The Voice - Match preview Tranmere Rovers vs Bradford City Tuesday 3rd October 2023 7:45pm (With Poll)

Short term pain for long term gain. If Hughes is sacked on Wednesday morning you’ll have more enjoyable matches home and away this year than if he stays

 

He had no right to score that header, was between two centre halves and beat them both.

 

As a typical City fan, I’ll go with optimism of gaining 3 points, who knows what team will turn up for. The team needs to turn there fortunes around as after 40 years I’m not so far from sacking the season off.

 

Short term pain for long term gain

 

The "anything will be better than this" fallacy?

We've only shattered this myth time and time again, but once more round the sun I guess...

I'm not advocating keeping Hughes if things aren't going to improve quickly (starting on Tuesday) - but I'm going to consider the next manager the "Rouven Sattelmaier" of football coaches until someone actually good comes in and actually gives us more enjoyable matches.

It's one thing to say Hughes has had enough time and demand change; but it's another to pretend the change will lead to improvement.

 

All well and good but it's really starting to look like fearing change won't bring about the improvement needed either.

 

Yep.

Which, to me, puts us as close to a no-win situation as we've ever been.

I hope I'm wrong.

 

I get the impression you’d rather extend his contract than terminate it, Jon.

what positives do we have this season? Even our best players and supposed captain have been poor.

if we lose vs Tranmere and on Saturday then he’ll be gone. Still time for a new coach to kick on for the top seven, which should be the bare minimum for a club like ours, with no financial worries.

 

My heart says I hope we win or draw
My head says if Hughes is still manager on Thursday morning I will not be at vp on Saturday
Apart from being in the army or on holiday I have not missed a home game in over 60 years
Sooner watch paint dry

 

I'm not saying I'd rather we kept him (if form doesn't improve pretty much immediately), but I am saying I won't be fooled into thinking anything will improve with his sacking.

If Hughes/Hodges/Gent all walk, we're back to square one with nobody at the club of any consequence whatsoever. Nobody with an ounce of success in the game.

Then we're back to picking someone like Adams, who should never have been brought in.

 

Prediction league should change to what minute will we have a shot at goal rather than the inevitable end result .....

 

If Sparks has learnt anything surely its that the next appointment has to be a DoF. On paper the last 2 appointments should have worked, but allowing them total control, without checks and balances has resulted in bloated squads, long contracts and recruitment of players who should be in the league below and not above. Surely Sparks and Rupp are planning for the very scenario you quote above, as there's a very real possibility it just might happen if results continue as they are.

 

Not really. We can only form an opinion on what is known and right now, we have plenty of information on the current set up but absolutely zero on any possible future set up.

In other words, just because previous managers have failed it doesn't guarantee that the next one will too. If that was the case, Phil Parkinson wouldn't have succeeded and neither would Kamara and then Jewell.

I get they are few and far between but if our failings really don't extend upwards towards Sparks and Rupp (I believe they do but that's another debate) then it's very possible that changing managers and with that, the tactics, might just get this squad to reach their potential.

 

That's the other thing: when you talk about changing tactics, are we thinking tweaks, or another complete overhaul?

And who at the club is capable of recognizing which manager represents which level of change, because lately it's been a case of flip-flopping from one extreme to another with very little forethought and very short-term motivations (ie, Adams can work on a shoestring, Hughes has worked in the Premier League, etc).

 

I'm talking about finding a system and style of play that will get the most out of the squad we have. We're under performing this year and even despite reaching the play offs, I thought we under performed last year.

We actually have a decent squad, it still needs masses of fat trimming and a couple of good additions but the base is actually there IF we can get the correct manager.

The best example I can give is that we have one of the best headers of the ball in the division in Andy Cook yet play with inverted wingers who rarely cross the ball!

Look at the Newport hat trick. 2 crosses and a long punted ball. No slow build up, no intricate 1 - 2s and no laying off to spin in behind.

Get the ball wide and then get it across the box! THAT'S the service Andy Cook needs, not the nonsense we're seeing for the last 18 months where he's constantly feeding off scraps and if we have to go longer and use him as a battering ram at times then let's do it!

 

Exactly, that formula for me all day long, even if occasionally it doesn't come off ........

 

But what if we appoint a DoF who on paper ticks all the boxes, but he turns out to be rubbish too. Like has happened with managers.

 

Good point !

 

Tranmere have lost 8 of their last 9 games (7 league, 2 cup) scoring 9 and conceding 20 in that time

After what happened on Saturday, nothing less than a win is acceptable tonight. Zero excuses. I won't be happy walking away from Prenton Park with a draw, let alone a loss

 

I won't be walking anywhere near Prenton Park, but totally agree. A draw tonight is a poor result