Why Solving the Striker Puzzle is the Final Step for Alexander’s Promotion Push 

written by Lee Pasquariello

In football, the stability of a club is the main form of success. In November I wrote about the “Alexander effect” and how Graham has taken us from an underachieving, mediocre League 2 club, to a team currently stable and find themselves today 4th in League One. 

The last 2 years have been an unbelievable journey for everyone concerned with Bradford City, but as we head to Sincil Bank tomorrow to face another promotion chasing team in Lincoln, a reality has set in for most of the fanbase. Being stable is all good, but if we truly want to be successful this season, more quality up front is what we need.  

The attack – City need more quality

The striker issue has been there to see quite a lot lately, but after Saturday’s very poor 1-0 defeat against Huddersfield, it has now become much more urgent. There are simply not enough options for a side that want to go up automatically.  

With Will Swan injured with an unknown return date, the responsibility now falls on Calum Kavanagh and Stephen Humphrys, and the results are not very good. Although Kavanagh works hard whenever he’s on the pitch, he’s currently scored no goals at all this season and I get the impression that he’s low in confidence, which is not good for any promotion chasing team. 

Humphrys on the other hand, I think on his day he is a good asset to this team and is a really good finisher, as seen by his goals against some of his former teams in Wigan and Barnsley. But I and a lot of other fans believe he might be out of position, with Alexander playing as a main striker instead of his usual left sided role he’s played in with other clubs. Another thing is his decision making at times is quite poor which I’ve highlighted before in previous blogs, for example choosing to take everyone on himself or shooting instead of picking a pass.

Slight tactical concerns currently

With Graham Alexander being the ultimate professional he is, it means he will always protect the players he has at all times. He was 100% correct in his post match interview on BBC’s social media channels about backing his team, but he did look like a man who was very frustrated with the lack of striker options.

Another thing that may be a concern is that the tactics have changed recently. For example in the last few weeks the intense high press we saw towards the start of the season has been replaced with a defence reliant on long balls. This particular tactic actually doesn’t make much sense right now, because our current forward options are one, not the tallest and second, are not and never have been ‘target men’.

Can the city board do more? 

This then leads onto the conversation about the club’s ownership. Last summer, Stefan Rupp said that he “definitely had the funds to take the club to the Championship”. If he truly does have the funds and the ambition, then you have to ask why this transfer window seems more like balancing the books. For example, we’ve seen proven goalscorers in Cook leaving, and also other players like Brad Halliday (who was second choice this season) being replaced with loan signings.  

Also, news broke from the club in the last hour or so that Neill Byrne has joined Saturday’s opponents Doncaster on loan until the end of the season, which further adds to the question.  

It’s frustrating because the club can do it. For example we’ve seen Newcastle United duo Harrison Ashby and Joe White coming in on loan, as well as Louie Sibley, to replace the midfield and full back positions. While there have been some efforts to rebalance the squad it seems like currently the forward line is currently not being looked at, which means fans can question why are slots in the team  being used on midfielders and defenders when we are so short up front? 

What also is very strange is allowing players like Cook to leave before bringing in another forward option, just like I highlighted on in Saturday’s match report. This entire transfer window has seen rumour after rumour about Manchester United striker Ethan Wheatley signing on loan until the end of the season. What’s bizarre though is one week everyone is saying it’s happening and that it’s imminent, and the next it’s all gone quiet.  

Overall though, at the time of writing there are only eight days left of this transfer window, and if Rupp is genuinely serious about taking City to the Championship this season, he needs to get his act together with the “Championship money” and bring some real quality in the attack to get us over the line, because not achieving anything this season, whether it’s the playoffs or automatics after being in the position we’re in would be a massive shame, and it could harm his reputation with the fans again. 

Final thoughts

Tuesday night’s test at Lincoln is probably one of the biggest of the season. As I have highlighted on countless occasions, a win over them would keep the pressure on them and close the gap to just three points. It will be tough though, Lincoln are in good form, and they will not let us get away with hoofing it for 90 minutes. If we want to get the automatics this year like Rupp said was possible, then we will need another plan that does not involve our attack being isolated. 

I do believe a proven goalscorer could make the difference this season and keep us up there, but if the transfer window stays as quiet as it has been all month it would leave me with a great deal of concern. The board now have eight days to bring in some decent quality to really make something of this season.