So I've heard rumours that we played Sawyers (on trial) against Alfreton, which in my eyes would be an excellent signing. I do think that if we did, it'd see the likely end of the Connor Grant experiment.

I wanted him to suceed but I find him quite wasteful, inconsistent and goes missing far too often. Where does everyone else stand?

I heard he played in the number 9 shirt and was quite lethargic, only contributing neat passes and the odd ball in. I can't say it would be the end of Conor Grant, because Martin Paterson knows him and has worked with Grant before. These usually form some sort of reliance, as it's generally seen as a way to get their ideas across to a new group of players. I don't mind Grant as a player, but we have to play him in the right role and make sure he is consistent.

Grant appeared 34 times for Notts including as substitute, he scored 4 goals & assisted 3 times, & his average rating on whoscored.com was 16th on a list of 31 players used by Notts last season,, but above Jarvis, Hinchy, Gordon & Austin, the latter being released at season's end.

He did miss chances last season but so did everyone else. It depends how the new Head Coach rates him. If Notts do go for a similar type of player, then we will know that he'll have to fight for his place

Edwards started well but wasn't the same after he came back from injury. Palmer hasn't been as influential since he returned from injury., Hinchy was never a regular under Maynard & Reynolds was loaned out.

It wouldn't suprise me if Traore & Dennis weren't tried in the role just behind Jatta as Didzy was. We'll just have to see where these friendly matches takes us & which team out of the whole squad looks like it will be the starting 11 for the first league match.

Conor Grant still has time to grow into a key player. He’s only 23 and has already shown moments where he looks comfortable in the first team.

Romaine Sawyers is ten years older and brings a lot more experience. His best time was at Walsall, but he’s played much higher than Grant over the years.

It depends how you look at it. Maybe Sawyers is slowing down a bit, and Grant could still go further in his career. Personally, I’d back Grant to develop, but Sawyers might add something different with his creativity.

Jevani Brown got stick when he signed on loan for not doing anything, and my first thoughts were, if the number 9 we played in the second half was Romaine Sawyers, could we get more of the better aspects I saw out of him?

I don't like players who complain and make comments to others in a way that suggests they're unhappy or just being plain mardy. I mean, it's only a friendly, but I think those types of attitudes can be destructive. It's also quite frustrating to see as a fan and a telltale sign of their attitude. The number 9 did this a lot against Alfreton, and he walked around the pitch making minimal effort.

There were some clever passes, but the crossing wasn't brilliant. Maziar Kouhyar, who I thought was brilliant, had contention for crossing, with the number 9 demanding he make the crosses early into the second half, which Kouhyar eventually took more control of and I think did better.

It's a torn thing, as I didn't like what I saw. The negatives outweigh the positives; I mean, calling players angrily to come receive the ball but barely moving when others want you to do the same? If this player continues to do this in friendlies, and we do sign him and it turns out to be Sawyers, it would be irritating to see it in league games.

He did a very clever pass to Mai Troare that, unfortunately, Traore wasn't able to control the ball as it seemed to hit a bobble. That was a quality pass, but audible nonsense was shouted with signs of frustration from number 9. He did a lovely spread pass to James Sanderson that looked levels above League Two, and a neat turn to put Matthew Dennis into a goal-scoring chance.

Assuming number 9 is Sawyers, the negative side would need to be tackled. It's not something I like; after all, it's a team sport, and Paterson would be wise not to let players ruin morale. Maybe he was frustrated? Or it could be that he was acting out because he wants to be signed? Personally, I didn't see enough to say that we would see more quality than silly antics and laziness. I asked @ARLukomski, after the Alfreton game who number 9 was and he mentioned he believed it was Sawyers.

@sadlad: You should know Romaine Sawyers well from his time at Walsall, what do you think? Does he have issues with being mardy?

He looked a bit heavy and didn’t move around much. Even so, I thought he was one of the five players who stood out in the second-half line-up.

He’s probably not high up the pecking order, but he still did a few good things that caught the eye.

The number 9 also had a decent effort on goal, forcing the Alfreton keeper into a good save that was pushed wide.

https://gaschat.co.uk/thread/23206/signed-romaine-sawyers?page=1

If Martin Paterson gives Conor Grant the support he needs, I think he could become a better player who creates more chances and scores more goals. Players like him do well when someone believes in them.

I like how Grant plays, but I’m not always sure he should be in the starting team just yet. He tries hard and is still learning, so he just needs more time to grow.

I’ve heard Romaine Sawyers did alright in the Championship, but not all West Brom fans were big fans of his. It sounds like Bristol City fans were split too. I even shared a link where some of them were talking about it.

As I didn't see the Alfreton game I can't comment on Sawyers' performance. He's got pedigree alright, but he also hasn't played a lot of football in the last couple of years. I hope he isn't anothe one with a lengthy injury record.

Returning to Grant, he's got potential but he wasn't able to make the ball "stick" in advanced positions like Crowley could. He's one of a number of players who could benefit from a full pre-season and surprise us next season though.

His time at Bristol Rovers was affected by ankle problems. I think he also broke his hand and had some hamstring trouble as well.

Before that, he had injury issues at Stoke City, which I believe were related to his knee. All of this has made it hard for him to stay fit for a long spell.

