Alex MacDonald interview

[Conker]

Steve Evans putting him at centre mid and Flitcroft keeping him in that position always baffled me, a centre mid who cannot pass?

Although It was a better positional move than right back at the promotion deciding game against MK Dons - I wonder if Flitcroft can finally admit that was mental, especially considering his reasoning was because he's played right wing for the majority of his career

No doubt Macca always gave his all for Mansfield though, and he's definitely good enough to do a job at L2.

[bobbystagsfan]

Steve Evans putting him at centre mid and Flitcroft keeping him in that position always baffled me, a centre mid who cannot pass?

Although It was a better positional move than right back at the promotion deciding game against MK Dons - I wonder if Flitcroft can finally admit that was mental, especially considering his reasoning was because he's played right wing for the majority of his career

No doubt Macca always gave his all for Mansfield though, and he's definitely good enough to do a job at L2.

you say he can't pass, watch the equaliser Zander diamond scored against the raspberry

[Old amber]

Good on ya Macca.. good battler on the pitch and what we would call a “ bread & butter “ player in the old days
Thanks for your time at the stags. Take care and best to your family

[Parkinsons Perm]

Steve Evans putting him at centre mid and Flitcroft keeping him in that position always baffled me, a centre mid who cannot pass?

Although It was a better positional move than right back at the promotion deciding game against MK Dons - I wonder if Flitcroft can finally admit that was mental, especially considering his reasoning was because he's played right wing for the majority of his career

No doubt Macca always gave his all for Mansfield though, and he's definitely good enough to do a job at L2.

you say he can't pass, watch the equaliser Zander diamond scored against the raspberry

You mean the hail Mary sling it in the box cross?

[bobbystagsfan]

Steve Evans putting him at centre mid and Flitcroft keeping him in that position always baffled me, a centre mid who cannot pass?

Although It was a better positional move than right back at the promotion deciding game against MK Dons - I wonder if Flitcroft can finally admit that was mental, especially considering his reasoning was because he's played right wing for the majority of his career

No doubt Macca always gave his all for Mansfield though, and he's definitely good enough to do a job at L2.

you say he can't pass, watch the equaliser Zander diamond scored against the raspberry

You mean the hail Mary sling it in the box cross?

It was still a cross that resulted in a goal

[Parkinsons Perm]

Steve Evans putting him at centre mid and Flitcroft keeping him in that position always baffled me, a centre mid who cannot pass?

Although It was a better positional move than right back at the promotion deciding game against MK Dons - I wonder if Flitcroft can finally admit that was mental, especially considering his reasoning was because he's played right wing for the majority of his career

No doubt Macca always gave his all for Mansfield though, and he's definitely good enough to do a job at L2.

you say he can't pass, watch the equaliser Zander diamond scored against the raspberry

You mean the hail Mary sling it in the box cross?

It was still a cross that resulted in a goal

Stop winking as though you've proved your point.
Conker said a CM who couldn't pass, come up with a 'pass' that resulted in a goal, even if you do or don't you won't find many considering he's been here a long time.

[MTFCMAD]

He could whip a good cross in but his passing was very league two standard.

Says alot when your best assett is work rate.

[bobbystagsfan]

Steve Evans putting him at centre mid and Flitcroft keeping him in that position always baffled me, a centre mid who cannot pass?

Although It was a better positional move than right back at the promotion deciding game against MK Dons - I wonder if Flitcroft can finally admit that was mental, especially considering his reasoning was because he's played right wing for the majority of his career

No doubt Macca always gave his all for Mansfield though, and he's definitely good enough to do a job at L2.

you say he can't pass, watch the equaliser Zander diamond scored against the raspberry

You mean the hail Mary sling it in the box cross?

It was still a cross that resulted in a goal

Stop winking as though you've proved your point.
Conker said a CM who couldn't pass, come up with a 'pass' that resulted in a goal, even if you do or don't you won't find many considering he's been here a long time.

Stop telling me what to do

[Parkinsons Perm]

you say he can't pass, watch the equaliser Zander diamond scored against the raspberry [/quote]

You mean the hail Mary sling it in the box cross?[/quote]


It was still a cross that resulted in a goal [/quote]

Stop winking as though you've proved your point.
Conker said a CM who couldn't pass, come up with a 'pass' that resulted in a goal, even if you do or don't you won't find many considering he's been here a long time.[/quote]

Stop telling me what to do [/quote]

No need your mummy and daddy still do that

[88BenM]

Who were the league 1 club ?

It was Gillingham. Chances are, he will end up with them. From what I was told, he stayed after GC promised him that he would be here beyond the end of the season. Obviously a number of factors have come into play since January, so GC's position on him has changed for one reason or another.

Knowledge

[spanishstag]

Nothing but admiration for alex ,gave his all

[I am Spartacus]

Always gave his all, whatever was asked of him. Though one persons great player is another persons liability.

Thanks for the goal at Coventry and those shots in the Scotsman Bar in Malta.

Good luck, though not too much as I would hate to see Chinese Steve do well and best wishes for you career.

[Sedgwick]

Steve Evans putting him at centre mid and Flitcroft keeping him in that position always baffled me, a centre mid who cannot pass?

