Graham Alexander discusses changing Bantams formation

The new City manager’s switch to playing 3-5-2 has delivered an instant impact.

Since the half-time change after trailing 4-0 at Notts County, the Bantams have scored eight goals and conceded once in two-and-a-half games.

Alexander has made it clear it’s too soon to say the set-up is here to stay. But any tinkering will be for City’s benefit – and not from having his hand forced by the opposition.

“It’s not about the opponent,” he said. “I won’t be changing our formation depending on them.

“I will be changing it on what suits our players.

READ MORE: City graft to deliver much-needed hope

“Whenever I pick a formation and team, it’s about what we can produce in a game.

“It’s never about just having to stop an opposition. I’ll always put out a formation that suits our individuals.

“That’s probably why I got it wrong in the first game and a half because it might not have suited the players we had.

“We’ve looked at a formation that has worked for a couple of games. Let’s not get carried away, we have to have a run of a consistent eight to 10 games to make sure that’s the case.

“If there are different players available and someone’s injured and we have to change for our team, we could do that. But it won’t be for the opponent.”

City are still coming to terms with how Alexander wants his team to play but the front-foot pressing evident against Accrington went down well with Valley Parade fans.

Alexander added: “You don’t have to be super quick to be an aggressive team. You can use your intelligence and positioning to be able to engage and win the race if there’s a ball in behind.

“It’s just getting that balance right and they are starting to get that.

“I think there’s still more to come from us. They’ve seen the intent from us to attack and try and create and show we are proud to be Bradford players and coaches.

“We need time to develop that but we need to win while we’re doing it.”

City head for Forest Green tomorrow night aiming to make it three wins on the bounce. Alexander will assess the recovery from the weekend but has no plans to shake things up and has taken the same squad.

Graham Alexander has been pleased with how the team have responded to him (Image: PA)

“We won’t be changing the message too much. We’ll analyse what the opposition do but we want our team to be consistent in how we play.

“We want our players to feel comfortable in that and not changing week to week depending on the opposition.

“Our messages will stay pretty similar. It’s just on the selection because we need to see how quickly boys can recover.

“A lot of managers and coaches would have looked at this job when it became available and looked at the individuals in there.

“Not just at the top but midfield, at the back and in goal. There are some good players in there but for some reason it wasn’t firing.

“There’s plenty to work with. It’s not just the name players or experienced ones, Ciaran Kelly who I didn’t really know before I came here has been equally impressive.

“I didn’t know much about Lewis Richards but I’ve seen him train and what he can contribute to the game.

“The players have responded really well to what we’ve tried to do.

“I feel the ability is there. It’s just about everything coming together to create a winning team.”