| Bradford City 1 |
| Pointon 76 (pen) |
| Burton Albion 2 |
| Beesley 41, Webster 45+1 |
Written by Jason McKeown (images by John Dewhirst)
Whatever the prize is that Bradford City have been holding in their hands since the start of the season, they seem to be losing their grip. Defeat here dents the vibes and adds to the recent levelling off in results. It means they are now without a victory in five League One matches and have only won one of their last seven overall in league and cup – the solitary success coming against Everton’s kids.
What really worries is how poor they were here for 72 minutes, as they sealed their own fate – a first home defeat in the season. This loss came in what, on paper, looked their most winnable Valley Parade fixture so far. While big fish have floundered on their visits to these parts, Burton prospered. An ugly team for sure, but worthy winners all the same. You’ve just been Bowyered by the Brewers.
Before we chew over what went wrong, there are two very important points to raise. The first is the sight of the League One table, which shows the Bantams sitting proudly in 2nd place. So you know…perspective – it’s still going really well.
The second point is that appearances can be deceptive. Burton might have begun the day languishing 20th in the table, but that’s largely down to having the second-worst home record in League One. Away from home, they now have the third-best record in the division. Albion haven’t lost on the road since August. In recent weeks they have notched up notable wins at Cardiff and Wimbledon, plus credible draws at Huddersfield, Doncaster and Rotherham.
You could see why. Burton were excellent here, especially in a first half that saw them race two goals ahead. Their 3-5-2 formation meant that – just like Lincoln City in the Bantams’ last league game – the visitors had an extra man in the middle and made it matter. The dynamic Charlie Webster was the best player on the pitch by some distance, running the game and ensuring that City’s midfield pair of Max Power and Tommy Leigh were completely overrun.
George Evans and Kgaogelo Chauke were willing runners alongside Webster, with wing backs Jack Amer and Kyran Lofthouse shutting down space for their opposite numbers, and forwards Tyrese Shade and Jake Beesley dragging defenders out of position through clever running. I know we’re all supposed to think Gary Bowyer is a rubbish manager, but it was genuinely impressive how he set his charges up on his old stomping ground.
And for a long time, City had no answers. Their characteristic high pressing attempts proved futile against opponents who quickly launched it long from the back before pressing in packs themselves. City fell into the carefully laid traps. They had plenty of the ball but without the wit to make it hurt. “We didn’t put pressure on them – we only put it on ourselves,” admitted Graham Alexander after.
He’s right, and troublingly that started with the skipper and his latest midfield partner in crime. As City struggled to win possession high up the park, Max Power and Tommy Leigh sat too deep, giving Burton too much space to charge through with menace. And when City did have possession, Power and Leigh’s desire to get the ball saw them drop back to collect it from central defenders. The problem was this left them too far away from the front three of Calum Kavanagh, the returning Bobby Pointon and Stephen Humphrys.
Cue endless City passing in the wrong areas of the pitch, inviting the risk of being pressed and allowing Burton to win turnovers. At other times, the Bantams sent ambitious long balls forward that the front three stood little chance of winning or holding up. We anticipated a cagey game – but the way City over-passed the ball in the wrong areas turned it into a very different contest.
During the first half, the City players with the highest number of touches were Ciaran Kelly (43) Matt Pennington (40), Max Power (39) and Leigh (33). Forward players are always going to have lower levels of possession, but Kavanagh (13 touches), Pointon (14) and Humphrys (15) were especially starved of the ball. Nothing was sticking, allowing Burton to routinely mop up and start another attack.
The only first half City chances of note came when Leigh got slightly higher up the pitch and executed the tried and tested diagonal to Josh Neufville that allowed the swashbuckling wing-back to get in behind and run at goal. They were rare moments of home joy.
Instead, Burton attacked with confidence and swagger. Gary Bowyer’s side were front-footed and cute. They took the lead just before half time after a Webster free kick from out wide led to defender Alex Hartridge poking a shot at goal that Sam Walker palmed away. The loose ball was pounced on by Toby Siddick, and his shot was magnificently blocked on the line by Joe Wright. But it was all in vain when Beesley headed home the rebound.
As City stumbled their way to the break, they acquired more damage. The home side were on the attack but lost possession, leading to a speedy Burton counter attack. Udoka Godin-Malife charged down the middle and played it to Lofthouse, who sent over a low cross that Webster ran onto and fired home. The half time whistle was met with the very unusual sound of home boos. Harsh, but maybe it was shock. You have to go all the way back to March 2024 for the last time City trailed at home at the break.
