The Alassana Jatta lesson Notts County will have learned after Gillingham defeat: View | OneFootball

Notts County's defeat to Gillingham at the weekend showed how important Alassana Jatta is to Stuart Maynard's side.

Notts County’s 1-0 loss to Gillingham on Saturday highlighted the importance of Alassana Jatta to the Magpies’ possession-based system.

The defeat brought Notts’ unbeaten start to the season to a close, with Stuart Maynard’s side left to rue missed chances at Meadow Lane. They were also left aggrieved when Sam Austin’s 87th-minute equaliser was ruled out by a very late offside flag.

Jatta was sidelined in accordance with the concussion protocol, with Maynard revealing he’d been experiencing dizziness after Notts’ win at Bromley the week before.

In the Gambian’s absence, Notts had very few attacking options to call on from the bench as they struggled to break down the steely Gills defence.

Saturday was not Jatta’s first concussion-related absence of the season, with the striker already having missed the wins over Swindon Town and Accrington Stanley. While it’s currently unclear how long Jatta will be out for, with Cedwyn Scott also missing due to injury, Notts will be hoping his return comes sooner rather than later.

Jatta has become a key figure for Notts

Since his arrival from Danish Superliga side Viborg last January for an undisclosed fee, Jatta has become something of a key figure for Notts.

After taking a few weeks to adapt to English football, he began to hit form and now has nine goals from 15 games in all competitions across this season and the close of the 2023/24 campaign.

He’s become even more important to Notts this season in the absence of Macaulay Langstaff, highlighted by the fact he was chosen to lead the line from the start in each of the Magpies’ first three league games before he was first sidelined for the win at Swindon.

While it’s unclear so far whether the 25-year-old will be able to replicate Langstaff’s goalscoring feats, Notts are creating countless chances (they’ve already created a league-high 21 big chances so far this season), so Jatta will have no shortage of opportunities.

He’s already on three goals this season, having got off the mark in the 2-2 draw with Fleetwood on the 18th of August, before also finding the back of the net in the wins over Grimsby Town and Bromley.

Despite only starting three of Notts’ opening seven games in League Two, Jatta currently leads the entire league for xG and big chances missed, which perhaps suggests that his tally of three should be even higher than it already is.

However, Saturday’s defeat showed that Jatta is far more important to Maynard’s system than just his goalscoring ability.

Jatta is integral to Notts’ style of play

Saturday’s struggle to break down a resolute backline outlined just how important Jatta is to Notts.

While David McGoldrick has enjoyed a fantastic start to the season, his natural game is always to drop deeper to link the play and on Saturday, this left Notts without a real threat in behind the Gillingham defence.

With the play in front of them the majority of the time, the Gills backline were happy to sit in, be compact, and back themselves to deal with the crosses that Notts put into the box.

Not only does Jatta’s pace and movement provide a threat in behind for opposition defences to worry about but having him occupy the last man also stretches them enough to create space for the likes of Dan Crowley to operate in, something which the classy midfielder simply didn’t have on Saturday.

Jatta’s physical presence is also extremely valuable to Notts. The Magpies were left without a backup plan with the Gambian missing on Saturday.

Gillingham have two strong, aerially dominant centre-halves in Max Ehmer and Shadrach Ogie, who both had the beating of McGoldrick in the air all afternoon.

This deprived Notts of the ability to go slightly longer and get up the pitch quicker when they were chasing the game in the second half, something which has become a key added dimension to their game with Jatta fit and firing this season.

Without Jatta’s aerial presence and runs in behind, Mark Bonner’s men were able to get numbers behind the ball, sit in a rigid shape, and deprive Notts’ creative players of space to work in, something they did very well.

Having the ability to switch to a slightly more direct style has been key to Notts over the last few years as it helps them become less predictable and one-dimensional. Without Jatta, they don’t really have the ability to do that to any great effect.

Throughout the season, Notts will undoubtedly encounter several situations where they must revert from their preferred possession style in order to find a way through a difficult game, meaning they will need their goalscoring Gambian fit and firing if they are to compete at the top end of the League Two table.