v Bradford City (h) - 12/8/25 - Carabao Cup

[yankfan]

3 hours ago, Tomphil2 said:

The pressure on keepers these days to play like sure footed centre halves out and inside their own box is both ridiculous and needless. No wonder the kid ballsed up he should be under instruction on his debut, keep it simple and clear your lines at all times.

However as much as i said on Sat and stand by it that WBA would have been out of sight first half if Pears played the opposite is true tonight. If he'd been in goal as he should have been he probably doesn't concede that and it's a different game.

Again though don't blame the players it's just piss poor management at team and director level.

Who was the genius who first looked at their squad and said, “we should play our attack through you.” And pointed at his fucking keeper? 

[LeftWinger]

5 hours ago, DaveyB said:

I don’t understand why we’re so intent on getting rid of Pears & Buckley in favour of Michalski and Montgomery.

More cost cutting of course. 

[RoverCanada]

- I suspect Gestede got overexcited by Montgomery shining at Chorley and saw him as a pet prospect he can tout (and fill the squad with someone who can't be on more than £2k/week!). Kinda feel for Montgomery, who deserves praise for showing some promise on a couple (non-league) loans, but is now getting needlessly exposed when a L2ish loan would do him well. (Having said that, he's 21 and will be 22 by the end of the year, so he's not that young).

- Tyjon needs to bulk up a bit, like any 17 year old, and needs to develop some 'guile' (was regularly caught out by Bradford players earning 'clever' fouls), but definitely has something in finding space, slippery movements, ball control/passing. Doubt he'll turn into a speed demon, but looks to me like he'll turn into a player who will find a way to succeed in spite of lacking size/speed. Of course, the question is whether he'll stick around with PL clubs allegedly circling...

- Shame about the gaffe, as I thought Michalski otherwise looked fine. In fact, thought his distribution was quite good the rest of the game (or at least I was relieved after being nervous every time he touched the ball thereafter!). Although I note Parsonblue's observation he's also made such errors for the u21s... If/when Pears is shipped out, we obviously need to find an experienced ~35ish keeper to sit on the bench (which should be affordable...) and find a L2/NL loan for Michalski, but whether that'll actually happen...

- I'd be curious to see how Buckley would do at L1/L2 as he's absolutely walked some of our past cup games against lower league opponents. Just gets caught out too much by the added intensity of the Championship. Didn't get much of a chance to do much last night... Would've thought he'd have been started to showcase him if they are keen to ship him out, but perhaps need to get Tronstad back into shape.

- I've been worried about Kargbo's seeming inability to cross with his left foot. His cutbacks and crossing didn't work at all against West Brom... but he actually managed a couple clever ones last night, including the one Ohashi should've buried..

Edited 4 hours ago by RoverCanada

[alexanders]

What I find most worrying after yesterdays game and saturdays game is our inability to create goalscoring chances. 
we don’t seem to have a good plan and look very easy to defend against. 
 

With that said we have absolutely made it super difficult for us by going down in the first minutes. This makes it even easier to defend against, because the teams can just with a low block and we don’t get the space required to create chances. 

[Mike Graham]

9 hours ago, Miller11 said:

I expect the fact that Ismael is bonused on giving young players their debut and minutes is a bigger reason for his team selection.

I was present when the conversation took place where this information was revealed.

[deanives]

I think im going to get a lot of stick for this but I dont see what the hype about tyjon is. He doesn't seem strong enough for 1st team football currently, seems lazy. He reminds me alot of Dan Butterworth when he first had his 1st team opportunities. Yes he does a few nice touches here and there but then doesn't seem interested or work hard. 

He may become a player but I dont think hes ready for the 1st team yet. L1 or L2 loan needed for him

[Mike Graham]

I can see our attendances taking a nose dive.  Not one corporate box was occupied last night (at WBA on Saturday they must have about 50 boxes and all were taken).  We did however appear to roll out a welcome to Bradford supporters; it was notable about 40 of them were in the Red Rose Suite at the BBE doing prayers during the 2nd half of the game.

Rovers posted a gate of just under 10,000 last night.  Are they really suggesting the ground was 1/3 full - a new bean counter needs to be recruited. 

[wilsdenrover]

10 minutes ago, Mike Graham said:

I was present when the conversation took place where this information was revealed.

Do you know whether any previous manager has had such a clause in their contract?

[Penwortham Blue]

I am going to struggle to add anything more to what has been posted already, last night was simply woeful ! The only positives for me were that Tavares looked like a decent player, Wharton and Miller were combative and Cantwell was clearly a class above anyone else when he finally took to the pitch. 
Having also been at the Hawthorns on Saturday, the real concern is where will the goals come from, there is just no creativity or goal threat. Gueye and Kargbo look beyond poor and I like Yuki but he will be very lucky to match last year’s goals number, too slow and totally unable to play a lone striker role. The other major concern is the team morale, with Travis wanting out and Tronstad playing like he also wants out, I imagine the team spirit is literally pouring away.

