| Fleetwood Town 1 |
| Coughlan 8 (pen) |
| Bradford City 0 |
By Adam Raj
Lets just start with the elephant in the room shall we? Graham Alexander’s team selection this afternoon certainly raised a few eyebrows. Jack Shepherd was suspended but Cheik Diabate was notably dropped to the bench and Vadaine Oliver was handed a rare start. But the internal shuffle that those changes caused created an unbalanced team that was well out of sync.
Brad Halliday – out of position. Lewis Richards – out of position. Bobby Pointon – out of position. Callum Kavanagh – out of position. And that’s without mentioning Jamie Walker in a two man midfield and a big man big man strike partnership that hasn’t worked and never will work.
City’s back three consisted of both Halliday and Richards, two full backs/wing backs, when there were two natural centre halves sat on the bench. If Paul Huntingdon can’t get a start in the first round of the FA Cup, and is behind two full backs in the pecking order, then it begs the question as to why he was signed in the first place.
Pointon was shoved out to wing back in what was arguably the oddest move I’ve seen for some time. I’m not sure any of Pointon’s attributes are aligned to that of a wing back. He struggled and predictably so.
I’m not sure what Alexander was thinking.
As a result, and rather unexpectedly City started the game in atrocious fashion. They couldn’t get a kick. Fair play to the hosts who pressed relentlessly in the opening stages and pounced on any hesitation that their visitors showed in possession.
Ten minutes in and they had the lead. City were slow to react to a quick throw on their defensive right hand side and Fleetwood skipper Matty Virtue broke into the box, sold Andy Cook with a fake shot and drew a foul from City’s number nine to win his side a penalty. Ronan Coughlan stepped up and slotted home to put his side ahead.
Fleetwood maintained their pressure for the next ten minutes and continued to make it an uncomfortable afternoon for the Bantams. City’s press was a mess and the hosts played through their visitors far too easily, especially through the centre of the park. Walker was struggling to maintain his defensive duties and looked increasingly at sea in a two man midfield, with Kavanagh playing a clear number ten position.
Oliver and Cook just isn’t it. Alexander isn’t the first manager to try it but hopefully this is the last time he does because there is no chance it will ever work. Oliver struggles to contribute and Cook needs legs and pace around him.
It was hardly surprising to see Oliver replaced at half time with Clarke Oduor coming on. It meant Pointon moved from wing back to midfield and Oduor slotted in out wide. Kavanagh partnered Cook up top.
It was certainly a better second period, with Pointon and Richards excellent and Oduor looking lively too. Fleetwood’s early energy had evaporated and they seemed content with holding what they had. Their shape and work off the ball was particularly notable. City would often find themselves camped in the attacking third, but were faced with a red and white wall which they had no idea how to penetrate. The result was lots of horizontal passes from one flank to the other with Richie Smallwood in the middle of it all.
City were trying to find a way into the box but far too often they failed to find an answer. Pointon’s late angled drive which drew a decent save from David Harrington being the only real test the Irish man had all afternoon. There was nothing to get excited about.
It’s back to back defeats for the Bantams who slump to tenth in League Two with only one less defeat than victory so far this campaign. After a promising run of form, this is now a concerning couple of games, not only due to results but also performances. It backs up what many people saw coming in the summer – a team who play in moments, and who can quite easily win five on the bounce as they can lose five on the bounce. You never know what you’re going to get.
Of course, injuries continue to be a big issue, with Tyreik Wright the latest player to be out long term. However, fans are tired of hearing excuses, particularly ones they’ve heard year after year. And definitely ones that the club seem incapable of rectifying. Our injury record over the last few seasons is laughable but the penny doesn’t seem to be dropping.
Alexander has a weakened hand to play. But his job is always to make the best of what he has. I don’t think anyone could argue that he did that today.
