The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Salford City Saturday 17th August 2024 3:00pm

Byrne blotted Stockton out

 

It didn’t stop him having a few heart in mouth moments. Expecting Walker to come and claim when there was no pace on the ball, is one example. I thought Baldwin had his his best game so far.

 

I get it he would never make the three subs at half time (even though we were average at best) but could it have been done in the 60th minute instead of the 70th, what is it with managers not being brave even at home, as he said we were better the second half but were much the better team after those subs IMO.

 

Not gonna read 30 pages of blurb but that was an absolute yawn fest. Anyone happy with it needs sectioning .

 

Smallwood plays the majority of games this season then dont be decked at a midtable finish ........... today was just like last season simply laboured simply bog standard.

 

During his time with opposition clubs when I've seen Stockton he's hardly impressed even thought we might have been defeated, I thought today he was very physical but offered little else but that's his game his goal scoring record is poor with his most prolific time being at Morecombe.

 

I might be wrong Dave but last week, I think the Hearts manager subbed 3 out at half time (including Oyegoke), didn’t make much difference in the end but it showed what he thought.

 

Only passing backwards. That what you said. You didn’t see any passes from him that didn’t go backwards?

You said let someone else take set pieces (of which corners are a type) and I pointed out Wright took all the corners from the right hand side. Wright isn’t Smallwood, hence someone else took set pieces. I’m trying to figure out what game/player you were watching…

 

Oh dear we have just lost our manager and half our squad. What now?

 

Yes I believe Joey Barton did it against us at Valley Parade when he managed Bristol Rovers, they were dire first half and he made 3 changes at half time (I could be wrong).

 

The real conundrum for me is Cook. No one in their right mind would leave out a striker with his record, but I’m coming to the conclusion that our failure to build sustained attacks is because the ball isn’t sticking up top. Our balls into Cook are hit with the purpose of being flicked onto a runner and inevitably end up back with the opposition. We don’t give ourselves chance to bring others into play. Is Sanderson a hold up type of forward and if so do we consider him as a focal point of the attack further down the line. Is he a Stead type intelligent player who can bring players into the game? Is the playing of Cook to the detriment of the team, or should we be playing for the team to the detriment of Cook?

 

We'll be fine next Saturday against Bromley Oliver should have done his time out with potential concussion, today Robinson got his tactics right with regards Cooks threat, their two CD did a good job on him, unfortunately the one time he got clear and got his shot away the officials got the decision so wrong.
With regards your point Hughes tried it in the past only for his replacement to offer little or nothing, as we know there are different ways of playing the ball to the likes of Cook but to play it high when we've seen so many times two CD either challenging for the ball Cook being the filling in the sandwich its difficult, although he's 6 foot we shouldn't be using him as a target man.
Unfortunately when we play it long we do exactly that lump it and expect Cook to make the best of it, one of the few times he did win the flick on Kavanagh was no where to be seen Cook even gesturing as much to the lad,

 

Anyone struggling for parking near the ground, just park on a pavement on Manningham Lane. Seems to be all the rage judging by my walk up from the city centre today.

 

That old chestnut
Weren’t we saying this last year and mustered up a measly 9 home wins
Hence why fans bleating about not renewing due to failing entertainment
Today was no different

 

Priceless. A perfectly good goal ruled out because it was cleared from a full foot over the line, and Cook is to blame for not hitting it harder. Absolutely priceless

 

Spot on. There were two or three times this afternoon when Cook flicked it on for Kav and as you say, he was nowhere to be seen. It's always Cook's fault though apparently.

 

Sheer heresy on here I'm afraid. Can't question king Cook.

Folk still expecting us to batter teams for 90 mins and the other side not to even see the ball cause we're at fortress VP. It's league 2. That was a typical league 2 match - there'll be a bunch more coming up. I think we'll win more than we lose and might just have the squad to score enough points to get us up there. I actually saw quite a few positives today - fitness, commitment, having players working to win the ball back and actually be in the vicinity of an opposition player to do so for a change. A fit Pattison. Sarcevic obviously past his prime but neat and savvie unlike some who have been midfield stalwarts recently. Smallwood won countless balls back and looked to move forward whenever possible - yes his legs have gone for higher up divisions, but he can do a job in league 2. I do believe we are currently lacking up front mainly - cue laughter from the Cook massive. Kavanagh neat in spells but needs to come on a whole amount. Can Sanderson deliver alongside Cook?

Calm down folks. Give them chance. Understand fully what Alexander was saying about the boo boys.

Happy clapper N.

 

What worries me about today's performance is the slanging match Cook and Alexander had with one another first half.

Neither looked remotely happy, Cook didn't work with the tactics and the tactics didn't work for Cook.

A dismal sign.

 

The only players who are willing to take on a man are Pointon and Oduor so it's no surprise we have more attacking intent when they come on.

People will say "Wright is a winger", he isn't or isn't acting as one. He runs into space but mainly stops and then passes inside.

None of our other attacking players are willing to risk taking on a defender and try to make something happen at the risk of losing the ball so it's easy for the opposition to defend as everything happens in front of them.

That's the problem GA has - how does he put out a team to create chances? It needs something different because right now we just end up kicking the ball long or aimlessly over the top. It worries me that he's bringing in his own players and had a full pre-season to get things organised but we're still playing like we did last season. Why?