The Voice - Match preview #11: Rotherham United vs Bradford City Thursday 2nd October 2025 8:00pm

I will be happy if this season has the same outcome as last though.

 

Loved that he started celebrating the goal before the ball was even in the net!

 

Byrne was shite last night

 

Went to the game last night. Too tired when I got back to post. A few points.

• Whilst we were good in spells we looked very much off the pace at other times. We seemed to be slow to react and second to every loose ball.
  
• Some great chances and saves from the keeper. However Swan and Patto also put good chances wide - they really need to be hitting the target with those chances.
  
• The defence looked weaker than normal, it will be good to have Pennington and Wright back. Not sure how far off Tilt is.
  
• Thought Walker should have done better with their first goal.
  
• Rotherham looked decent in spells and actually passed it around really well. Some of their players looked raw but you can’t fault their endeavour.
  
• Ball boys were asleep.
  
• Ref didn’t add on the head injury stoppage in injury time which was frustrating.
  
• Overall I think at 2-0 down I’d have taken a point.
  
• Subs made a big difference - Cook provided the focal point we were missing until he came on.
• The rest will do us good I think, we’ve had a relentless period. Rest up and come out of the blocks for the second quarter of the season.

 

Their keeper made three outstanding saves, whereas ….

 

How many players are we going to miss with the concussion protocol? How many other clubs is this affecting to the same degree? It’s out and out bad luck or over caution by the medical team when other sides are less rigorous? I am curious , it seems like what 4 times so far? Wright x 2 , Patto, Pennington ?

 

Will it make his brain and legs function quicker….? He has absolutely no idea about one touch passing at the moment…He always wants to go on a dribble and gets crowded out.

 

That’s fair, he’s trying too hard and it’s affecting his game.

 

Couple of matches now where Wright has been off the pace - as were too many players last night. Once we get more defenders back in let's put Touray back at wingback and give Wright a break.

Neufville also off it last night. I hope last night was just a blip and maybe other defensive changes didn't help but he can't afford to be complacent in his starting 11 place. We all know consummate pro Halliday could come in and do a good job in that position if required so he has genuine competition.

I mentioned in an earlier post but I think Metcalfe has shown enough to get that 3rd choice central midfielder slot. Leigh has gone off the boil last few games and seems to be trying too hard. Metcalfe has real potential, I think GA sees this but is managing his game time as there's some of the rough and tumble aspects he needs to sharpen up on.

 

That’s football!
Playing poorly and recovering lost points , we were losing three , saw us recover hook or by crook. Good sides can do that, poor sides can’t.

 

Can’t disagree with a lot of this.

I don’t want to single Byrne out, but you see tonight he’s a different type of defender which doesn’t suit our style. I appreciate he’s just back from injury and getting up to match fit, but distribution in general isn’t his strongest point (at least from what I’ve seen from him in a city shirt), so you wonder if it’s any coincidence it’s one of Neufville’s quieter games when Byrne is his defensive outlet. We felt the miss of Pennington/Baldwin on that right side last night.

McIntyre agree, so far looks really great. Exactly what my Pompy supporting mate described. If he maintains this level of performance, would like it if we are considering him as a permanent.

As wasteful as we were in front of goal, I think Walker will admit he should get a stronger hand on their first. From the reply behind the goal, he looks a little slow getting down and across. One of those, the fact we’re highlighting it speaks volumes for the standards he’s set.

Center Mid. We managed but Power was a big miss. It highlights the risk we have if he became a long term absentee. In the long term I have high hopes for Metcalfe, but he isn’t a replacement for Power yet. Have to wonder if this will come into our thinking for January window if we find ourselves in and around where we currently sit in the league.

 

Agreed on Rotherham I don't think they looked like a side sitting in a relegation spot and can see them soon getting out of trouble. I thought Baptiste was a real handful when he came on, i was glad he didn't play the entire match. Martha also carried the ball forward very well

 

Thought I’d seen him sat at the side of the bench?

 

My thoughts exactly, still top of the league with all the expectation that comes with that position. We are good side on our day, at home especially and all our players have attributes that have contributed to that.
It's disappointing yes, but last night's result was similar to multi-million pound team Luton who came back from 2-0 to draw at another lowly team this week. These are the sort of games we would lose in the past but they showed just enough to claw the game back. If we can get our defence back to normal and sort out the midfield, we can win these sort of games going forward. We're likely to drop one or two places before we play our next game. That gives time for players to come back into contention and for management to address what looked like serious failings at the back. 6 away games with only one loss is a decent return for us, we had lost 3 away at this point in league 2 last season, so it's improving.
No one said it was gonna be easy but our expectation has risen, quite rightly, and disappointment with poorer results is bound to increase comparatively.

 

I was a big advocate of him when he first arrived but bar the first game hasn't really contributed at all. Constantly gets caught in possession like a rabbit in the headlights, doesn't seem to react to whats going on around him. I like the fella and hope he hits form but at the moment he's a passenger when playing.

 

I wonder what makes Pointon such a home player? Looking at his 2025 so far, he has 8 goals and 4 assists in League football, 6 of the goals and all the assists have come at VP. His two away came at Bromley when we pretty much were camped in their half for a goal, and away to Chesterfield when we scored a few early ones.

I wonder if it's a team thing? Do we play 5/10 yards deeper and he cant get in rhythm too often? Or does he need the home crowd to get through the gears? So far he has played 99 games for City and has 17 goals and 11 assists to his name, 12 of the goals and 8 of the assists were at VP. He's played 74 league games for City, 38 of those have been away and just the 1 assist to his name away to Colchester in Jan 2024. The numbers are night and day so far.

 

We all would... But dropping points like that is unhelpful. Helpful to my mental state

 

Pretty much bang on this. Defensively we really missed Baldwin and Pennington. Touray dependable as ever and McIntyre looking better as the game wore on, hopefully Power being back will revert us back to normal.

 

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