Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: selby on January 28, 2026, 09:52:59 am
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A few weeks ago this fixture looked daunting with the probability of Billy Pointon and Cook getting among our defence and Joe Wright showing us just what we have missed the last few seasons, and Bradford City seemingly on an upward trajectory to automatic promotion while we were wallowing down in the relegation places and more than one poster saying they couldn't see where a next win was coming from and team performances that were very poor and seemingly set for the rest of the season.
How things have changed Bradford losing their last three league fixtures and being well outclassed at Lincoln last night and booed off by their supporters, Cook has gone to pastures new at Grimsby, while Pointon and Wright sat on the bench looking on last evening.
While this has been going on we have brought players in, what were here have found some form and have given us a chance to get up the division and away from trouble.
What is the main question is can we continue the rise up the table for the third year in succession with a complete turn around after party season? and will it be worth next season having Christmas parties from August on?
Last nights performance should only beg one question about our line up for this game, with Byrne on loan from Bradford who will slot into the back four? will we drop Bailey our talisman back in the back line or bring someone in such as Pearson who seems to be well out of things at the moment, Grehan who has looked well off the standard required? and both fail to bring pace to the party, and certainly we will be tested far more in this game at the back than Leyton Orient did who were a damp squib up front.
For this game I would reluctantly play Bailey back there with regret to be honest.
Our mid field and forwards have looked to have really stood up with all the new lads including the keeper looking good additions
Okoronkwo looking like he is up for a challenge and is mobile and combative and allows others to play off him.
So a big crowd who if we get among them have never been slow to pressure their team, a manager who has blown up wherever he has been, and is changing the make up of his side not necessarily for the better at his other clubs and eventually seems to lose the players listening to him if history is to be repeated there.
Can we get at them and continue our good run? have we turned the corner? a big crowd and lots of pressure on both sides, can we once again burst their bubble? we should have only one troubling selection question from the team last night in central defence, what would you do?
Lots to discuss lots of questions to be mulled over, please have your say.
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They have only drawn a blank once at home this season, 0-0 vs Lincoln back in October. Probably will concede but we can definitely score there. And surely there is a second half change that brings on Sharp and Gibson together. Surely.
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I work with a Bradford fan and he ' hates that b&$tard Sharp who always scores against us', hopefully it will continue and I will have bragging rights :)
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The Sharp/Gibson thing surely must be just chance and unlikely to repeat itself, particularly given their recent performance levels. Absolute minimum changes from yesterday's 11 and let's show them we have even better than those two.
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The City fans at my gym in Bradford have been saying for weeks that they aren’t playing well even when winning or drawing. They aren’t confident at all and we have a decent record against them over the last few years.
I’m gutted that subject to a bed being available I’m having on op in my spine tomorrow, missing for me almost a home fixture. No bed and I’ll be ringing up for tickets straight away.
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The City fans at my gym in Bradford have been saying for weeks that they aren’t playing well even when winning or drawing. They aren’t confident at all and we have a decent record against them over the last few years.
I’m gutted that subject to a bed being available I’m having on op in my spine tomorrow, missing for me almost a home fixture. No bed and I’ll be ringing up for tickets straight away.
Good luck with the op idler.
Hopefully Rovers will win the game and help you to feel better.
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The City fans at my gym in Bradford have been saying for weeks that they aren’t playing well even when winning or drawing. They aren’t confident at all and we have a decent record against them over the last few years.
I’m gutted that subject to a bed being available I’m having on op in my spine tomorrow, missing for me almost a home fixture. No bed and I’ll be ringing up for tickets straight away.
Good luck with the op idler.
Hopefully Rovers will win the game and help you to feel better.
Good luck from me as well Idler
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Good luck from me Idler
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Personally hope we give them a hiding. Become a bit of a needle game this in the last few years. Don’t have a lot of time for their fans with their big attendance big time Charlie attitude. Would love us to bring them back to reality again
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We’re 2/1 to win this. Feels like massive value given our head to head record last season and their recent performances.
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I'm sure your op will go well, Idler. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
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The City fans at my gym in Bradford have been saying for weeks that they aren’t playing well even when winning or drawing. They aren’t confident at all and we have a decent record against them over the last few years.
