Player ratings v Port Vale

[magpie_mania]

I always find it strange how a football fan sees the game.
I look through the ratings and rationale and shake my head in disbelief. Johnson marked down due to a brain fart yet Jatta has one of those nights. How come Jatta doesn?t get slaughtered for his brain fart of a finish?
How the defenders all score 5/6?s is beyond me. Port Vale may have dominated territory in the 2nd half but rarely threatened. One mis hit cross and naive defending cost us. Johnson was being lauded by the commentators before his error. Tsaroulla could and should have been on the cover.

Anyway, just my opinion that I think a lot of the scores and rationale are harsh. Each to there own.

To be fair no-one has marked Jatta higher than 5. In fact that is what everyone has given him.

Thought our defence was solid apart from one lapse which cost us.

[SmiffyPie]

As mapperley mentions (and then contradicts?) I think Bass should have come for that ball every day of the week. He could see the arc of the ball, it was coming over Johnson's head, Bass could see the attacker and there was nothing stopping him coming (except indecision). A comedy of errors but if I was Johnson I would have been gutted that my keeper didn't take control of what was an uncontested high ball.

[the_anticlough]

Maynard dropped a bollo*k by taking Gordon off. Edwards should have gone off instead, he had a shocker, and together with Grant they didnt deserve anymore than a 4 each... As for Maynard, the times he makes a substitution and we concede immediately after..

Reasonable points. I had to drag myself to give Edwards a 5 on Saturday, and a 6 last night. At least he eliminated all the many feck ups and turnovers he had on Saturday.

Still, I know Grant and Edwards have their supporters on here but nice touches and off-the-ball ability are no substitutes for actual goals, assists and generally being harmful to the opposition. A promotion-aspiring team has to assist on all of that from players who start in key attacking positions.

As for SM, it wasn't so much the subs, I thought he set himself a conundrum with his starting XI. Bedeau playing a full game at wing-back was an issue, but he must have been loathe to put him back in his correct position when McDonald or Johnson were doing so well.

My rule for any promotion chasing team would be never pick a defender for a wing-back position, that's a move for teams fending off relegation.

[durhampie]

Reasonable points. I had to drag myself to give Edwards a 5 on Saturday, and a 6 last night. At least he eliminated all the many feck ups and turnovers he had on Saturday.

Still, I know Grant and Edwards have their supporters on here but nice touches and off-the-ball ability are no substitutes for actual goals, assists and generally being harmful to the opposition. A promotion-aspiring team has to assist on all of that from players who start in key attacking positions.

As for SM, it wasn't so much the subs, I thought he set himself a conundrum with his starting XI. Bedeau playing a full game at wing-back was an issue, but he must have been loathe to put him back in his correct position when McDonald or Johnson were doing so well.

My rule for any promotion chasing team would be never pick a defender for a wing-back position, that's a move for teams fending off relegation.

There was no reason to bring Johnson into the team and disrupt the defence. Maynard should have started with Tsaroulla in the wing back position. Giving people game time just for the sake of it doesn't always work.. The fact that Johnson had a decent game coming on as a sub, shouldn't have guaranteed him a start in the game..

[the_anticlough]

There was no reason to bring Johnson into the team and disrupt the defence. Maynard should have started with Tsaroulla in the wing back position. Giving people game time just for the sake of it doesn't always work.. The fact that Johnson had a decent game coming on as a sub, shouldn't have guaranteed him a start in the game..

Yeah, SM must've have thought he was killing 2 birds with 1 stone there - avoiding a difficult selection decision; Johnson or McDonald and shoehorning in an extra defender for a game he was nervous about

[legs77]

There was no reason to bring Johnson into the team and disrupt the defence. Maynard should have started with Tsaroulla in the wing back position. Giving people game time just for the sake of it doesn't always work.. The fact that Johnson had a decent game coming on as a sub, shouldn't have guaranteed him a start in the game..

Was Tsaroulia fit to play 90 mins are you factoring this in, we don?t have this info and he does.

It?s getting frankly ridiculous every game we don?t win he is being slammed for not having any tactical nous what does that even mean ? Let?s face if any fan was put I charge they?d be shocked at how the job is why do you think lots of top players go into the media instead of !

I wouldn?t have took Gordon off though but let?s be right the goal didn?t come from that side and it was a defender switching off and their one shot on target it?s unfortunate for Johnson but hopefully he learns from that as that is how you get better and no player is the finished article at his age.

[Little15]

Could Tsaroulla and Jarvis have done 45 each? Seems silly to play somebody in a position they've never played before in such a crucial away game. Also it took so long again for the bench to react to such obvious changes to Vale's setup 2nd half that we never really managed to overcome.

[Boomerangpie]

After the event I would have done this and definitely not done that and then we would have won.

Was expecting so see Jarvis start but not entirely surprised with McGoldrick, Jones and Whittaker all out and Tsaroulla only fit enough for the bench that Johnson played. Why wouldn?t he?

Classic game of two halves. Most teams including Notts only manage one good half a game. Many don?t even manage that. As many have said missed chances cost us last night. Good block on line, very good save and inches from that header going in. That?s more than enough good chances away from home at an in form team especially when without so much attacking talent.

Still waiting for Grant to do more than beat and tidy. Edwards poor. Johnson one brain fart. If he avoids that we add at least 1 on to those scores and say very good point away from home with makeshift team.

One costly mistake

[Could'vebeenacontender]

After the event I would have done this and definitely not done that and then we would have won.

Was expecting so see Jarvis start but not entirely surprised with McGoldrick, Jones and Whittaker all out and Tsaroulla only fit enough for the bench that Johnson played. Why wouldn?t he?

Classic game of two halves. Most teams including Notts only manage one good half a game. Many don?t even manage that. As many have said missed chances cost us last night. Good block on line, very good save and inches from that header going in. That?s more than enough good chances away from home at an in form team especially when without so much attacking talent.

Still waiting for Grant to do more than beat and tidy. Edwards poor. Johnson one brain fart. If he avoids that we add at least 1 on to those scores and say very good point away from home with makeshift team.

One costly mistake

Stuart Maynard did cover a lot of the reasons for the team selection in his post match interview
Both Whittaker and Jarvis were suffering as they'd had long stints in the last game after months without a game prior to joining us
He sees them in training so he'd see their physical condition (or lack of)
Johnson looks to have the attributes to be perhaps on George Abbott's level eventually
He played well but made a mistake which I'd put down to lack of experience in a very young player
Hopefully he'll learn from it and will get coaching and advice from the likes of Bedau and Matty Platt

[Mud Pie]

having let the dust settle a bit it all feels like one of those days to me. Reckon SM was very limited by injuries and match fitness and tried to field his most competitive team in its most competitive shape - and to be fair we played really well first half. Fans can discuss different shapes, different personnel but haven't normally seen how that works irl/in training.

ZJ 6.5 - some quality moments already, reckon bags of potential - but still probably 3rd choice behind Macari and Ness = what about strength in depth? Hope he's not too down on his sen.
Bass 7 - strong game as always. Not his fault for the goal imo.
Jatta 6.5 - was well marked and suffered for service as well as he couldn't make the ball stick to him, imo, thought he did well enough for his chances but haven't watched it back.
Edwards 4 - flat out gave the ball away like 6 times - but then with DMcG or Whitaker fit he's probably not playing there.
Grant and Tsaroulla 5 - both looked well off the pace 2nd half
Gordon 6 - frustrating, could be excellent, thought he hid a bit 2nd half too

... and unfortunate that the two biggest moments of the game fell to our two most [EFL] inexperienced players: Traore and Johnson.