Categories: Match Reviews
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I couldn’t agree more. You see the team sheet and think what the … heck, that does not look right. Why have two centre backs on the bench (three if you include young Goodman) and play full backs in position they might occupy? Why blunt Jamie Walker’s effectiveness by planting him deep in midfield next to Smallwood? Ditto Pointon’s by sticking him at wingback. Why suddenly decide that it’s a good idea to experiment with Oliver alongside Cook? I would love to see Oliver prove his critics wrong and Why suddenly decide that it’s a good idea to experiment with Oliver alongside Cook? I would love to see Oliver prove his critics wrong and punch his weight but sadly he really does not seem to be the player he was in his Gillingham days when he was ‘a real handful in the air’, according to a Kentish mate of mine. There seems to be a pattern here of Alexander starting it tactically wrong in our defeats. Yes he made changes at halftime and we bossed the second half (without really looking like scoring) but if we’d got at Fleetwood in the first half things might have gone in our favour. They had not had a win in the last five weeks and had a makeshift defence. Very frustrating. Another avoidable away defeat against a team below us. (I liked their number ten, Mayor, until he faded.) Richards continues to suggest he is a good, very physically strong player, our best bet at left wing back. In my opinion the worst aspect of our game is crossing, a major flaw given the way we play. Huntingdon, like Doyle, has become a permanent bench warmer with, it seems, zero chance of getting a game. What is going on?
Any City fan could have picked a team from our squad today that was tactically better than what GA put out. What he was thinking i do not know. It’s beyond comprehension how can a manager with his experience can pick a side like that with players out of position and expect us to get a result. It’s insulting to not only us fans, but to players like Diabate and Huntingdon who are seeing full backs play in their position (taking nothing away from Halliday and Richards).
With games like this you really have to question his capabilities. A third of the way through the season and we have 22 points, which is not play-off material. I certainly wouldn’t put money on us finishing top 7
sorry but city are not at present at the races.and on this back to back defeat .play offs look sad
Great article, I don’t think I could agree with anything you wrote. Very baffling team selection with many players playing out of position and playing in positions which didn’t play to their strengths. I just don’t understand Alexander’s thinking in that starting line up.
Regarding the constant injuries it’s something the club need to investigate, it just seems to be happening too often for it to be bad luck. So maybe we need to look at the recruitment/training/conditioning see if there’s anything we can do to try prevent some of them
Simple question: we found a winning formula at the end of last season that subsequently resurfaced v Newport and a couple of games thereafter with an equally successful result…why are we diverging away from this? This squad has the ability to finish top 3 irrespective of injuries. The league is still there for the taking, just stick to the winning formula please GA
I had to look several times at that starting line up before kick off (double take more like) to try to work out in my own head where those names were actually going to play and I still didn’t pick Bobby there!! All I could tell myself was – maybe this line up is going to be some GA masterstroke that nobody expected – least of all Fleetwood! Well we know that didn’t happen so then you look at GA and wonder what was going through his head? Yes he works day in, day out with these players but not sure what he had added to his morning brew yesterday to see that selection??
Agree that we definitely were better in the second half but I wasn’t expecting to see their net bulge so had I already written the result off? Unfortunately I had!
I’m not going to panic about where we’ll finish based on the last few games but there needs to be a rethink regarding the game plan going into matches and choices of players on the field but also on the bench as those limited spaces are being wasted if GA sincerely does not trust the lads he makes sit there for 90+ minutes!
GA is accountable for today’s performance. He selected the team and tactics. Why it took until the start of the second half before he took Oliver off. He should have come off after the first 15 minutes. Fleetwood have problems with injuries especially in defence but we were easy to defend against. Yes we have injuries but when you sign ageing players passed their best, what can you expect. Playing players out of position you are guaranteed to be second best. Your plan should have been changed before half time. Your mistakes are the reason we are losing matches. I despair for this team and I have no faith in a manager and his decisions. To come out after the match and blame his team for today is a measure of the type of manager he is.
