Match Thread City vs Harrogate | League 2 | 12/10/20

Surely if the players didn’t play he should have changed it half time. It was clear it wasn’t working

 

This match reminded me of a cup tie. I knew Harrogate would be really up for this from the first minute they pushed us back and probably worked harder than any team I have seen at VP for a long time. We will go on about how poor we were which doesn’t give Harrogate the credit they deserve. They followed a plan worked harder and were better than us all over the pitch. Let’s hope it’s a one off

 

The best team I've seen this season by some distance. Everyone knew their roles and their recruitment looks like it knew what players they needed for certain positions. The opposite to us.

 

Harrogate were favourites for a reason.

The sad reality is Bradford City are not a better football team than Harrogate Town anymore.

There’s nothing any of us lot can do about it either

 

A bit of hard work and organisation from Harrogate was enough to grind us down. Something that was typified with the winning goal. Two loose balls are won by Harrogate before the ball is worked out to the right and neither Wood nor Cooke make the effort to block the cross. Then, despite having five (six including O'Donnell) against three in the box, only the goalscorer is on the move to get on the end of the cross. The lack of communication and awareness to allow their No.17 the space he had is alarming. Switching offensively, the fact that Harrogate had six players in the final third was also something we should learn from because we rarely saw that from us tonight.

What makes that defeat particularly hurtful is that we were at full strength. Haven't seen anything from Paudie O'Connor, Ismail or Mottley-Henry to suggest that they would have made an ounce of difference in that game. If there's one thing that we learned in our last stay in this division, its that teams that show hard work and are organised tend to do well - its on Stuart to consistently find that in this set of players because there will be more like Harrogate to come.

 

The first time i saw Levi Sutton i thought yeah pretty decent.

why was he so cavalier tonight. All over the place and loose with possession. Thinking he was better than he is. A prime example of the differences between the sides and why we were turned over.

Im gonna to say we need a nasty midfielder enforcer in there, nothing flash just a grafter.

 

He’s eager and industrious. But his control is so poor, his second touch is a diving tackle. Just win it, give it to the more talented players. Although, they tend to be on the opposition, so maybe he’s actually filling his role well.

 

It doesnt help that he changes his formations and tactics as much as his socks. He needs to drill a formation into the side and stick with it. He supposedly built a squad to play 3 at the back now all of a sudden he has ditched that and have got players out of position/sync all over the pitch.

Pick your best 11 and stick to it, its ok switching it up for man city away but this was harrogate at home for goodness sake.

It was one of detriments to his first 2 stints yet it seems he is still making them same mistakes

 

The team has been lacking an enforcer/leader since Jones. Opposing midfielder don't have anything to worry about.

 

It's a jigsaw without a picture

 

Wood was an obvious weak link defensively, and Harrogate zeroed on our left hand side time and again.

Donaldson up front offered absolutely nothing; just like Guthrie when he came on.

Harrogate outworked us and outplayed us, though I thought we created better openings going forward, possibly by hitting THEM on the counter.

It was an even game that could have gone either way, but Harrogate definitely deserved it purely down to the amount of time they spent in our half with the ball at their feet. Like I say, we were countering and at times looked rushed, other times we looked slick.

 

We have done for years, we have no engine...

 

If that's a taste of what Harrogate play then Weaver will go far in this mamangement lark. They looked a very good outfit, well coached and well drilled. Helps when you out think the opposition manager, makes your players look even better.

 

There was one instance, around the 70 min mark, where our midfield just opened up like the Red Sea, and their player ran fifty metres unchallenged.

Another incident, leading to his yellow card, was Watt faffing about with the ball when there was no support around him and losing possession.

We all say it, we all think it, and we’re all confused by it - McCall was exactly the sort of player we’re missing, so why doesn’t he identify this?

Seems we’re waiting til January before we replace the lost jigsaw pieces.

 

Stuart has a problem now he has realised Evans can't play in the position he signed him for.He had to find way of fitting Evans into the starting line-up,so unbalanced everything else to do so.

 

Once again, we’re lacking a left sided player. Novak up top with a three of Evans Clarke and left sided midfielder behind him would work.

 

Pritchard can play there.

 

Sadly for Connor that was probably his worst performance for us. Everyone is allowed an off day and he had the mother of one in my view, no where near his man all night, shanking the ball out of play and inevitably giving space for the winner. Even Sky said at HT the goals would come down his side!
Very out of character and sorry for the lad but my suspicious mind wonders if Steve Evans has been in his ear and turned his head.