With another season in the National League over and play off disappointment playing it's part for the second year running it's time to look back on the class of 2020/21 by using a number of statistical metrics to find out how the players rated, who could have done better and who is top of the class.
Regarding the ratings they are based on a number of quantitative metrics which takes into account minutes played, goal involvement, clean sheets, PPG etc to provide one range of scores. I have also throughout the season applied 'fantasy football' type points to players after each game. Finally I have marked players based on performance related key attributes which can include things such as pass completion, dribbles, duels won, progressive play etc. These are also split into defensive and attacking attributes so as not to discriminate by player position.
Finally once all the results are calculated players are ranked by each metric giving them a 5 star rating.
Apologies if this all sounds a little convoluted but it is important to arrive at a figure that is fair to all players in all positions as well as it being an objective and not subjective rating.
There were 32 players made appearances for Notts this season and I have only rated those that appeared in 10 or more games regardless of minutes played.
That means there were 12 players that don't feature in the ratings, the most noticeable being Callum Roberts who only made 9 appearances last season due to ongoing injury problems.
Roberts does however deserve a mention because for the 9 matches played in he would have finished fourth in the ratings. However, rules are rules, sorry.
So the 12 players not included in the top 20 rankings are:
Callum Roberts
Lewis Knight
Matty Wolfe
Tom Walker
Luke Pilling
Wes Thomas
Sam Graham
Damien McCrory
Luke Steele
Tyreace Palmer
Tylor Golden
Kenton Richards
All the key stats for players can be found on the player stats page of the website here .
Onto the player rankings now from #20 through to #1:
So now we're down to the top 5 stats rated players of the season . . .
And now the top rated player for Notts this season is . . .
So that's it, Ruben Rodrigues did so much in the latter part of the season that he earned enough points to finish this season's number one stats rated player.
A special mention for Dion Kelly-Evans who has had a really good season and the stats confirm it. His flexibility to play on both the left and right meant he got plenty of game time and generally didn't have a bad game all season.
Remember these are not my own choices this is just how the ratings turned out based on the metrics used but if I was to make a choice I don't think this would be far off the mark.
Next up I'll be looking at National League rankings using Wyscout data which will allow us to determine how well certain Notts players have performed compared to players elsewhere in the league.
In the meantime, thanks for reading as always.
COYP!
Richard