Just Back (Bradford)

I suppose it's important to remember that at this exact point last season we outplayed Champions elect Lincoln and came away with a 1-1 draw.  I remember thinking after that game that if that was what a promotion favourite offered, we had little to worry about.  

That said, this is very much a different side.  Arguably you could say that whilst that Lincoln performance was very much reliant on the running of Woolford in a sort of free-role, Saturday's performance was very much focused around one man in Hanson and his role as the target for a lot of our more direct play.  Whilst I'm still a little uncomfortable that if Hanson gets injured, suspended or loses form we've gone a bit eggs all in one basket, I believe we're a far, far better side than 12 months ago.

I was far from impressed with the glimpses I saw of Hewitt in pre-season when in a midfield role. I thought once he went to right-back against Peterborough he looked a different player.  This has continued in the two league games and his ability to whip crosses in from the angle he does is such an asset, the fact he has a long throw isn't to be sniffed at either.  I was a little concerned how he would cope defensively in that position but Saturday he was outstanding.  I can understand why people are concerned about having a right footed player at left-back but Hendrie is, in my opinion, good enough to cope and because of how we're set up when moving forward, it's less of an issue.    Centrally Ohman and Davis won absolutely everything against very tricky forwards.  Ohman did show what he needs to work on early on when he got caught the wrong side and had to pull down their striker and take a booking as a result.  

I'm definitely in the camp that we need some sort of creative influence in midfield if we're to progress to a promotion pushing side, not for every game but definitely for some.  That said the midfield trio of Hessenthaler, Clifton and Whitehouse is just so energetic.  Of the 3, I think it's probably Whitehouse who is the one who needs to push forward a bit more and look to get beyond Hanson.  He's not a creative player and like the other two is about strong running, but a couple of times he did look to quite simply run at their defence, no drop of the shoulder or fancy step-overs, just pure headstrong running and it worked!  

Rose's injury is the big risk of a player like that.  He's explosive so we have to expect he will suffer those type injuries. Similar to when we had Jon-Paul Pittman here, always feared that he was going to pull up holding his hamstring.   Ogbu came on and I'll be buggered if he knows what he's doing so there's no chance of the defence pre-empting his decision making.  Second half when he used his body and strength he was really effective and something they struggled to handle.  I think he'll frustrate as much as he'll excite, I don't think he'll be the creative influence we crave in the traditional sense.  I can't imagine he's going to playing slide balls through for our strikers to run onto but as another physical presence, with a little bit of skill, he's definitely something to make teams think about.  Hanson was superb as was Green.  Hanson does everything we've lacked in recent years, not since Amond have we had someone capable of leading the line and holding play up.  Not since Gary Jones have we had someone capable of bullying defences but also using a footballing brain at the same time.  Easy to see why Green has been popular at previous clubs.

I thought 20 minutes out it was maybe crying out for Max Wright to come on and run at their defence, wasn't impressed with their right-back and thought Wright would have had him toast.  But I can understand why Jolley was reluctant to change a side that had dealt with a quite physical side very well.

Special mention to McKeown for that double save in the second half.  Well worth getting dragged over the coals for...

One slight concern is that we're very narrow in the 4-3-3 formation. The Bradford full-backs received the ball in plenty of space around the half-way line quite a lot of times but seemed to be scared to push forward and never took advantage of the room available. Against a team with real wide players and more adventurous full-backs, we'll perhaps struggle a bit more defensively. Conversely, we'd probably find more space down the sides then ourselves.

I'd like to see more of Wright in spells, but not too sure where he'll fit in if we're playing 4-3-3 most of the time. I suppose he may come off the bench for one of the front three in the later stages or instead of a midfielder if we're chasing the game.

Quoted from Maringer

One slight concern is that we're very narrow in the 4-3-3 formation. The Bradford full-backs received the ball in plenty of space around the half-way line quite a lot of times but seemed to be scared to push forward and never took advantage of the room available. Against a team with real wide players and more adventurous full-backs, we'll perhaps struggle a bit more defensively. Conversely, we'd probably find more space down the sides then ourselves.

I'd like to see more of Wright in spells, but not too sure where he'll fit in if we're playing 4-3-3 most of the time. I suppose he may come off the bench for one of the front three in the later stages or instead of a midfielder if we're chasing the game.

Couldn't agree more about being too narrow, I said exactly the same during the game. I think 4-4-2 is better but I guess we need  creative midfield players to make it work and willing runners to support the front two and get back quick too.

