Thetownend.com

What's that unfamiliar tingling feeling? It can't be... it isn't... optimism?  :eek:

Better put such thoughts aside. One game at a time and all that.

I reckon it'll be a less familiar name on the coveted TEF trophy this week.

Garrick. No brainer. Completely changed the complex of the game.

I went for Payne. A beastly performance effort-wise, even if lacking quality. Still running, nay, sprinting, up until the whistle blew.

Was tempted to go for Garrick despite not being on for long. Why El Shez take J Grant off sooner I don't know.

Payne. AK and Ellis close second.

I said in the match thread i was going to give to Iandolo until his lapse near the end. but i still am as positioning and passing has been superb

Payne for me. Even before the goal which confirmed it in my eyes. Iandolo close second. Honorable mentions for Pitman and Caddis

Agree with Payne and Ellis if it weren't for "that" header  :eek:. Odimayo though, na had his hand held for a good 75mins. Poor in the first half. Grant doing his job for him. Continued into the second. The dribble out of defence was good and the tackle at the end too but these should be standard defensive decisions. Not quite MoM levels imo.

I went for Palmer, he was everywhere, in amongst them all the way through, his ball retention will always need a bit of work but he did a great job of stopping them tonight, Iandolo was close for me too.

Has to be Payne. Ran his socks off and scored the winner.

Camp 7
Superb handling from crosses. Looked very sound and secure. Beaten by one shot, which went right in the corner. Down too slow? Not sure, but he made a couple of crucial saves after. Gave everyone confidence.

Thompson 7
Poor first half with abysmal crossing but grew into the game in the second. Defended well and all of a sudden, offered a threat after we scored.

Iandolo 7
Great saving header capped a very good first half (apart from one hesitation that gave their striker a clear chance that he fluffed). Generally solid in the second half but a couple of dodgy moments.

A Grant 7
Couple of strange decisions and got caught out a couple of times. But, led the back line well. On another day he would have been punished.

Odimayo 7
A bit scrappy at times, but mostly very good. Absolutely crucial slide tackle in the area in the last 5 mins will be what I remember.

Caddis 7
Tried really hard and linked with Odimayo well in the first half. More defensive in the second. Beaten at the far post and lucky we didn’t concede from one cross.

Palmer 6
Quietly broke up play. Didn’t offer so much attacking.

Payne 8
Ran his socks off and defended brilliantly. We missed his creative spark, until he surged onto the free kick from Twine and blasted the ball left footed into a massive empty net.

Twine 5
Poor game today. Didn’t really get going in the first half. Was trying to walk the ball along the edge of the area to get a free kick or two in the second. Free kicks weren’t what we have seen

Pitman 6
Played battering ram again with no support. Had one half chance but nothing else.

J Grant 4
Poor first half. Did little in the second.

Sub:
Garrick 7
What a difference on the right. Unlucky not to score when cut inside, shot and defender headed it over. Caused lots of problems when he came on. Enabled us to actually attack!

Garrick - we moved up another gear when he came on and his energy won us the game.
Could have ended 0-0 before the change.

Special mention for the linesman.

His superb and completely and utterly spot-on decision making really helped make the difference.

Iandolo for me for the overall match - he is going to make the odd mistake and shouldn't lose it for one dodgey header.  I agree that Payne pushes very close especially after that strike, but I am sure he made the odd dodgey pass tonight but it wouldn't have been highlighted because of his position.

If Iandolo has to go faultless for the whole 90 mins to get MOTM then he won't win many at this level.

Not to be too picky but the essence of getting MoM is usually how the highlighted goes for obtaining the award. A faultless performance. The header wasn't just a poor header, it was an incredibly dangerous and schoolboy header. Should have been a goal for them and we'd all be talking about that, along with another "if only".

He did well though. Just not quite MoM well.

In. My. Opinion :)

One way to get people on the TEF to vote for someone else...

I voted for Payne. There ya go lads, you can vote for anyone but him now  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Voted for Payne but sorely tempted to nominate A Grant solely for the post-match interview (although he played well too)

Thinking similar, was surprised to not see more votes for Mr Grant (Anthony), as of yet.

Chuffed to bits with the win.
Plenty of twists & turns still to come.

Voted for Garrick. Changed the game.

Back three looking good.
One slip up between them and that was covered by the keeper.

Good that Payne will be with us for next season.
I like Palmer.

Probably the most divided poll for some time.  Difficult to find a player worthy of a vote after some games. Although this may have been a shit game it appears that a 'shift' was put in again by the entire squad. 
Caddis never gives up, Landolo has vastly improved, Payne -  super goal, Camp making one he!l of a difference and guiding the defence,  Garrick turning the game almost single handed,  Difficult to single one out, but this time for all the right reasons.
 A long time since we've had this dilemma.  Long may it continue, light at the end of the tunnel ?.

