last year, mid-October
Stuart is gone for his tea - Darlington 2 Bradford City 1
Darlington 2 Bradford City 1 - League Two 2008/2009
Real football isn’t Championship Manager I keep reading but if it was what would Stuart McCall be doing after last night’s defeat 2-1 to Darlington?
He might say it was unfair that the home team got a later goal when their tiny midfielder out jumped Matt Clarke. “As if that would happen!”
He would probably say the same out Kevin Austin’s free kick five minutes from time that looped over Rhys Evans but maybe he should take a look at Evans who made a couple of great saves but was beaten too easily by this free kick.
He might do that thing where you clear all the players and pick your best eleven again but if he did would he include Barry Conlon who was booed by the home fans because he was playing so well cleaning everything out at the back.
He might wonder why his team has started letting in two goals a game in the last six games and look to the game before this bad run started. The difference is in the full backs. Luke O’Brien is coming on well but TJ Moncur and the way he ignores Joe Colbeck in front of him is huge problem.
The pressure on the ball on the flanks has been lessened as has the amount of possession City enjoy in a game and much of this is down to the full back positions and how those who play them play the game.
Dean Furman almost had another impressive game alongside Paul McLaren who looked good but it was Furman who was caught in possession allowing the home side a second goal as he looked for a perfect pass rather than doing the simple ball.
City did some simple things well for most of the game but were caught out trying to ease out a draw and now go to Grimsby down on luck and looking for a win at a team that haven’t got three points all season. Stuart has been watching players who know better and who has has seen play better make mistakes in the last few games and that is depressing. Darlington was different and most of the defensive mistakes of the past few games were ironed out for most of the game but still at the end the Bantams resistance was undone by errors.
How will Stuart approach the game on Friday? How will he turn things around? If life were like Championship Manager he’d probably turn it off and go for his tea instead.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:38
Last night was the first night I seriously thought of jacking City in for good. Its so frustrating watching them - I am absolutely certain that there is not another team in the english leagues that is frustrating as us.
Moncur needs to be left out now, he has had his chance but is by no means better than Arnison or Ainge. Despite whatRoland has written above, the blame for their winner I feel lies with Moncur, when he was ball watching prior to the 20 yard strike Evans saved. Had he been on the ball he could have closed the lad down and then we may well be walking away with an undeserved point.
Barry was brilliant last night, as was O’Brien I felt. But there were too many people playing for the cameras; Nix was trying to take on 4 men in midfield and lost the ball each time, Colbeck was either trying the same or shooting from 35 yards. When Joe did take them on, he fashioned 2 great chances for Barry, just evading the big lads outstretched leg.
Daley had an impact which we all knew he would, but it took City nearly 20 minutes to give him the ball in a position he could attack.
Stuart is looking to the loan market by all accounts, and midfield is where he should look. We miss the presence of Bullock in there - he gets injured and we start losing goals - is it coincidence? I lost count of the times they headed the ball out from the back and it went over Furman and McLarens heads and straight onto the back 4. When Bullock plays, he challenges for a lot of headers and his sheer presence in their ads that physical element to our midfield.
I still dont think we are getting the best out of McLaren - I understand the ploy of playing him deep so he has time on the ball, but I cant help but think he would be more effective slightly further up.
Personally I think we need to define the midfield roles - who holds and who goes? Whoever holds needs to be solid, good in the tackle and good defensively and in the air. If we play 2 attacking wingers, you need that central fulcrum to cover the back 4 if (and it will happen in this league) we give the ball away.
All in all, last night we deserved nothing as we didnt get the ball down and play. Credit to Darlington, they hassled and pressured us when we did have the ball, and we were resorted to long balls in the hope that someone would get on the end of it.