I thought we ran out of steam a bit towards the end which might have cost us, I just hope that's down to fitness levels but Bradford seemed to last better.

One last point that I've not seen mentioned elsewhere   ----  WTF is McKeown doing so far out of his area standing around the centre circle? How long before the ball comes back from one of our  set pieces and he's caught in no-mans land and we concede a silly goal? Any team watching this would surely look to exploit it before too long, it's ridiculous and needs to be stopped.

UTM

I posted earlier that we only used 2 subs (both enforced for injuries).  We were just unlucky.

As a post-script, in a game on another day, we might still have 3 subs left to influence the game.  Against Bradford these changes could have been used to dominate the last 10 minutes - rather than them.

Encouraging for the future anyway.  We still have more to give.

Hanson was still sprinting across the width of the pitch to close down with about 15mins to go which for such a lump of a bloke who'd been running all game was quite impressive

Quoted from diehardmariner

I suppose it's important to remember that at this exact point last season we outplayed Champions elect Lincoln and came away with a 1-1 draw.  I remember thinking after that game that if that was what a promotion favourite offered, we had little to worry about.  

That said, this is very much a different side.  Arguably you could say that whilst that Lincoln performance was very much reliant on the running of Woolford in a sort of free-role, Saturday's performance was very much focused around one man in Hanson and his role as the target for a lot of our more direct play.  Whilst I'm still a little uncomfortable that if Hanson gets injured, suspended or loses form we've gone a bit eggs all in one basket, I believe we're a far, far better side than 12 months ago.

I was far from impressed with the glimpses I saw of Hewitt in pre-season when in a midfield role. I thought once he went to right-back against Peterborough he looked a different player.  This has continued in the two league games and his ability to whip crosses in from the angle he does is such an asset, the fact he has a long throw isn't to be sniffed at either.  I was a little concerned how he would cope defensively in that position but Saturday he was outstanding.  I can understand why people are concerned about having a right footed player at left-back but Hendrie is, in my opinion, good enough to cope and because of how we're set up when moving forward, it's less of an issue.    Centrally Ohman and Davis won absolutely everything against very tricky forwards.  Ohman did show what he needs to work on early on when he got caught the wrong side and had to pull down their striker and take a booking as a result.  

I'm definitely in the camp that we need some sort of creative influence in midfield if we're to progress to a promotion pushing side, not for every game but definitely for some.  That said the midfield trio of Hessenthaler, Clifton and Whitehouse is just so energetic.  Of the 3, I think it's probably Whitehouse who is the one who needs to push forward a bit more and look to get beyond Hanson.  He's not a creative player and like the other two is about strong running, but a couple of times he did look to quite simply run at their defence, no drop of the shoulder or fancy step-overs, just pure headstrong running and it worked!  

Rose's injury is the big risk of a player like that.  He's explosive so we have to expect he will suffer those type injuries. Similar to when we had Jon-Paul Pittman here, always feared that he was going to pull up holding his hamstring.   Ogbu came on and I'll be buggered if he knows what he's doing so there's no chance of the defence pre-empting his decision making.  Second half when he used his body and strength he was really effective and something they struggled to handle.  I think he'll frustrate as much as he'll excite, I don't think he'll be the creative influence we crave in the traditional sense.  I can't imagine he's going to playing slide balls through for our strikers to run onto but as another physical presence, with a little bit of skill, he's definitely something to make teams think about.  Hanson was superb as was Green.  Hanson does everything we've lacked in recent years, not since Amond have we had someone capable of leading the line and holding play up.  Not since Gary Jones have we had someone capable of bullying defences but also using a footballing brain at the same time.  Easy to see why Green has been popular at previous clubs.

I thought 20 minutes out it was maybe crying out for Max Wright to come on and run at their defence, wasn't impressed with their right-back and thought Wright would have had him toast.  But I can understand why Jolley was reluctant to change a side that had dealt with a quite physical side very well.

Special mention to McKeown for that double save in the second half.  Well worth getting dragged over the coals for...

I would agree with every word of that. There wasn't a poor performer in the whole team but one man who has stood out for me is Whitehouse. Quite apart from his injury (and it must take a great deal of mental strength to play as physically as he does immediately on his return) he impressed me in other ways too. When they scored two of the Town players were having an inquest over who should have cut out the cross and he immediately intervened to say "get on with it".

He was constantly talking to the referee but not haranguing him...he was joking, smiling and generally building a good relationship with him....the sign of a good pro. He and Hess would be no-brainers if I was picking a midfield with Clifton not far behind. Up front Hanson was immense and Green's workrate won't always catch the eye but I bet his team mates appreciate it.  

