By Jason McKeown

With each minute that passed with not a huge amount happening, the sense of disappointment grew thicker, the enthusiasm of the crowd faded further, until the inevitability of the game’s goalless outcome became unavoidable. You did not need to wait for the final whistle of referee Geoff Eltringham to know how this would end.

It was all so bitty. Stop-start. Passive. Predictable. There was flashes of inspiration. Bursts of decent chances. But a cohesive period of attacking momentum eluded both teams. The game drifted away from everyone, with a heavy sense of helplessness that no one on the field or in the dugouts was going to be able to change the flightpath.

It wasn’t that Bradford City were bad. They really weren’t. Reasons to be optimistic were there, even if you had to squint your eyes quite a bit and ignore a bunch of other stuff. They won the possession, shot and corner count, with Salford often reduced to the dark arts of time-wasting to seal a point their manager Karl Robinson was clearly delighted to earn.

But you can’t really make a convincing case that City deserved any more than they got. True enough, Andy Cook has a right to feel aggrieved that a powerful second half effort, which appeared to cross the line before it was cleared, was not given as a goal. The still photo from behind the goal certainly looks like Cook has the strongest of cases.

Other home players came close to scoring too. But it’s always difficult to win any game when you’re relying on half chances rather than succeeding through patterns of play. The Salford backline just weren’t worked hard enough and so did not creak.

And that was why a Valley Parade crowd that was excitable early doors faded into near silence and eventually displayed frustration and anger. In the final minute of second half stoppage time, a failure of City to get the ball forwards saw patience snap, and many booed at full time. Individual cries of “rubbish Alexander” could be heard in all directions. It seems not everyone got the memo to leave their bag of bitterness at home.

The challenge for City for years now – but especially the last two full seasons – are games like this at home, when the Bantams have more of the ball, and are up against teams who play a low block and squeeze the space. So often, when the onus is on City to break down organised visiting sides, they quickly run out of ideas and falter. It’s one of the reasons why their Valley Parade record has been so poor in recent years, and ultimately why they haven’t made a better fist of pushing for promotion.

And so with that backdrop, it was not encouraging to witness more of the same. Because just as we’ve seen so many times, here was a Bradford City team invited to have plenty of the ball and yet lacking the aptitude to override some pretty basic tactics. It’s very early days of course, but if City once again go through a season struggling to win these types of games, they’ll once again fail with their ambitions.

The 3-5-2 – spear-headed by deploying two number 8s – looks like a good plan to counteract old problems. And certainly this has proved to be the case since Graham Alexander introduced it last March. But there are significant changes in personnel from last season that are testing the formation’s effectiveness.

We know of course about the defensive adjustments – which we’ll come onto – but here, the alterations to the number 8s came under the spotlight. City ended last season thriving with Jamie Walker and Bobby Pointon taking these roles, but both found themselves on the bench again here, with Alex Pattison and Antoni Sarcevic awarded the starting berths.

Two games in, the early signs from Sarcevic can be best described as “erm”. Not sure, from the very limited evidence of claret and amber eyes, that he is the answer. Sarcevic has a worrying lack of pace, and struggles to get involved enough in the build up play compared to the energetic, bustling approach of Walker and Pointon. Not saying he’s going to be a bad signing. Just saying…I’m a bit worried. Too often here, Sarcevic operated on the fringes, and when he did get involved in attacking moves, he was guilty of slowing City down. You can’t argue he has ability and is capable of some clever passes. But the jury is definitely out on whether he’s the right player to make the dual number 8s work. Erm indeed.

Alongside him, Pattison again impressed and so much of City’s best moments came through him – yet still, he wasn’t involved nearly enough, touching the ball just nine times in the first 45 minutes. Perhaps this was why Pattison rather than Sarcevic was taken off midway through the second half, despite the latter a more obvious candidate to be withdrawn. Pattison’s replacement – Pointon – caught the eye with a cameo of skill and enthusiasm.

It was ludicrous Walker was not introduced too, especially as the game drifted in the closing stages. Given Sarcevic is an Alexander signing, you worry it was slightly political to have kept him on the field. Though in fairness, Sarcevic did almost justify his manager’s faith by going close to scoring late on, with a powerful shot beaten away by Salford keeper Jamie Jones after good play from City sub Oliver Sanderson.

In games like this, when City have more of the ball but deep-lying opponents to overcome, this set-up badly needs the number 8s to be creative and thriving. To operate between the lines. But here, a combination of Pattison’s lack of time on the ball and Sarcevic’s struggles meant this part of the team just didn’t deliver what was needed. Given the incredibly fierce competition for places here, there’s no reason why Alexander shouldn’t swap this around. The team news for next Saturday’s visit of Bromley will certainly be interesting.

