League Two Bradford v Rovers

[Stickman]

As for Mumbongo, absolutely woefull

He just isn't up to it full stop.

 

[drwhoman]

More of the same. Holes and paper bags comes to mind!

 

[Sparky]

Question marks once again about the recruitment. Hewlet doesn’t look up to it, maybe we forget he was at bamber bridge last season. Mumbongo looked clueless. Chalmers was a bit lost at times.

The consistent inconsistency just drives you mad!

 

[Sparky]

Now 7 points off the play offs…

 

[Ian]

Now 7 points off the play offs…

Let's be positive Sparky.

Now just 7 points off the play offs…

 

[Goody Two Shoes]

Let's be positive Sparky.

Now just 7 points off the play offs…

A more realistic reflection of our season to date. A four point gap was never going to continue with our inconsistency. Could be ten if we don’t put in a performance on Saturday.

 

[Boz]

That was depressing. No shots on target some pretty approach play but it all came to nothing in the box. We seemed to get overrun in the middle of the park, especially after Morris came off, neither of the wide-players offered much help. That needed addressing in the subs, would have looked at bringing Lewis on and going 433. Despite that Hendry along with Bristow were probably our best players.

 

[Sparky]

Yes Bristow made the biggest impression especially on the home commentators. No way he’ll sign an extension in the summer as teams will be after him.

Frustrating that the home fans were starting to get anxious, both at 0-0 and when 1-0 up. If we’d equalised we could have gone on and won. But this is us of course and they shouldn’t have worried as we just don’t score enough.

A shame the season can’t end now as I’m fed up

 

[Ian]

There are some serious question marks over players. Hewelt, I just don't think he is up to it. That second goal, the ball just went over his head. Very bizarre. I would rather have Murphy in goal for the rest of the season. Hemmings just aint got it. He is doing nothing in games and although Micky is finally subbing him, he should not be starting games nevermind captaining them! Mumbongo, just poor. We need some changes up top to keep it fresh but god knows what he's going to do with that bunch. We seem a little top heavy up front now but it's just filled with a load of rubbish.

I agree with Boz above that we seemed to lose control after Morris went off as he was having a good game and Bristow was one of the better players.

 

[Sparky]

I head a rumour that Murphy isn’t training every day and has some back issues. Might be a load of rubbish but maybe he physically isn’t up to it. I fear we’ll limp through to the end of the season.

Then it’ll be some more rebuilding

 

[Ian]

 

[Ian]

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought it was a decent performance and a pretty even game, but our familiar failings in the eighteen yard box let us down. We got into good areas on a number of occasions, and the pace of Bristow and Saunders caused problems, but we are toothless up front. Bradford were decidedly average but were more clinical. If Cook had played for us tonight, we would have won the game.

Despite the result, there were some good individual displays. Bristow, Saunders, Hendry and O'Connor all had good games, as did Morris prior to the injury. Davies was superb and probably man of the match, albeit both goals we conceded were poor again defensively. For the first we seemed disorganised with nobody picking up on the edge of the box, and I think we would have done better with Turnbull in the side. I was a long way away from the second, but it seemed that Hewelt misjudged the flight of the ball and was at fault again. He is making errors pretty much every game and looks poorer than Doohan to me,

I thought Mumbongo actually did well when he came on, leading the line effectively and showing a turn of pace on occasions. He certainly offered more than Hemmings, who must be close to losing his place now. The Newcastle lad showed some nice touches, but seemed a bit intimidated playing away from home, which is perhaps understandable. I thought Chalmers was simply poor, giving the ball away far too often and making bad decisions.

A decent display, but we won't be troubling the promotion places until we find a centre forward that regularly scores goals.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We are absolutely bang average and that's being generous. There seems to be virtually no progress being made on the field with the current set up. If there aren't clear signs of improvement before the end of the season I think change is needed.

Until we have a wage budget that permits us to sign a prolific goalscorer and a promotion standard goalkeeper, we will be in exactly the same position under any manager. We are a mid table side because we have a mid table budget.

We brought in a couple of decent players in January, but we robbed Peter to pay Paul. We weakened some areas of the squad to strengthen others, and the centre forward position has not been addressed for several years now.

Mellon may well leave at the end of his contract, but there are huge risks in trying to replace an experienced manager at the time when the club is pretty stale off the pitch.

 

[drwhoman]

Until we have a wage budget that permits us to sign a prolific goalscorer and a promotion standard goalkeeper, we will be in exactly the same position under any manager. We are a mid table side because we have a mid table budget.

We brought in a couple of decent players in January, but we robbed Peter to pay Paul. We weakened some areas of the squad to strengthen others, and the centre forward position has not been addressed for several years now.

Mellon may well leave at the end of his contract, but there are huge risks in trying to replace an experienced manager at the time when the club is pretty stale off the pitch.

