Swindon Town -v- Bradford Official Matchday Thread

[stfcinbmth]

Aren't they the best supported side in the division?  Maybe they just don't travel well.

Apparently it's because their season tickets are as cheap as chips

[cheltred69]

Seems a few differences of opinion on the merits of players' performances today.

The defence had not much to do but were solid when called upon.
I thought Caddis and Ridehalgh were decent going forward but not outstanding.

Smith has improved so much since the start of the season imho and had a decent game today - He's never going to offer the flair that the likes of Ferry & Ritchie do, but he has a different role in the team which he performed well again today.

I thought Ritchie was great in the first half, other than his propensity to try to score from way out, but faded somewhat in the second.  Ferry likewise seemed less influential after the break.

Jervis controls the ball up really well but couldn't seem to get the breaks today.

I thought our 2 most disappointing players today were deVita (who was quite poor) and Kerrouche and I was calling for the substitutions that were made about 20 mins earlier than PdC implemented them.

All in all it was one of those really frustrating games in the 2nd half.  We really should have taken advantage in the first 45 when Bradford were playing more open football.  After the break it was a well organised 8 behind the ball, 2 up and then after the red card 1 up. We just never got the break and you could see the frustration setting in as we became more desperate to break through - you just sensed that it wasn't going to happen well before the end.

But, although disappointing, its not too bad - another point gained and the team should continue to gain confidence that they can beat anyone in this league on most days.

[otanswell]

Ritchie is a greedy cunt IMO

[wiggy]

Couldn't go today as my cover for work phoned in sick.

Listened on the radio and that was frustrating enough - Vic Morgan sounded pretty frustrated too.

To me it sounded like the decision making was pretty poor in attack, with too many players shooting from distance and players not on the same wavelength.

Still, we remain in the top seven.

[Nemo]

Ritchie is a greedy cunt IMO

He and Smith both fancied their chances from range today, think Gillingham got to their heads a bit.

[dphunt88]

I thought our 2 most disappointing players today were deVita (who was quite poor) and Kerrouche and I was calling for the substitutions that were made about 20 mins earlier than PdC implemented them.

De Vita had a shocker. Montano gives us an interesting attacking option on the left and we saw that today.

Kerrouche just seemed to float around in his own little world. Was quite a bizarre performance from an obviously talented striker as we've seen with his 6 goals!

[Bewster]

First game since the Pox so I'll give my view.

I agree with pretty much everyones view that De Vita was not in the game. Ritchie was a greedy fucker thinking he could score everytime, similiarly with Smith. Kerrooosh seemed out of sorts.

I thought the defence looked solid although rarely tested - McCormack was excellent, Flint was also good but he does worry me when he has the ball on the ground.

The sending off was a negative point in my view, it made Bradford defend even deeper and meant scoring was going to be a lot harder, saying that though after it there was no danger of losing.

Why didn't we try and get round the back more instead of banging in crosses to be headed clear by the tall centre backs ?

I'm happy with 10 points out of 12 but its games like that we should win. However having said that if we had drawn away at Plymouth say and won at home it would have looked better.

[Nemo]

Has anyone figured out what the red card was for yet? It seems to have gone down as foul and abusive language which is a bit odd seeing as the ref was about 30 yards from him and just ran straight over...

[Batch]

Ritchie is a greedy cunt IMO

He has been for ages.

"Problem" is he's also capable of winning games by doing it.

[Bewster]

Has anyone figured out what the red card was for yet? It seems to have gone down as foul and abusive language which is a bit odd seeing as the ref was about 30 yards from him and just ran straight over...

I thought it was a sliding tackle from behind - is that a red these days ?

[DA15red]

I agree with most comments. Crowd was better second half and we had more than enough chances to go ahead but the ball just didn't run. Just one of those days. I thought Caddis and Ritchie were ok but it was very noticeable until Montano came on that our threat was all down the right side. I thought Ferry was pretty ineffective. Apparently Montano is the best prospect West Ham have had for years and he looked confident. Jervis had a good first touch but even though he was marked by a giant he seemed to be shorter when he jumped as he jumped in a very awkward manner. We couldn't understand why we kept pinging balls in to the middle as we weren't getting any change out of their centre halves.

[Spencer_White]

Pissed off De Vita wasnt hauled off at half time, or at least only given 10 minutes in the 2nd half. Anonymous, again. Trying to come inside and play as a 3rd striker, but he never got the ball. All our threat was down the right. I thought Caddis was excellent (would have been my MOM) and he ran the game from right back.

De Vita is the only player I would criticise though. Other than that I thought we were unlucky. Sometimes this happens when teams 'park the bus'.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

So was Caddis 'dogwank' or 'excellent' or perhaps somewhere in between?


Can someone clarify?


I'm confused

[Spencer_White]

Caddis did more than any other player to try and break Bradford down. Yes he did put 1 cross into the crowd, but he also got in the box countless times to square the ball. Just too much congestion in their area.

We had 1 weak link in the team yesterday. But we couldnt even afford 1. We needed everyone to be in the game to break them down.

[Bennett]

I thought it was a sliding tackle from behind - is that a red these days ?

i thought it was from behind, off his feet and pretty impressively late. but i was in the DRS so it could just be spite that makes me think that.
Reid's stampy/studdsy challenge on caddis was bloody horrible and the ref bottled one that should've been a red