Graham Alexander says; “There will be a little bit of understanding the new guy” but it’s important that his Bradford City side; “understand our game” as they travel to Huddersfield Town in the West Yorkshire Derby.
Bradford City travel to the Accu Stadium this weekend, to face off against fierce rivals Huddersfield Town in the much-anticipated West Yorkshire Derby.
The Bantams will be looking to replicate the result from September, a rampant performance from Bradford City, as they came out 3-1 victors.
A first League meeting between the two in over 18 years, Bradford raced into a 3-0 lead at half-time, thanks to 2 goals from Bobby Pointon and a goal from Josh Neufville, Zepiqueno Redmond pulled a goal back in the second half for Huddersfield, but they couldn’t mount a comeback and the bragging right were Bradford’s.
That is until now where both sides will go into battle again, but this time Huddersfield Town have a new look about them.
First team manager Lee Grant was relieved of his duties last week after a 3-1 loss to Burton Albion, with Liam Manning being appointed as his replacement on Tuesday.
Manning is a manager of Championship pedigree, as he reached last seasons Championship Playoff Semi-finals with Bristol City, before being appointed as Norwich City manager in the Summer, but after a run of 11 games without a win and the team sitting 23rd in the Championship, he was sacked on November 8th.
The appointment of Manning could have thrown a spanner in Bradford City’s plans, and speaking in the pre match press conference, Alexander explained how he will tackle this hurdle;
“We do analyse the opposition quite strongly, but I break it down to certain bullet points for our team.
” Probably five percent of what I devour because our players need to focus on what we are.
“When a new manager comes in, even though it’s the same players, you can play a million ways with the same players.
“There will be a little bit of understanding the new guy, but it is so important that we understand our game.”
There were a few injury concerns amongst the Bradford City supporters following their 2-1 defeat to Cardiff last weekend, Will Swan departed at half-time and Harrison Ashby remained grounded after the full-time whistle following a heafty challenge, but Alexander insists he has a strong squad to pick from;
“We have a strong team to pick from, everyone came through Saturday well, so it looks like I will have some decisions to make.”
To add fuel to the fire in this local Derby, both Bradford City and Huddersfield Town find themselves in the League One promotion race, with the Bantams sitting 3rd, 7 points above the Terriers who are in 6th.
A game which means more than 3 points, this is bound to be a spectacle at the Accu Stadium.
Potential lineups
Huddersfield Town: GK Lee Nicholls, CH Radinio Balker, CH Joe Low, CH Murray Wallace, WB Lynden Gooch, CM Ryan Ledson, CM Cameron Humphreys, CM Will Alves, WB Bali Mumba, CF Alfie May, CF Bojan Radulovic
Bradford City: GK Sam Walker, CH Aden Baldwin, CH Joe Wright, CH Curtis Tilt, WB Josh Neufville, CM Max Power, CM Jenson Metcalfe, WB Ibou Touray, AM Antoni Sarcevic, AM Bobby Pointon, CF Stephen Humphrys