By Jason McKeown

In truth, it’s difficult to know where we go from here. After such a huge, positive leap forwards at Newport last week, this was a mightily big step backwards. A defeat that should rock everyone at the club, surely prompting an internal inquest that may yield significant developments. For Mark Hughes, the Saturday evening commute home to Cheshire must have felt extremely lonely.

What magnified the wretched depths of this Bradford City performance was how wonderfully well they had started. It was such a bright opening. Arguably the best the Bantams have played all season. So where did such a pitiful collapse come from?

It was like watching two completely different mini games, packaged up as one match. The events of the opening 25 minutes completely at odds with the remaining 65 minutes. Did I miss the moment, mid-way through the first half, where all 11 Bradford City players ran off and were replaced by a group of imposters? Sure, the players on the field had the same numbers on the back of their shirts as before. But they were completely unrecognisable.

From marvellously good, the performance became monstrously bad. And with it, the positive vibes of the past week lie in tatters.

Let’s talk about those excellent opening 25 minutes first. If only to get it out of the way, because they would prove inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. A bit like the Pixar short that’s played before the main film. Memorable, but not really what we go home talking about.

Hughes had kept faith with the XI that produced the excellent victory at Newport, and they initially carried on where they left off. The 4-2-3-1 set-up seemed to offer a good balance. Clarke Oduor and Rayhann Tulloch on the flanks, doubling up with the overlapping full backs Brad Halliday and Liam Ridehalgh. Jamie Walker was pulling the strings in the middle, making consistently good decisions. The Scot is playing the best football of his City career right now.

Walsall looked timid and beleaguered. Beset by injuries at the back, the visitors were vulnerable and struggled to live with City’s initial crisp passing and movement. At times, the home side’s football was a joy to watch.

23 minutes in, City cleared a Walsall free kick attempt and Walker brilliantly set Tulloch away. The 22-year-old’s rampaging run was illegally ended by Saddlers’ desperation, resulting in a penalty kick. Andy Cook banished the Stockport penalty demons by converting from the spot, and all Bradford City had to do was keep going.

But they didn’t.

Herein lies the great paradox of the Mark Hughes era. The City boss continues to put together technically adept teams, whose approach and level of skill often often makes it all look so easy. Yet at the same time, Hughes’ sides consistently exhibit a self-destructive tendency of making things harder for themselves.

We saw it so often last season. The Bantams starting dominant, looking in complete control and often going a goal up – only to suddenly switch off and stall. As though they don’t seem to fully appreciate the more rugged nature of League Two – and the fact opposition teams are never going to roll over and give up. Most of the time last year, they’d get away with it. Riding through a tricky spell and coming through to win – often relying on a Cook goal or a Harry Lewis save along the way.

The difference now is that this is no longer happening. Here, as so often last season, City switched off after a really dominant opening. They relaxed, took their foot off the pedal, and laid out the welcome mat for Walsall to come back. Only here, they couldn’t regain of the control they carelessly gave away. For that, they would pay a heavy price.

Walsall equalised within three minutes when Liam Gordon was given time and space to hit a low drive at goal. It was hardly the most fearsome of strikes, and seemed to head Lewis’ way in slow motion. For whatever reason, the City stopper did not react in time. Somehow, the ball ended up in the back of his net. Not a howler, but not great goalkeeping.

The visitors had used the adversity of an injury crisis and difficult opening 25 minutes as inspiration to dig in and come back. In contrast for City, the first sign of adversity saw them fold.

The game changed with the equaliser, and City just couldn’t regain their rhythm and composure. Each passing minute felt more unimpressive, and hopes of a half time reset were undermined badly when Walsall scored in first half injury time. The Saddlers were clever all afternoon on corners, noticing – as other teams did towards the end of last season – a slight hesitancy in Lewis’ decision-making when coming for crosses. With a clear height advantage, Walsall players occupied the space in front of Lewis to block his run. The former Bantam loanee Aramide Oteh made hay and City’s collapse was in full swing.