I’m gutted that subject to a bed being available I’m having on op in my spine tomorrow, missing for me almost a home fixture. No bed and I’ll be ringing up for tickets straight away.
Good luck Dave
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Best wishes Idler. Hope all goes well.
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As I read Selby's comments a news flash came up. Raheem Sterling 'has left Chelsea by mutual consent'
This releases him from his 'Alleged' £325,000 pounds A WEEK contract.
Poor lamb. The redundancy package will no doubt tide him over whilst he searches for gainful employment. He's hardly played in three years. And they wonder why we love DRFC with Archie Irvine, Terry Curran Peter Kitchen and Billy Sharp.
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Attendance FC won't need to worry about Sharp and Gibson as neither will start and rightly so.
Seen there's been a few more take ups on tickets since last night, however still plenty left
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Best wishes Idler !
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Live on sky+. The joys of a 12:30 kick off
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Idler get well soon and play out wide left when your fit Buddy, or is it just go down the pub and give the Bantams fans a hard time for fun.
Welloffside thanks for bothering to read my threads, it amazes me.
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Best of luck idler hopefully Rovers provide a tonic. Think our run against them might however grind to a halt hoping I’m wrong obviously
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Best wishes, Idler. Get well soon.
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Good luck with the op Dave!
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The City fans at my gym in Bradford have been saying for weeks that they aren’t playing well even when winning or drawing. They aren’t confident at all and we have a decent record against them over the last few years.
I’m gutted that subject to a bed being available I’m having on op in my spine tomorrow, missing for me almost a home fixture. No bed and I’ll be ringing up for tickets straight away.
Sorry to hear you’ll miss the game Dave, it’s Sod’s Law that your op clashes with this particular fixture.
I was just about to PM you to ask if the Corn Dolly would be opening earlier on Saturday!
All the best with the op mate, I’m sure it will be a 100% success. Let’s hope the same for Rovers!
The City fans’ forum was in meltdown after the defeat at Lincoln. Every post was negative, slating the players, the tactics, the manager, the board ….. you would think they were in dire straits at the bottom end of the table.
We’re possibly meeting them at a good time and they will be dreading playing us because we’ve certainly had the ‘Indian Sign’ over them recently.
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All the best Idler.
I think Rovers have another great chance of getting a positive result there with the form of both clubs changing directions.
Our last two games at least, have shown the attacking intent creating lots of chances from some great passages of play.
Our new boys are integrating well but also, Sterry and Senior are really hitting top form, particularly Sterry who we love to see carrying the ball and unleashing those strikes on goal.
With Gotts weaving about doing alot to help us make the most of our possession we will hopefully have too much for Bradford to cope with for good spells.
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Bradford have signed Mullin on loan, Wrexham fans thought he would end up on L2, he hasn’t really recovered from a bad injury apparently
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All the very best with the op & recuperation Idler.
As has been said, a good time to be meeting them when we’re changing up into fourth gear with foot down on a long straight & they’re dropping into second gear as they tackle that steep hill their sat nav has led them to.
Usher wide, sponsored by the AA.
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Bradford have signed Mullin on loan, Wrexham fans thought he would end up on L2, he hasn’t really recovered from a bad injury apparently
Poor signing.
Strange that they got rid of Cook only to bring in another League Two level striker.
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It's saying last tickets but then all area maps now greyed out so assume that's top tier gone.
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All the best Idler.
I think Rovers have another great chance of getting a positive result there with the form of both clubs changing directions.
Our last two games at least, have shown the attacking intent creating lots of chances from some great passages of play.
Our new boys are integrating well but also, Sterry and Senior are really hitting top form, particularly Sterry who we love to see carrying the ball and unleashing those strikes on goal.
With Gotts weaving about doing alot to help us make the most of our possession we will hopefully have too much for Bradford to cope with for good spells.
…and rather than it being an “either/or” with Gotts and Clifton, their combined power in the Orient game added strength in the engine room.
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Bradford have signed Mullin on loan, Wrexham fans thought he would end up on L2, he hasn’t really recovered from a bad injury apparently
He scored 7 goals at league one level in 46 games 26 for Wrexham and 20 for Wigan. They have signed Ethan Wheatley from Man U he scored for Northampton when we played them at home. He's scored 3 goals in 22 games for Northampton
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Paul Mullin on
loan to Bradford from Wrexham not played since December 20th
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They are going to go route one and bully us, hopefully that will allow us to play to our strength of counter attacking football
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Was speaking to a Bradford season ticket holder at my house at lunchtime and he said they had signed Mullins.