The positive thing is that we are still 6th and we have had a pretty off few weeks. All teams will go through this sort of patch, so we need to look at how to win ugly and make sure we are still top 8 by Xmas.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:38
Where have all the good men gone? I think its time McCall put out a missing persons ad in the t & a for Paul Mclaren. At the start of the season he looked like the midfield bolthold that would provide the bedrock to a sustained promotion push but again he appeared to be missing in action. He’s not the only one to lose his early season form. Clark and Lee performed slightly better last night but you still feel they give their opponents too much time and space in the box.
Last night Darlo were the better side, it cant be disputed. They look a decent side and were able to pass through our midfield far too easily. With a handful of guilt edged chances falling to the sharp Billy Clark, and the industrious Hatch, they could have gone in with a comfortable lead at half time. As it was we held out thanks to some poor finishing and a wonderful save from Evans.
It was at the 45 minute mark that I thought the game was ours to win. We hadnt been playing badly, and with Daley to come off the bench it looked like the game was ours for the taking. McCall did everything right in my opinion. Thorne was having one of those nights where he was struggling to get involved and Barry was having a very effective display, which justified his decision to swap Thorne for Boulding. Could McCall have been braver and swapped Nix at half time? Maybe. The truth is though that McCall probably wanted to see if we could stabilise the game at 0 - 0 a little longer so that Daleys impact would be felt later in the game.
Nix is a player who is popular with the fans. I can’t see it myself. I struggle to see what he adds to the team. He scored 9 goals last season which isnt bad but I feel this is more than cancelled out by his lack of quality contributions and the amount of time he finds touch or gives the ball away. Therefore, it was a relief to see Daley brought on with apparently enough time to turn the game in City’s favour.
Colbeck had a decent game and Furman was impressive again. Furman has clearly picked up a few habits that have been stolen from the top level. He has a nice ability to thread the ball between full back and centre back with decent effect, something that saw Colbeck in behind on two occasions. Furman lost possession for the Darlo winner but only the most idiotic cretins would blame him. Every player gives the ball away a handful of times during any match its just unfortunate that when Furman lost it, it lead to Darlo’s winner.
The defence was better tonight, apart from Moncur whose distribution and decision making seem baffling at times. His decision to level Burgmeier may seem appropriate in the first minute to take away the wingers appetite and to escape a booking, but the manner in which he took him out could have easily lead to a red card. The first goal was mildly reminiscent of Ronaldinho’s WC 2002 free kick that eluded Seaman. As Austin connected with the ball you could see Evans edging towards the six yard line, with all his weight moving forward it looked a goal all the way. I wouldnt blame Evans though, who had a decent night. The second was arguably a Lee own goal and came as a result of a delicious ball which was bound to find joy at some stage. Until then City had coped with other similar centres with relative ease.
On the other side O’Brien had a really positive game and he looks like he could be real gem in a traditional problem area. He was willing to get beyond the anonymous Nix, and did a good job on his defensive duties. My shout for man of the match.
All in all its easy to be down on City but with Daley back in the side, I really think we can go onto beat Grimsby on Friday. Mike Newell was at the game last night and you just hope that the Mariners dont reap the benefits of the ‘new manager’ syndrome.
McCall’s key task now is to redefine his midfield roles. With Arnison back in the team you would like to think that his style will allow Colbeck to get some more chalk on his boots rather than coming inside to feed off the scraps lumped up field by Moncur. I would also tell Furman to be a bit more progressive. I’d like to think Furman could be a ten goal a season midfielder i he gambles a bit more and gets quickly into the box as the third man. Mclaren needs to find his form again and fast, otherwise the return of Bullock cant come soon enough. As for Daley well he needs to just keep doing what he’s doing, running at full backs and creating problems.
Recent form has been below par, but losing to Darlo is not a reason to panic. I think we still have enough to beat most of the teams in this division. A bit of fine tuning should see us ready for a pre christmas push back into automatic contention.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:48
Gillingham Home. Darlington Away. Grimsby Away. Which one of these fixtures would you consider as the hardest to pick up points? Surely Darlington? So why did Stuart play Omar on Saturday?
