Bradford 2 Morecambe 1 [O'Sullivan] LIVE Thread

[redrobo]

Disgraceful comments Keith. Are you saying that all the worthy causes the club has supported over the years, including mental health, kick it out, cancer care, rainbow laces and many, many others to which I have contributed to on collection days, are just meaningless. To say it is an 'empty gesture' will cause great distress to all the people who organise these days and all the people who are happy to donate. I think apologies are in order. PS Let the FA investigate all the facts and then make a judgement regarding Songo'o. Too many people are acting as judge and juror without knowing the facts.

Exactly.....

[RapidShrimp]

Firstly, on Songo’o, he’s served his ban and is not yet proven guilty - he hasn’t even responded to the charge yet - so the club are well within their right to use him whether you agree or not. Personally, it felt a bit weird seeing him playing, but he did put a good shift in.

Secondly, Carlos and O’Sullivan especially had very good games, despite Carlos missing the 1-on-1 which would’ve put us back in front. He did some excellent recovery tackles & interceptions and drove the ball forward whilst in possession. O’Sully created some glorious chances - great ball to Mellor in particular. In general the lads put in a good shift tonight but inviting the pressure and having a mis-firing Cole and others didn’t help.

Thirdly, on Bradford’s second, Kyle Letheren’s just tweeted that the officials acknowledged their lad was offside, but they didn’t adjudge him to be interfering with play... The officials at this level are really shocking aren’t they - two of them in ideal positions and still couldn’t spot his clear lunge towards the ball...

Anyway, we’ve lost ground to a good few other teams that managed to pick up the 3 points tonight, so it makes the upcoming games even more crucial to our promotion efforts!

[Little Shrimp]

Thought that was an excellent match between two good League Two sides. Pretty even and either team could probably have won it - both made some good openings.

Bradford have been in great form and that midfield combination is really technically sound. Thought they troubled our solid midfield more than most with some really tight passing, but we still had some very good moments nicking the ball and breaking. That chance for CMG was our big moment, but he was too indecisive when through on goal which allowed for their defender to make the tackle. Overall he had a good game though.

They shut up shop very well after scoring and we lacked the creativity to break them down, which I think is where we might see the loss of Phillips hit hard.

On reflection, I think that Phillips was papering a bit of a creativity gap in the side. We need to be able to work the ball better when we get it and be able to, at times, control possession a little more to exert ourselves on a game. I like our counter attacking style, but I think that our possession/creativity game needs work if we’re to go from a good L2 side to a very good/great one.

Short term, I wonder if O’Sullivan might be worth moving centrally as he was a big presence going forward tonight and one of our biggest threats alongside CMG. We are a little light in personnel on the wing, though, unless DA gets Price included a bit more to compete with Slew for that position?

Just watched their second goal back a few times and my god what a dreadful decision, especially seeing what the ref said to Letheren...

[marky No.1]

Next season is the time to judge after a close season when DA will not have to make do with some players he has inherited.

So out of his inheritance other than AJ, who would he bin, I would be disappointed to see most of them go

Carlos
Lavelle
Wildig
O'Sullivan
Halstead
Stockton
Kenyon

Pringle is the strange one for me, I was excited when he signed

[fulwoodshrimp]

I agree Marky about Pringle. I thought he was a great signing. A really good League 1/2 midfielder. Has he been injured or has something gone on behind the scenes? There must be an explanation but we’ll probably never know!

[marky No.1]

I agree Marky about Pringle. I thought he was a great signing. A really good League 1/2 midfielder. Has he been injured or has something gone on behind the scenes? There must be an explanation but we’ll probably never know!

He's only had one full League game - back in September, 6 appearances, 2 of which were for 1 minute !
I had forgotten he came on in the 89th minute away at Exeter.
Total 270 minutes.
Been on the bench 13 times, so not as if he's not been 'available '

[bingleymoor]

Not really been in it in the second half , their passing has been exceptional , ours garbage !