He also thought that they have been struggling over last few weeks and were not playing well.
He had good words about Byrne and thought he would do ok with us.
His parting words were that he hoped that Billy wouldn’t be playing!
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I hope that Rovers will do a double (can we count it as a treble with the Virtu win?) over them but I have a feeling it is going to be a bit of a dour 1-1 draw.
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For me, i am usually optimistic but im expecting them to finally get one over on us! hopefully not mind you!
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For me, i am usually optimistic but im expecting them to finally get one over on us! hopefully not mind you!
No Fal, our winning sequence over them will continue tomorrow.
Have faith!
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No surprise, but confirmation from Graham Alexander today that Neill Byrne is not allowed to play for us tomorrow.
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They’ve also signed Kayden Jackson from Derby.
‘Rapido’ as Grant would say.
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4 goals in 70 games
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Hopefully them signing all these new players will mean they are further disjointed and not had chance to gel. We need a nice win here doesn't have to be big just a nice 1-0 get the three points and no injuries
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I hope that Rovers will do a double (can we count it as a treble with the Virtu win?) over them but I have a feeling it is going to be a bit of a dour 1-1 draw.
Id take that now
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A surge in tickets since tuesday? , all 2200 now sold out...
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Shame Frankie isn’t fit. He’s been really good in the last 2
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Game made for Billy though.
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Shame Bailey forced back in to defence. McCann clearly done with Pearson?
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Shame Bailey forced back in to defence. McCann clearly done with Pearson?
Has to be up there with the worst Mccann signings weve had.
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Shame Bailey forced back in to defence. McCann clearly done with Pearson?
Has to be up there with the worst Mccann signings weve had.
Massive list TBF. He's so lucky he can just go through players like he does
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That has to be one of the worst officiated half’s of football ever. Wow.
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A lot of positives to take from that game, it gives you a sense of optimism when, with abit of luck we could have come away with a draw against a top 6 side. Rovers will win more than they lose for the rest of the season.
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That has to be one of the worst officiated half’s of football ever. Wow.
I'm struggling to think of a half where so many unarguable mistakes were made by the officials.
Not seeing the handball for their "goal"
Curtis Tilt falling over with clear daylight between him and Sharp and a foul being given
Molyneux put into row Z and the linesman giving a foul against him.
Ball going miles over the touchline and the linesman missing it.
Those were as bad a set of decisions as you'll ever see. There are bats in caves on the far side of the moon who saw Jackson bring that ball down with his arm. It was literally impossible to control it any other way.
Then on top of that there were at least half a dozen 70:30 decisions that they gave to the 30. Both ways.
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Both teams were pretty poor there. Shout out to the 4th official adopting VAR in L1.
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That has to be one of the worst officiated half’s of football ever. Wow.
I'm struggling to think of a half where so many unarguable mistakes were made by the officials.
Not seeing the handball for their "goal"
If you consider them a team, 'they' did see it in the end. And credit to the ref for listening to the 4th official as I think 90%5 plus wouldn't have.
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To be honest I’m really surprised that goal was chalked off, as bad as the ref and lino were, fair play to the 4th official- he got dogs abuse from Alexander.
It was an extremely low quality match though, hardly any football, great goal though
I feel we were a little let down by Broadbent and Maxwell who were not really in the game actually Haks too, but a decent battling effort all the same.
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For me, not a difficult game to analyse. Unfortunately, we had no options to counter the run-around Maxwell was getting in the 1st half. They ran round him one more time in the 2nd half and we lost the game as a result (to be fair, a good finish also).
Other than that, two evenly matched teams with terrible quality in the final 3rd.
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We weren’t terrible and probably deserved a point, but we’re towing some rubbish.
Broadbent trotting round like a dressage pony, Gotts having to work double to make up for him. Maxwell well off the pace, got his pants pulled down all game. Then the subs, Gibson, Middleton and Hanlan all made us worse.
