Away Match Day Thread +++ 30/12/2017 Bradford City v OUFC match day thread +++

I know for a fact that Mr Eales's father reads this forum and reports back to his son. DE gets his love of football from his father.
 
Pete Burrett said:
Thanks Morris. I was awaiting Mr Beasley's summary before commenting, but your first hand report has cheered me up somewhat.

I don't get to many games. I was at Scunthorpe early season (0-1 defeat but decent show from Oxford), at Bury (thrashed by a very poor team) and at Rochdale (embarrassing lack of ambition by us). The Wigan capitulation was bound to attract doom and gloom, but my overall sense is not that we are relegation fodder.

We are, however, not good enough as a squad, Pep is clearly out of his depth as a manager and post-match mouthpiece, and as for Mr Eales, well, where is he and what are his intentions? Plenty to be concerned about, certainly. I'm not expecting much from the January transfer window and anticipate a finish in the mid-table doldrums.

If Mr Eales cannot find an investment partner before next season, we might end up threadbare 2018/19 and a slide towards L2 might indeed happen. Given the positivity around the club under Mr Appleton, that would be disappointing.
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HayfieldYellow said:
I think another source of current negativity that the doom-mongers have lost sight of is that, looking at the last seven games, we've have a tough set of fixtures and have simply lost the games you would realistically expect a mid-table team to: two of the top three at home and a perennial top-six team (and one of the largest clubs in the division) away. There's plenty of cause for concern (injuries, the Wigan capitulation and the recent lack of wins) but we're not in as bad form as some are making out: it's three defeats in seven, five in ten, five in fifteen.
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Are we wishing everyone a happy new year or angry at the gregorians for changing our calendar system?
 
Was at the game yesterday sat high in the main stand with some Bradford supporting family. Firstly, both sets of players deserve credit for the quality of the game on a very difficult surface. No lack of effort from any player in Black but a few observations from my vantage point.

The gap between our defence and midfield caused us all sorts of problems, particularly in the first half, when our defenders were often outnumbered by Bradford attackers. Time and again only the excellence of Eastwood saved us. We didn’t learn and change/adapt, and were punished in the second half. The worry is with us being that open, even the poor teams can pinch a goal. I’m sure the MK Dons scout sat behind me made a note.

Our defending of set pieces also looks desperate at best. Some serious training ground work required.

Lastly, Payne’s introduction seemed to give a lot more of a spark throughout the team. We suddenly looked a yard quicker both in body and mind and only a couple of poor final ball decisions in the last 10 minutes prevented us from stealing a point.

Certainly not all doom and gloom but improvements in personnel and game management hoped for in 2018.

COYY
 
DenisSmithsWig said:
Bazzer, I don’t believe for 2 minutes we will be relegated this season. We also won’t be pushing for promotion anytime soon. We are a mid table team and I’d say this transfer window is more important for next season than this season.

You keep banging on about how awful we were yesterday but with all due respect you weren’t there so I’m not sure how you can comment on the performance of the team. Radio Oxford don’t always paint a full reflection of a game. Ive been to games where we have been poor but if you had listened to radio Oxford you would of thought it was a good game and vice versa.
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Not in the first half Dennis
 
Good lord some of the comments on here.

It's astonishing how short a memory some people have. Appleton needed his first season, with a squad that he inherited, with an injury crisis, to get everything together. Pep will need the same. If by the final 10 games of the year, we are still struggling, it is right that a conversation is had in the summer about a change of leadership. For all the people wanted Pep out - I'm telling you it will only hurt us in the long run. The only excusable reason for a manager sacking mid-season is a slide towards relegation, which we are nowhere near. The chaos it causes is immense - look at how Appleton's departure hurt our recruitment. I've been at clubs where it has happened mid-season, it damages so many aspects of a football club. Were we in the bottom four, I'd say it was worth the risk, but we are 12th.

If you still want him out on the last day of the season, that's your call, and it would be sensible time for a change if one was needed.

Of course you want to see better results, everyone does. But a change of manager is a massive gamble that could really hurt us. Give Pep the year (Assuming things don't get a lot worse) and judge him in May.
 