Though it was less of an issue here due to Salford’s cautiousness, the Ammies did find some joy in targeting the weaker spots of City’s 3-5-2. Namely, the gaps between wing backs and the three centre halves. Dutch wide forward Kelly N’Mai especially excelled at exploiting the defensive shortcomings of Tyreik Wright, and the space between Wright and Ciaran Kelly, to cause problems.

Salford’s extra body in the middle of the park also risked Richie Smallwood being outgunned. At times the City skipper was bypassed, but he stuck admirably to the task. Smallwood won the ball back several times and was quick to react and thwart turnovers of possession that saw Salford threaten on the counter attack. In the second half especially Smallwood was industrious and vital to the team – there’s a good argument to make he was City’s player of the match.

It was overall a better day for City’s backline, who defended reasonably well with Aden Baldwin and Neil Byrne beginning to look more settled. You just wish all of City’s centre halves could use the ball better. Too often they needlessly gave it away. But that wastefulness in possession was contagious throughout the team. undermining their attempts to attack cohesively. Especially with wing backs Wright and Brad Halliday having limited joy dribbling past opponents.

It all left Cook and Callum Kavanagh feeding on scraps. Cook battled hard, won flick ons and held up the ball effectively – but wasn’t played into positions where he could be at his deadly best. Kavanagh hasn’t quite picked up where he left off last season, but will surely come good again. With Jake Young not even on the bench (and seemingly out the door), right now Alexander has an abundance of good striker options – but whoever leads the line, they need the rest of the team to better supply them than this.

There is no reason to be despondent by this performance. City didn’t play badly, and but for a snap, 50-50 assistant referee judgement over Cook’s shot on the line going the other way, the Bantams could have edged this and maintained their 100% start to the season. The squad genuinely looks strong, with good cover in most positions. Alexander has proven himself a manager capable of unlocking the right solution. And he’s got a very strong hand to find a winning formula from.

Nevertheless, the challenge for Alexander and City remains convincing the Bradford public. It was a strange old close season for sure, where transfer activity was quieter than expected, and where there is limited evidence of Stefan Rupp’s pledge of greater investment. Rightly or wrongly, many supporters are sceptical about the club’s capability to achieve promotion this season. That is clearly impacting the mood and atmosphere. It all feels very flat.

Personally, I’m feeling pretty bullish about City this season. We ended last year strongly, have largely kept the same players, and the squad looks the strongest it has been since relegation to League Two in 2019, with some good players seemingly surplus to requirements. It didn’t need an overhaul this summer. Just fine tuning, which is what seems to be happening.

Alexander clearly thinks this too, but his pre-match comments about City fans carrying a “bag of bitterness” suggest he is acutely aware of supporter mood and wants to challenge our mindset. And whilst he made some very good points about how his squad should sperate themselves from the legacy of City’s recent failings – “What’s happened in the last five or six years is not a burden for these players to carry” – some of his comments towards supporters were riskier, and perhaps less well judged. Maybe just read the room a little better, Graham.

Talking about how quickly City fans are to be frustrated because of the past, Alexander said, “They carry that as a bag on their shoulder. I get that. It would help us a lot if fans could just put that bag down…and give us the chance to breathe.”

Firstly, I don’t think anyone in life likes to be accused of being bitter. The insinuation, when that word is used generally, is that you’re wrong to feel upset about something you’re upset about, and that your emotions are clouding your judgement.

Secondly, Alexander’s comments suggest he doesn’t fully understand what being a football fan is about. Because bitter or otherwise, there’s no bag we’re carrying that we can casually put down and pick up when we like. The set backs and the frustrations of Bradford City over the past few years are more like a scar that have caused us pain and suffering. We can’t ignore or pretend that what’s happened didn’t happen. And it will take time to heal. Saying to stop feeling how we do is like telling us to no longer care. You can’t separate our love and devotion to Bradford City from our hurt and despondency over the club’s recent struggles.

I get the sentiment that we need to look forward and not back, I really do. And City’s chances of winning today would clearly have improved if the crowd could have stayed as positively behind the team as they were in the opening 20 minutes for the full match. But it’s going to take time, and we need more to go on than blind faith. This is a football club that has habitually filled us with pre-season giddiness only to severely let us down. We’re not bitter, we’ve just been stung.

What Alexander and the players have to prioritise right now is earning the trust and the belief of Bradford City supporters. Convince a fanbase, who have heard it all before, that this year really could be our year. That the club is genuinely in a much better place than it has been in the recent past. The only way to do this is to win games, especially at home.

City clearly have the capability to be successful, but with this 0-0 proving to be the fourth time in six seasons that City have started their Valley Parade campaign with a goalless draw, they need to start providing different endings to familiar stories.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2024/25, BCAFC, League Two, Salford City 0