Good battling team performance though, missed a couple of chances, and worked hard. Gotts the stand out again.
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Never mind. We move on. There are worse things going on
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Thought we played well until the subs and after that we really didn’t look like scoring to be honest.
Although disappointed to lose it was a great strike and worthy of winning any game and to be fair they were due a win against us.
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Broadbent let his man go for the goal as well, gave him massive space to wind up that volley. Wouldn’t have happened if we had stuck with the line up from our last match. Cost us again not having enough competent CBs and having to put Bailey in there.
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I think the attackers should come in for more criticism than the defenders , a wonder strike which has won the game but the chances we have missed has cost us - a better performance but we’ve got to go out and get another striker with the lad from Everton out for 4 weeks that could have a huge impact on our season
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We have reverted to defensive problems down our left flank today.
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We have reverted to defensive problems down our left flank today.
Maxwell cannot defend to save his life.
Haks has a bad habit of losing possession far too easily. I know he brings something different to the party but to surrender possession with poor passing, poor control or being muscled off the ball is his Achilles heel.
Broadbent as has been said has the physicality of a Barbie doll.
Billy was unfortunate with his strike that it went straight at their player on the line.
Clifton needs to be calmer in front of goal, he could have had two today.
Hats off to McGrath who has been getting dogs abuse on this forum recently, he was excellent today.
They had their chances too & hit the post.
It was one of those games when one goal was always going to win it.
Grant will yet again be disappointed in losing all the points but, we have enough to stay up.
Keep the faith.
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Watched it in a bar in Tenerife with some Wensdy fans who were watching the other TV.
Thought Bradford did a job on us. They were in our faces all game, stopped us playing and made it a poor game to watch.
If we’d scored either one of our early chances then it might have been different.
Never mind.
We are NOT going down.
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On another day either side could have won that comfortably, really nothing between the teams but a good finish, something we couldn't find.
I thought there were some average performances. Maxwell, Broadbent weren't great for me and the subs were fairly ineffective. McGrath, the keeper and Gotts would be my picks.
Frustrating, overall we are no worse than the sides up the top as we've proven, but they just have that bit more clinical edge that we don't. It'll be a travesty if we go down.
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Broadbent is a passenger now Gotts has took his position up.
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On another day either side could have won that comfortably, really nothing between the teams but a good finish, something we couldn't find.
I thought there were some average performances. Maxwell, Broadbent weren't great for me and the subs were fairly ineffective. McGrath, the keeper and Gotts would be my picks.
Frustrating, overall we are no worse than the sides up the top as we've proven, but they just have that bit more clinical edge that we don't. It'll be a travesty if we go down.
Totally agree nothing between us and Bradford today. So pleased McGrath played very well, hopefully shut some folk up. He’s a great young prospect and should start every game and he’ll learn a lot at this higher level. Also before all the meltdowns go into operation, our recent good run has left us 2 points off 16th with a crunch match on Tuesday. Exciting stuff!
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I disagree , there was something between us today 1-0 . We never seem to find away not to loose . Bradford weren’t that good in front of goal , Sharp up front isn’t a threat . Why wasn’t
Adelakun Running the line for 69mins with Hanlan , McCann when is McCann going to change , weve just lost a hat full of games playing this way but Adelakun could have made the difference as he’s a handful in the right place Yet Adelakun who played well but was allowed to run all over the place barely offering a threat .
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People seem to focus on McGrath’s history of defensive errors when making judgement, rather what he does in attack and in his performances in general. Harlan came on and drifted around as though we were just preserving a lead. He plays effortlessly in the worst sense of the word, never seeming to reach 100% even when he has only just come on.
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That has to be one of the worst officiated half’s of football ever. Wow.
I'm struggling to think of a half where so many unarguable mistakes were made by the officials.
Not seeing the handball for their "goal"
Curtis Tilt falling over with clear daylight between him and Sharp and a foul being given
Molyneux put into row Z and the linesman giving a foul against him.
Ball going miles over the touchline and the linesman missing it.
Those were as bad a set of decisions as you'll ever see. There are bats in caves on the far side of the moon who saw Jackson bring that ball down with his arm. It was literally impossible to control it any other way.
Then on top of that there were at least half a dozen 70:30 decisions that they gave to the 30. Both ways.