Although It was a better positional move than right back at the promotion deciding game against MK Dons - I wonder if Flitcroft can finally admit that was mental, especially considering his reasoning was because he's played right wing for the majority of his career

No doubt Macca always gave his all for Mansfield though, and he's definitely good enough to do a job at L2.

you say he can't pass, watch the equaliser Zander diamond scored against the raspberry

wow one cross out of how many???

[Hon Sec]

Everyone loved him when we played away at Coventry.

[Billy the fish]

So fickle are some he gave 100% you can’t ask for much more , good luck to him

[BH_Stag]

So fickle are some he gave 100% you can’t ask for much more , good luck to him

You can, that’s why we’ve moved him on.

He’s a workhorse that never stops, nobody can question that, but he gave the ball away far too often and his goals/assist output wasn’t great. Had some good games for us though and scored one of the best goals we’ve seen over recent years so wish him well, Gillingham is a good move for him.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

I always liked Alex MacDonald. He was excellent in 2017-2018. His fantastic goal away at Coventry City will live long in the memory. It was a shame he got injured after signing his new 2 year deal in June 2018. He probably became one of our big earners at that stage. It was great he signed a new deal because we all expected him to join Steve Evans at Peterborough. You could never fault his work rate and his "hustle and bustle" but his distribution and lack of creativity let him down at times. He also did not score many goals for someone who Steve Evans originally signed as an attacking midfield player. Lack of goals from midfield cost the Stags dearly in 17/18 and 18/19. We did not really need him as a central midfield player once we had signed Neal Bishop as they were both doing the same job and Neal Bishop had a great season in 2018-2019.

I was very surprised he was released though as I thought he was a GC type of player with running 11-12k per game and lots of pressing. Perhaps GC decided that he wanted more bang for his buck.

There were rumours that Lincoln City wanted to sign him at one stage and that they had bid money for him.

League Appearances
2016-2017 13(5) 1 Goal
2017-2018 40(1) 3 Goals
2018-2019 13(8) 1 Goal
2019-2020 27(2) 1 Goal

Good luck Alex

[daddycool]

Amazing how the players the stagsnet experts do not rate finish in a league above .

[MTFCMusings]

Amazing how the players the stagsnet experts do not rate finish in a league above .

Two words : salary cap

[AlanStag]

Think the move into midfield made him think he was a different player to what he was. He was highly rated as a winger at Oxford with good delivery, but for me never had the guile and mind of a midfielder.

His goal return for a midfielder was poor ,but he wasn’t alone in that, which is an area we have struggled with for a while. I wish him all the best but I’m not gutted to lose him.

[stagmanrob]

I think the bulking up he did in the gym was his downfall too.
That coupled with his injury made him appear far more slow and sluggish even though his work rate and fitness was still there.

[Bradders]

I was sorry to see him go. He was regularly top of the "successful pass" stats after matches last season, and top on possession too. He seemed to divide opinion though. I remember one match where I thought he was running the show, the post match stats showed him by far the best on passes and possession, and yet some people thought that he had barely touched the ball. Baffled me.
I suppose that people don't value passing midfielders and expect them to score a lot. But he was also the one who intercepted loose balls in front of the defence and restarted forward moves. A lot of his passing was simple as well, so maybe people only notice the more dramatic passes.

[kevin kents tasce]

You watched a very different McDonald to me Bradders.

His passing was woeful. Often he would place his pass behind the receiver and stop any forward momentum we had, or he would launch an ill thought out cross field pass which would be cut out by the opposition who regularly used the opportunity to counter attack from it.

Passing volume does not equal passing quality of and Macca consistently showed this.

His work rate was excellent, but his positional play was terrible. He charged around the pitch like a bull In na China shop and often let huge spaces in the midfield for the opposition to get at our back four.

He was a good winger but poor central midfielder and considering his wages, I think releasing him was the right decision.

He always came across as a really decent bloke though and I wish him every success at the Gills

[Bradders]

You watched a very different McDonald to me Bradders.

His passing was woeful. Often he would place his pass behind the receiver and stop any forward momentum we had, or he would launch an ill thought out cross field pass which would be cut out by the opposition who regularly used the opportunity to counter attack from it.

Passing volume does not equal passing quality of and Macca consistently showed this.

His work rate was excellent, but his positional play was terrible. He charged around the pitch like a bull In na China shop and often let huge spaces in the midfield for the opposition to get at our back four.

He was a good winger but poor central midfielder and considering his wages, I think releasing him was the right decision.

He always came across as a really decent bloke though and I wish him every success at the Gills

The stats detailed successful passes, not just attempts, and he was consistently top. I did note that some people clearly didn't like his style of play, and picked on the occasional misplaced pass as if it was the only time he attempted a pass. My theory is that people simply don't notice short accurate passing at all. He's not a Premier League player, and even they occasionally misjudge an ambitious pass, so no surprise that such a busy player sometimes gets it wrong. But you have to balance that against the good work that he did most of the time, even if you didn't notice at the time and had to refer to the stats.

[georgefostersbeard]

The issue with him for me was, that despite working incredibly hard for every second he was on the pitch, his charging around unsettled and unbalanced the midfield.
His positional discipline was not good and it put pressure on the other players which included a 37 year old Neal Bishop and other midfielders who were often unable to backfill.