The Voice - Match preview #25: Bradford City vs Cardiff City Saturday 17th January 2026 12:30pm

a striker can only score if he gets the ball.
if any one thinks a new striker will get goals good luck with that.

 

That miss from Humps did matter in the end and their defence throwing bodies in the way of shots told in the end .

No shame in defeat but our left in the first half was awful . Sarce on the right nullified , ditto Swan and we are without threat .

Second half our left was real threat because the components were changed at half time .

Metcalf and Tilt were outstanding from first to last .

They old manned us by banging five across the back , ie parked the bus , and nullified our midfield in the first half . It won the game for them ….just!

 

Humps had ball straight to his feet in six yard box.

 

Much better from 30 minutes onwards, first half an hour the press was so far off it looked like a shadow training session.

I do think they will go on an win the league comfortably. Lots of other young teams would have folded in the 2nd half but they stood up to it and managed the 2nd half well. Likewise a lot of teams would have folded after how they started but we stood up to them and got back into the game which says a lot about the character of the team.

 

I am thinking that today’s result means that we are in a race for 2nd place with the rest of the teams around us.
Cardiff had the edge over us in how they controlled the game, that’s the difference between a top team and the rest of the top 10.

 

In the short time they were on the pitch Sibley, White and Ashby would be starting against Huddersfield for me some real quality there, sorry to go on about it again but Humphry's isn't a striker, we saw what he does best when he gets a ball down the channel cuts in and gets a screamer off that was on target but good defending by the Cardiff defender who got his head to it, so disappointing because when we got our game together second half we more than matched them but the damage was done with 2 shocking goals which were a shambles defensively.
Although we lost I really enjoyed the game and believe if the 3 above start at Huddersfield with Metcalfe improving with each game we'll be more than a match for Town.

 

Disappointed after that. We didn't show up in that first half and despite a better second half that's what's ultimately cost us. Too many big players off it, Sarcevic and Power were dreadful and Pointon was anonymous.

What irked me in the second half was the amount of good crossing opportunities we had, but absolutely nobody to aim at in the box. It became a redundant tactic pretty quickly and will stay that way until we sign that type of striker.

 

Disagree, I would have hated that decision to have gone against us, today we were beaten by much the better team who will go up as champions in my opinion. Sarce was no where near past the defender.

 

I've been saying this for about 18 months. It's glaringly obvious in some games.

That said, I'd have played him today as he's earned his shirt but could be under pressure now from Pennington.

 

VvanTilt was immense today, Metcalfe continues to grow and many of the boys were 7/10 - we just lacked that vital creative spark and fluffed a couple of key chances.
No need be down after that

 

Very disappointed. Really think we played poorly at the worst moments. In Cardiffs 20 minutes on top, they scored twice and shut us out. Our best 20 on the ball felt like yhe last 20 and all we got were blocks and throw ins.

Real lack of quality on the ball as well as sunday league defending for their second really let us down. Aimless punts to strikers are getting us nowhere. Might and day tactically compared to the start of the season.

 

Sarcevic and Power were awful as as Wright.

 

Yeah, being 3rd is an absolute shambles.

Sack everyone and fold the club.

 

Poor first half, battling second half. Cardiff a good side and say back to make us look a bit more competitive. Not sure we deserved a draw.
Tilt was excellent. Metcalfe man of the match. Power hit and miss - quite a few misplaced passes. Touray had a good game. Wright no. Pointon no. Sarce ran out of steam. Ashby looked decent. Sibley ok, but no pace. We need a striker. Their keeper looked dodgy, we need to shoot more. This one now out of the way, need to get points next week to stay in the race.

 

Don't bite mate us losing gives a few on here chance to spew their bile, bad result but good game of football and at times Cardiff showed why they are top of the league, but I'm not writing us off yet we had some good chances second half but couldn't convert them.

 

Not too disappointed really, we have to remember we took 3 points off them and could have had another point today.

I know first place has gone, and the autos maybe out of range, but we played well today overall and its a good season.

We're a striker short.

We have nothing going on central in attack, nothing.

 

Yes Cardiff will end up running away with the title.

Very good team.

I somehow came out of the ground feeling positive though about the rest of the season.

Very early days, but liked the look of the Newcastle lads. We seemed to play a lot more controlled football on the deck when they were introduced.

We do really need a couple of strikers though added to the squad.

 

We edge most of the match stats bar 1
8% of our chances on target and their keeper made no saves
50% of their chances on target, 2 goals and 3 saves made and 1 other cleared of the line
Natural goal scorer required
Humphries and Swan are not the guys for this and I don’t think a 19 year old from the premier league is the answer either
Our squad has far too many attacking midfielders and not enough quality up front
Two weeks to sort this city

 

Metcalfe scored another lovely goal but my man of the match was Tilt. I thought he did really well today.
Disappointed not to get a point, but our slow start cost us against a very good team.

 

I wondered if it was just me, but I honestly didn't realise Tyreik was playing until we went 2 down, he was not alone first half but Sibley showed what we need from a wide man.
Town losing, Lincoln, Stockport winning and were still in third place and can't go any lower, funny old game, another big game next Saturday.

Town just scored A May.