At his age, it's not unusual for a player to have picked up a few knocks. Most players will have had their fair share by now, but I’m not sure if any of his past injuries are serious enough to worry about going forward.

It’s hard to say what’s “normal” for a footballer, but small injuries and muscle strains are pretty common over a season. Serious problems like repeated knee or hamstring issues are more concerning, especially if they keep coming back.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Major injury update on Romaine Sawyers and Nick Powell se...

Romaine Sawyers has been a fixture in the Stoke City starting line-up since joining on loan from West Brom

Bristol Live

Bristol Rovers injury latest with record signing's season...

The injury latest on Bristol Rovers' absentees ahead of this weekend's trip to Lincoln City

Evening folks. Romaine Sawyers did well at Walsall but didn’t score many goals. Someone described him as mardy Some called him lazy! At 33 (34 November) his best days are over.

Thanks for posting this, @sadlad. I’d tend to agree with what you’ve said and hope the club is keeping its options open. After seeing what’s been said about his injuries, I’m not too sure he’s the right fit.

I saw some fans weren’t too keen on Ollie Norburn either. It seems like opinions are quite split.

On his day Rom was a class act for Saddlers. Plagued by injuries later in his career.

My ideal answer to the Grant paradox is simpleish.........out him and bring George Grant back!!!!

I like the potential that Grant has but I’m just not sure that he is a natural attacking midfielder, he would be far better on the right hand side of a midfield three. He’s not quick enough, strong enough or sharp enough yet to play as an attacking midfielder.

14 hours ago, sadlad said:

Evening folks. Romaine Sawyers did well at Walsall but didn’t score many goals. Someone described him as mardy Some called him lazy! At 33 (34 November) his best days are over.

I suppose his injuries could be what makes him seem lazy, but I wasn't impressed with how he expected other players to make runs when he wouldn't move a slight bit to intercept the ball. It's not his positional play that had me more concerned; it's his confrontation to losing the ball and aggressive stance when things don't work out. I don't think these actions are useful in a team environment.

It could be that Notts are looking for "experience," but I would give him a hard pass based on his attitude and injury history myself.

i like conor grant, i think he looks like a good player and hes one of those who looks to be always thinking. i think if martin paterson can form a good relationship with him as our head coach, he could be one of the players who would benefit. i was not all that impressed myself with the number 9 in the alfreton game. he did some neat things, but he did make some bad passes. i dont think we should go too heavy in experience in the attacking midfield position. i would rather stick with grant and have someone else with pace coming in.

Grant is a total enigma to me. Here we have a young player that has now played over 150 EFL matches, that doesn't happen if you are bad but at the same when I've watched him he seems to struggle to have an impact on matches.

After Crowley was sold that attacking midfield spot was there for the taking really, but he didn't do enough to claim it. His numbers were poor too, 4 goals and 3 assists for an attacking midfielder, especially how we play with so much of the ball on the floor is bad. Whitaker came in and scored the same number of goals in half the matches and Bedeau had the same number of assists as him!

That home play-off match where he had 3 big chances and missed all of them sadly summed up his season. I think our attacking midfield options are significantly weaker this season, we need some real talent here because I don't see Grant being a 10 goal/assist man next season either.

Conor Grant’s got something about him. He can find the net and will improve with more minutes. I’d rather see him given the chance over someone winding down their career. He just needs a settled role and only shift positions if we’re short.

@menzinho, regrettably, Conor Grant's shot on goal was thwarted and cleared away. It's easy for us to say in hindsight he should have smashed the ball toward the net. I am sure he felt it afterward, but good players learn from these mistakes. There's a player in him, and it's going to take someone to help him elevate his performance. With Martin Paterson having previously worked with Grant, he may be able to get more out of him.

I really appreciate what he adds to the team. He puts in a lot of effort, and it feels like he doesn’t always get the recognition he should.

My hope is that, this being his second season with us, not only will he establish himself in the squad, but he will prove that we were right to bring him here. Clubs have seen the potential in him, so I don't question that, but we could do with seeing more of an end product from him.

It's not a good sign that I'd forgotten about Conor Grant when thinking about Notts and how we still need to replace Crowley.

He's still got 2 years on his contract and maybe we'll start to see better from him this season - he certainly has ability. But I don't like how some games seem to overwhelm him and he stops being a factor, kind of disappears. Quite a few of our players need to play with more aggression and assertiveness. Let's see if Paterson and unlock this much more than Maynard ever did.

It will be good for his confidence that he got a goal yesterday; that seems to be a big boost to Conor Grant's confidence. I do understand the points about him going quiet. I think he did very well in spells last season, but him taking charge in going forward and making himself a constant presence in our build-up play could see him chip in with more goals but also contribute with assists.

Ideally, Martin Paterson will be able to get the most out of him. I don't think it's a lack of effort with Grant, but that other players like David McGoldrick tended to step up more than he did. Without the shadows of others, Grant has the potential to do the same.

All our players should want the ball, should be able to drive us forward, and sometimes I would say Grant showing determination over ability would be welcome.

I think MK Dons said exactly the same thing we are experiencing - nobody really knows what he does.

If you take a Jones out the side - you can tell. "We're missing Jody". If you take Grant out, nobody notices. Hopefully the new gaffer can get him actually influencing play a little bit.