Swindon Town v Bradford City matchday thread

[Peter Venkman]

Both McCarthy and Johnson we rarely noticed other than getting their heads to a few of the high balls put into the box later on in the game, we kept a clean sheet as well. Thats the best compliment you can pay them.

Both look a good aquisition by the club. If Johnson had come here on loan I would say that we had unearthed a decent talent but to have actually signed him on a perm deal already I have to admit the club seem to have located a good talent.

McCarthy seemed to bring the best out of FBT too, long may that continue.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

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[Posh Red]

Looking back I’m surprised that Bradford only had two yellow cards, the same as us.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

And another dead cert pen - would have been a red card, too.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Both look a good aquisition by the club. If Johnson had come here on loan I would say that we had unearthed a decent talent but to have actually signed him on a perm deal already I have to admit the club seem to have located a good talent.

Surely PV, after one game against poor opposition who {bar Young} offered nothing in attack it's too early to say?

If by the end of March, Town have let in less goals than they've scored then I'll definitely agree with you on the defensive note.

Also, Austin 3 goals in 3 now. Yes he retains his ''Gunning Goals'' record but it must be noted his return to goalscoring and ''uptick'' in form started whilst Flynn was still here 

[THE FLASH]

Havent read back.

Pre Booze in Gluepot and a couple of Bradford in there....moaning about the £30 (inc fees) for away tickets.....understandable that.
 
City were poor but we still tried to gift them a goal. Defenders happy to clear first and take a bollocking second, which is most welcome in my book.

I will take the win though, all day long.

[Peter Venkman]

Surely PV, after one game against poor opposition who {bar Young} offered nothing in attack it's too early to say?

Absolutely its too early to make a decision but many of our young lads who come in make zero impact and often cost us goals, at no point ever did I think Benn Ward was a good aquisition, similar with Menayese and others. Johnson at least looked like he could defend.

[Bob's Orange]

Not read this thread back yet, I have to say the thread specifically designed to talk about managers took an interesting lurch over the weekend I see.

That was probably the most enjoyable Swindon game in some time. Helped of course by an absolutely abject opposition and a set of players who looked very much up for it. Case in point was a very lively RHM who ran and played as if he had weight lifted off his shoulders. We weren't brilliant by any stretch of the imagination, but looked organised and played to our strengths, put the ball in behind Bradford's slow defence and go from there. RHM, Glatzel and Austin were ideal for this, RHM had the pace and Glatzel the intelligent running and good work with the ball. Good play for the penalty which was finished with aplomb by Charlie and apart from a free header from Cook straight at Byfield, Bradford offered next to nothing. More good forward play from Charlie and Glatzel just before the break saw a neat goal for Devoy. And that was basically that.

Second half we should have had a penalty and had the ghost of Ricky Shakes not been in Tyrese Shade's body along with a pair of roller blades, we would have added to the tally. I thought Jake Young looked quite handy for Bradford, good snap shot testing Bycroft's palms as well as his concentration. Both passed the test. it was nice to see Gunning make use of his bench, the options weren't amazing but you couldn't really say any of the subs were weird, or a mistake. Johnson looks ok on debut, Devoy I'm not sure about. For me he looks very lightweight, but he took his goal well. Glatzel the pick for me, great energy and clearly has a bit about his. Pleased for Austin to get on the scoresheet again.

Newport away is a bigger test. They will be more physical and it should be a relatively hostile atmosphere. Let's see how we handle that game, but pleased to be looking up rather than down after a turbulent few weeks.

[Bob's Orange]

Glatzel looks like he's never played football before.

Don't usually pick out comments from the MDT, but this is quite a spectacular take.

[4D]

Just read on the Bradford forum that one of their coaches would not start after the game and were still stuck in Swindon at 7.30pm. Is that true? Poor sods. I like Bradford hope they get out of the rut.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

I think they let them in the legends longue while they waited.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Don't usually pick out comments from the MDT, but this is quite a spectacular take.

Haha! I very nearly commented on that myself. Probably best to give a player more than 5 minutes before writing him off completely 

[Peter Venkman]

Haha! I very nearly commented on that myself. Probably best to give a player more than 5 minutes before writing him off completely  

Its the Town way!

TBH I had to comment at HT about Glatzel as even at that point Glatzel had won the penalty and set up Devoys goal.

[RobertT]

Based on my first watch of the new faces, and taking a day or two to think about it, my views haven't changed much from full time (which I did not share, so you'll just have to accept it).

I thought that was an OK performance - the sort that you'd take in a promotion challenge and caveat with the fact the other team were awful for at least half the game and win is a win, plus we got the clean sheet.  Move on to the next, take the form.

First half was good, to an extent.  Second half was ropey, but we did keep them largely at arms length.

Given what we have seen recently it was a welcome improvement - exactly what I expected from Gunning given his past two periods in charge.  He just simplifies it all - which for players of dubious quality is probably a good thing.  The most noticeable thing was the defenders remained in defence - very few attacks began with a lollaping central defender, and even the couple that did saw the others sit in behind.  That made us much more difficult to break down.  We got the ball forward a lot quicker and Austin remained up top for the most part, other than the occasional push out left when Hepburn-Murphy cut inside.

For what he had to do, the keeper looked solid enough.
Devoy had a good goal, but he reminds me of the other midfielders other than that.  I can see him having moments but largely being absent from the mind.  What Bradford did manage to create was usually due to the midfield being in a mess.
Glatzel - looked good.  Not enough stickability at times, when taking control - tried a few too many flicks to try and beat the marker, but has an eye for forward play, that much was evident.  I'd be happy with his signing, if we had also added someone else - because we will need another forward.
Both new defenders looked like potential improvements, namely because they seemed to want to defend.  I'd still rather FBT moved out to the left, but the back four that finished the game looks OK.  Kokolo is not a left back.

Overall, good to see, but there are still so many issues to resolve as a squad.  I thought we looked much poorer once subs were made, other than Johnson.  The midfiield still looks paperweight and our options around the pitch are limited.  Better, but if this was the start of the season, I think my views wouldn't be a million miles off August 2023 - it won't get is up.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

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