What a truly impressive start we’ve made to this new season. 11 league matches in and the Bantams still sit undefeated in League One this term despite facing some tough opposition and some even tougher away trips during the early part of this campaign.
On Saturday we look forward to a visit from Shropshire side Shrewsbury Town who are in very contrasting form to Bradford. With only 2 wins so far in League One to their name, the Shrews have struggled to get going this year and currently sit in 22nd place in the table.
First, let’s take a look at the Bantams who have taken League One by storm so far this season. Still unbeaten after 11 matches, Stuart McCall has impressively built a squad capable of challenging at the top of the table come May. Mixing experience and youth both in the starting XI most weekends and throughout the whole team in general, Bradford City have great squad depth this year compared to most other sides in League One. With plenty of players knocking on the door of the first team, McCall and assistant Kenny Black have the nicest of headaches in a footballing sense as they can pick and choose from a wide range of in-form talent at the moment. Conceding only 7 league goals so far our defence looks solid once again this season while going forward we look very fluid and exciting to watch.
There are no new injury concerns for the Bantams either. With the exception of Tony McMahon who is a little shy of being fully fit still, Bradford have a clean bill of health as centre back partners Rory McArdle and Nathan Clarke played in the 2-1 midweek EFL Cup win against Bury. Haris Vuckic and Jordi Hiwula in particular will be pushing for a start on Saturday afternoon following their impressive performances during midweek.
As for our opponents Shrewsbury Town, they are looking to rectify their poor early season form by taking our unbeaten title from us this upcoming Saturday. As mentioned before, the Shrews have suffered a poor start to this year’s League One campaign with only 2 wins so far this season, against fellow strugglers Oldham Athletic and Chesterfield.
With only 11 goals in 11 league matches, the Shrews have a shortage of goals going forward despite the best efforts of top scorer Ivan Toney who has 3 strikes to his name so far this term. At the back however Shrewsbury don’t look half bad, conceding 16 goals which looking up and down the League One table seems quite respectable compared to the other teams in and around them in the standings.
As of Thursday morning news has broken that manager Micky Mellon has now left the club to join Conference side Tranmere Rovers. For me that seems a strange move for Mellon. To drop down two leagues in management is a big step back, one that could be regretful if Rovers don't make it back into the football league in the coming years. The decision too could be linked to the Shrews poor early season form with Mellon taking another management offer before perhaps facing the sack himself?
With 3 red cards in their last 5 matches now former Shrewsbury manager Micky Mellon has recently had to speak to the media about his sides poor disciplinary record insisting and stating 'I wouldn't say we're a dirty team.' These 3 red cards on top of a season's early haul of 23 yellow cards, adds up to the worst disciplinary record in League One.
If we play the way we have been playing of late a win on Saturday is a distinct possibility but as we know all too well in football, you can’t rely on previous form to win matches.
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