The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Walsall Saturday 3 September @ 3:00pm

I think in the first half Banks just didn’t fancy it against their brute of a left back.
I thought he would have more of a go in the 2nd half when they moved him to centre half after taking Clarke off but he looked just as ineffective against the new left back.

 

A few of our players were bullied today. The physical element that Walsall possessed was something we never came to grips with.

 

I only saw the last 8 mins plus injury time and they looked humongous. Their incessant use of the long throw was a waste and far too predictable. Wright looked to have a head on his shoulders and help manage the game out in the end. Harratt should £ have buried that 1 on 1 to take the sting out of the game . Playing poorly and winning is a first for us for a long time!

 

It's the sport of football keV, probably the only game where you can be outplayed.and come away with the spoils. There'll be times when we wipe the floor with sides.and come away with nothing. Swings and roundabouts....

 

Critchlow has that reggae boy style of play. Seems very casual. He totally got turned inside out for the pen. A few mins later he also got the ball stuck between his feet, and we were lucky to not concede. I like his composure and pace, but as I’ve said for the past few weeks, he plays like we’re always 3 nil up.

 

Songo'o rarely lets us down, both Walker and Osadebe were sat just behind us unfortunately both on crutches.

 

Harry Lewis was great today, well worth the MOTM award,

but i will also give a shout out to Halliday today, he provided the cross for Cook to score and made some timely last ditch tackles when Walsall turned up the heat and even out run Dion the wanderer by providing a counter attacking overlap.
Thought Dion is the one with pace to burn.

 

We're not a physical side. We're a technical one. And I worry that there'll be too many games where we struggle to impose ourselves and the lack of physicality becomes and issue. Especially when the pitches and weather turn to sh*t

 

Is Dion fast? I think he's just got good close control that makes him look pacey. I don't think his game centres on his pace. There was a great passage of play shortly after he came on, where he skinned a few guys, including one who was trying to pull his shorts off., with some great close control. Also! Does he wear shin pads? If he does..then they must belong to his kid.

 

We all know how it works.
We will play other teams off the park and loose.
Take the three points today all day long.
Great goals from City and moving up the table which is what we want

 

Hopefully Eisa can give us something similar to what Osadebe can bring. Walker is a real loss though. More than anything as he usually takes on a shot from distance. Hope they're back training soon.

 

Not a lot I could disagree with regards Flynn's comments on the game, although he does say possibly their best performance of the season.
https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/walsall-fc/2022/09/03/bradford-city-vs-walsall---live/

 

Was a real struggle today. Never got to grips with Walsall's style at all and it caused us no end of troubles. Set pieces and long throws we didn't win the first contacts and then didn't win the second balls either which meant they could have us camped in our own box. Lewis rightly MOTM, superb again.

Thought we lacked energy in the middle of the park. Sutton struggled again and Smallwood wasn't much better. Didn't think I'd ever be pining for Gilliead but we need him back ASAP.

We were too slow in our build up play, Platt especially. Too many touches and tempo was too low. Yet when we speed it up a bit, we cut them open and score a great team goal from Cook. Second was a brilliant individual goal from Young who looked bright again. Credit to Wright too for a promising cameo.

Will need to be much, much better next week at Mansfield thats for sure.

 

Agree Faithful. Over the past two/three games, Crichlow has started to show flaws in his game, making more mistakes.
After Odusina's performance against the Owls, I was hoping that he may get his chance today alongside Platt.
Also Chapman is not a player for that No.10 role - poor again today and not at all effective.
Need better in that position, I was glad to see him taken off after 76mins, for me it should have been a lot sooner.

 

Agree, Walkers injuries are more than envisaged, I am sure

 

Big men are not as mobile on grease?

 

Unfortunately Sparkie wasn't asked about our injured players but fair analysis of the game overall.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0cy7v5q

 

What a weird game that was.

Hughes half time team talk: How the hell are you lot 2-0 up?

While Walsall had a lot of the ball their shooting was appalling-thank god.

They have some big units in there. Though I had to laugh when Banks gently nudged their giant #6 in the back in the first half and he fell down to the floor. I mean he must be at least twice the size of Banks.

Onto the Ref. My oh my. Didn't recall him telling their goalkeeper to hurry up at dead ball kicks but he seemed to do it all the second half to Lewis who was immense today.

Credit to a well drilled Walsall side who stuck at their task. Glad they didn't park the bus and came to have a go.

Wright to start over Chapman for me from now on as he did more in the 15 mins than Chapman did all game-looked lively took up good attacking positions, defended well and was direct with pace. Looked a real threat and had Walsall on the back foot at times.

Hughes subs today were on the money for me and shows how well he reads the game. And what a subs bench that was. Probably the best we have had for years.

 

Decent game of football today Lewis was the difference and got us the points probably the best earned MOM I've seen in a while. Walsall look a decent team and fair play they came to win that a draw wouldn't have been unreasonable.

Their back 4 were monsters and we struggled against it. Haliday's run and ball for the goal was fantastic and I'm really liking Young he's brave, talented and a bit raw if Hughes can tease it out of him there's a proper player their.

Delighted to see Dion back and I hope Wright is a bit more selfish next time he should have had a go himself. I still think we need a bit more urgency in our play but when we get at it we look a very decent team. I actually thought Oliver looked alot Sharper today and was a problem for their back line when he came on.

 

We're technical but today Walsall were just as good in that department of not better. They moved the ball quicker than us and we seem to have that problem we've had in the past where we don't like to run through the middle ourselves. And for all our supposed technical ability our goals came from pretty direct play, Youngs from a Lewis goal kick and Cooks from a first time cross from Halliday. Our build up play was non existent because Walsall bullied us and as you allude to could be a problem when the weather turns.