Departures

While I am not particularly sad to see the Boulding brothers leave Bradford City, I was concerned to see this story: Taylor interested in Hull job.

City News

Well… Graeme Lee has left, Michael Boulding has announced he wants to take a pay cut and stay at the club, and there’s no news on McLaren or Brandon. We’re into pre-season training now and only one of the “big four” has left the club. It is starting to look as if we might have a rather small squad this season given that signings seem to be dependent on departures of members of this small group of big earners. We have, though, signed a couple of players.

Bradford City 2-0 Rochdale – Match Report

Another Saturday, another three points and another goal for Peter Thorne – if I can keep writing that every week I will be absolutely delighted. So far, we have five points more than at the same stage last season. It’s very early days, but things look promising for Stuart McCall and his squad.

Summary: Rochdale started brightly and impressed with clever interplay between the midfielders and forwards. Shaw got in behind our defence a couple of times, but was caught offside and (thankfully) the linesman got the decisions right. The first half saw quite an open game with both teams attacking and I for one was mightily relieved when City’s first goal went in as I had feared the worst, but then I’m a pessimist – I always expect to be disappointed and victories tend to come as a pleasant surprise rather than something to be taken for granted. Another good performance from Rhys Evans and his back four was backed up by solid play in centre midfield by McLaren and Bullock and some exciting bursts by the the wingers helped to keep us on the edge of our seats, while the front two Thorne and Michael Boulding showed their class and looked a formidable pairing. The second half saw City come under some pressure from ‘Dale, but also saw some excellent counter-attacking play from the boys in claret and amber.

Rochdale’s best moments in the first half came down their left and Arnison looked to struggle a little defensively, but he wasn’t always helped by his team-mates. On a couple of occasions, Rochdale broke into the box and were not challenged by anyone in claret and amber – this was a collective failure rather than being the fault of one man. Meanwhile, City looked dangerous going forward. Omar Daley and Joe Colbeck have the pace and ability to frighten defences but sometimes make the wrong decision, or put in a final ball that lacks the required quality. They certainly excited the crowd though, and there were definitely more positives than negatives from the two wingers today. They should help to make City a force to be reckoned with this season and hopefully will perfom to at least the level they were at today throughout the season – it’s no good playing brilliantly for one or two games and then fading for the next three as most of our wingers have in recent seasons. Boulding and Thorne both looked sharp and I think what we saw today from Boulding is a sign of things to come, his fitness levels can’t have been great for the first couple of weeks as he missed a chunk of pre-season and strikers more than anyone need to be match fit in order to perform well. No match-fitness, no sharpness. ‘Dale had more of the ball in the first half, but City were more clinical in front of goal and defended manfully against tricky opponents who played good football and showed some clever touches. Football is all about putting your chances away and stopping your opponents from doing the same. To this end, Rhys Evans, Graeme Lee and Michael Boulding look like very good acquisitions and of the players still here from last season Matt Clarke, Peter Thorne and Paul Heckingbottom certainly played their part in the victory.

Second half, Rochdale came out looking to claw a goal back and made early substitutions (including Le Fondre) in an attempt to shake things up. City stood firm in the face of good pressure from their League Two rivals and with the back four looking fairly solid and Evans once again performing well between the sticks there was only one real moment of worry. ‘Dale number 10 Adam Le Fondre hit the woodwork and when the ball dropped it fell to a Rochdale player who was only denied by a combination of two City defenders (one of whom was, I think, Kyle Nix). I was convinced the attempt by Le Fondre was in and was shocked and delighted to see it hit the frame of the goal. Before the game, the lads on BCB (I think they call their show Straight from the Bantam’s Beak) reckoned it would be a City win and I think it was one of them who said that City would go ahead and would be able to catch Rochdale on the counter-attack. City always looked a danger on the counter due to our ability to pass the ball well and also due to the pace of our two wingers. The only real downside of the second half was that McLaren and Daley looked to pick up injuries. Daley was able to continue (a good job he was – we’d already used our three subs), but McLaren was substituted for Kyle Nix who later put in an excellent cross following some fancy footwork from Omar Daley. Michael Boulding and Peter Thorne also went off to be replaced by TJ Moncur and Big Barry Conlon – Thorne getting a fully-deserved standing ovation for yet another excellent performance, having set up the first and scored the second. Boulding had been unluck not to score a second goal when he broke through and cleverly turned his man before hitting a left foot shot that beat the ‘keeper and hit one post, before rolling across the line and going the wrong side of the Rochdale goalkeeper’s right hand post.

Back in June, I tipped Peter Thorne to be top scorer and player of the year and I also predicted that City would play good passing football and finish in the top seven. I’m on course so far and nothing would please me more than all my predictions coming true, with the exception that I hope City finish top three rather than top seven. As I wrote earlier in this piece, I am a pessimist – an optimist would have backed us to be champions. Any City fans who decided not to get a season ticket because it would cost an extra 52p per game or because they were waiting to see if they could buy-one-get-one free must be kicking themselves right now. They certainly should be.

