Match Thread Bradford City V Wycombe Wanderers Saturday 2nd August 2024 3.00pm (Now with The Voice review)

Six players out injured before a ball is kicked in anger is not good
Cook was a given, but Wright ,Byrne, Kav, Leigh, Kelly and Baldwin suspended , means the central defense picks itself
Huntington will probably get a short term deal as cover, probably January with Byrne out for up to two months, and how long for Kelly?
We can not afford anymore injuries at the back

 

A blow missing Byrne for 2 months. Apparently he has been impressive in pre season and I would imagine would have been a starter on Saturday.

What does GA do now, turn to the loan market or offer Huntington a short term contract?, I suspect the latter

 

Do we just ignore the previous 12 months when he looked like he wasn't good enough for the division below?

If he truly was a "starter" this term then our recruitment team have failed badly.

 

Don't like to see any of our players are injured but I thought Byrne was unconvincing last year so was very unsure about him making the step up. I just hope the 3 new guys in central defence have what it takes

 

yes you beat me too it, obviously not glad he's got a serious injury but I worry league one would be a struggle for him, when league 2 was!

 

Byrne was clearly good enough last season, despite your obvious hatred of him. He was part of a very successful defence, whether you like it or not.

 

It’s not a very encouraging sign when on the week leading up to the first game of the season the topic is once again injuries. At the moment we can probably get away with it but let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse

 

I thought that wreckless attempt at a tackle and follow through caused Byrnes injury at the time . I felt sorry for him tbh.

 

Yeh Huntington most likely gets a deal now Bryne is done for a couple of months. That will be 8 contracted first team CBs.

 

Maybe this intensity in pre season should be looked at. I know they've got to get up to speed but it's pointless if you then get an injury that means you're out for a few weeks... you're starting from scratch again and we're short of players at the start. I don't know if GA tailors the training to be more specific for body type or positional demands but starting seasons with a fair chunk of players on the treatment table isn't a good start

 

Every club will get injuries in pre-season, Byrne's was a freak injury that could happen in any game any time.and you can't protect against a player going into a tackle and landing wrong.

Most of the injuries so far seem to have been contact injuries that can happen any time.

 

And yet that run of games from the December to March when he only got on the pitch 4 times coincided with our best run of form and the main reason we achieved promotion. (W12 D4 L2 F17 A 5)

Once he got his slot back the results declined fairly dramatically. (W4 D3 L5 F19 A16).

Even before that, upto Christmas when he played fairly regularly we'd only won a total of 5 games so while there were obviously other contributing factors to the teams form, the statistics clearly show that Neill Byrne starting games was one of those contributing factors.

 

As it looks like Huntington is still on a month-to-month contract I would keep him on that so he can be on the bench on Saturday, if he's not on a month-to-month then register him as a non-contract player then we know we've got cover on the bench with Baldwin to come back for the Northampton game. That would buy us a week or 2 to see how Kelly progresses then go from there.

 

GA has said that he is hopeful of getting Kelly back sooner than first thought.

 

I think Middlesbrough had a player go off as well after a robust challenge from us, and the player in question had only recently come back from a year out.

 

Was it given as a foul , don’t recall , but the Boro player was penalised and had a talking to by the ref ….and Byrne . In front of the Midland Rd stand , just beyond half way.

 

Sounds like Wycombe have a fair few injury issues going into the new season too, three of their nine new signings are going to miss Saturday with injury as well as a few others from last seasons promotion push. In their final friendly at the weekend, he could only take 17 players and of the 6 on the bench, they had 3 academy players and a trialist to make up the numbers. They didn't risk anyone with a slight knock.

They so far have managed to keep hold of Richard Kone but there's rumours that Birmingham, Middlesbrough and Celtic are interested, it will be huge if they could keep him but a large offer might be too good to turn down. I wonder if he is suddenly unavailable for Saturday if he wants to make sure he is fresh for a move? Although he has been playing and scoring in pre-season. Dodds did hint too that they are expecting a few more faces in before Saturday.

 

Just to say...................you can watch 2 of our rivals on friday night before we kick off

Luton v AFC Wimbledon live on Sky

 

I’ve watched a fair few highlights over the past three or four weeks and nobody and I mean nobody stands out. It’s impossible to tell with players interchanging throughout the games . It’s just a who’s who of squads .
On what I have seen of Boro, I watched their full game against Rangers and they need a decent man up top , absolutely no question. They might be getting desperate according to their forum?

 

Whether Kone stays or goes will be interesting but they've held firm for a huge offer previously. Being selfish, what we need for Saturday is someone coming in with a big offer that unsettles him a bit and gives him the mystical "slight strain injury" that sees him miss the game regardless of whether he actually stays or goes!