Bradford fan here. Well done on your season so far, much better than us but I think we are on the way up now and you have had your peak.
Thought Mendes Gomes was a real handful and your best by some way but faded once we got a grip and also stood off Stockton so he had no one to foul every time he got near the ball. Some very considered views on here not as embittered as our forum, even one admitting there was no pen which Gomes admitted it wasn't apparently. As to the second BCFC goal replays suggest our guy was onside when the ball was kicked, just but was moving at some speed hence the impression he was offside.
Overall BCFC the better side, 63% possession, 76% pass completion v. 52%, 487 passes v. 284, your best passer NKP at 70% completion, 8 BCFC players better than that but as one of you says, a good game for this level, shame Adams had to have a running battle with the Officials most of the night constant screaming for fouls and so on did him no favours, made him look a shade desperate.
Good luck going forward, we need another 6 or 7 wins to be safe.

[Freez]

Agreed that it wasn’t a pen, however, Evans was just about half a yard offside when Vernon crossed in for the second goal, we have stopped it numerous times and he is only slightly ahead but ahead non the less. I know you are going to think we are always going to say that, but it doesn’t matter as the goal was given as if he was offside it wasn’t spotted, these things happen!
Strange game, three flukey goals, all either crosses or deflected, but hey ho, not a bad game to watch.
Good luck for the rest of the season.

[Sakhalin Shrimp]

Agreed that it wasn’t a pen, however, Evans was just about half a yard offside when Vernon crossed in for the second goal, we have stopped it numerous times and he is only slightly ahead but ahead non the less. I know you are going to think we are always going to say that, but it doesn’t matter as the goal was given as if he was offside it wasn’t spotted, these things happen!
Strange game, three flukey goals, all either crosses or deflected, but hey ho, not a bad game to watch.
Good luck for the rest of the season.

Didn’t the ref say he was offside but not interfering with play? I don’t know how he worked that out

[Little Shrimp]

https://twitter.com/LethK/status/1361802490564534272

Tweet from Letheren for clarity - apparently the ref told him the player was offside but not interfering. Ludicrous decision if that's true.

Bradford were very good and much improved from when I saw them vs Harrogate earlier this season, but were not clear cut winners of the game. Both sides had some good spells/openings, a draw probably would have been the fairest result. And yes, it's time for xG map to back it up...

https://experimental361.com/2021/02/17/ ... usel-27586

(Worth noting it doesn't look to have included CMG's second half chance with him being tackled before shooting)

[redrobo]

Next season is the time to judge after a close season when DA will not have to make do with some players he has inherited.

So out of his inheritance other than AJ, who would he bin, I would be disappointed to see most of them go

Carlos
Lavelle
Wildig
O'Sullivan
Halstead
Stockton
Kenyon

Pringle is the strange one for me, I was excited when he signed

I've highlighted those who COULD be on their way.... Possibly also Mark but I'd prefer to keep him if possible.

[fulwoodshrimp]

I wonder about Wildig. He is a good midfield player but misses a lot of chances that come his way.

[Caton83]

Out of interest, how long did Kyle Letheran sign with us for ?, and is he the long term solution, given that he clearly doesn't fancy Halstead as number 1 ?

[marky No.1]

Next season is the time to judge after a close season when DA will not have to make do with some players he has inherited.

So out of his inheritance other than AJ, who would he bin, I would be disappointed to see most of them go

Carlos
Lavelle
Wildig
O'Sullivan
Halstead
Stockton
Kenyon

Pringle is the strange one for me, I was excited when he signed

I've highlighted those who COULD be on their way.... Possibly also Mark but I'd prefer to keep him if possible.

The strikers position needs to be addressed for next season.
Derek has his hands tied with a wage for AJ, but does like Cole and uses him on his lonesome up front, with Carlos as back up, who for me is not a striker.
McAlinden is also hardly used and Freddie Price seems to have gone awol?
I would prefer to put a wage or 2 extra into someone who can actually get a few more shots on target, I know we can't compete for a 20 goal marksman, but someone that knows where the goal is would be a start, we would be 6 or 7 points better off this month alone