The Voice - Match preview #10: Bradford City vs Newport County Monday 7th October 2024 8:00pm

Yeah, the lad who's top scorer for them in centre mid kept popping up, forgotten his name now, but he was a pest and seemed to just appear in the area at times to cause us problems - but overall I don't think Newport will think they deserved a point or anything.

 

Ha ha true. He puts in some quality crosses. Two assists tonight I think?

 

Agree on all, especially the two paragraphs which I was thinking the same myself. What I like about Smith is he mostly thinks forward and runs in behind, which will always have the chance of stretching teams. If you have Walker playing an advanced role in theory, the two should complement each other. Furthermore having Cook and Smith in the box if we are to be more direct from the flanks, is a hell of a lot better than a lone Cook which it often is.

I’m disappointed for Kavanagh, just really isn’t working for him at the moment. He was definitely better tonight, but just seems to be trying too hard. There’s definitely a player in there if he can find the form. Surprised Sanderson was dropped completely.

 

Now I ask you.

Why don't our players play exactly like that in every game and not just because the sky cameras were there.

 

Kav's young, I'm not actually concerned about him, keep him and let him get through his rough patch.

He was playing in a very advanced role tonight which was nice to see, that's what was bringing Sanderson some joy and he and Smith both tried to do the same. Cook doesn't need to be the most advanced player in open play, he'll still bag plenty of headers and probably isn't as quick as he was two seasons ago.

 

He's been crap when starting.
Keep him as impact sub.

 

Crosses were coming in from both sides first half but our strikers were no where near them.

 

And a bit of Trivia, Pointon’s first, first team goal against Swindon Town was 7th October 2023.
Must say tonight’s goal was a slight improvement on the first one.

 

Decent game to watch tonight, wide open which is to my preference. Alexander's subs making the difference, up to that point it had been a case of two halves. A few had very good games, special mention to Jay Benn who really does look good going forward.

 

Good game of football, really enjoyed it and most importantly thanks to a superb cameo by Bobby 3 important points.

 

May seem harsh after a 3-1 win but I thought Wright could have been so much more effective in the first half.
So much space to run in to but he seemed a bit reluctant to really take the full back on.
He did put a few crosses in but I didn’t think they were real quality.
I just think for somebody who came as a winger he never really looks to get to the byline and cross the ball from there.

 

Whatever he said didn't the Sky interviewer say 'that might not be what the fans want to hear'?

 

Couldn't make it tonight....watched on Sky.

These are my exact words in my message to my two lads at half-time:

"We've got into some decent positions on the left but not made the most of them. Got into some good positions but not sure whether to take them on or early cross. Need more quality on the crosses...."

Couldn't agree more with your thoughts BBB.

 

He might be trying a bit too hard but he was also left chasing some aimless and overhit long passes at times. He was certainly more effective than Odour tonight, who was lightweight and lacked purpose.

However I did watch Kav carefully and when we were more strategically building moves his lack of awareness to move into space in the channels struck me a few times. Perhaps he is so desperate for a goal to kick start his season that he is staying a bit too central at times where most of the traffic is and not exploiting the slightly wider areas where he might produce more assists. Thought Smiths movement when he came on highlighted this point.

One final thing, were the 2 subs who came on already lined up as replacements or was it Newports goal that instigated change from Alexander? We had lost all momentum and control of the game and I would be very interested if someone was able to verify situation?

 

Well a City win , which I didn't see adds to a fantastic night in which I highly recommend only fools and horses, the musical

 

Kav - obvious to say, just needs a goal. Not that the floodgates will open, but, his pace will keep defenders on their toes - I’d give him another couple of games.

Ginger Cafu - could he play RCB in a back 3? Benn’s quality is needed for crosses - shame to waste Brad on the bench…

 

Why play a RB at RCB when we have 4 or 5 CBs to choose from? Plus he has been poor this term and doesnt deserve a shirt.

 

He is very reluctant to run on behind the defence. When Kav also plays with him, Kav is also the same. Both want the ball to their feet and to pass and move so the game gets compact and doesn't get stretched.

Smith and Sanderson are different, they're happy to run on beyond the defence. Even Cook will run the channels at times.

Alexander needs to switch it up because Newport were loose in defence. A stronger defence would have just let us play the ball around in front of them. He needs to get a better balance of a team with people in form now and not trying to play people back into form like he's doing with Kav, did with Halliday, it's tough but that's the job of the manager.

 

And drop Cook for Oliver?................