The last 3 home games before the Gillingham match had seen teams employ mass defensive barricades. City’s counter attacking ability gone and Omar’s game stifled. So why not save Omar and his Caribbean-jet-lag for Monday night? When City’s counter attacking game came back into play? Nix could have played Saturday and his style of game may have had more success than the sheer pace of Omar.
Managers when interviewed always say ‘We will take it one game at a time’. However, 6-game October demands Stuart to look where each game fits into the grand scheme of things. A more calculated approach is required if we are to improve.
Whilst I accept that Luke O’Brien has played well and TJ less so, I do believe we need the senior pros back in the team at the earliest available opportunity. Heckingbottom and Arnison are both able to manipulate play from their respective wide areas and provide the support that both widemen are currently lacking.
On Friday night Blundell Park will see a team going back to basics. Hopefully, it won’t just be the one with the new manager.
October 21st, 2008 at 14:01
Also my first posting on this excellent site.
I live in Guildford and have managed to see City on 4 occasions so far this season - Aldershot and Shrewsbury away and Bournemouth and Gillingham at home. My point, and I suppose question for the main writers on this site, is that in all honesty we have not been the best team at any of these matches and I would suggest that this is probably true of most of the games I have not had chance to see live but followed via reports, tv etc. (last night being another example)
I hate the boo boy culture (and it is worth pointing out this affects every football club - see Wolves, top of the Championship) and some of the negative comment
I have read on other City sites (which is effectively just slagging off) but I am genuinely worried that we are not as good as we all hoped, and thought, we would be this season. I know there is a long way to go and we may still achieve our ambition of promotion this season, but this is more out of hope right now than realistic belief.
I agree with many of the posts that we have some good players: Thorne, Furman, Daley, Lee for eg but as a team we still seem to be lacking a vital spark of inspiration and leadership to influence events when things are not going our way
I hate writing anything negative about Stuart but his motivational skills and vision for the team must become clearer over the next few games as we have looked an average mid-table team in recent weeks and if we are going to achieve the targets set by the Board for this season. I think the bookies were right to install us as favourites for promotion and any sensible fan will know we have no divine right to achieve this.
I fear that a few more indifferent performances will only add to the pressure to succeed that is already firmly on Stuarts head and really hope a winter of discontent at VP is not in store.
Wishing the management team, the players and the fans well at Grimsby on Friday - another tough one me thinks!
October 21st, 2008 at 22:43
We have the best attacking side in the League, but when we play away from home, we neither pick our best side nor play our best tactics.
Thorne & Boulding are two of the best 5 strikers in the league - so pick them. Daley & Colbeck are two of the best widemen in the League - so pick them.
Darlington offered very little but we just belted it long all the time. Attack is our strength, but we never tried to attack. Colbeck got the ball out wide twice, Daley once - we scored one and arguably all 3 would have been goals had Boulding been playing.
Barry Conlon tries his heart out but he is just a poor player - if we think he had a good game last night then that can only say how bad the rest of the players were. He defended well but maybe that’s in relation to Clarke & Moncur who are terrible.
‘Back to basics’? - good plan - pick your best side and play to your strengths.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:00
Arnison should definetly be back on Friday you would hope, Hecky has an injury i heard so O’Brien can carry on as he has done pretty well.
There was little in the way of pressure put on the Darlo players the other night - we seemed content or unsure about pushing forward bar a few occasions from Colbeck and late on Omar - midfield saw all action from Furman but let down by the subdued and deep running McLaren who’s form has been less than impressive - the distribution and service to the forwards was appalling compared to the early games - the absence of Bullock and Brandon means we are short and Bower could add stability at the back if he was not also injured.
Loan players seems a good option but i wonder what funds there are left to bring some decent ones in? - and Topp remains on the sidelines - If we are going to change formation then maybe he could play a role behind the front 2? - he has the speed and sklill to make things happen.
3-3-1-2 anyone?