He’s called Tilt for a reason
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Both teams were pretty poor there. Shout out to the 4th official adopting VAR in L1.
Putting the technology to one side. Is the fourth official meant to be correcting refereeing decisions? I thought they were just there to pretend to look interested in whatever crap the managers were throwing at them, not to actually be involved in making real decisions. Let alone from the Rovers’ data guy’s tablet.
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I thought we threw away a point at least to be honest. They really aren’t a great side at all but yet again we had 2 or 3 really good chances that we didn’t take. Only ourselves to blame
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The goal being disallowed for hand ball preserved McGrath's reputation today, don't know what he was doing there.
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The goal being disallowed for hand ball preserved McGrath's reputation today, don't know what he was doing there.
Clearly McGrath was in exactly the right place, because to stop the ball whizzing past McGrath and the forward, the forward had to block/control it with his arm. Bizarre statement, every defender is crap and would be out of position if the forward can use his arms to control a cross.
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Watched it in a bar in Tenerife with some Wensdy fans who were watching the other TV.
Thought Bradford did a job on us. They were in our faces all game, stopped us playing and made it a poor game to watch.
If we’d scored either one of our early chances then it might have been different.
Never mind.
We are NOT going down.
Christ, Wednesday fans telling you it’s a poor game to watch, heard it all now. Thought it was a good solid game won only by a cracking finish, hardly did a job on us.
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McGrath had a fairly good game today and good marks on the supporter bus’s for Man of the Match
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McGrath had a fairly good game today and good marks on the supporter bus’s for Man of the Match
I thought McGrath had a good game today, again
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The quality difference between the teams was negligible, Bradford sitting in fifth, ourselves in the bottom three. Both sides were terrible, could barely put a pass together. One true piece of quality won it.
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Thought Jay was our MOTM today, been critical of him recently but was mainly very good - you can tell he needs an experienced CH with him (no disrespect to Owen) as a few times he wandered out of position
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The quality difference between the teams was negligible, Bradford sitting in fifth, ourselves in the bottom three. Both sides were terrible, could barely put a pass together. One true piece of quality won it.
Rather harsh for both sides, based on league 1 norm
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The quality difference between the teams was negligible, Bradford sitting in fifth, ourselves in the bottom three. Both sides were terrible, could barely put a pass together. One true piece of quality won it.
Rather harsh for both sides, based on league 1 norm
Very harsh.
The pitch was shocking, very difficult to play slick football on that.
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Both teams were pretty poor there. Shout out to the 4th official adopting VAR in L1.
Putting the technology to one side. Is the fourth official meant to be correcting refereeing decisions? I thought they were just there to pretend to look interested in whatever crap the managers were throwing at them, not to actually be involved in making real decisions. Let alone from the Rovers’ data guy’s tablet.
Have you forgot Tommy Rowe being sent off on the word of the 4th official
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The goal being disallowed for hand ball preserved McGrath's reputation today, don't know what he was doing there.
That’s rubbish Selby.
McGrath did plenty to enhance his reputation today. Arguably our man of the match.
Please stop trying to trash him just to suit your blatant agenda.
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Fot Mob gave him Rovers man of match with 8 out of 10 and said he won most duels in the game which was 17
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Lee Turnbull on RS and DFP both gave McGrath praise for his performance too.
You only have to view the number of threads that appear after a match to see how hypercritical fans can be of our players. Looking for the negatives while ignoring the positives probably just helps people blow off steam and helps them justify the loss.
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Lee Turnbull on RS and DFP both gave McGrath praise for his performance too.
You only have to view the number of threads that appear after a match to see how hypercritical fans can be of our players. Looking for the negatives while ignoring the positives probably just helps people blow off steam and helps them justify the loss.
Jay played well yesterday. No coincidence it came against the team that “plays the most long balls in the league” according to GM. Jay is decent in the air, that’s his strength. Bradford played to it.
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Thanks for all the good wishes lads. Op went OK but took 2.5 hours instead of the expected 90 mins.I think that the extra anaesthetic must have got to me because they let me out yesterday tea time instead of Friday. The hard bit will be remembering that I can’t lift anything weighing over 2 pounds for six weeks. Hopefully back watching the Rovers by mid March.