Evans 8 – another solid display and some important saves. Put under pressure by Rochdale’s forwards but stood up to the test and should have had a couple of free-kicks when ‘Dale got a bit unnecessary from set-pieces.
Arnison 7 – looked better going forward than defending. Left short of cover at times. Decent, but room for improvement.
Lee 8 – the new David Wetherall certainly looks the part and made some important clearances. Excellent in the air and not afraid to put himself on the line for his team.
Clarke 9 – sponsor’s man-of-the-match was solid, no-nonsense and used his pace and strength well.
Heckingbottom 8 – solid in defence, did well when he got forward, too. Made some good runs and perhaps unlucky not to score.
Colbeck 8 – exciting, not afraid to take his man on and put some good balls in for the strikers.
McLaren 7 – another tidy performance, but poor pass nearly let ‘Dale in. Was later injured by former rave DJ Clark Keltie.
Bullock 8 – an improvement on his display against Notts County (which wasn’t bad). The kind of performance that impressed us last season was repeated today.
Daley 8 – I was maybe a bit harsh giving Omar 7/10 last time out. Another exciting performance full of pace and showed some trickery as well. Still too many aimless runs across the park. With better decision making and a better final ball, Daley could be awesome. I’m not optimistic enough to believe his defensive game or work-rate will ever improve much, though.
Thorne 9 – everything a front man should be. Calm in front of goal, puts in a shift every week and good in the air and holding the ball up – as well as having the knack of scoring important goals.
Boulding 8 – scored one, unlucky not to get two. Good partnership with Thorne and always looks to get in behind the defence. Should score plenty for us this year (fingers crossed!)
Subs:
Moncur 7 – brought on to stiffen midfield. Did his job well and helped City keep another clean sheet.
Conlon 7 – Barry the Bastard is like Ronseal, he does exactly what is says on the tin. Makes life uncomfortable for defenders, hold up play is excellent and having bagged a few in pre-season I reckon will get off the mark a bit quicker than he did last season.
Nix 7 – one poor corner, but soon followed that with an excellent cross for Thorne – who will have been disappointed to have slightly mis-timed header. Looks good on left, but I think is better in central midfield.

Stats to follow as soon as I can get hold of them. I don’t have the exact attendance figures, but from memory it was something like 13,150. I have a feeling Rochdale had more shots-off-target than City and more possession, but the stats that matter are in the title of this post: Bradford City 2-0 Rochdale. Three points for City and we are now second behind Shrewsbury in the table as the only two teams in the fourth division with a 100% record.

T&A Stats:
Attendance: 13,154
Shots on Target: City 5-6 Rochdale
Shots off Target: City 2-8 Rochdale
Corners: City 3-14 Rochdale
Fouls: City 8-8 Rochdale

365stats.com:
Attendance: 13,154
Shots on Target: City 6-0 Rochdale
Shots off Target: City 3-10 Rochdale
Corners: City 3-14 Rochdale
Yellow Cards: City 0-3 Rochdale

Football.co.uk stats:
Corners City 3-14 Rochdale
Fouls City 7-10 Rochdale
Goal attempts City 9-10 Rochdale
Shots off target City 3-9 Rochdale
Off-sides City 5-3 Rochdale

The Boulding Brothers Have Signed

New signing: McCall delighted.

More on City’s pre-season

Arnison is pleased to have signed for a club with a large fanbase and his move is partly due to Greg Abbott. Via the T&A.

Bullock is looking forward to Pre-season.

City haven’t signed anyone yet, apart from the three players already mentioned in previous blog posts (Arnison, Bullock and McLaughlin). However, football contracts tend to run until 30th June so it may be that we will get some news this week when City are able to make their moves on out-of-contract players. Darren Moore, unfortunately, looks likely to go to Leicester City but Rob Burch is still a possibility for the vacant goalkeeping slot and McCall apparently has back-up options if the likes Moore and Boulding don’t sign. Moore might not be needed if Graeme Lee is signing: Team Talk.

Friday’s Bradford City News… and Something From Mr Sensible

Via the T&A, three stories on City in the transfer market. The first is about City waiting on four transfer targets, the second story carries the news that Alex Rhodes has signed for Rotherham and the third relates to possible compensation for Luke Medley who has signed for Barnet and includes the news of Eddie Johnson signing a short-term deal at a League 1 club believed to be Crewe and a footnote pointing out that City’s first pre-season friendly against Harrogate Town has been cancelled.

The Medley article has a comment from a ‘Mr Sensible’ who writes: “Whatever City get it will be more than they have spent and if they get nothing it will be what they have spent to date. Not even dipped into the Fighting Fund.Wonder what next weeks promises will be.” The Rhodes/Rotherham article has this from Mr Sensible: “Good luck to Alex. Things can only be better for him away from VP” and the other article has this: “Here we go again with the usual hype. Lets have some proof of action and not another four weeks of Beckett, Moore. I understand Ronaldo might be available (Ronnie at Grimethorpe).” It looks like Mr Sensible might be the kind of person who gets his kicks from being provocative on message boards and blogs, but it could just be that he is a genuine City fan. The reason there is some doubt as to whether Mr Sensible is a troll or a fan is that City fans can be so negative about the team, the players, the management and coaching staff as well as the board. They are also prone to spreading gossip – hence this story on Billy Topp: Silly Billy Rumours.

On a more positive note, someone is obviously trying to maintain their optimism – apparently Omar Daley is the new Peter Beagrie. This comment is one fans might like to bear in mind when watching the team this coming season:

Confidence appeared to be fragile and the laid back manner interpreted as lazy, with bucket loads of abuse flying in his direction from the stands clearly counter-productive.

Let’s start the season with a clean slate and give all the players at City a chance to show us what they can do. Hopfeully they won’t let us down.