Alexander reacted to the situation by bringing on Andy Cook for the ineffective Kavanagh, and City initially went 3-4-1-2. With Power and Leigh sorting themselves out to an extent, there was some level of improvement. But with Burton pressing all but City’s defenders, so much of the possession the home side did have was wasteful. I like Kelly, but he does not possess Aden Baldwin, Tom McIntrye or Curtis Tilt-level ability on the ball. City suffered from how often the Irish defender was one of a handful of home players granted space to start attacks. It’s just not his game.
Equally when City did get the ball in the final third, the tight space they were operating in meant there was a heavy reliance on clever decision-making – something the players lacked on the day. There’s some lovely aspects to Humphrys’ play, but he struggles to provide a true end product and so often loses the ball. Maybe it’s time for Alexander to swallow his pride and try Humphrys in a wide forward position.
Meanwhile Pointon looked rusty after his lay off. Neufville isn’t hitting the same heights. And Ibou Touray was ever so slightly below his usual high standards. It was frustrating to watch City toil but lack the guile to create meaningful chances. Tyreik Wright and Jenson Metcalfe came on for the injured Touray and Leigh respectively, which did help. But despite having 70% of the ball in the period between half time and the 72nd minute, City couldn’t muster a shot on target.
Still, a true shift in momentum did occur at that point. A fourth sub – Alex Pattison – was introduced for Joe Wright. City went 4-3-3 and immediately looked better for it. Humphrys and Pointon flanked Cook and were more effective, whilst Cook himself was a pest and played well. The greater risk taken in having one fewer centre defender came with the reward of the extra body in midfield that curbed visitor middle-of-the-park-supremacy. The pressure finally began to ramp up.
It partially paid off. Metcalfe received the ball deep and directed a high ball that would send Humphrys clean through on goal. Hartridge tried to cut it out but failed, and in desperation he lunged for the ball and sent Humprhys crashing to the floor inside the box. A penalty for City. A yellow card, rather than red, for Hartidge – who was ruled to not be deliberate in his foul. Hmmm… Humphrys placed the ball on the spot – only for Pointon to grab it. After a lively discussion, Alexander ruled Pointon should take the penalty. Humphrys accepted it well, and under some pressure Pointon converted to reduce the arrears.
What followed was a bombardment of Burton’s box. Time and time again City got forward and attempted to fashion a chance. They registered six shots on goal and racked up four corners over that final period, not to mention winning several free kicks in good positions. Burton time-wasted to ridiculous levels and played on referee Craig Hicks’ impotence to stop it. And that allowed them to see out the seven minutes of injury time and claim victory. “I can’t remember our goalkeeper making a save to keep us in it,” Bowyer observed.
Indeed, despite their late onslaught, City got absolutely what they deserved. It was as bad as they have played all season and a worry that certain players are dipping in form. Power’s recent performances are especially a concern given his importance to the team, and there remains a big question mark over who should be his regular partner – especially with opposition teams increasingly deploying the tactic of overloading City’s midfield. The goals are drying up – none from open play in 357 minutes, and just one in the league from a centre forward in the last two months. The injuries are not helping the situation.
Still, with next Saturday’s Plymouth Argyle trip postponed – and just a meaningless final EFL Trophy group game at Doncaster to fret about – there is time to lick wounds and go again. City need to use this pause wisely, because next up in the league is a visit to in-form Bolton, who have now overtaken City in having the best home record in League One after thumping Port Vale 4-0 to climb to third in the table. Bolton are also top of the division’s form table for the last 10 games.
City are sixth in that same form table, which underlines recent results are far from dreadful. And maybe – after a start to the season where they’ve quickly ascended from plucky newly promoted upstarts, to being talked of as automatic promotion material – a reset back to the role of underdogs will suit them. City will certainly welcome the likelihood Bolton won’t try to stifle them in the way Burton and Lincoln have in the last two league games. A different challenge, and one that suits their approach better.
But if they’re going to keep pace with the teams at the top of the division over the months ahead, they will need to work out a way to beat teams who play a low block, flood the midfield and don’t allow themselves to be pressed. Succeed at that, and there’s no reason for this slight tail off in results to become a long-term pattern. Their experience of overcoming defensive-minded sides in League Two last season should serve them well. And that’s one of many reasons why there is no need for doom and gloom to set in over City’s season.
They might be losing some of their grip of late, but whatever the prize is that they’re holding onto – it’s still in their hands.
Categories: Match Reviews
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Fully agree with the key points in this report – we were overrun in midfield for most of the game. We missed Sarcevic. Patterson adds to the team too.
I do keep coming back to having concerns about Max Power. He demands the ball (too) often from colleagues, and then has a habit of squandering it. I hope Alexander feels empowered to drop him
I’m worried about Kavanagh too. While he works hard, he was pretty ineffectual last season…the consoling thought was that with a higher quality of football in League One he’d have the space to shine. But he’s not currently shining; sad to say but the team feels poorer following his return to the squad.
