Bradbury

[Soton Blue]

During the whole game last night a number of people were continually criticising Bradbury. They seem to forget to mention that our recent improvement has come with him returned to fitness and that Freddy clearly plays better him beside him. Whilst his goalscoring ability has to be questioned his hold up play was superb last night and his distribution good. Far to often this season we have given the ball away cheaply. While it remains a problem at least with Bradders up front he provides an outlet from defence as does JCR.

So to all you Bradders knockers - give it a rest!

 

[SARF]

Compare our results this season with him in the the team and without..
I think he his an excellent player

 

[mattytheshrimper]

i think bradders had a good game last night, he holds up very very well but he's terrified of shooting. he gets himself into pretty decent positions that a shot should be made but he always goes to the wings. we are no good in the air so i am not sure why we always seem to do this.

i do feel him and freddy need to talk more as there have been ocassions where they leave balls for each other and they aren't there!

but end of the day bradders is a hold up player and he needs freddy to be making runs all over the place which in recent weeks he has failed to do, especially last night

don't get me wrong they played brilliant!

 

[C'mon you Blues]

because as Neil pointed out some days ago the average fan knows f%ck all about football. Simple as that.

It's why managers like Tilly ignore the fans and get on with the job of running the team.

 

[DTS]

My only critism of the bloke is he looks like he will never score again. Against the saints he had 3 chances to wrap the game up.

Hold up play, first touch, work rate, vision etc no complaints.

I think he needs a goal or two to get himself up and running again.

Top man though and defo 2nd best option.

 

[Mrs P]

I was amazed to hear people slagging him off - mind you NOTHING should shock me with some of our 'fans'!!!

He was the difference against Southampton compared to previous games...
Think he needs a goal for confidence - but his experience shows and def suits Freddy being next to him!

 

[mattytheshrimper]

i do think we have missed him badly this season!

 

[Rayleigh boy]

Undoubtedly does what he does well - and I think the
team have benefited from his ability to hold up play and give the midfield an out where they know the ball will stick.

But thats only one aspect of the game and hes not providing
penetration - his mobility and speed seem limited - and once hes held it up and laid it off its a little bit all over.

Selection wise it easy to see why Tilson uses him - better
target man than Harrold, more reliable than the youngsters
Hooper and Lawson - and Paynter imploded. Better for Freddy - BUT he is a bit static so the limitations to his game can be frustrating.

I would like to see more of Hooper, Harrold, Paynter but none of them seem ready to hold down the second front spot -

Thought Hooper added something when he got on at WHL -

But its a small squad and their chance will come - and Bradbury doesn't deserve any stick.

 

[Hooly]

Yes guys all very politically correct, he was superb with his back to goal last night , great control & distribution and no one in their right minds can say that he he had anthing but a good game last night.

If he'd have had a shot or 2 it would've been a fantastic game.  In extra time IIRC he got into the box had a shooting chance, shifted the ball sideways, had another shooting chance, took neither & then tried to play an impossible cross to Freddy.  FFS just lash the fecking thing, he is supposed to be a centre forward.  Anything might happen but if he doesn't try he can only fail.

He may need a goal but he ain't going to get it unless he takes a risk or converts an easy chance like some of those vs the Saints.  And if he continues in his shot shy routine, which he also did last season when coming in from wide, we'll never score enough goals to keep us up.

Great at what he did, but that isn't what we need with the lack of other goalscorers in our team.

 

[Jam_Man]

I think Bradbury has been superb so far and was generally good last night.

He had a great first half, 2nd half he actually didnt do as well, he wasnt getting hold of the ball as much and looked tired. However he then seemed to come back into the game in extra time.

He will no doubt always get criticised for not scoring but those who think he is a bad player for that doesnt appreciate what he does do for the side. We were crying out for a player who could hold onto the ball and link with midfield and thats what he provides.

He does need a goal, and a dose of confidence but we are looking far better with him in the team.

The only issue being when Freddy leaves, we do need someone who can score goals and the only one who looks capable is Hooper and he is completely unproven.

PS I think the reason he tried to cross the ball to Freddy when he should have shot was because everyone spent the whole match shouting "cross it" at JCR so he thought thats what he was supposed to do when he got it

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Bradbury's too negative-minded, every time he gets the ball he goes backwards and when he had a great chance to shoot last night he crossed it across to no one! He's the best partner for Freddy but it'd be nice if he could contribute some goals too. He is a striker, after all....

 

[mattytheshrimper]

been thinking about this for a while, Just a thought but maybe we would benefit more with bradbury playing off the strikers. maybe hooper and eastwood and bradders just in front! i no that would mean we would have to get rid of someone but i think thats the sort of position bradders would excel best in!

Just an idea!

 

[Jam_Man]

Quote[/b] (mattytheshrimper @ Dec. 21 2006,12:16)]been thinking about this for a while, Just a thought but maybe we would benefit more with bradbury playing off the strikers. maybe hooper and eastwood and bradders just in front! i no that would mean we would have to get rid of someone but i think thats the sort of position bradders would excel best in!

Just an idea!

But the best part of Bradburys game is winning and holding the onto the ball and laying it off, if he was playing deep then he wouldnt be doing that.

And the same point I always make, have him play behind front two and that means we lose all width.