absolutely no idea why Diabate wasn’t starting that game, couldn’t have been to worry about the threat fleetwood one of the lowest scoring teams could pose with no left footed CB. Too cautious. Maybe trying to be clever with tactics like McCan was when he out managed us last league game but with this squad and manager it just doesn’t work. Where was Evans for some midfield balance ? The injuries are a problem but to be honest my bigger issue with them is the way we are blagged each time by GA or his so called fitness dept each time. When he says a couple of weeks that means a couple of months when it’s a couple of months it’s double that and so on! On the grass means walking on it not training on it clearly! I’m bored with the bluffing. Sarc, Patto, Baldwin all initially a few weeks now it’s been 2 months Patto (no idea when in contention again) and 3 months for Sarc and Baldwin 3 months! No sign of any timeline on a game involvement. Expect Wright back in March and Evans in February and no comment on Johnson…I feel a bit mugged off tbh! Games like fleetwood, Harrogate, etc are the ones that we have lost serious ground on teams already, that today was there for the taking against a poor outfit with more injury issues than we have yet we end up with this mess to dwell over! Stick to your system GA no matter who is fit plz, the players 100% were not impressed with the selections just look at the start (again)
GA has consistently shown he’s not the man to take City out of this league . Why sign players who have a history of injuries or players you won’t play ? Mid table as usual or worse if Cook gets injured ……. Seen it all before .
100 % GA not the manager for us just seems clueless said this start of season and even when we had a good run only got anywhere near playoffs because so many teams lost form mid table as norm for us GA signings are a joke!!!
What an excellent summary of the game. Along with others I was worried when I saw the line up, with 1 Centre half and 3 Centre Forwards. It reminded me a bit when Ridehalgh was shoehorned into Left Centre back and we all know how that turned out. That’s not to criticise Lewis Richards who I thought was excellent again today but why play 2 full backs at Centre half, with loads of Centre Half’s available. As pointed out it negated 4 or 5 of our players and Lewis Richards still managed to be one of our biggest attacking threats from Centre half. Like others I am getting a bit stalled of all the injuries, excuses and punching way below our weight. Over to you Mr Alexander.
Last year Alexander had so little faith in Richards as a centre back that he played Ridehalgh when it would have been more logical to swap the two around. We lost the match. Earlier this season Alexander disastrously reverted for one game to a back four rather than use Richards at all. Imagine a back four with Wright in it! Yesterday, presumably to get a left foot in his back line, he chose Richards, which meant using Pointon in the latter’s position. There seems to be a good deal of muddled thinking here. We now have six first-team centre backs, two of whom are injured, but only used one of them, albeit two were on the bench, augmented by a third in Goodman. Again we seem to have muddled thinking. Alexander needs to decide on his best right wing back, whether Benn or Halliday. He will have a similar decision with Richards and Wright when the latter is fit. Now it may well be argued that we are so badly hit with injuries that Alexander is having to make and mend, but yesterday he seemed to shoehorn players into unusual positions when there was no need. Oliver seems to have talked himself into a game in a recent interview when claiming he had experience of playing effectively up top with another big man.
What we really lack in this squad is players who are up for the fight. This is Div 2. We should have 6 or 7 not just Cook and Smallwood.
Imagine us crawling into the playoffs and going a goal behind. It will be game over.
For me no chance of promotion with this squad unless we get a few battlers in (and maybe Sarcevic?)
I read your excellent report. Before the game my grandsons who study City very carefully both texted me to say Alexander had picked 4 players out of position and was wrong in what he had done. That was before the game.
How on earth could amateur supporters be so correct and the experienced manager be so wrong?
This is the case with every City manager in the past 22 years except Parkinson.
Why? They were in general well respected and good managers , but failed at City.
I do not know why.
same old city if your team having a bad run play bfd city to fix problem
I can understand playing Richards as the left sided centre half as he was the only available left footed defender but it then begged the question who to play at left wing back? GA trusted Bobby P and presumably they practised it all week?
With Smallwood being the only available genuine midfield player he then tasked Walker and Kavanagh who both failed miserably at tracking the Fleetwood midfield.
i don’t blame GA for this defeat I put it squarely at the misfiring players who fail to trouble opposition goalkeepers game after game