I can say it now because of the positive result but this was a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch with both sides having similar styles of play.
Notts very much on top in the attacking metrics but fair play to Altrincham who stuck to their footballing principles and played their part in an encounter that saw 1,035 passes with 919 of those passes finding their intended targets.
To put this into context the average number of passes per 90 minutes in a National League game this season is a little over 600 with approximately 450 completed accurately.
One other observation was how well organised and disciplined Altrincham were with their shape, especially in the transitions from attack to defence and vice versa. The 3-4-3 formation allows them to commit wide players into advanced areas during possession based build up, but when out of possession those wide players along with a couple of the front 3 can drop deep essentially becoming a resilient 5-4-1.
Match tempo was pretty much identical for both teams although Notts pressed more than the visitors.
Altrincham have made the decision to go full time professional from next season and if that enables them to strengthen their squad in key areas whilst maintaining their current style of play it will be interesting to see how competitive they can be over the next couple of seasons.
Points needed updated:
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Progress updated and hopefully heading towards a 5th place finish.
National League results tracker updated.
Goal segment chart:
Six game segments updated. 15 points from 7 games in this last segment of 8 games.
Player stats updated:
As usual this is the new table that is also available to view on the player stats page of the website here. There will also be separate tables for the two cup competitions.
Goals and assists chart.
Goal scatter charts updated.
You can hover on the dots (tap if on a touch screen) to view details for each goal, although it's a bit busy in the penalty area!
xG (expected goals). Penalty helps the xG again but still a decent number of good chances created.
Key xG match stats:
Player xG Stats: Plenty more chances in the first half but Altrincham's resilience reduced them to low value opportunities.
National League goal scorers includes cup games, penalties and own goals.
Ian Burchnall's record updated after 70 games.
Maidenhead away on Sunday in the last game of the regular season and a point will be enough to guarantee 5th place and a home QF play-off fixture, with Grimsby or Chesterfield the likely opponents.
As always thanks for reading.
COYP!
Richard