You waited for a big reaction. You waited, and waited some more. The second half began in the same slow pace. Walsall defended resolutely. Nearly everyone behind the ball. The team bus wheeled in from outside the ground, and parked in front of goalkeeper Owen Evans for good measure. They time-wasted. Boy, how they time-wasted. They were the epitome of a bang average, limited League Two side relying on unsubtle spoiling tactics.

It was hardly a tactical masterclass. And yet City had no answers. They just couldn’t get going.

2-1 became 3-1 when another corner caused chaos. Ross Tierney’s delivery was excellent, dipping just before low the cross bar at the near post. Lewis came, got a hand on it, but could only help it end up in his own net. Freddie Draper claimed the goal.

A few words on Lewis. This was clearly the game where suspicions he might not be hitting the heights of last season turned into something starker and more worrying. Here, we could all see that Lewis is in a bit of trouble. His confidence is clearly not what it was, and he’s now gifting goals to the opposition. He made a mistake for the opener Middlesbrough scored on Tuesday, and can take varying levels of the blame for all three goals conceded here.

In some ways, it was inevitable we would get to this point. Lewis was signed last summer having not played a senior game of football for over four years. He was thrust into the role of first choice at Valley Parade. Something he took to incredibly well. But playing such a feast of football – after such a famine – was always going to lead to a dip at some point. At the end of last season, we saw signs that Lewis was no longer hitting the same heights. The summer transfer saga with Barnsley clearly unsettled him further, and the slow decline in performances has continued.

All goalkeepers experience these kind of bumps over their career – and the good ones come through them. Lewis is an excellent goalkeeper that the club is lucky to have. There is an argument to make that he should be taken out the firing line in the short-term. But as fans, we should be supportive of Lewis and help him to get through this rocky spell. All being well, he can emerge from this period a much stronger and an even better goalkeeper. We’re rooting for you Lewis.

At 3-1 down City still had time but they just never mounted any kind of sustained pressure that suggested they could come back. It was all too slow, too laboured, too predictable. With the notable exception of Brad Halliday, everyone was well below their best and buckling under the pressure.

This was by some distance Sam Stubbs’ worst game for the club. The January arrival from Exeter has been so solid and deserving more praise, but here he was worryingly bullied by Jamille Matt. Matty Platt alongside him was similarly shaky. The pair had such a good run of form last season – when they played together in 2022/23, City kept seven clean sheets from 12 games, losing just once. When lining up together this year, Stubbs and Platt have just one clean sheet so far.       

Also struggling was Oduor. There is a player in there, but he seems to be held back by low confidence. He’s just too hesitant. I was closely watching his reaction when he receives the ball, and to me he almost seems to panic as he looks around for someone to pass the ball to as quickly as possible. There’s a lack of bravery to take players on and make things happen. Oduor needs to shoulder more responsibility. Tulloch was better, but did start to fade.

They all did.

Towards Hughes, the question is how much can he be blamed for this performance? He set the team up reasonably well – I don’t think anyone would argue with the XI selected. They played to his instructions and got off to a flyer. But then, they fell away mid-game. What can the manager do at that point?

What goes against Hughes, however, was the influence he did attempt to have on the touchline, which wasn’t great. Three substitutions were made over the second half, and each one somehow succeeded in making City worse.

First Daniel Oyegoke came on for Alex Gilliead in the base. Gilliead might not have been having his best game, but his energy levels and willingness to run at people were assets badly needed with City trying to engineer a comeback. Oyegoke was technically okay, but he was never going to drive City forwards. Kevin McDonald – who started very well but struggled later – was the more obvious candidate to make way.

At the same time as Oyegoke was introduced, Alex Pattison made a welcome return, replacing the tentative Oduor. This move saw Walker pushed to the left flank, where his influence waned. Getting Pattison and Walker into the same team is a noble idea but potentially deeply flawed. It certainly didn’t work here.

Later on, Tyler Smith came on for Tulloch, and Hughes went to a diamond. It was a strange move. And not just because Smith would only touch the ball three times in 18 minutes (I think we can all agree from the evidence of the past month that Smith is not an effective player coming off the bench).

