The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Crewe Alexandra Saturday 26th August 2023 3:00pm

To be fair to Walker, he was injured. I could give McDonald a similar pass today.

Aside from those, I mentioned the same earlier.

Can't play high pressing when the team is tired and we seem to be picking up niggly injuries.

Hypothetically, if we could make one signing this week - Nick Allamby. We've not been fit since he left.

 

It's Pattison.

 

Yes ran the midfield. Turned past 3 of our players in 1st half none of them got near him.

 

Tbf we could have had 2 or 3 second half much better than trying to see the match out like we usually do

 

There was negatives today but positives as well Richards looks a good signing. McDonald hardly played a missed pass and organised well. And despite the fitness problems ( Cook is way of with fitness) we pressed much better second half. And a clean sheet against a free scoring team

 

On a technical point, if we're playing 5 at the back, the wingbacks, and perhaps the management, need to understand that they're not either attacking or defending. At the moment ours either bomb forward, which is good, or flood back into defence, which isn't always. The man they are marking is the opposing wingback which means sitting much farther up the field to press them. We aren't doing that at the moment which means that there is an easy outball for the opposition on either side of the pitch. Our wingbacks need to mark theirs.

 

I thought we were outplayed for the first 35 minutes,then started to get back in the game. Much better 2nd half but we only created half chances. The positive is we held out reasonably well but we don’t look 100% fit and picking up a lot of injuries through fatigue. Didn’t we lose a lot of fitness back room staff in the summer including the physio?

 

Sorry I can’t see that formation in the first half . Either way two or three in the middle remains a recipe for being swamped.



I don’t believe 5 at the back , two in the middle and three up front is a recognised formation .
I saw 5311 but hey, whichever, it was poor

 

All of Oyegoke, Richards, Pattison, Walker could do the same.

Hughes doesn't let them.

That's why when someone receives the ball they inevitably have their back to the opposition goal, pass backwards or sideways.

Morais made the really good observation early on in the match - why not let Platt, Kelly play a ball up the line, try to turn the defence, give Oyegoke, Richards, Smith, Walker something to run on to.... oh no, Hughes would rather we pass sideways or backwards, that's how we ended up with that error Lewis made and the goal conceded. It's Hughes decision to enforce that way of playing.

For me, there's a time to pass it around and a time for forward momentum. We have more forward thinking players than last season and I am frankly baffled why a manager like Hughes who was an accomplished forward is so risk averse.

Take the f..n handbrake off, Hughes.

 

What was noticeably concerning was half the team collapsing on the pitch as soon as the final whistle went. Their fitness levels seem far from what it needs to be.

A few of them out there could barely move going into injury time. Why is it that we're never on the front foot in injury time and we're always seemingly inviting the pressure and defending a one goal lead at home?

 

To be fair, autocorrect on my phone used to change Pattison to Pattinson until I noticed it.

 

I've always thought that.
Aggressive responses to anyone who questions him.

 

"
Have we not replaced them? That's not like City.......

 

Hi, couldn't make the game.

What happened with the defence in the second half when Smallwood came on for Kelly?

Can't work it out on paper?

 

We went to a back 4, and all was well with the world.

 

Smallwood played alongside McDonald? Did Pattison push forward? What was our formation? Sorry for all the questions lol

 

When City win it’s a 15 page thread. Last week when we lose it’s a 43 page thread!

I bet there’s some disappointed City fans out there today!

 

Not really I think we are all happy but please don't think a win suddenly makes us world beaters that first 35 minutes was poor indeed considering we needed a reaction after the Morecambe game.The 2nd half was a vast improvement and my only gripe was leaving Cook on when he was clearly wanting to come off

 

Second half was a million miles better than the first. I've stopped kidding myself into believing we play with wing backs, as more often than not its a flat back 5. Our wing backs sit so deep, it invites the other side to press theirs on even more. Which leads to Smith and Walker not knowing whether they should come back and sit wide which isolates Cook and breaks the system down.

You can only play 5 at the back if you have brave wing backs that are willing to do both tasks, and we don't have those. Don't take this as me thinking Richards had a bad game as he really didn't, but he isn't a wing back, he is a full back. Oyegoke looks like he wants to push forward but isn't ever sure and leads to some dodgy play. If 5 continues, there needs to be some more trust in the players to commit to going forward.

 

I'm disappointed. I'm obviously pleased that we won, but it was far from convincing, so much so that it actually feels more like a loss than a win to me. I listened to Hughes post match interview and it sounded like he was at a different game to me. I wish I'd watched the game he watched, I might feel better about things this morning if I had.