 

[Jam_Man]

Quote[/b] (shrimpboy @ Dec. 21 2006,12:09)]Bradbury's too negative-minded, every time he gets the ball he goes backwards and when he had a great chance to shoot last night he crossed it across to no one! He's the best partner for Freddy but it'd be nice if he could contribute some goals too. He is a striker, after all....

I dont think he is negative minded just lacking in confidence.

Generally he is the furthest player up the pitch wins it and lays it off, its logical therefore most of his passes will be sideways and backwards, nothing wrong with that as its keeping posession.

However there are times when rather than being negative he is showing total lack of confidence and as you say should be having a shot, rather than being in front of goal and trying to cross it.

 

[southend4ever]

'the reason people do it is because they look at the invidual and not the team.' albert einstein (900A.D.)

they see he does not have sheer pace and clinical finishing.

he got to the ball a lot ahead of their defenders last night, held it up superbly and distributed it very well into the channels.

i felt last night we were lacking that presence in the box for crosses. considering our attacks were coming from the wings and crosses in there was no one in there remotely near to the height of their centre backs and i for one was hoping harrold would get half hour with the tactics we were using.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

JAM MAN

would it be so terrible if we lost the width as i know we work well on the wings and thats where we have most of our possesion but when we do deliver a good ball when never get on the end of it, we're no good in the air.

the amount of times last night and the whole season we have put good balls in from jcr and gower and no ones there and the nearest player is outside the box. theres no point. if we had a big target man who was very good in the air and is very attacking then it would be fine but we don't!

 

[Hooly]

Quote[/b] (Jam_Man @ Dec. 21 2006,12:26)]I dont think he is negative minded just lacking in confidence.

But, as I said previously, he was shot shy like that when he came to us last year.  There's got to be a time when, without Spinner, as our senior pro he's got to step upto the plate & make a centre forward's contribution and that simplistically for me is goals.  I think we agree on that.

By all means let him play lovely lay off football like last night, but then be we'll have to be happy with relegation as we don't have two 15 goal a season midfielders.  The big difference between him & the Goat was that despite ageing legs & creaking bones, and lets not forget there were w&nkers on here who laid into him regularly, Lord Leonard of Bermuda always tried to do what he was good at i.e. getting the ball in the net.  The assists etc came as a result but Shaun's career was made on goals not passes.  Bradders, as supposedly a centre forward, seem to have lost that notion.

 

[shooter mcgavin]

Quote[/b] (Hooly @ Dec. 21 2006,12:46)]

Quote[/b] (Jam_Man @ Dec. 21 2006,12:26)]I dont think he is negative minded just lacking in confidence.

But, as I said previously, he was shot shy like that when he came to us last year.  There's got to be a time when, without Spinner, as our senior pro he's got to step upto the plate & make a centre forward's contribution and that simplistically for me is goals.  I think we agree on that.

By all means let him play lovely lay off football like last night, but then be we'll have to be happy with relegation as we don't have two 15 goal a season midfielders.  The big difference between him & the Goat was that despite ageing legs & creaking bones, and lets not forget there were w&nkers on here who laid into him regularly, Lord Leonard of Bermuda always tried to do what he was good at i.e. getting the ball in the net.  The assists etc came as a result but Shaun's career was made on goals not passes.  Bradders, as supposedly a centre forward, seem to have lost that notion.

Have to say I agree Hooly!!

I think we are really close to having a really good side - just that the end product after a load of great attacking football, whether it be a lack of quality final ball after an exciting run by JCR, or the lack of a shot by Bradders is painful and is costing us massively. Obviously there are others that I could add to this, but these two are the most obvious culprits.

Aside from that, a fantastic effort last night - more of the same on saturday please!!

 

[Jam_Man]

Quote[/b] (mattytheshrimper @ Dec. 21 2006,12:41)]JAM MAN

would it be so terrible if we lost the width as i know we work well on the wings and thats where we have most of our possesion but when we do deliver a good ball when never get on the end of it, we're no good in the air.

the amount of times last night and the whole season we have put good balls in from jcr and gower and no ones there and the nearest player is outside the box. theres no point. if we had a big target man who was very good in the air and is very attacking then it would be fine but we don't!

MATTY

Its true we dont actually do much with crosses, but we also lack the technical players able to create chances through the middle either.

Every time we go 433 or take off our wingers we resort to hoof ball and then Bradbury sitting behind two strikers would be bypassed and wouldnt even be able to use his best attributes, getting onto hoof balls...

 

[Jam_Man]

Quote[/b] (Hooly @ Dec. 21 2006,12:46)]

Quote[/b] (Jam_Man @ Dec. 21 2006,12:26)]I dont think he is negative minded just lacking in confidence.

But, as I said previously, he was shot shy like that when he came to us last year.  There's got to be a time when, without Spinner, as our senior pro he's got to step upto the plate & make a centre forward's contribution and that simplistically for me is goals.  I think we agree on that.

Yep totally agree, he hasnt ever looked confident and should be scoring more, especially vs Southampton.

I dont think we canlook at it simplistically though, Id have him in the team every week if he only scored 2 goals all season as the team as a whole plays better when he is in there winning the ball and holding it up.

If we can get someone in to replace him whose overall game is as good AND scores goals great, but looking at the other options we have presently, and the players we realistically could buy Bradbury would be in everytime.

Id like to see Bradbury with Hooper to see how they do when Freddy leaves.