The reason why it was a strange move was because Walsall’s rigid 4-4-1-1 approach was not going to be cut through by a diamond. The visitors were full of discipline, and at 3-1 up they didn’t need to do anything beyond keep everyone behind the ball and play on the break. City’s subsequent attempts to pass their way through the two banks of four was deeply futile.

They of course had plenty of the ball, but no one in space to profit. A diamond means going narrower. So an already overcrowded middle of the park became even more congested. What City badly needed was to have players with pace, willing to take opposition defenders on, beat their man and stretch the game. But Hughes had taken off the three players with the most ability to do just that – whilst leaving the most obvious other option to cause stretch, Adam Wilson, as an unused sub.

It was just very poor tactically from Hughes. He deserves to feel let down by his players here, but his attempts to rectify the situation made City weaker. And that is not good when you’re already under mounting pressure. The final stages of the game were played out to sarcastic North West corner chanting about passing it around the back. The Kop was more blunt, singing how Hughes’ football is s^&t.

And that brings us back to the start of this match report – where do we go from here? Two weeks ago, we left Valley Parade with Hughes getting booed and a strong feeling that the axe was about to fall. The manner of the Newport victory lifted the mood and has given Hughes more time. Time that you would think will be extended a little further than this game.

But there’s a massive, unavoidable problem that you cannot close your ears or eyes to. Hughes is losing his public. This is the third home game in a row where real scorn came down from the stands towards the City manager. Booing has become as much of the Valley Parade matchday routine as the walk to the ground. Is it possible to turn this damaged support-manager relationship around, or is it already too late?

I’ll say it again. I don’t personally think we should sack Mark Hughes. But I’m struggling to win any arguments with people who disagree with that. Ultimately, it’s about a majority verdict. And right now, people who are willing to support the manager are dwindling in number. The players suddenly look petrified to play at Valley Parade – crazy, really, when they had been unbeaten at home since February – and the rising toxicity is adding to their apprehension.

I think Hughes is finding himself in a situation similar to the end of McCall’s third spell in the Valley Parade dugout. Results and supporter faith trending in the wrong direction. Players struggling to deliver exactly what he wants, with their own confidence suffering as a result. Do you stick with your principles, or do you adapt to the situation?

In McCall’s case, his determination to play attack-minded football when he didn’t have the right tools ultimately doomed him. As results began to slide, he needed to be pragmatic and play a more dogged way, but he wouldn’t. Sadly, it proved his undoing.

For Hughes, the dilemma is whether the technical, passing based style of football he wants to play is working, or if he needs to adapt it. At least for now. For me, he needs to edge into a more direct style. Up the tempo. Get the ball quicker into the final third. Throw more bodies into the box.

Accept having less possession. Be okay that the players will give the ball away more. They are probably more comfortable being asked to play in a more limited way. And going to a more basic approach will help their confidence. To an extent, Hughes did that midway through last season, and results improved because of it.

Today, City had 66% of the ball, and just one non-penalty shot on target. I repeat: 66% possession, one non-penalty shot on target. It’s not working. Possession with a tempo and purpose is great, but possession without either is both dull and predictable. And that’s what we had here, at least from the 25th minute onwards.

Ultimately, everything is going against what Hughes wants to do. Players are growing more anxious to avoiding making mistakes, so are playing too many easy passes, which then adds to the groans of an impatient home crowd. Don’t be the player who gets the Richie Smallwood treatment. Turn backwards or sideways. Pass. And hope someone else takes the responsibility. It’s not what Hughes intends, but it’s the fruits of trying a more complex, technical approach that the players are struggling to execute. And it’s making Hughes look bad.

Recent performances – and the public scorn – suggests that the more expansive, principled way of playing might just have to wait for now. It’s time for Hughes to get a better handle of his surroundings. And for the players to operate in a way more befitting of the League Two footballers they are.  

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2023/24, BCAFC, James Hanson, League Two