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Martin Paterson: Notts County head coach - 'We want promo...

Notts County head coach Martin Paterson says his side won't shy away from their promotion target after missing out in the play-offs last term.

I wonder if Martin Paterson, being a former striker, wants another forward in the team. There’s definitely space for one more goalscorer. It could be important, especially with Mai Traore not quite at the level we need. I think the club might be preparing him to be the third choice up front. I’m not sure what his best position is. I haven’t seen enough good signs from him yet, and he’ll need more time to settle and adapt.

I worry about Traore...for the club to always give the impression of a data driven approach.... I just haven't seen anything "special" from him. Even when we signed Eli Sam, basics such as holding up the ball was missing

Traore has been a real disappointment so far, maybe MP can bring out the best in him, I sincerely hope so.

good interview, i like what martin paterson said.

there are two things to take from it from my perspective.

the more we mention promotion, the higher the expectations will be and that could come at the cost of pressure. at the same time, knowing that paterson has that winning mentality it could be the formula we need to get the most out of the players. i guess it will depend on how we handle set backs, and if the players take on board the driving words that mp expects from his squad.

I think the discourse of Traore being not good enough is quite unfair. Jatta is an excellent striker, but even he struggled with the type of tactics from Maynard, so how do we anticipate a striker, who's just come into the squad and barely getting any minutes to match that.

I'll be judging if he gets a consistent run in the team. He has different attributes, more akin to that of Langstaff than that of Jatta, so I think that with more physical players in and around him, he'd be able to shine.

Edited August 1Aug 1 by piedestrian

We need a good quality striker to replace Didzy & the owners are possibly going to have to fork out some money to acquire one. Possibly in the region of £250K to £350 K should get a decent goal scorer for this level.

I don't understand why the club hasn't gave Traore a run in the B team for him to get some confidence. Scoring becomes a habit & scoring brings confidence.

Other Clubs use the B team for that purpose so why not Notts. I think it could pay dividends for Traore and Notts.

Martin Paterson gave a very good interview. I would have liked the media to push back a little when he refused to answer certain questions. I respect that he doesn’t want to talk about promotion and would rather let the football do the talking, but sometimes it’s okay to press a bit. There are polite ways to phrase things from his point of view, like saying he’s confident but will take it game by game, and after a few matches he’d hope to be in the top four and pushing higher.

Excellent interview from the perspective of what sounds like a solid plan.

I like that he went to watch Newport County and that he isn't going to talk about how we are the better team on paper. He doesn't give much away, which is good. I am more curious about the injuries, as it sounds like we have the majority back. I thought Scott Robertson and Lucas Ness were still out injured?

9 hours ago, piedestrian said:

I think the discourse of Traore being not good enough is quite unfair.

I don't think it is unfair; he had the opportunity to fit in and played when others could have done more for us at that stage. He got the place because he needed to 'adjust', but lacked signs of control, fell over, and looked a little unnatural as a footballer.

We have had good players who never had the time of day; even Junior Morias did more in his final game away to AFC Wimbledon than Mai Traore did for the majority of the games. We utilized him as both a striker and an attacking midfielder, yet he failed to perform effectively in either role. There were glimpses, and I would hope that he can come good, but it wasn't Stuart Maynard's fault Traore couldn't pass the ball, control it, or stay on his feet.

Pairing him with Jatta is also a benefit to helping him settle; he needs to step up this season and find confidence.