SwissBlade
Well-Known Member
Went to Bradford today, first game i've seen since we lost 0-3 v Hartlepool in December.
Firstly, I thought we set ourselves up right, we were clearly aiming to unlock Bradford on the break or with cutting through balls and we created some chances first half. Brandy was the stand out player for me and caused a lot of problems. Murphy looked sharp and whilst his finish, unlike Bradford's first was shite he did well to work the position. Taylor on the other hand looked to be out of sorts. I thought we played better in the first half. Although we seemed to be trying to play too much football in our half, going sideways too frequently when we could've been getting forward.
Second half we ended up with a few changes. McFadzean and Brandy off and we seemed to lose some of the spark. McGinty soon followed after some woeful balls and he just seemed to lack any ability to get forward.
We seemed to changed the style second half, whether this was intentional or just how it panned out with the changes we made i'm not sure. Bradford dealt with most balls in the air first and second half, so i didn't think that trying to get crosses over was going to get much. And it didn't. First half we cut through Bradford by intelligent direct balls which cut Bradford in two, we didn't try this second half. Taylor and the strikers got a lot of stick on P&G, but second half I saw Taylor becoming frustrated that he was making the right runs, but either the midfield didn't see or they were slow to react and the chance had gone.
I'm fine with us playing pretty triangles, but we have to be more incisive. We needed to press Bradford and get in behind them, but what we tried to do was meander down the wings and put a cross in, by which time Bradford had four or five players back to defend.
We can play football in our half all day, teams will love it. We look a soft touch. Whilst Flynn, Doyle, Harry, Brandy and Long all played well, there were several others that seem to let the game pass them by.
Weir is fresh into the job, but he needs to get some players that are incisive and decisive. The strikers can take a lot of stick, but they need to keep making the runs and the midfield need to keep playing the through balls... and only then can we hope and pray that one of our strikers will be able to stick the ball in the back of the net.
Bradford were the deserved winners because they took their chances, but they were there for the taking.
Firstly, I thought we set ourselves up right, we were clearly aiming to unlock Bradford on the break or with cutting through balls and we created some chances first half. Brandy was the stand out player for me and caused a lot of problems. Murphy looked sharp and whilst his finish, unlike Bradford's first was shite he did well to work the position. Taylor on the other hand looked to be out of sorts. I thought we played better in the first half. Although we seemed to be trying to play too much football in our half, going sideways too frequently when we could've been getting forward.
Second half we ended up with a few changes. McFadzean and Brandy off and we seemed to lose some of the spark. McGinty soon followed after some woeful balls and he just seemed to lack any ability to get forward.
We seemed to changed the style second half, whether this was intentional or just how it panned out with the changes we made i'm not sure. Bradford dealt with most balls in the air first and second half, so i didn't think that trying to get crosses over was going to get much. And it didn't. First half we cut through Bradford by intelligent direct balls which cut Bradford in two, we didn't try this second half. Taylor and the strikers got a lot of stick on P&G, but second half I saw Taylor becoming frustrated that he was making the right runs, but either the midfield didn't see or they were slow to react and the chance had gone.
I'm fine with us playing pretty triangles, but we have to be more incisive. We needed to press Bradford and get in behind them, but what we tried to do was meander down the wings and put a cross in, by which time Bradford had four or five players back to defend.
We can play football in our half all day, teams will love it. We look a soft touch. Whilst Flynn, Doyle, Harry, Brandy and Long all played well, there were several others that seem to let the game pass them by.
Weir is fresh into the job, but he needs to get some players that are incisive and decisive. The strikers can take a lot of stick, but they need to keep making the runs and the midfield need to keep playing the through balls... and only then can we hope and pray that one of our strikers will be able to stick the ball in the back of the net.
Bradford were the deserved winners because they took their chances, but they were there for the taking.
