The Voice - Match preview #19: Bradford City vs Reading Saturday 13th December 2025 3:00pm

Can't argue with that. We've definitely looked better since he's come back.

 

Can’t be true
He is shite

 

That’s exactly what does happen . Put TL or Patto in there and there’s instant weakness because neither are Metcalf . Hes going to be a player and half if looked after . GA may look at it as horses for courses . If only he could shoot more accurately on a more regular basis ?

 

Yet stats aside, we can always improve what we have especially injury cover .

 

You want to bet?

 

I agree with you on Metcalfe, some in here don’t but I think they’ll be eating humble pie eventually. He was a bit stand off ish in a few of his early games but it looks like GA has told him to get stuck in and second half against Plymouth and against Reading I’d say he’s been the best player out of the 22 on the pitch.

 

Someone shouted?

Baldwin is sh1te. We've barely deserved the clean sheets and Baldwin has been front and centre of the majority of good chances against us at Plymouth and the Exeter/Reading home games.

Poor finishing and Walker won't keep them out forever!

 

I think Metcalfe is one that will just keep on improving and in a few years we'll hopefully have a very decent Championship player on our hands.

 

Lol

 

Metcalf must score some worldies in training because he tries to score one each game.. row z has taken some right battering from him. He's clever on the ball and has good vision for the play but as you say, he needs to wear his shooting boots.

 

Agree KK , even in the warm up he hits some worldies . Strange to say the least ?

 

That’s his game you are right, getting stuck in . We have to accept a few bookings but without that tenacity he’s a different player . Long may he develop .

 

Same can be said of Power, maybe he’s even worse.

 

Hard to remember a midfield pairing that was as rotten at shooting as Power & Metcalfe. The latter is going to be a good player in a few years' time - hopefully for us.

 

Whilst I don't completely agree on Baldwin I'm never particularly satisfied with 'clean sheets' being used as evidence that someone is a good defender / goalkeeper unless we are talking over a very significant number of games.

 

I think this is a bit of a false narrative as Power had around a 1 in 10 strike rate throughout the English leagues before moving to Saudi, that's pretty decent for a defensive midfielder.

Smallwood, for comparison only had around 10 in his whole career before rocking up here and boosting his numbers with 2 or 3 penalties.

 

I agree, clean sheets have far too many variables to attribute them to a single player, even a goalkeeper.

Take Saturday as an example though. If they score from Baldwins back pass, maybe add a second from his daft soiree into midfield and the subsequent gift of an easy counter then go on to win the game then it's a different story but he got dug out by his team mates and everyone is praising a clean sheet.

There were similar moments against both Exeter and Plymouth yet here we are reading posts suggesting that the defence has considerably improved since he's been back available.

Perhaps it's true and we should just accept the facts that the recent record has been good. Perhaps we should just ignore our own eyes and believe that it'll continue being as good statistically and far from it being lucky, it's just great play after any inevitable mistakes?

Me? I think signing another right sided centre half with pace in January is almost critical to us sustaining a promotion bid. Especially if Pennington is going to continue picking up injuries.

 

It’s impossible to rely on stats as a means of supporting evidence being used for the individual as @NorthernMonkey has plainly indicated .
It’s a team game and all 11 players on the field at any one time contribute, in varying degrees, towards achieving clean sheets .

Let’s not hide the fact Baldwin is having a steady and away season , inc errors , as is our keeper as is, as is, as is.

Collectively , as a result, we are punching way above any of our pre season expectations for sure.

Long may it continue .

 

Don't think Bobby scored many early doors but that has changed now he is getting more experienced. That could happen with Jenson and I agree, this lad has a future. Attitude is spot on.

 

As above, clean sheets only hold so much value individually. Even over a season, I still maintain Ben Williams was one of our worst number 1's in the last 20 years, yet holds the record for clean sheets in a single season, but Parky had us so organised he barely faced a shot some games. I still remember his feck up at Shrewsbury costing us; I thought that was going to cost us a playoff spot that day.