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

Agree Kev
We are OK but just 'OK'. We have been overachieving but despite our league position, which is credit to GA, CL and the squad, we ain't good enough to go up, as much as it pains me to say it and I hope to be proved wrong, but we've dropped off and you can see it. It was men against boys today, Sarce was well off it ( I hate to say this again ) as was Bobby and dare I say Max. The defence was also all over the shop. Not panic stations yet as we have the points on the board, but there's such a gulf between the leagues now. The issue these days is you need 7 figure sums to invest on players at this level and even then, no guarantees sadly.

 

We played well second half but as I said earlier and many others too, what a difference a genuine goal scorer would make to this team.
However, sometimes you just have to take stock. We were two divisions below Cardiff this time last year and on another day we could have taken four points off them this season. Yes, disappointing today, but what a journey we’ve been on since this time last year. Not giving up yet by the way. The recruitment this January looks good so far. We remain squarely in the fight for consecutive promotions. That is some kind of progress.

 

Cardiff the better team overall, though with a bit of fortune and endeavour we could have gotten a deserved draw.
Metcalf got MOM for us but I thought Tilt was immense again and had the best forward in the league in his pocket.
Overall disappointed but not disheartened.

 

I know they took Salech off to bring another defender on to shut the door but Tilt bossed him after Salech tried to his spoiler tactics early on, and when they didn't come off went bitching to the referee.

 

When you continually play for only 45 mins you give yourself too much to do
Against lower opponents you can get away with it
Better teams will ultimately punish you

 

I have said all along that T Wright is stealing a wage . He can’t defend, very rarely beats a man,
Can’t cross a ball and has zero goal output
Sibley only looked slightly better and hopefully improves with game time

 

Careful, you’ll get accused of bullying lol

There a few players for that last few months doing same but will never be called out
But yes, wright is L2 standard

 

Wright has been terrible for the last few games, needs dropping asap.. rest Sarce, he’s a shadow of the player he was start of the season..

and yes get that strikee in asap.. 12 shots with 1 on target has been a worrying stat for the last few seasons..

 

Bang on, and wrong body language, being saying it for ages, maybe its just his miserable demeanour. Dunno

 

Totally agree, I hope he finds a L2 club where he can thrive in the next 2 weeks.

 

That's bizarre, Sibley looked very positive for me, a big improvement whereas you couldn't say that when Josh went off for the new lad, if anything I felt that was a mistake and Neufville should have stayed on.

 

Slow start. Disorganised down the flanks and the lack of pressure on the ball for half an hour. The damage was done. They could have been further in front. Once we got a grip and started getting to the ball in midfield first we looked a better side.
If Humps takes the cut back chance early second half then it’s a different game.
Cardiff will prob win the league but teams pushing them back can get at them. That’s the disappointing thing about today. We let them play.
Context though. Promoted team 3rd in the league and they didn’t give up to a man. Fair play. for all those dissing Tilts signing last summer. You’re wrong! He Bullied Salech. On and on.

 

I hope Ashby is okay, he didnt look good at the end of the game with that bang to his knee?

 

well beaten today by the better team, they played through us with neat passes and the first goal was quality from the best player on the pitch (Tunbull) he found lots of room in the middle today.
Don't want to be too critical of the team as there is plenty of effort still, but we lacked composure today, particularly the captain gave the ball away too often, too many long balls and hollywood passes not just from Power but overall.
Beaten by the team I believe are the best we've seen at vp this season and I fully expect them to go on and win the division. Second place however is still a realistic ambition imo.

 

We’re in a race to keep in the playoffs,automatic is beyond us.

 

Well i thought that was an enjoyable game tbh, you’ll lose some and why not lose to the best rather than crap like Burton when we really don’t show up. They blew us away in a 25 minute spell but other than that we more than matched them. Our weakness though continues to be a strong passing game, they showed us how to do it at times.

As others have said Power and Sarce in particular were poor, I mention them as they’re two of our most influential players and it’s always going to be hard when they’re not on it. How Sarce lasted the game is anyone’s guess. Cardiff look quality with the ball but can be got at, that’s my only complaint that we just didn’t do enough with them ball. Thought the subs looked promising and helped swing the game in our favour.

Still Cardiff for me will walk the title, we can match anyone in this league.

 

I don’t buy into all this bullying crap
I call a spade a spade and he would be another going out the door as soon as I could
I am amazed to keep seeing his name on the team sheet weekly
We will be extremely lucky to be in this position again and have to be ruthless in our assessment of players and have to go for it and worry about the championship if we get there

 

Why are the autos beyond us?. The table suggests we are right in the mix for 2nd spot

 

Need to get a win in our next 2 really. Cant afford to let Lincoln open the gap too much or Huddersfield close it.

 

So Salech comes as top scorer in the division and barely gets a touch.

Hats off to Tilt for completely nullifying him for 85 minutes.

The sort of battle he absolutely loves.