Final concern is that Arbitro seems to have given up on posting his post match reports and analysis, which I always look forward to reading. Might have missed it but didn’t see anything from him for the Baggies match and nothing as yet for last night’s fiasco. If Tony has given up, we really are going to hell in a handcart, and very quickly.

[Herbie6590]

4 hours ago, yankfan said:

Who was the genius who first looked at their squad and said, “we should play our attack through you.” And pointed at his fucking keeper? 

Marcelo Bielsa ? 

[Herbie6590]

3 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Do you know whether any previous manager has had such a clause in their contract?

It will be a KPI rather than a contractual clause surely..?

[Mike Graham]

3 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Do you know whether any previous manager has had such a clause in their contract?

We were told it was a new addition.  In my humble opinion it is all about trying to increase value for future sale.

[Mike Graham]

1 minute ago, Herbie6590 said:

It will be a KPI rather than a contractual clause surely..?

We were told it was linked to bonus payments.

[Herbie6590]

5 minutes ago, Mike Graham said:

We were told it was linked to bonus payments.

Yeah…so more likely to be a KPI that if reached pays out, akin to a sales target…

[Ricky]

Take it Chaddy doesn’t post when even he can’t manage to put a positive spin on something. 

[wilsdenrover]

18 minutes ago, Mike Graham said:

We were told it was a new addition.  In my humble opinion it is all about trying to increase value for future sale.

Smacks of a conflict of interest to me (for VI).

 

[wilsdenrover]

11 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

Yeah…so more likely to be a KPI that if reached pays out, akin to a sales target…

Would that still not be contractual though even if it’s conditional?

Of course hitting a condition on playing minutes is pretty easy when you’re the chap who picks the team…

[wilsdenrover]

5 minutes ago, Ricky said:

Take it Chaddy doesn’t post when even he can’t manage to put a positive spin on something. 

He hasn’t been told what to think yet.

[bigsigarner]

The constant cost cutting will eventually see us back in League One. Just checking on previous experience and last season young Tyjon scored 6 goals in 20 academy games. Decent but hardly unbelievable. Montgomery was in Division 6 and played around 20 games for Chorley and Marine with the Keeper playing for City of Liverpool who finished bottom of Division 8 in effect after being sent back from a loan at Bamber Bridge in Division 7. 3 months later these guys are being relied upon in our first team squad!!!

[M_B]

9 hours ago, Songman said:

Tavares absolutely dreadful? Wow.

I'll second that, Wow. 

[Torgeir]

Did Ismael prove a point by playing de Neve in two posisions? First showing how ineffective he's in his natural position at LM/LW, then how he was a duck out of water on the right. Some baffling substitutions last night that tells me Ismael was more worried about some of his starters than the result.

 

[davulsukur]

10 hours ago, pick32 said:

Put in the best two crosses of the game and got into dangerous positions, head and shoulders above every other wide player not that it’s hard

He normally does put 1 or 2 decent crosses in tbf but over a full game or even just 45mins, it's no where near enough.

[HowzBRFC]

Very niave from Ismael last night with his team selection. Even more surprising considering in every friendly he played the same team for majority of the games. Previous managers have gone with strong teams in this round to get a win. Winning builds confidence. That loss last night along with the Travis news i'm sure has has dented any fans confidence in the team, new signings and optimism for the season. Early days, but the lack of footballing ability is worrying. 

[Torgeir]

2 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

He normally does put 1 or 2 decent crosses in tbf but over a full game or even just 45mins, it's no where near enough.

It should've been 2-2 as Ohashi missed a sitter. Then who knows what would've been next. Rovers are a step up for Kargbo though, so we definitely didn't purchase the finished article.

[rigger]

9 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

I agree that rolling Buckley, Forshaw and Montgomery into one player wouldn’t make a Championship midfielder.

I have a strong feeling about Tavares. Elliott’s assessment of what he’d seen behind closed doors and how highly he rated him pricked my ears this week. He wouldn’t be third choice if Trav stays. I reckon he’d dislodge one of Trav or Sonny anyway. He’s a good player.

The interesting one is Henriksson. He looks a little messy and hasn’t clicked yet. But I think there’s a player in there. He found lots of pockets and linked the midfield and forwards well.

What I will say off the back of tonight, which aligns with you is that Tyjon isn’t ready, and based on tonight’s squad, Leonard doesn’t appear to be in the picture, so we need a RW, plus a striker and another wide forward for me. 

personally I would play Kargbo at right wing and say to him your game is simple beat the full-back on the outside then cross from the wide position with your favoured right foot.