Bradford City (H) V Middlesbrough (A)

Tuesday 26th September

KO 19:45 - Northern Commercials Stadium

 

Form (Right is recent)

Bradford City

WDDDW

Middlesbrough

WLLDW

 

Well, that last game was quite something wasn't it? I think we'll need to be cautious of getting carried away, but a brilliant result all round. If I'm being totally honest I didn't expect us to be coming out on top, but the team look like they've found fire in their bellies. I'd like to give extra special praise to Isiah Jones, who by the looks of it worked himself into jelly legs. I imagine he will be rested for this game, he deserves it!

 

Predicted Teams

Boro

Optimistic for this match, however this is a cup game so we most likely will see a run out being given to a few less featured players. I've taken the liberty to craft a completely out-there lineup with a very small chance of being correct but illustrates individuals we might see featured to get your brain juices flowing.

Bradford

The Bantams will see this as a tough matchup, and our potential revival couldn't have come at a worse time for them. This is their team from their impresive 4-1 away win at Newport on Saturday. The eagle-eyed among you will notice Brad Halliday from Redcar and ex Boro prospect Sam Stubbs.

 

Insights:

1. The last time we played Bradford was in the Premier League over 22!! years ago.

2. Historical Matchup

Boro won: 21

Games drawn: 10

Bradford won: 15

3. Both of Bradford’s EFL Cup games have finished level after 90 minutes.

 

Questions:

1. What's your score prediction?

2. Which of our current young players do you want to see the most?

3. Is that Carrick out of the woods?

 

Glover

Smith mcnair lenihan engel

Hackney barlaser

Silvera greenwood rogers

Ell

Is what I'd guess. 

Would also love to see Clarke on the bench and give him 10 mins at the end if we've a 2 goal cushion

21 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

Glover

Smith mcnair lenihan engel

Hackney barlaser

Silvera greenwood rogers

Ell

Is what I'd guess. 

Think that will be pretty close to what we go for. I think O'brien might play instead of Hackney. 

Greenwood will miss the game due to being cup-tied I believe. May see Gilbert at some point. 

Id be tempted to try ELL in the 10 off Coburn to see how it looks against lower league opposition. 

4 minutes ago, Adam P said:

Think that will be pretty close to what we go for. I think O'brien might play instead of Hackney. 

Greenwood will miss the game due to being cup-tied I believe. May see Gilbert at some point. 

Id be tempted to try ELL in the 10 off Coburn to see how it looks against lower league opposition. 

Me too, bur maybe for the last 20mins. Coburn absolutely ran himself into the ground today. 

I’d be tempted to play the same team depending on fitness, they’ll all be raring to keep going imo.

This is going to be an interesting line-up. Two games unbeaten, slight lifting of gloom. Bad time to lose. (There's never a good time to lose.)

Two schools of thought. One is to play the reserves and see who makes a case. The other is to keep the good run (well, short stroll so far) going by picking as strong a team as you can taking account of injuries and fatigue .

The reserves would possibly look like

Glover

Smith - RVDB(if fit) - McNair - Whoever is fit

Barlaser - Agyemang

Silvera - Greenwood - Rogers

Lath

The problem with this is that because they're a team of strangers they'll get rolled over and all our back-ups who are currently suffering from lack of confidence will go even further backwards. What you probably need to do is sub out 3-4 from yesterday's team who played the full 90. So I would go with something like

Glover

Smith - RVDB/McNair - Lenihan - O'Brien

Howson/Barlaser - Hackney

Rogers/Silvera - Greenwood/Gilbert - McGree

Lath/Coburn

Try and keep as much of the spine of the team as possible. It would be ideal to keep Coburn as a starter but he may be blowing. The ball doesn't stick to Lath or Greenwood but maybe the time out watching from the bench will have given Lath a chance to take stock. I suspect Jones will be feeling the effects as he's not played many full games for a while. McGree is one of those players who needs to play because he goes off the boil otherwise. Give O'Brien more time to familiarise himself with the LB/LW hybrid role.

Looking at this you realise just how much of yesterday's win came from Jones, Coburn and McGree giving us some control at the top of the pitch. This is what we have lacked the rest of the season. Rogers, Silvera, Greenwood and Lath lack that ability. Unless at least one of them clicks, we're going to struggle all season with that issue.

Get through this and the Competition becomes interesting.

Mini cup run is very possible

Also ideal match for LL could find his feet and he back of the net

Treat it as a league match, play a strong side and try to gain a bit of form and understanding between the players.

Work towards that elusive clean sheet.

Rather have Jamie Jones in goal than ever see Glover in a Boro shirt again tbh.

Play Engel and Silvera to hopefully restore their confidence against lower league opposition, give Barlaser some minutes and see what Greenwood can do.

I've put Forss in his usual position on the right, i'd be fine with Isaiah Jones starting there instead but he looked absolutely knackered when he came off yesterday.

McGree, O'Brien, Fry and Howson all on the bench just in case.

Edited September 24, 20232 yr by Denzel Zanzibar

17 minutes ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

Rather have Jamie Jones in goal than ever see Glover in a Boro shirt again tbh.

Play Engel and Silvera to hopefully restore their confidence against lower league opposition, give Barlaser some minutes and see what Greenwood can do.

I've put Forss in his usual position on the right, i'd be fine with Isaiah Jones starting there instead but he looked absolutely knackered when he came off yesterday.

McGree, O'Brien, Fry and Howson all on the bench just in case.

I’m pretty sure Greenwood is cup tied. He came off the bench in the first round for Leeds prior to joining us on loan

9 minutes ago, Blanco said:

I’m pretty sure Greenwood is cup tied. He came off the bench in the first round for Leeds prior to joining us on loan

Oh crap yeah he hit the bar with a free kick didn't he?

Stick Rogers in there then, or McGree.

Is Harry Chapman still at Bradford? I remember when he was going to be the next big thing when he scored THAT goal. I think Smallwood is also there. 

GK: Jones - Want to see what he is about
RB: Smith - Could use the fitness and bring some experience
CD: McNair - Good enough for this game and we need to keep him as sharp as possible
CD: Lenihan - Captain for this game
LB: Engel - A chance to get his confidence back and see, if he has got what it takes to adapt 
CM: Barlaser - We need him to create chances and I bet he will get an assist or two
CM: Crooks - His more natural role, I guess and this could be a chance to get him going there
10: Lath - We all want to see him there, as his skills could be very handy in that role
RW: Silvera - For the same reasons as Engel
LW: Rogers - See Engel and Silvera
ST: Coburn - To see that partnership with Lath, that everybody talks about - Sub him with Gilbert at 60 mins

A good mix of experienced, fringe and new players .. 
 

13 hours ago, Hammy legend said:

Is Harry Chapman still at Bradford? I remember when he was going to be the next big thing when he scored THAT goal. I think Smallwood is also there. 

Yeah he is however he's currently banned as got caught betting by the FA. Shame really as I remeber he got record numbers in our academy and star player as we won the u21s Premier league and played in the uefa youth champions league. Sad to see his career is at that level