How do you rate our Team of the Day?

Our National League Team of the Day (see page 22 for this week’s) is one of the paper’s most popular features. For all the stress that goes into writing a 2,000-word feature to fill the double-page spread, it is always the selection of those 11 players – and the manager – that gets the tongues wagging and the fingers tapping (on Twitter) come Sunday morning.

Of course, we can never get it right. But our final team is intended to be subjective, rather than definitive. The debate it throws up is part of the beauty and there is a strange sense of satisfaction when we get it in the neck from irate fans. It’s refreshing to know it still matters!

Just to set the record straight, we aren’t throwing darts at players’ names on a board; our selections are based on ratings that are compiled by the reporters we have at grounds. Ratings are often brought into question because each individual sees a performance in a different light. There are many variables. A reporter may be taking into account a certain player coming back from injury, or that he was playing out of position, while some are just naturally harsher with the marks they dish out.

In terms of making the cut, those who bag an eight or nine really catch the eye. I don’t recall seeing a ten this season, but to be honest if I did I would mark it down to a nine. I don’t believe the ‘perfect’ game of football is out there…

Selection becomes even trickier at this time of year because it is often when the best players really do tend to stand out, turning in match-winning performances. So it is no surprise when we are looking over the ratings at 8.45pm on a Saturday night, with our deadline just 45 minutes away, to find the usual suspects battling for their positions.

Barrow’s Moussa Diarra is always a solid bet in defence, as is Lincoln’s towering Sean Raggett. Meanwhile, York City’s Daniel Parslow has been a regular all season – which is mightily impressive when you consider the position the Minstermen find themselves in, scrapping for their lives at the foot of the table. In midfield, Forest Green’s Liam Noble has been at the heart of The New Lawn side’s surge to reignite their title challenge – with the exception of yesterday. While up top, Christian Doidge (Forest Green), Ricky Miller (Dover) and Andy Cook (Tranmere) have made a tasty front three.

By and large, the headline-makers will force their way in. But there’s something to be said for those players who just go about their business; the ‘Steady Eddies’ who chalk up those ‘sevens’ week in, week out. One of those is Aldershot’s Jake Gallagher. I’ve watched the Shots a fair bit this term and they are a front-foot side; at their best when they smell blood, the twinkle-toe skills of Idris Kanu and Bernard Mensah always catch the eye. But Gallagher is the one who keeps them ticking, while not always shining in the spotlight.

Lincoln boss Danny Cowley often refers to his left-back, Sam Habergham, as a ‘Seven’ – while I’m sure Habergham would rather be referred to as an ‘eight’, it is a mark of his consistency that even when the Imps struggle, he is able to turn in those solid performances.

You can’t put a price on players like that. Although you can always put a mark on them…