The Voice - Match preview #46: Exeter City vs Bradford City Saturday 2nd May 2026 3:00pm

Sure, and you're right.

However!

I would dispute that these examples actually prove it 'worked' - the idea being to make ourselves more defensive to shut the opposition out. Naturally, if you did that in all 46 league games, you aren't going to concede in the 90th minute every single time you do that.

You might not even concede a shot on some occasions, let alone a goal, but it doesn't mean the defender or their inclusion contributed anything at all to that end. We've seen games out in our end sometimes, where actually a player up top would have been more effective.

But you're right that there are examples of where we didn't actually concede just by bringing another defender on, so I'm not going to disagree there haha

 

A player up top who can hold up the ball , unlike Humps, but like Powell did twice on Sat late on is the answer.Leaving us with no outlet brings the opponent “on” .

 

I’m fairly confident we could have beaten both without the sub. All it does is push us back 10 yards. Think it was Donny which we were seeing out comfortably then they started bombarding our box and missed a sitter at the back post. May have been another team, but it definitely puts us under pressure. Give me the ball in the opposition half any day of the week as it was the entire game against Reading until he messed about.

 

My concern was why Alexander felt he needed make the change so late in the game, we were 2 - 0 up coasting they never looked like scoring, once Sarcevic made it 2 - 0, if Alexander had wanted to rest Sarcieic why not bring Humphrys or Swan on once Sarcievic had made the game safe, yet Alexander didn't sub Sarcevic until the 89 minute, I watched the goal again a few times and imo Walker should have done better on his near post BUT we had 5 central defenders in the box after J Wright was possibly MOTM with Tilt and Baldwin had steady games.

 

Its amazing how many times an opponent finds himself unmarked in our box after we've brought on an extra centre half!!

 

I just don't see this criticism of Humphrys as fair. When he's playing the ball invariably spends more time in our attacking third. He's not a traditional 'hold up' the ball with his back to the defender but he runs at defenders and pressures them into weak defensive headers and keeps them occupied. He definitely has more presence than he's given credit for. We always look more dangerous when he's on the pitch imo anyway.

 

It seems to be the same mentality as when teams get corners and the defending team bring every player back into the goal area, if you leave your quickest player (Jackson) just inside your own half near the halfway line the attacking team would leave at least one man back with him (possibly two) then you have the man taking the corner with possibly one near him for the short corner that means at best the attacking side would have 7 players (6 if the player went for a short corner) against 10 defenders, I honestly don't get it, but most teams do it so maybe there is some advantage behind the tactic ?.

 

He's always had a fascination with chucking on defenders in the last minutes when we're leading. It's completely counter productive as all it means is we get stuck in our half of the pitch and can't get up the field. Much better to hold and pass the ball in the opposition's half of the pitch.

 

Attacking presence yes agree, holding the ball up occupying defenders in the last 5 minutes is definitely NOT amongst his strongest attributes

 

Agree especially when we had the attacking options we did on the bench, an old head in Powell and Swan would have run his heart out chasing down, but its hard to question a manager who has done so well at the club since he came in November 2023.

 

The criticism he receives mainly comes from his bone idleness in periods of games. Many managers have seemingly tried and failed to get Humphrys to use the natural talents he has more consistently but I'm not convinced that he wants that too.

Let's put it this way. There's a reason he's mostly moved on after a year or so at a club and I don't think we'll be any different.

 

Theres a very good article in WOTP about the Humphreys dilemma. Got it spot on imo. No doubting his talent but frustrating in equal measures

 

Fully agree with this and other comments that have followed, the only additional point I would add to the mix is did anyone actually think we'd see Kelly again this season? I certainly didn't and could see no obvious reason for him to be in the squad with plenty of other defensive options if needed. As we've seen with Lapslie, GA does have a habit of plucking a player from seeming obscurity back in to the squad so do we think this was a one off appearance for Kelly or he'll now feature in the next 2 (or 3) games?

 

I have a smile on my face reading your post, in answer to your question "did anyone actually think we'd see Kelly again this season" I have to say no but once I saw that squad I have to say seeing Kelly's name made me a little uncomfortable, especially when Pennington was also named in the squad.

 

Think the date is a bit out on this.

 

Surely when extra defenders come on no one knows who is marking who it leads to confusion and dis organisation

 

Their goal I thought was poor by Walker? Looked very soft

 

Good as he has been that Cleary worldy goal seems to have affected Walker. In recent months he seems much slower and hesitant in reacting to events. At the very least we need serious competition for him next year if not a direct replacement.

 

If we want to progress then there’s only one answer ! Doesn’t command his area with great authority, doesn’t come out of the box because he’s not mobile enough to play sweeper keeper . Extremely weak recently at his near post . Hes just about found his uppermost level , and lastly he’s not going to improve.

At times he pulls off some worldies , no question , but there will be a time for making the difficult decisions. Ga has shown he’s not afraid. ie Smallwood which frankly was a master stroke .