Burton Albion v Bradford City: Graham Alexander on why Bantams won't 'chop and change'
WHEN rival teams come to stop your side from playing, resisting the urge to adopt a whole new different approach can be hard for managers.
In their past two matches, Bradford City have faced opponents who have come to frustrate, rather than engage in a flowing spectacle.
And you have to say it worked for both Wigan and Mansfield - and Gary Bowyer's Burton will have been watching developments.
Throughout a very successful 2025-26 campaign, the Bantams have stuck to their base 3-4-2-1 formation. Within that, there have been tweaks at times and in testing periods of games where things do not go your way, its importance comes into its own.
Boss Graham Alexander said: "It can be ‘needs must’ in the middle of the game. But I just think going into a game and the whole sort of mindset and belief in what we do, if you're chopping change in week in, week out, then you're undermining what you're actually saying.
"You're saying one thing and acting in a different way. So we want to be consistent.
"Why wouldn't we be consistent when we're in the position we're in? Listen, if we were 15th and wanted to aspire to something else, we might be looking at (drastically) changing things because it obviously hasn't worked.
"But over the course of 38 games, I think, relatively, we can say that it's worked more often than not. But when there's 25 minutes to go, why not change and try something? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
"The most important thing is having the players in your squad to be able to take on those change of plans and then just go and commit to it.
"There's a lot of information that we could write down about our game, but it's not mentioned anything about the front three or the midfield four.
"It's more 'the team does this, the team does that' and that can happen in different formations."
Another fine strike from Tyreik Wright lit up Tuesday night's game against Mansfield and amid another stellar season for City, the number of outstanding goals from distance has been a laudable facet.
Alexander added: "Why wouldn't you want to score those types of goals? I think they're brilliant for fans as well.
"I grew up watching long-range strikes. It's sort of taken away from the game a little bit by passing your way into the goal and I was the world's worst for having shots from everywhere as a player, so I want my players to enjoy the opportunity to go and express themselves."