The Voice - Match preview #23: Mansfield Town vs Bradford City Thursday 1st January 2026 15:00

Forget Cook. He’s not good enough at this level.

 

I think it was erm?.. If I recall correctly.. oh yes on Monday when the majority were saying what a good team we are, being able to grind out wins whilst we we're not playing the same football as in the opening couple of months. It wasn't luck then but it is now?
If we lose away at Blackpool and at home to Rovrum then I'll think we could be in trouble but I'm hoping today was just a blip and not the start of a fall down the table.
Like everyone else who supports city, I thought this season was gonna be a rough ride and would have been happy with 20th place come the end of the season but we have far exceeded expectation and folks have got carried away, myself included, thinking that we are on the brink of the Championship.
Today is a down track on the Bradford City roller-coaster, Sunday could be an up run. Let's enjoy the ride and not get too upset with GA and the team.... yet.

 

Personally I was of the opinion that we played poor against Port Vale and should have beaten them more comfortably. And yes, it will be a rollercoaster of a ride from here till May but it’s the way we lose that irks me. The team sheet spoke a thousand words and unfortunately they came to fruition. If certain players do not fit the system; why persist with them

 

I think playing Cook and Humphrys from yhe start as a partnership with Sarce in the 10 would be a far better use of the talent we have up top at the minute.

The wide attackers haven't been effective for months now and the lone striker looks ever more isolated as the games tick by.

 

Absolutely bang on
We see it all the time, when winning, however that might be, the performances are swept under the carpet as not relevant.
Unfortunately it’s when the same performances are happening and the inevitable starts to happen.

 

Fair enough, GA did get it wrong today but on the other hand there were many fans saying we needed to rest some key players, like Sarce for instance, for the big games against Cardiff and down at the dog pound. We don't have enough talent in depth though and days similar to this will happen if we don't strengthen wisely this next couple of weeks.

 

I might try that Monday morning,

Hi boss, gonna have to give today a miss.

I don't have a migraine but i feel like I might do when I turn the laptop on

 

He's a problem when he plays like today. If he doesn't hold it up and constantly chooses the wrong option when support is there that's 50% of the reason we aren't creating.

Humphrys is apparently in the team because although he doesn't score many goals, he helps the team create so when it's not working we can't then say that it doesn't matter who plays up top because no one is creating chances for him.

 

Let's make a list of players playing out of position.

I'll start:

- sadly, I don't think Brad Halliday is a wing back at this level. He's a full back who filled in nicely at L2 level, but isn't up to standard as an L1 wing back.
- Calum Kavanagh is a centre forward, and playing him at LAM makes no sense whatsoever. His biggest strength is tenacity and poaching goals as he did so well last season.
- Stephen Humphrys is a tricky winger. I don't understand why we can't swap him and Kav around for a game or two.

Anyone else? I'd add Tyreik Wright isn't a RAM and isn't a RWB, he is an out-and-out winger, but sometimes he does play well in that RAM role.

 

I don't care how much his form has supposedly dropped, he still rattles defenders, they are scared stiff of him. They'd laugh at kavannagh.

He constantly occupies defenders does cook, and smashes them occasionally. Humphrys and Kav don't even try compete, they stand off and wait for a mistake

 

To be honest if you asked me if Tyreik Wright was a footballer, it would take me a minute to find an answer. Theres days like today where he absolute pants

 

Like Erling Haaland?

 

But this is where the plot thickens. GA knows we have a busy schedule ahead, so he deploys his best 11 for a 100 minutes against the bottom of the table, thus leaving us with a makeshift squad 3 days later. We dont win games unless Sarc is playing so why not bring him off after we went a goal up against vale

 

Been at a do all afternoon so haven’t seen any of the match or followed it. But I knew it was going to be very difficult when I saw the named team. I am loath to criticise the manager but he stated while players are contracted to us they are there to be picked surely there was a case for Pattison today.
No way should we go over the top with odd defeats we are having a great season. Any up dates on Baldwin because he is badly missed. Just a by and by Port vale won 5-1 today they were much better than bottom of the league the other day

 

Except they weren't.

They were bottom of the league by some distance and despite today's win they still are

 

We will see but they will move up the league now the shackles have been taken off. I have seen much worse this season

 

Yeah.. if you read further up you'll see a post that he isn't injured or ill but he could have a case of can't-be-arsed-itis. .. #23: Mansfield Town vs Bradford City Thursday 1st January 2026 15:00

 

Goalie when?

 

Good job you didn't see us today.

 

Yer, i feel you're right.

What happens when we attack is that the ball goes up the wing from say Kelly to Touray to Wright but because it's pretty one dimensional, it's easy to set up to defend against and then the opposition win the ball and there's no one centrally and, like Mansfield today, they just pass through the midfield as Power and Metcalfe get over run.

It works ok with the better players because Sarcevic and Pointon have the skill to make the ball stick but with Wright and Kav today it just kept coming backwards.

So, we do need a plan b.