Home vs Crawley Town 19th October

Quite agree but imo they were still better than
Cambridge/Oldham/Northampton/Carlise and even Forest Green won came away with 3 pts.

Game should have been put away when Oteh missed that chance to make it 3-0.
Onwards & upwards - Up by Xmas

 

Agree in the main but oteh scores when it seemed harder to miss and it’s 3-0 Game over.

 

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/bradford-city/11839912/bradford-2-1-crawley

 

Cracking save by the keeper mind. His ability to get across and spread his body.

 

First half, we should have had more goals but poor crosses into the box let us down. We did eventually find the sweet spot.
Second half we missed the presence of Pritchard and resorted to sitting deep and soaking up the pressure, without Donaldson we have no target man and need to learn how to play out from the back under pressure. So many balls today played upto Vaughn who can't hold the ball up on his own. We need a plan B for when there is no Donaldson.
Otherwise we held firm and took the 3 points which is the most important part of today.

 

Did Crawley really have 22 shots on goal to our 10 - and 9 on target to our 4? I thought it was a pretty even game overall. I think it was the best half this season at home, possibly followed by the worst. We dominated the first half yet tried to throw it away in the second by compounding the loss of Pritchard with a lot of naivety. I hope we learn from it.

I wonder if Bowyer told Devine to switch it from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-2-1. With the 2 wingers still very wide, it left all the front 3 completely isolated and a huge hole in the middle of the park which Crawley took complete advantage of so the ball kept coming back. The two wingers could have come in and closed the gap to support Vaughan and make it more like a 4-3-3 but, no, they continued to sit alone on the touchlines. Then the 3 DMs dropped deeper and deeper and everyone lost composure and the ball came back constantly! We'd have lost that if there'd been another 10 minutes with Bowyer not correcting the initial error. I thought he was going to bring McCarten on for Akpan so McCarten could replace Pritchard's hard chasing in the middle to link with Ismail and Oteh again, leaving Devine and Cooke sitting in front of the back four and restoring the first half formation again. Sticking him in Oteh's place on the wing just left him isolated, too! The hole in the centre remained for Crawley to take advantage of. Long balls to Ismail were the only respite and threat through this so we took him off too! Not the best tactics but lady luck was wearing claret and amber today - as she has been quite a bit this season. We deserve it after last year!

It's a tough call for man of the match - I think about 6 players could be considered for it. I think Pritchard's bad back handed it to AoC but Cooke was impressive, too. Special mentions for a great save from O'Donnell, a great block from BRE, and much more dangerous crosses from Ismail.

 

First half, we should have had more goals but poor crosses into the box let us down. We did eventually find the sweet spot.
Second half we missed the presence of Pritchard and resorted to sitting deep and soaking up the pressure, without Donaldson we have no target man and need to learn how to play out from the back under pressure. So many balls today played upto Vaughn who can't hold the ball up on his own. We need a plan B for when there is no Donaldson.
Otherwise we held firm and took the 3 points which is the most important part of today.

 

A good victory today against a good Crawley side. with injury list we have at the moment. It’s a credit to the strength in depth Bowyer has brought in.
Having said this latest injury to Donaldson is one to far we are going to struggle to keep up the momentum without him.

 

First half, we should have had more goals but poor crosses into the box let us down. We did eventually find the sweet spot.
Second half we missed the presence of Pritchard and resorted to sitting deep and soaking up the pressure, without Donaldson we have no target man and need to learn how to play out from the back under pressure. So many balls today played upto Vaughn who can't hold the ball up on his own. We need a plan B for when there is no Donaldson.
Otherwise we held firm and took the 3 points which is the most important part of today.

 

First half exceptional. Best we've played this season. Second half was horrendous. Game of two halves. Happy to pick up the three points mind you.

I think Bowyer needs to assess the second half, to lose shape and the game plan soon as we went 2-0 up was poor to see, something to work on during the week perhaps? Cooke another outstanding game, Pritchard very good until his injury.

Personally think Wood needs to get on the set-pieces, lot of times Pritchard couldn't beat the first man. Lets change it up and not be predictable. Akpan had another steady game, just needs to keep it simple and make some runs. We are going to miss Donaldson holding the ball up, maybe change formation due to that as the second half was poor.

We have ten players currently out if you include Reeves & Robinson therefore we are doing very well, especially when we win ugly. Maybe Bowyer is looking in the free agent market again with the injuries? Taylor obviously not ready yet and it seems he doesn't trust Anderson to come on and firm things up.

On wards to Tuesday now, Mellor to come in for Henley, McCartan for Oteh for me. But its a game about opinions.

Good to see the disability back out at HT too. Atmosphere not the greatest at times today, hopefully get that going again too.

 

We played far to deep second half it was always a matter of time before they scored . Odonald was my MOM made three great saves today .

 

I don't think its complicated. Earlier in the season, our midfield regularly included Anderson and Devine. We didn't control games. We then brought in better midfielders in Cooke and Pritchard, and we control games.

As soon as we need to include Devine and/or Anderson, we're going to suffer. They're not up to it. So the sooner we get back Palmer, Pritchard, Connelly and Devitt, the better.

 

Imagine all 4 fit. How does that work in mid/attacking mid. Some decent strength at this level

 

I agree with that completely. Exciting times ahead if we can get them back soon

 

Just watch those highlights and as @How says Otech scores 3 - 0 game over, looks like all strikers miss sitters.

 

Dave, I'm not having that he missed a sitter. Superb pass by Ismail, great contact by Oteh but a damn bloody good save.

Go back 2 weeks and the headed miss by Yates was a sitter.

BTW, Oteh. Lovely chest control, flick on and strength for Devines goal. Not only the initial contribution to the goal but his move and run into space. Great contribution by the young man.

 

He should have scored it, Dave. We won, yes, but he should have put that one away.

 

Probably so. But what would you have done differently. Lift it, take a touch, shift the ball and finish. I think his contact is sound, drilled. Not sure I'd have done anything differently.

I get yoyr argument but I'm sticking by its a super save.

 

More the excellent save than a missed sitter.