly exploit this.

3. Formation. We don’t even know what our best one is! Seems like 4-2-3-1 is it, but purely by default it’s not as bad as anything else we’ve tried. Yet with the current playing squad it doesn’t fix our main issue - getting enough service and support to Cook.

Sorry to sound defeatist, and I hope I am massively wrong, but I’m struggling to see much change in our fortunes in the short term. Simply put, we have a squad of good players, but I struggle to see how and what formation they sit in to achieve us our ultimately goal, in the division this season.

My only hope is we can out fight, out run and from our part, “out support” the opposition. Simply hard graft is the only solution I see for us getting the results we need. Today, maybe we can get that ‘post manager’ bounce - let’s hope so.

 

Platt and Stubbs had the best defensive pairing record of any we used last season. They are both absolutely fine for this division and are more than capable of helping us to promotion.

Regarding midfield, absolutely this is a weak area but Smallwood didn't play that many Championship games for nothing so whilst I'm not overly confident I am prepared to give everyone a clean slate (including Gillead) and see what they can do under both McDonald and eventually the new manager.

I agree that we do absolutely have to work harder though. Under Hughes our work off the ball was poor and we never really put teams under pressure and just allowed them to play. At home especially, this is the change I want to see implemented the most where we play a high tempo, press them and refuse to let the opposition settle.

 

Hard to predict what's in KM's mind regarding team selection and tactics.
It will be interesting to watch.

I expect to see an attacking mindset, albiet not too cavalier in approach.
The zonel marking will be dropped
and all 11 players wont be back defending corners etc..

I expect natural width will be used on one flank, perhaps Tulloch with Ridehalgh operation behind him, to get service to cook as both can deliver decent crosses.

A big indication of players confidence and moral will be evident, a strong start backed by early vocal crowd backing them. However how the players respond to going a goal down could be telling Though if they keep the tempo then they wont lose the crowd.

KM using our own Pointon wouldnt be a bad ploy as this would only further enhance the cauldron VP has in its locker

Look forward to it.

 

Generally agree but regarding playing games at championship level, Theo Robinson played over 130 games in that division.

 

Thats a fair point - but I hold hope that Smallwood came directly from that division as a club captain where as Theo was on the scrap heap long before he came to us.

 

Weirdly Swindon could be the right sort of opposition for us today. The toxicity in the crowd won't be there following MHs departure, and Swindon who are free scoring but not great at the back will come at us so it should hopefully be a fairly open game. Our biggest problems arise when well organised teams come and park the bus because we've been so ponderous and predictable.
There's lots to sort out, regardless of the result today but I'm expecting a positive reaction

 

I get that and accept that dropping down divisions doesn't guarantee success but RS was well above average statistically last season, someone posted them numbers on here, and I'm hoping being slightly more positive combined with achieving the same numbers should see improved performances from him.

Time will tell I suppose but I'm feeling positive at the moment so I suppose it's reflecting in my opinions.

 

We have 5 league games in the next 3 weeks so if McDonald starts out well then I can see them stretching out the process and maybe assessing him on those results. If he delivers I wouldn't be against him getting it until the end of the season.

He knows exactly what the grievances will have been from the players and he will know exactly how they want to play as a core group.

 

I’ve no issue with Platt, but purely my POV you only get the best out of him with a Critchlow esq player alongside him. He and Stubbs have been exposed this season when we don’t have a CM 3 and given Stubbs will get the nod over him, I see a weakness there. That said I agree, this is our best pairing available as we stand.

Also agree re Smallwood in terms of giving him a chance. I put him the same bracket as Hughes as someone I was really excited to see come to the club and think it’s almost unanimous that he’s not hit the expectations we placed on him. I’m one of the few who are fine with Gillead in CM, but he’s only as effective as who is alongside him and I don’t think that answer is in the current squad (I’m not suggesting we base our team set up around Gillead before anyone bites at me!!!).

The work rate has been mentioned in almost every games commentary by the guest ex-player. We rarely press. There’s no urgency. By just getting us to do this today Macdonald can have a positive impact - but long term we need more than this if we’re even getting anywhere near close to top 7.

 

This might be the biggest thing with giving McDonald a go for a bit.
The fact he will have first hand knowledge of any grievances that the players had.
He’s obviously not going to make wholesale changes but a couple of tweaks here and there that the players want and are happy with might just change the mood in the dressing room.

 

This is actually one of the things I'm most interested in seeing now Hughes has gone. I've never been quite sure whether Smallwood's preference for safety first, passing sideways and backwards approach is because that's how he thinks the game should be managed or whether he was being instructed to play that way by his manager. The fact that he's been subbed off in every game he's started this season and then found himself benched for the last few games makes me think it's a Smallwood thing rather than a Hughes thing, but I'm hoping I'm wrong and we start to see a different player from this afternoon onwards.

 

I honestly don’t know what to think will happen today surrounding personnel, formation and tactics.
I don’t think anyone does in all honesty. I can only name two nailed on certs, Lewis and Cook , the rest and in what formation not a scooby.
Ironically Lewis needs dropping but hey we know that won’t happen. But I do hope KM gets him to cease the floated wide balls to Halliday and Ridehalgh / Odour. It just winds me up as we see zero benefit on the whole and normally gives the ball back to the oppo. It a great tactic on paper for top class keepers and top class receivers being able to bring the ball under control, but in L2 ….really.?

We need to get the basics right, I hope KM has spotted that? Same with Platt and a lesser extent Stubbs being told to punt balls long and wide…… invariably into the stands! It must have been a dozen times the other night. Its just giving the ball back to the opponent unnecessarily? Again another legacy of MH asking L2 players to perform like Prem players.
That’s what I meant earlier in the week. MH over complicating things. You can’t blame players if that’s what they are instructed to do.

I can’t offer anything else , however I wish KM , the team and my fellow fans the best of luck today. The beginning of another new era, in the history of BCAFC.

 

Absolutely Kev they need to hit the ground running today even at this early stage in the season we are to near the drop zone for my liking, KM needs to put down a marker for the rest of the squad

 

I doubt KM will want to throw his hat in the ring, he’s stated he wants to play as long as possible so think it rules him out of the permanent role.

 

Don't you go upsetting our neighbour

 

Platt and Stubbs are too slow together. Any striker that has any movement and there in trouble.

Clean slate for smallwood. He's in his 2nd season now, and has gradually got worse to the point he's given up running in games, which he did again at tranmere even though he'd only just come on as sub.

 

One of the quirks of the Bantams in 2023 is that we have an unbeaten record when we've played one of our key rivals - i.e. a team either firmly in or expected to be in the promotion race. With one exception - Carlisle away in the semi-final (which of course was the most important one!!)

 

Match day Setting off soon.
In the words of Deliah, lets be having you.
Not expecting a win today, that would be a real bonus but hopefully an improvement in performance and play for the full 90+ minutes.
I will have an extra pint for Bronco, what do you normally drink mate. Hope all is going well with you and your brother.

 

Didn't Lewis make two outstanding saves in the 2nd half? All keepers, during any season, will occasionally 'throw one in the net'. I think the concern about him is OTT miserabilism.

Plus Swindon's recent form hasn't been that outstanding.

Surprised at the pessimism, whilst there has only been one outstanding match - there's been plenty of solid performances, i.e. Stockport and Mansfield away.

For me the key is to get the best out of Smallwood. He's one of our most talented player and don't believe someone like him, who is still respected by Hull fans, is the type to 'down tools'. I wonder if Hughes's bothered to ask him, what he thought his best position is. It's certainly not been a defensive midfielder. Significantly, his best form came when he played alongside Clayton.