The Voice - Match preview Carlisle United vs Bradford City Saturday 20th May 2023 @ 3:00pm

One of our regular ' put the world to rights' chats. Always a good hour, does you the world.of good.

 

Some work, some don't. Periara a good example. Hope the lad finds.his feet elsewhere.

 

All very interesting.

So how many managers have out-performed Hughes this season?

3? 4? 5?

I wonder if the managers were all ranked 1-24 (plus any who got sacked I guess), where would Hughes come? I'd say comfortably top 6, and that's exactly where we finished.

Is that acceptable? Top 6? I'd say so.

 

I'm sorry Jon, top 6 is not good enough for me.

 

He had that all-too-familiar 'has never scored before' thing coming in, and to be honest, you could see why.

Tried hard, but seemed too easily disheartened to me.

I think it could click for him at some point, but it won't be with us.

 

Don’t often get insights into dressing rooms, but this clip shows Carlisle have team spirit in abundance. Not so sure the same can be said for our current crop of players. Fair play to them, they were the much better team over 2 games & extra time. Blame Hughes and tactics etc all you want, but at the end of the day the players bottled it when it mattered most, the score line proved that - first time in 6 months we have conceded 3 goals in a game. Too many had an off day yesterday when they should’ve been up for it, especially in front of all us travelling fans, many of whom has followed them up and down the country. The players are to blame, not the manager.

 

McBurnie didn’t score for city. He has done ok since. Different styles suit different players. Different personnel allow some to thrive while others struggle. See Dion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Costelloe played further up the pyramid and has success. Because that’s typical of football.

 

We conceded 3 in the previous away game at Crewe too

 

I agree Steve. Ultimately the blame always lies at the manager's feet and of course he's made mistakes, not least of which was late the substitution of Platt on for Banks, but over the course of the season, players that on paper are as good if not better than anything else in the league have underperformed and that's why we are were we are.
Again, this isn't about trying to absolve Hughes of any criticism, but about recognising the players also have to accept a fair bit of responsibility for why we have ended yet another season in failure. There have been many times during the season when we've taken the lead in a game and then sat back, and Hughes has been absolutely fuming on the touch line and has been shouting at them to get forward. That's why I don't entirely buy this idea that all of the negative play and safety first approach is coming from him. What we've lacked all season is leaders and fighters on the pitch. Clayton and Stubbs have maybe injected a bit of that since January, but it's been too little too late and hopefully it is something that will be addressed during the summer, including a change in captaincy.

 

Sorry Steve completely disagree. The players didn't bottle it the manager did. A full on defensive attitude over 120 minutes. Never went for it in the first leg second half and carried on that plan up at Carlisle. To not set up to create a chance for the divisions leading scorer over 2 playoff games is really hard to take.

 

Agree Hughes bottled it and the substitute could go down as one of the worst ever. But I do agree with Steve that the players bottled it as well. The Smallwood attempt in the last minute was more like a pass back and one of the most pathetic attempts I’ve ever seen from a City player in such an important moment, would Jones or McCall have done that? Absolutely not. And don’t get me starting for the defending for the third goal, they fell asleep. Manager and players alike need a look at themselves after this season, because when the squad was assembled, although i predicted 6th I expected a lot better standard throughout the season. I can take losing, but there are ways to lose and this team heads drop so easily.

 

Agree. We need players who are mentally tough no matter what the situation is. Look at the Carlisle players they believed they could win, we looked like we were playing for a draw all match.

 

I don't know feel free to it Google as I did, my point was other maager who have been at their clubs a similar time to Hughes with I would think less money have performed better, I expected a promotion if 6 is acceptable to you then fine.

 

Ah of course. I must have blurred that one out lol

 

No need to apologise Rog, we all have different view points on matters like this

To echo @Petrov reply to the one before yours, MH is often on the touchline lookin bewildered and gesturing furiously to the players to get the ball up the pitch. Also, during Saturday's game Smallwood was going mad at Halliday for not pumping the ball up to Banks or another forward player, opting instead to go backwards. If the manager and captain are both crying out not to be so defensive, for me a lot of the players need to take the blame

 

To be fair to you the players also have to take some responsibility.

 

Thats a bit rich from Smallwood. My main criticism of our captain is that invariably when he receives the ball facing our own goal he immediately plays it backwards first time to a defender, even when he has space to turn and go. He doesn't even look to see what's on.

 

To play devil's advocate he's probably used to playing with a quality of player that can dominate a midfield. He needs runners and movement around him and Clayton and Gilliead simoly don't do that

 

It's the way h lines us up that ultimately leads us to having to pass back. No runners or receivers in midfield invariably ends with Halliday or Ridehalgh passing back to Stubbs/Platt/Crichlow. It's not that Clayton/Smallwood/Gilliead are poor players, it just affects the team going forward as a unit. With Chapman getting injured we effectively had one creative outlet in Banks. It meant we couldn't get Walker into the game and ultimately Cookie is living off scraps. Hughes could have gambled on the youthful energy of Easy but chose slower experience. And when the players needed that impetus from their manager to go for the kill in the second half of the first leg he again went safety first. His tactics are quite pragmatic, that's something the players can't change on their own.

 

Yes it is easy to have a pop at the manager but player responsibility has to be questioned. Like others have said many times I have seen MH ranting at the players for not getting forward.
Which begs the question as to why the players cannot follow instructions. I suspect that some players are not confident of their own skills. Mentality and confidence are important for players and the team. Just look at our previous captains Stephen Derby and Gary Jones. They knew the team inside out, who needed the arms round and who needed a kick up the backside. They had the respect of both Parky and the players.
However, if they are not good enough no amount of instruction will turn them into decisive decision making. MH can set them up how he likes but they have to be able to read the match.