Humphreys didn’t have a great game today, but he was our one player who showed something extra.
Kudos to Burton all the same. They came with an effective plan, and executed it well. We came with a somewhat tired, half-baked plan, and didn’t execute it well. We need to move the ball forward at speed, more on the deck.
You got swashbuckling in – nice work!
My main takeaway was how deep our midfielders were at times that they seemed to be part of the backline on the edge of our box. Too deep for my liking.
My other thought was – if GA could see (like everyone else) it wasn’t working in the first half, why didn’t we do something about it before we were two down? Formation changes could have been made as we were just a sitting duck in the first half.
But to save the day, almost all teams around us have had a poor week too so another game chalked off and still in second.
this has been coming. Only four draws from the previous four league games and in at least a couple of those City were second best for big chunks of the match. We began the season playing a high press with intensity. It’s debatable whether we’re still playing the high press, but the intensity has definitely been missing for a while.
a word about our squad rotation. It’s true that there appear to be no poor players in our first team squad. Nevertheless there are players who bring a tiny bit less than others in the same position to matches. By now you could ask any supporter and they’d give you a definitive answer if asked for City’s best starting eleven. Those selections wouldn’t differ by much if at all. I understand that the manager is trying to keep everyone happy but I believe the time has come for Graham Alexander to play his best available players in each game. Games are won on small margins and by trying to accommodate 2-3 players who are “less good” shall I say, in matches, can be the difference between a draw and a win or a defeat and a draw.
After ten minutes I couldn’t help seeing gaping holes in our 4-man midfield and sensing that Burton, playing on the break with five in midfield, would inevitably score. They duly did, albeit from a corner, before breaking away for a second. Our tactics, in my opinion, were naive and we got schooled by our former manager – who celebrated with some passion at the end. Running around a lot does not cut it at this level. Cook has got to start because we looked so much better when he came on. I am not going to criticise individual players but if you know football you can clearly see where the weaknesses are – who has difficulty trapping a ball, passing a ball, finding a man, beating his man. This has been coming for some weeks. Why doesn’t the chap from Radio Leeds ask about Lapslie’s chances of getting a decent run?
The above comments are some of the most astute observations I have read from contributors to this forum.
I think it was really clear 30 minutes in that we needed to change things. Had we done so it is very likely we would at the very least have drawn the game.
We do have a very good squad but it has become clear that when a few key players are missing our standards drop.
Hopefully today marks the end of our recent dip in form.
The league appears to becoming more competitive and today was a great example of that playing out with the top six clubs at the start of the day all losing by a margin of 15 goals ( 2 for and 17 against ).
The number of teams who are potential playoff teams is expanding at a rapid pace in recent weeks. We currently have a dozen or more legitimate playoff contenders.
Yes, i was astonished to see us still in second place- and how heavily other teams round lost their matches by. My takeaway is that, rather like our L2 experiences, L1 is proving very competitive, with budgets probably not so widely different, and any team can beat any other.
Our manager, with his trademark honesty, seemed to apportion the blame for yesterday collectively- including on himself. I think that’s a fair analysis. The last 2 years have shown he’s willing to learn and move on, which, in his tactics, he needs to- they need to be more adaptable and more quickly, to other teams approaches.
On the money again Jason. The best team won. I don’t recall their keeper making an actual save in the 2nd half for all our huffing and puffing.
The 1st half they should have scored a couple before their 1st. Kelly is no Maldini so it was really frustrating that the out ball from defense was always via him. It totally ineffective.
Finally, the atmosphere was flat in the 1st half. The kop rarely got going. I think next yr the club should consider moving away fans into the opp side of Midland Road stand. When you have a big away following keep them where they are but if less than 500 put them in the first block adjacent to the kop. We would then feed off them and make the atmosphere better in the stadium. Which in turn would benefit our team.
What is clear is that the 3-5-2 formation is really effective against the perceived ‘better’ teams that are seeking to play through us. However against the perceived ‘weaker’ lower table teams that are set up to play in a similar style that we play (long ball, high press and win second ball up high) against us the 3-5-2 is now becoming ineffective. We need an extra body in midfield, and at home I think we need a more risky formation- of 4 at the back. I appreciate our recruitment hasn’t been done to build this type of formation however I think we could be more effective typically for home games with something along these lines:
walker
neufville, 2 CB, touray
power +1 of Leigh or metcalfe or Patto (one of them hold when the full backs push on)
sarce, bobby , humps
cook
actually power+2 of Leigh/Metcalfe/Patto and 2 in behind the strikers better for more strength in midfield
we mainly play 3-4-3 with two of the 4 being the wing backs. GA has occasionally switched to 3-5-2 like he did in game v Barnsley and Lincoln
Bower knew that one of our main threats is the long ball from defence to Josh. Their left back unfortunately read everything and stopped Josh from getting the ball. Midfield was been bossed by Fletcher, and was forced back to defend, and Kav ain’t good enough at this level. Time to earn your money GA….