Highlights said:
Good lord some of the comments on here.

It's astonishing how short a memory some people have. Appleton needed his first season, with a squad that he inherited, with an injury crisis, to get everything together. Pep will need the same. If by the final 10 games of the year, we are still struggling, it is right that a conversation is had in the summer about a change of leadership. For all the people wanted Pep out - I'm telling you it will only hurt us in the long run. The only excusable reason for a manager sacking mid-season is a slide towards relegation, which we are nowhere near. The chaos it causes is immense - look at how Appleton's departure hurt our recruitment. I've been at clubs where it has happened mid-season, it damages so many aspects of a football club. Were we in the bottom four, I'd say it was worth the risk, but we are 12th.

If you still want him out on the last day of the season, that's your call, and it would be sensible time for a change if one was needed.

Of course you want to see better results, everyone does. But a change of manager is a massive gamble that could really hurt us. Give Pep the year (Assuming things don't get a lot worse) and judge him in May.
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Middlesbrough played 25 won 11 drawn 5 lost 9th in the Championship Manager Gary Monk sacked after winning I bet you're glad Steve Gibson isn't our owner/chairman

If Pep is to succeed like MAPP did I just hope he has decent players whom we may know and he can acquire. we wont be promoted this season but I would like to think like a lot of U's fans did before this season started and aim for minimum play offs as of the 2018/19 season
 
Copied of FB

Just been reading the Bradford FC forum. Most say we are the worst team to visit Valley Parade this season, and couldn't believe how many times we passed the ball off the pitch... I don't know if we are the worst, but I do know that it was embarrassing at times to watch our passing. I've not seen a team knock the ball out of play so many times in a game... Tomorrow is our first of many 6 pointer games to come. We need to improve and fast.
 
Oh do put up a link - I put that text into Google and the only hit it gives is back here. You can read the most popular Bradford forum here

We hardly warrant a mention - they are more worried about how they are going to do without Wyke, who they need in January and whether their increased budget wil be used to strengthen.
 
Oxymoron said:
Oh do put up a link - I put that text into Google and the only hit it gives is back here. You can read the most popular Bradford forum here

We hardly warrant a mention - they are more worried about how they are going to do without Wyke, who they need in January and whether their increased budget wil be used to strengthen.
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Sorry I don’t know how to do a link I think it’s in football rivals Oufc v scum posted by A Jupp but it’s just him s comments
 
Let's put a bit of perspective on Saturdays game. I thought we played some good football going forward and caused Bradford some problems but the defence was a bit of a shambles. Bradford are 5th in the table and are there on merit and we gave them a game in the second half. I have some sympathy for Pep as he has been unable to play his strongest team for any length of time. As soon as we get some good results and some consistency it's disrupted by injury to key players; Nelson, Riberio, Hall, Obika, van Keshe'll etc and even yesterday his plans were affected by Rothwell's injury. Personally I think we are only 2 or 3 players away from being a good team which will be addressed when Raglan and Ivo are fit and playing along with Hall. It was interesting to hear Pep say he has 4 fit strikers to choose from for the first time this season. That to me says it all.
 
headingtonoldboy said:
Let's put a bit of perspective on Saturdays game. I thought we played some good football going forward and caused Bradford some problems but the defence was a bit of a shambles. Bradford are 5th in the table and are there on merit and we gave them a game in the second half. I have some sympathy for Pep as he has been unable to play his strongest team for any length of time. As soon as we get some good results and some consistency it's disrupted by injury to key players; Nelson, Riberio, Hall, Obika, van Keshe'll etc and even yesterday his plans were affected by Rothwell's injury. Personally I think we are only 2 or 3 players away from being a good team which will be addressed when Raglan and Ivo are fit and playing along with Hall. It was interesting to hear Pep say he has 4 fit strikers to choose from for the first time this season. That to me says it all.
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From a stats perspective Bradford have had more shots this season than Oxford but fewer on target. However their conversion rate is higher. Conclusion.... Bloody well shoot! Statistically Goalkeepers at L1 level will make mistakes especially if weather or pitch are crap.
 
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