I agree. You can change the Manager but it is unlikely that the situation will change without new investment. It is worth reflecting that other than when Peter Johnson injected significant funds into the club we have always bounced between what is now L1 and L2. That has been and is the reality.

 

[Sparky]

Micky critical of hewlet post match which isn’t a surprise. Professional football is a tough business and hopefully it doesn’t impact his confidence too much as he’ll be tested a lot on Saturday.

Turnbull has a thigh problem they are waiting to see on. Jameson to be fair did ok I thought.

 

[Brightonian]

Of course the fantastic support of Peter Johnson allowed us the wonderful elevated status of the nineties agree outside what is our normal habitat of third and fourth tiers. However our Indonesian partners appear to have pumped some not insignificant sums in both Jan 21 & 22 transfer windows to push us over the line into L1. Given any investor wants to see some return, it is no surprise that their enthusiasm seems to have waned which of course has not helped.
Whilst I think Mickey has been competitively resourced and relatively well supported at this level, albeit within prudent governance, to allow a sufficiently strong opportunity for promotion, would agree a change this season would not be in our best interests. However football management/coaching is a results business and a comprehensive re-set may well be justified after we limp to the end of this season.
For now I am still looking forward to getting to the several fairly local away games now coming up in the south. My thoughts are to be a little more flexible with the system: perhaps go 433 with Chris Merrie left mid proving more protection and Hawkes impact sub. Maybe Kieron closer to Kane who are both strong technical players who may conjure up other threats other than the really predictable get it out wide and overlap . We rarely seem to be dangerous from free kicks or have a well rehearsed short corner routine, so more training ground work please. Trying to be positive on the plus side Regan Henry is a very accomplished player, Saunders has pace with a decent touch and not given up on him yet and Tom Davies has found his best form. No we haven’t got a natural scorer but be more creative with what we have.

 

[Goody Two Shoes]

I’m suggesting there isn’t an absolute correlation between budget and league position, it’s certainly one aspect that can impact but doesn’t guarantee success. Regardless of if you’ve “loadsa money” or if you “don’t have a pot to pee in”, managers, coaches and players have a significant part to play in any outcome. There’s history of teams throwing everything at it financially and falling short, just as there’s history of teams on relatively tight budgets having success; it’s not an exact science. The margins at this level between those with relatively lucrative budgets and their poorer peers are often minimal, evidenced by some of our successes on the pitch. It seems that right now, shooting ourselves in the foot, then doing it again…and again, is more of a handicap than any budget.
I guess it would be impossible to gather all of the entirely accurate financial facts to evidence each team’s league position relative to their budget, including teams in League One. I’m hazarding a guess that there’d be much undeclared, masked finances that the task would be onerous. If anyone can, and it’s not just speculative info, please present the evidence. To be worth its’ salt, it’d need to reflect a number of seasons to create an average overview. It would make genuinely interesting reading.
Edit: on FIFA 23, we’re second to bottom of League Two with our transfer budget with only Walsall below us; hard evidence of our struggles

 

[Am on mobile]

Oh well at least we are consistent no forwargs scoring bla bla bla and we all have to remember its a project . Familly wana get me a ST ticket for my big birthday coming up . But with work and the fact they are playing shit we are giving it a miss and think there might be others doing the same thing next year

 

[Stickman]

Of course the fantastic support of Peter Johnson allowed us the wonderful elevated status of the nineties agree outside what is our normal habitat of third and fourth tiers. However our Indonesian partners appear to have pumped some not insignificant sums in both Jan 21 & 22 transfer windows to push us over the line into L1. Given any investor wants to see some return, it is no surprise that their enthusiasm seems to have waned which of course has not helped.
Whilst I think Mickey has been competitively resourced and relatively well supported at this level, albeit within prudent governance, to allow a sufficiently strong opportunity for promotion, would agree a change this season would not be in our best interests. However football management/coaching is a results business and a comprehensive re-set may well be justified after we limp to the end of this season.
For now I am still looking forward to getting to the several fairly local away games now coming up in the south. My thoughts are to be a little more flexible with the system: perhaps go 433 with Chris Merrie left mid proving more protection and Hawkes impact sub. Maybe Kieron closer to Kane who are both strong technical players who may conjure up other threats other than the really predictable get it out wide and overlap . We rarely seem to be dangerous from free kicks or have a well rehearsed short corner routine, so more training ground work please. Trying to be positive on the plus side Regan Henry is a very accomplished player, Saunders has pace with a decent touch and not given up on him yet and Tom Davies has found his best form. No we haven’t got a natural scorer but be more creative with what we have.

I wouldn't make any changes this season but when Micky's contract is up, it should be considered if there isn't a clear improvement in results. Still 15 games to go though, so I'm trying to retain some optimism!