The most obvious defeat in the book

Walking away from Valley Parade after some defeats you hear the same murmurs on everyone’s lips. People trudging away after games like the 3-2 reversal to Crewe last season all mumbled phrases like “How did we lose that?”

Walking away from this 2-1 defeat to Lincoln City that continues Bradford City’s flirtation with the possibility of non-league football next season the reason for the defeat was obvious and the responsibility lay clearly with manager Peter Taylor.

No head scratching from Taylor one hopes and no moving around of the blame from player to player – although some of them could have put in better displays – but forty minutes into the game the City boss must have joined the majority of the supporters in thinking that the Bantams had the game all but won.

Lincoln City arrived on the back of three straight wins and seemed to believe their own press standing off and waiting for things to happen as City made play. The Bantams started brightly with a move down the left finding David Syers in the box and Syers’ playing over to James Hanson who scored his second in two games.

From then the City looked massively in the ascendancy with chances coming freely. Omar Daley air shotted in the box, Tom Ademeyi lashed over the bar but it seemed more of a “when” than an “if” another goal would come.

Some players were out of sorts – Daley and Gareth Evans seemed under instruction to stay closer filling the gap between full back and flank, whatever you think of Daley few would put him on a pitch and tell him to not try run against his man – but City were winning and winning well.

And then it fell apart. A quickly taken free kick went out to Gavin Hoyte and was swung over to Delroy Facey who hung for an age on the far post to head in with Jon McLauglin screaming at his defenders for not clearing while his defenders stared back to blame the keeper for being rooted to his line. The defenders were right, McLauglin was at fault for the goal but not the loss.

Although something happened to City after the goal that was ugly to see. The character which is brittle at the best of times shattered and as Lincoln emerged from half time full of belief City seemed to have been sapped of it.

Ali Fuseini came on for Lincoln and they stepped up taking control of the midfield and looking increasingly threatening. City’s middle three were scrapping with the visitor’s four and needed bolstering.

Which is when the game was lost and it was lost by Peter Taylor. The City manager – seeing his side struggling to regain midfield control – removed Jon Worthington who was putting in a good display as a foot in midfielder and added, well, no one.

As with the defeat at Crewe last week Michael Flynn came on and joined James Hanson in the forward line leaving Taylor’s side with something like a 424 which was utterly ineffectual. The four of Lincoln City were walking past the two of Syers and Adeyemi with such ease.

On this point I struggle. How could Peter Taylor – in football all his adult life – have thought that the way to win a game was to surrender control of the midfield? Adeyemi was more miss than hit while Syers put in his 100% but Taylor’s tactics – his tactical switch – required these two players to put in an insane level of work with two players against four while City’s four forwards looked down the pitch at them.

How did Peter Taylor expect this to work? That City would do better with less of the ball? Isn’t the idea that having more attackers on the pitch will give more goals but those ideas one of those things that people stop believing along with The Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny? Yet there we were, with four players watching two trying to hold the midfield together.

Lincoln scored of course – and by mugging Syers who had no back up – with Fuseini bursting through and producing a save from McLaughlin which Gavin McCallum powered the rebound in from. From then on – and even after Mark Cullen was thrown on and Gareth Evans pushed back into midfield – City never looked like they believed they could get back into the game.

So it proved, and while some might want to talk about the players “not being good enough” I can only say that I do not believe that Messi and Maradona would have been able to win tonight when put as two men against four. Games are won an lost in the midfield, and it was Taylor who lost it there tonight.

How does one categorise this? Before “the players weren’t good enough” we used to hear the phrase “tactical naive” banded around but never given a meaning. There was talk about “Plan B” and not the merits of change for the sake of change, of change without enough thought of the effect of that change.

Taylor was an outstanding appointment to the job of Bradford City manager – Mark Lawn found someone who had success and repeated success – but he has made mistakes concluded with by a substitution which hobbled his team, that exposed two young players in Ademeyi and Syers, and that threw points away.

At the end there were chants calling for Peter Taylor to be “out” – they were not widespread but by no means single voices – but rather sacking the manager I’d rather the experienced manager stopped making massive, misjudgements and started doing his job properly.

The silly season ends and now Taylor must ensure the real one isn’t over

Omar Daley is off to re-join Stuart McCall at Motherwell; James Hanson is going to replace Andy Carroll at Newcastle; City are using the unexpected windfall to sign Rotherham’s Adam le Fondre; Robbie Blake is returning to the club on loan.