Payne for me, Grant did very well again and Ian Dolo did well but he nearly cost us a goal with one shocking defensive header but luckily the striker was an absolute donkey and missed his chance.

So you are saying that you have to have a faultless performance to be eligible for a MOTM award?  I would be very surprised if you get any faultless performances from any player in the lower leagues, hence the reason they are playing in the lower leagues.  So based on your vote I assume that Payne had a faultless performance last night, didn't give the ball away once?  That might be the case, didn't analyse, but I would be very surprised.

For me, MOTM should be given to the player that in the voters eye gave the best overall performance over the course of the match that he was involved in - it kind of says it in the name.

In my opinion this was Iandolo last night, and opinions are what this thread is about so there shoudn't really be any need for debate here.

also lost his man near the end, but was otherwise excellent

which leads into Odimayo, who was no way man of the match but saved us after the above incident with a goal saving stretch of the leg

What’s the latest on Zeki Fryers?

Who? :)

Surely the Man of the Match is who you consider to have been the best player in the team over the period of play? Often this season its been who has been 'less bad' than others. You can't pick a player for a faultless performance because even superstars like Messi and Ronaldo don't even have faultless games.

Everyone sees games differently as well, perhaps a person might focus more on the defensive side of the game (as we did keep a clean sheet) whereas another might look for energy (Jack Payne never stopped running) and another might look for hold up play of your striker or whatever. I personally gave it to Payne, his energy kept us ticking over and when Rovers were starting to get the upper hand from 45-60 it was his interception and drive forward that led to Garrick's blocked shot that gave us a foothold and led to our goal and victory.

One thing you can always guarantee about Man of the Match is that the sponsors in the County Ground always seem to pick someone random that gets a grunt of 'what the fuck' when announced!!

Garrick or any of the centre halves.

The latter for obvious reasons, but Garrick was unreal when he was subbed on - changed the game and it was the corner he won that eventually led to the free kick which we scored from!

What about Man of the First Half and Man of the Second Half, and if it is the same player for each half then Man of Both Halves (aka MOTM) :)

Exactly - the sponsors CG pick is always tarred anyway because some will pick the man that they want to meet after the game and have their photo with, makes it pointless

Not once have I ever thought a MOM must have put in a faultless performance, and I'd be surprised if anybody else does. Asides from Bamboo, that is.

MotM's are rarely totally faultless performances, especially at this level of football, its often who does the least amount of bad things when the team is struggling :)

I base my judgement on who I feel has made the most positive impact on a game and affected it. As others have said I am not expecting a 10 out of 10 faultless performance.

quite.

I did point out a mistake to highlight the importance of Odimayo's touch.

But I voted Payne

Indeed but I think some are taking my comment out of context to fit their own narrative. I did say "...the essence of MoM (is) a faultless performance..." but didn't define it as the only way of picking one. For me everyone starts on 10/10 and as a game goes on that gets chipped away at more or less for each player. You're "essentially" looking for a faultless performance (aka retaining 10/10). If a player were to put in a "faultless performance" then in essence, they would very likely be the MoM.

I like that the conversation is about who should be MoM (or even what is MoM) though, rather than struggling to find one and you're spot on in regards to the Sponsor's MoM. I remember Coxy used to get it a lot even when he hadn't had a particularly good game. Likewise with Ferry but I don't know many who wouldn't want Ferry in the Sponsor's Suite after the match :)

It could also be that your comment wasn't taken out of context, just that it wasn't explained very well in the first place - you always seem to indicate that everyone (except for Frazer Digby) is ganging up on you, and if that is the case I have missed it.  i must admit that at times I struggle to understand what you are trying to say or the point you are trying to get across in amongst your often (as you yourself admit) long winded and sometimes off tangent posts, not that this was the case in this example.  Maybe it is just me, maybe I am the stupid one here, i am sure it has been said in the past and I am not beyond denying that this could be the case now.  You are obviously an intelligent guy Bamboo, but i certainly don't think i am a fool.

That's the second time you have intimated indirectly that I have taken your comment out of context to fit my narrative - I can reassure you that I don't have a narrative to fit, I have my own point of view and opinions on all things STFC and football, but that is where it ends - however I do realise that this is the case for all of us fans and can happily accept that other opinions will not match my own, and I am comfortable with that.

I am not going to get into a backwards and forward on this as i don't have the time (or energy) that I know this typically takes - i just wanted to put my point across.

