This was far from a great away performance but I thought it was a lot better than the last away match I went to (Yeovil) - maybe that's the progress that Weir referred to?
In the first half, I thought we allowed Bradford to dominate and looked like we were hanging on at times defensively but we more than matched them in terms of chances. Murphy's was the best of the lot but he put it far too close to the 'keeper allowing him to make a fairly routine save.
The goal was a killer, especially coming when it did. I'd have been happy with 0-0 at half-time and a chance to regroup a bit.
In the second half, we had all the play until they scored but didn't do nearly enough with it.
I thought it was noticeable that we were more willing to hit a long ball then we had been in previous matches. We weren't direct by any stretch and still arguably over-played at times but there were definitely more longer passes.
Main problems for me:
Coady - he's painfully slow in possession. He seems to take an age to decide what he wants to do so that when he does play the ball, the opposition are ready to react. A couple of times we lost possession in good areas because he delayed an obvious ball.
I wasn't at Brentford so missed the performance that led to McGinn being dropped. He's got to come back in for me though to try and get our tempo closer to what it was v Notts County and to get us moving the ball about quicker. We're so easy to defend against when we play slowly.
On a side note to this, I thought Doyle played well again yesterday.
The full backs and how we use them - Thought their defensive work was OK yesterday in general but we had 2 main problems with them. First, we left them quite exposed as a result of our formation and Bradford got 2 against 1 (versus McMahon in particular) a lot in the first half.
The other thing, again, was that we're not getting them into the right positions in an attacking sense. McMahon is definitely getting forward a lot more than last season but he's still not going far enough (probably a mixture of how he plays and him worrying about cover). His crosses are all diagonal balls from 30 yards away from the byeline and, as such, are very easy to defend against - even more so given that we usually have 1 player in the box waiting for them.
We've got to start crossing from better positions more often and the full backs will need quicker passing and support from the midfield to do that. We need to create more 2 v 1s against the opposition full backs.
Not sure I agree with McGinty that getting forward suits his game. He looks like an out and out defender to me. I'm disappointed Hill hasn't been given a chance yet.
At least we let McGinty go forward for corners in this game, I thought it was madness that we didn't push him forward v Colchester.
The attacking 3 in midfield - Only Brandy is firing of the 3 at the moment. He linked up well a couple of times with Taylor in the first half before going off injured. I think they're all a bit similar to work well as a 3, all pretty lightweight and all wingers/inside forwards with no naturally central, attacking midfield amongst them - no real number 10.
Murphy's struggling and McFadzean has yet to kick on and hasn't replicated his performances playing wide in a 4.
We improved for having Flynn on, he gave us more width and stretched Bradford more but, again, he's the same type of player as the others.
We're overly reliant on Brandy (who missed games through injury and suspension last season and looks unlikely to play every week this) and we're making do in the crucial position behind the striker.
Strikers - I think Taylor's shown the odd flash that there might be something there but he's struggling badly in the lone front man role. He isn't strong enough in the air and lacks the knowhow to look after the ball when his team mates aren't supporting him very closely. Porter did much, much better in that position but has paid for missing a few chances and now, incredibly in my opinion, seems to have fallen behind Ironside in the pecking order.
If we're going to carry on playing 4-2-3-1 then I think we either have to start with Porter, he can do most of the things required far better than any other striker in the squad, or bring in a player who is more of an all rounder but a striker who can play on his own, lead the line AND score goals isn't going to e easy to find or cheap. I think Weir had hoped Taylor was that man.
Lots to do before we get it right and a long way to go...
Quick word on Bradford. Christ their fans were up for it, can only imagine what it was like v Arsenal and Villa. Can't remember the home fans singing 10 minutes before kick off at a league game before. It was like a compilation of 'modern' football chants on youtube - dale cavese, just can't get enough etc etc. No proper Bradford songs but they were loud, incessant and really got behind their team (albeit in the most unoriginal fashion possible). Fair play to them.
Their team looks big, strong, committed but, Wells apart, lacking in terms of technical ability. Davies looked a really good L1 centre back and much more in control of his game than the panic stricken individual we saw when he played for us. Hanson is a massive handful and a great partner for Wells.
If they do lose Wells though, they're going to struggle massively.
From a betting point of view, might be worth watching out for cards in their games. Yesterday's ref was very lenient (and utterly incompetent) but they're not shy of putting a foot in. They bullied us really (almost all within the laws of the game I should say), bigger, stronger and wanted it more. Sides with more ability than us will be able to play round them but a lot will struggle at Valley Parade.