The transfer window always gets a little silly and, as top Premier League players were exchanged for ridiculous sums of money in the hours and minutes before it closed, it was tempting to believe some of the magic dust would sprinkle off at Valley Parade as the outlandish rumours swirled. As it was the January transfer shake-up ended with the more grounded arrival of Scott Dobie on loan until the end of the season.

That anyone has arrived at all speaks volumes about the club’s ambition for the rest of the season. Manager Peter Taylor has already overspent on his transfer budget and, as Lee Hendrie departed the club a month ago and Jason Price rocked up at Walsall, the low-key arrival of Mark Cullen looked for a time to be the only reinforcement to boost a failing promotion bid. Then came Jon Worthington and now Dobie.

Throw in the return to fitness of Michael Flynn and – not far behind – Lewis Hunt, Steve Williams and Simon Ramsden, and Taylor has a number of different options compared to the players he had to select for the trip to Lincoln exactly a month ago. Now the challenge for Taylor is to ensure his new recruits make a positive difference, before it’s too late.

Because make no mistake, tonight is a massive game for City. Returning from the awkward trip to Chesterfield with the unexpected bonus of a good performance and a draw – albeit it in ultimately devastating circumstances – offers a small chink of light that the season isn’t over just yet. And if Taylor retains ambitions of managing City beyond May, he needs to get a run of wins that can claw back the 9-point deficit from the play off pack.

Saturday was a disappointing end; but Taylor has the experience and ability to ensure his players build on the positives and take their better form into tonight’s game. And if City can repeat their New Year Day victory over the Imps and follow that up with three points at Macclesfield on Saturday, the build up to the visit of his former club Wycombe the weekend after could be filled with optimism over the season having an exciting end after all.

But the margin for error is thin, and Taylor cannot afford for yet another slip up this evening.

January was a dismal month for City, but the temporary opening of the transfer window has enabled Taylor to reshuffle the pack and he will hope to now have a more reliable hand to call upon. The experience that Worthington and Dobie offer could prove significant, and Taylor will hope they can make a stronger impact than the now-injured Tommy Doherty and departed Price.

Certainly Dobie offers something different to Price, who ultimately was too much like Hanson for the pair to forge an effective partnership. Goals have been a problem all season and Dobie’s scoring record doesn’t leap off the page, but his know-how will hopefully at least help City to be more effective offensively and create more chances, so the back of the net is found more often.

After the success of Saturday, Taylor is under-pressure from some to play the same starting line up – apart from Daley replacing the injured Leon Osborne. Yet the 4-5-1 formation used at the B2Net stadium was more focused on containing dangerous opposition, and with the onus on City to attack at home it seems unlikely they will line up in the same manner at least.

Jon McLaughlin will keep goal in front of a back four which performed well on Saturday – Richard Eckersley and Luke O’Brien as the full backs with Luke Oliver and Shane Duff in-between. In midfield Tom Adeyemi may be pushed back into a wide position if Taylor elects for 4-4-2, with Worthington making a positive impression as a deeper midfielder and likely to partner David Syers. Michael Flynn will be pushing for a first league start of the season, but is set to continue from the bench for now. Daley will play out wide.

Up front, Hanson and Evans will probably link up with the former scoring a morale-boosting header on Saturday and the latter enjoying probably his best game of the season and showing signs of recaputuring the form displayed at the end of the last campaign. Dobie – who is taking the 11 shirt worn by Scott Neilson and Hendrie already this season – may be brought in to start instantly, though there is a question mark over if he will have international clearance in time and he hasn’t had a lot of football at St. Johnstone lately anyway. Where his arrival leaves Cullen and Jake Speight in Taylor’s thoughts is unclear.

Lincoln – demoralised and staring at the non-league abyss on New Years Day – are a club reborn. Three straight wins have made up for the six winless games that preceded it. They are two places and three points below City and, if they are in relegation trouble, a victory over the Bantams tonight would truly send the alarm bells ringing at Valley Parade.

So Taylor battles to keep the season alive and meaningful –  but not for the wrong reasons. And though it won’t be Adam le Fondre spearheading the attack, he is banking on his new faces and those returning from injury providing the club a much-needed lift.

And Taylor needs that lift to happen straightaway, otherwise he’ll be left effectively working his notice.