So by that logic someone say playing in a tippy tappy midfield who didn't misplace a pass,  kick the ball out or give away a foul, but had a quiet game would win man of the match. Yet someone who conceded loads of free, kicks, got booked, gave the ball away yet scored the winner wouldn't? Odd logic

Blimey, and I thought Line Of Duty stretched a very thin plot over far too many episodes...  :suicide:

lets be honest there is zero qualifying criteria for a mom. its an individuals choice and we all see things differently as seen every week in threads. Odimayo didn't put a foot wrong the whole match for me but he didnt make my choice. there is also varying standards of players, thompson put in an incredible left back display against ipswich and had everything on Iandolos performance last night but in the circumstances and on his recent return to the side that was one of the best I have seen Iandolo play.

anyway the majority of goalscorers win these awards as they do the whole way to the top with the ballon d'or.

I think maybe we should void this one and do a re-vote? Some of you have been basing your decisions on incorrect criteria and so aren't as valid as what I think.

Like all those who voted Iandolo, how does it compare to if he wasn't moved away from not playing left back?

Can we replace it with a 10 page survey including a series of well defined criteria and performance metrics that need to be input?  The tricky bit here is going to be the weighting criteria for different positions on the pitch - does a save in the bottom right corner equal the same as 40 yard pass to feet?

Just because a player didn't get a chance to do something in a game is it their fault that the opportunity never came up? Shouldn't we judge a player on what they could have potentially achieved?

What would a player get, rating wise, if they simply went and sat on the halfway line by a sideline, avoiding any touches or influence in the game?

That would surely depend on how faultlessly they were sitting.

Look back at how many points Anton Rodgers used to get rated on a matchday.....

Yes I am aware we didn't have MotM votes then :)

It would be satisfying if MoM votes provided an effective ranking of how our squad is rated, but lots of factors skew that. The bottom of the TEF MoM table is full of cameo players, unremarkable or underwhelming performers, though the more games played, the more it says about their influence. So from the bottom up, the following players have averaged less than one MoM vote per game:

Parsons     0.00 from 2 apps
Omotoye   0.17 from 6 apps
Stevens     0.38 from 16 apps
Hunt         0.47 from 19 apps
Baudry      0.69 from 16 apps
T Smith     0.88 from 17 apps

I'd say only Tyler can feel hard done by from that. For comparison, Curran is on 3.89 votes per game (piss-takers and Mrs Curran, I'm looking at you now), and Kovar on 2.79.

That makes me sad about Hunt - such a quality and consistent player last season (maybe the most consistent), and in my opinion the one player that has been a significant casualty of Wellens leaving when/how he did.  Not that he isn't capable of playing for any other manager bar Wellens, however the stark difference in management style between Wellens and Sheridan I think has affected Hunt more than any other player in the squad.  It maybe just down to his own personality, but I just find it a massive shame that the player we saw last year has shrunk into the player we have seen this in the few opportunities he has got.

Cheap and easy shot that pal  ;)

Quiet agree. Whilst he isn't my first choice FB he certainly has enough to be on the bench. I guess the supposed continual inclusion of Curran makes this even more frustrating. Different position but he still gets in ahead of the Faux Pro.

Tyler smith should be the one most frustrated, scored some good goals and can't come on in front of zero goals Omotye. Hope has also had a very good season

Looking like the step up to League One is doing him in. Still pretty young for a defender so not saying he won't ever make it, but the only season he spent in League One before now was with Oldham and they were relegated.

Am I imagining it, but wasn't it hinted in various of the podcast interviews that Hunt is a fairly introverted quiet character, perhaps he just doesn't respond to being told to fuck off every 5 minutes, especially bad for a full back as you are going to get it close quarters for at least half  game.

It’s worth remembering that hunt didn’t start the season in particularly great form either under wellens

I've said it before, and I'm saying it again.

I don't think any player should be judged under this manager.

Even Curran?  ;)

Hunt has had a very very disjointed season.

it's hard to judge him in the bit part role imo

last season he was excellent, I question whether the jump from l2->l1 is that big

This.

He is.  Anyone that went to the LSPOD live session where he appeared could see this, he is definitly introvert which is why i mentioned his personality.  I can imagine that with that type of personality it is difficult in a football environment and with an old school manager that is not one known to put his arm around players.

Seconded

Voted for Palmer as he gave a very solid accurate display throughout the match. I never used to rate him very highly, but he seems a bit like a kingpin in midfield now, a very improved player who has solved a problem position when Grant is not avilable.

I think it's evident that he'd be Championship quality at least under a different manager ;)