What a frustrating afternoon at Valley Parade!
Just to pick up on a specific player. I think Humphrys is potentially an exceptional player. I can see why Alexander says he has so much potential. He’s fast, mobile, physical and very skillful – a very rare combination at this level. His decision making lets him down a bit at the moment, but I have hope that Alexander can develop him into a very good player. He looked much better for playing off Andy Cook, and for me they should be starting together moving forward.
first half every body but G A could see we needed the extra man in midfield,too late we were 2 down by half time second half Pointon played in the middle and with Cookie on we began to play our game. By then Burton played like Cheltenham and defended well,subs should have been deployed in the first half that’s when the game was lost.Playing out from the back to Kelly is not a good strategy because he can’t pass a ball league 2player at best pointon man of the match .still no time to panic as there is 30 more games to play.
My views as an fan
it’s a bit of a myth to me rotation worked well last season. Half our points came in a 2 month period where you could pretty much select the team week in week out. Rotation has been required due to injuries and Alexander may have picked 3 ‘bigger, robust’ defenders for tactical reasons. But I hope we return to what looked so good for a period.
Still nothing to worry about these long, winless runs have been a feature of Alexander’s tenure. They’re usually followed by a good streak!
Agree with all of this. Having Touray as a secret weapon, an overlapping left centre-back, is pretty amazing at this or any level. Such a good player
You need the height of Kelly or Tilt against big teams like Burton. I’m assuming that is why we kept Kelly on when taking Touray off. As it was I saw little attacking threat from Tyreik Wright.
I think we just saw that that didn’t work out too well? If we’re choosing teams to negate threats from teams like Burton Albion, at home, then we’re headed to mid table. Wright, Touray and Pointon combine so well together down that left hand side
I get what you say but who knows how many the team you suggest would have conceded. I personally would not advocate for Tyreik Wright at wingback. No way.
I agree, that’s why I say it as a fan.
Even though we didn’t win that’s not to say it wasn’t the right decision to go for the added height – it’s obvious why Alexander made the decision.
to me we’ve been at our best this season with Wright at LWB and Touray at left centre half. We’ve done this while playing 2 of the better teams and attacks in the division. I’m interested to know why you wouldn’t advocate for Wright at LWB.
Alexander has clearly worked hard with him over the last year on how he wants him to play in that position.
Wright is tied for the second most chances created per 90 with Pointon. Just behind Power who take set pieces.
when playing Touray at LCB you have an accomplished centre back who is very comfortable sliding across to be one on one with a winger.
GA is doing an excellent job so will leave these decisions to him but as a fan view on what I’ve seen and enjoyed watching this season I’d advocate for giving it more of a chance!
Regarding your scepticism about the red card that wasn’t.
i think that the rule now is not to “double punish” the offender. If it’s a penalty then he doesn’t get sent off as well. Just a yellow card.
if it’s not a penalty (ie outside the box) then the referee sends off the defender for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. So in this instance the referee was right – nothing to do with the referee’s interpretation of “deliberate”.
As I say, I think I read/heard somewhere that is the way the law is now applied.
Maybe a qualified ref can tell me I’m right or writing cobblers!
The law states: “Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.) the offending player must be sent off.”
Basically, was there a genuine chance that the defender was able to play the ball? If yes, yellow. If no, red. Yesterday was an interesting one because if Humphrys hadn’t been in the way the defender would’ve played the ball, but at the same time, because Humphrys was completely in the way the defender had no chance of actually playing the ball.
Just don’t understand why we have gone from a fast, possession based team, playing to feet, ball on the floor at pace, creating lots of goalscoring opportunities, shooting on sight, to a League 2 hoof it side.
Yesterday was shocking, hardly troubled their ‘keeper. Poor in midfield also up front.
Best team won.
GA needs to sort it and fast.
We have never been a possession based side under Alexander . We always try to get it forward quickly but everyone pushing up to condense the space ,teams are now sitting deeper and using extra man in midfield to stop this .we have to tweak formation slightly but still play with energy .
I feel we need to to realise the progress we have made. Saturday was poor, particularly the first half, but the opponents had a game plan and we did’nt react. However the season is a marathon, there will be bad performances linked to unproductive spells. We are making progress and must put things into perspective.