Roker Roundtable: What did you make of last night’s defeat in the heat to League Two Bradford?

Derek Carter says...

I think it was Lee Howey who said in commentary that looking at the array of talent Alex Neil had on the bench, the likelihood was that had he chosen to make a raft of substitutions, we would have won that game without too much of a struggle.

That’s not meant to be disrespectful to a hard-working Bradford outfit, but we did have a few game-changers sitting this one out, and it certainly appeared that – barring a disaster – they were never going to appear tonight.

The starting 11 featured young lads Carney and Taylor who both gave a decent account of themselves and we also had another look at Aji Alese who certainly looks a decent buy.

After that, it’s difficult to mention anyone who covered themselves in any form of glory in what was one of the proverbial bad days at the office. We move on and look forward to the next fixture where we will hopefully be unleashing those new strikers we so desperately need.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

---

Lars Knutsen says...

I was disappointed with the perception I had after the game that a team made up of many fringe players could not get psyched up for the game, hot or not.

Bradford fought harder, wanted it more, and showed some good touches.

But this was a pre-season friendly, we were experimenting with no recognised strikers, and there was nothing at stake.

I am confident that in 12 days’ time, Alex Neil will have a team ready to take up battle with a well-drilled Coventry side coached by Mark Robins.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

---

Kelvin Beattie says...

We will have to put this game into the food for thought category.

While lightweight in physical appearance, I thought Carney showed enough to indicate a bit of skill and potential. His distribution was good, and he came out very well to a couple of dangerous Bradford through-balls.

Whether this team was picked to highlight the need for urgent action in terms of new striker recruits to back up Ross Stewart is debatable, but what it definitely did show was that on the evidence of this game, neither Clarke nor Diamond are the answer up front.

While reasonably sound defensively, Baath’s forward distribution was terribly wasteful. Winchester remains a conundrum defensively, doing some good things (including two good last-ditch tackles ) and some not-so-good things (caught in possession and pushed too easily off the ball for the first goal).

Alese showed some potential galloping down his flank, he also possesses a canny touch offensively on this showing. I thought he put himself about well defensively and added a bit of searing pace to the back line.

Jack Diamond toiled willingly for the best part of the game – I do like his potential but feel this was another opportunity pre-season that he has not taken.

The 12 players who took part in the game will certainly have had a good run-out in challenging conditions. We move on to Accrington on Saturday and a further opportunity to ready the squad for the Coventry opener.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

---

Sean Brown says...

Some pixels did better than others. The green pixel was particularly bad, but the ball did keep disappearing and changing shape, so this probably should’ve been expected.