Conor Grant.

[TSANHO]

I’ve noticed a few other people starting to question where Grants value in the team lies, so, after a goal on his debut v Shrewsbury, what exactly is his role supposed to be?

He doesn’t move, he doesn’t pass, he isn’t strong on the ball, no vision, no threat, no instinct. He is literally a passenger in this side and I’ve been amazed at some of the positivity towards his performances.

It’s not nice to beat down on a player, although I just have, but what does he do or done to warrant a starting position? What actually is his natural position….because it can’t surely be where we are playing him.

Perhaps low on confidence, getting used to our system….whatever, but what has he done better than what Austin, in multiple positions, can do? I certainly don’t expect to see him starting against Morecambe because that was another anonymous performance yesterday.

[kill_the_drum]

When he came on against Tranmere I thought we had a real player as his touch and movement was excellent. He hasn’t really done much since.
What he did do really well against Bromley was work back and defend once we had the lead.

[pjace]

Like the OP I don't see what he offers the team mostly the game just passes him by as he stands around maybe the
management team see something that I don't but with our abundance in midfielders there must be someone who offers more.

[jackal2]

Neil Warnock used to refer to "bread and butter" players whose excellent work for the team sometimes goes relatively unnoticed - Phil Turner was one - but even when I purposely zone in on Grant for a while I don't see him doing much at all, either in the way of creativity or defensive work. It's fair to say he doesn't do a lot wrong, but that's because he doesn't seem to do anything of note.

Jim O'Brien sometimes got criticised for misplacing passes or mistiming tackles, but those mistakes were always made in his desire to affect the game - he was rarely if ever anonymous, whether the conclusion was that he'd had a great game or a bad one.

Conor Grant gives us height I'll give him that, and there have been flashes of the ability he possesses, but I'm hoping he has far more to contribute in the future than what we've seen so far. In his defence, there have been other players over my 25 years watching Notts who didn't impress in their early days but went on to become well regarded, and you have to acknowledge that he's been part of a team that has started well overall, so maybe we're underestimating his contribution, but I'd like to see Conor play with more personality and really impose himself on games.

[Hoppie]

Agree looked better as a10 first couple of games. Feel has been inappropriately used as left winger when playing a back 4 (a winger he is not). Yesterday particularly disappointing performance and in what I’d consider to be his preferred position. How he stayed on at wingback when Tsaroulla came off instead I’ve not idea (not that he had his best game either). All managers seem to have one player they just seem to play no matter what - I give you Elliott Hewitt…

[tommopie8]

I'd like to think we haven't seen him near his best. He came in on the eve of the season without training with his teammates and that'll take some catching up.

He will need to improve if he's going to stay in the 11 - despite a few posters saying he made little contribution yesterday when he came on I thought Brown won a few smart back-post headers and harried well enough (I was at the family stand end of Pavis so may have been someone else).

[BigFatPie]

Don’t want to unfairly scapegoat the lad but I did turn to my lad and ask him what’s he done partway through the second half.

I thought Hinchy got stuck in and added something when he played and Austin does what Sam Austin does when he comes on, but they both appear to do more than what Conor Grant’s done so far,

[Mud Pie]

it's harder to see from the TV, but he looks like his positioning is good, makes himself available well and pulls defenders away, and he has some slick passing in his locker, just seems hesitant around the box and overall fails to impact the game.

We need another functioning wing generally. JJ obviously gives us one side that works, but we struggle to stretch teams by using both sides consistently. Scott's not the answer, imo, Tsaroulla's definitely got something, but drifts out of the game a bit and needs to polish his striking boots. Gordan did quite well on the left yesterday, but our left (whatever JJ's not on) isn't good enough yet. I think CG needs a kick up the arris.

[Could'vebeenacontender]

Grant is ok
We're going to need the whole squad to step up now with the injuries that we have
We shouldn't look for scapegoats
It's not like last season when some of the players were plainly not up to standard
And friends who supported other teams asked me whether I thought at least one of of guys might have been deliberately throwing games

[the_anticlough]

It seems to need saying that it was just his performance at the weekend that was roundly criticised, that's different to the player.
A player doesn't contribute in a home loss, fans on sites like this aren't going to be giving rave reviews.
That's football, it's down to him to put things right and give a better account of himself next time.