Ogbu was a physical presence in the Swedish League but English lower league football is much more physical and he needs time to adjust...but he seems to have all the attributes to do well.

The only less than positive aspect was that Pollock looked exactly what he is...a very promising but young centre half playing against well established forwards. He needs time to develop and we need reinforcements in that position.

I think I'd disagree with regards to the space given to their full backs. I think we were more than happy to do this as our bodies in the middle limited their options from there hence why they often played it backwards.

Quoted from Mariner93er

I think I'd disagree with regards to the space given to their full backs. I think we were more than happy to do this as our bodies in the middle limited their options from there hence why they often played it backwards.

Agreed, in fact AL seemed to be telling the team to play narrower in the last few minutes.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I suppose it's important to remember that at this exact point last season we outplayed Champions elect Lincoln and came away with a 1-1 draw.  I remember thinking after that game that if that was what a promotion favourite offered, we had little to worry about.  

That said, this is very much a different side.  Arguably you could say that whilst that Lincoln performance was very much reliant on the running of Woolford in a sort of free-role, Saturday's performance was very much focused around one man in Hanson and his role as the target for a lot of our more direct play.  Whilst I'm still a little uncomfortable that if Hanson gets injured, suspended or loses form we've gone a bit eggs all in one basket, I believe we're a far, far better side than 12 months ago.

I was far from impressed with the glimpses I saw of Hewitt in pre-season when in a midfield role. I thought once he went to right-back against Peterborough he looked a different player.  This has continued in the two league games and his ability to whip crosses in from the angle he does is such an asset, the fact he has a long throw isn't to be sniffed at either.  I was a little concerned how he would cope defensively in that position but Saturday he was outstanding.  I can understand why people are concerned about having a right footed player at left-back but Hendrie is, in my opinion, good enough to cope and because of how we're set up when moving forward, it's less of an issue.    Centrally Ohman and Davis won absolutely everything against very tricky forwards.  Ohman did show what he needs to work on early on when he got caught the wrong side and[/b] had to pull down their striker[b] and take a booking as a result.  

I'm definitely in the camp that we need some sort of creative influence in midfield if we're to progress to a promotion pushing side, not for every game but definitely for some.  That said the midfield trio of Hessenthaler, Clifton and Whitehouse is just so energetic.  Of the 3, I think it's probably Whitehouse who is the one who needs to push forward a bit more and look to get beyond Hanson.  He's not a creative player and like the other two is about strong running, but a couple of times he did look to quite simply run at their defence, no drop of the shoulder or fancy step-overs, just pure headstrong running and it worked!  

Rose's injury is the big risk of a player like that.  He's explosive so we have to expect he will suffer those type injuries. Similar to when we had Jon-Paul Pittman here, always feared that he was going to pull up holding his hamstring.   Ogbu came on and I'll be buggered if he knows what he's doing so there's no chance of the defence pre-empting his decision making.  Second half when he used his body and strength he was really effective and something they struggled to handle.  I think he'll frustrate as much as he'll excite, I don't think he'll be the creative influence we crave in the traditional sense.  I can't imagine he's going to playing slide balls through for our strikers to run onto but as another physical presence, with a little bit of skill, he's definitely something to make teams think about.  Hanson was superb as was Green.  Hanson does everything we've lacked in recent years, not since Amond have we had someone capable of leading the line and holding play up.  Not since Gary Jones have we had someone capable of bullying defences but also using a footballing brain at the same time.  Easy to see why Green has been popular at previous clubs.

I thought 20 minutes out it was maybe crying out for Max Wright to come on and run at their defence, wasn't impressed with their right-back and thought Wright would have had him toast.  But I can understand why Jolley was reluctant to change a side that had dealt with a quite physical side very well.

Special mention to McKeown for that double save in the second half.  Well worth getting dragged over the coals for...

From were I was stood direct across the line, it was two players, who got tangled up and their player went down, like most of them all game (been to the Tom Daley school of diving), unlucky IMO to get a yellow.
The lino near the Main stand and the ref were crap, how many fouls did they get away with.

Quoted from 123614[b

[/b]]I wonder what the Bradford manager was saying to MJ at the end of the match?  He had quite a long chat with him as seen on the extended highlights video, it looked to me that he was saying how well we had played, but that's just going on his body language and a (poor) attempt at lip reading.

he said  " who was that bald headed fella who wanted to search our players bags for tampons?"