I am catching up with Dave for his December team summary. He's been running around this month making sure everyone is happy and motivated. We had to deal with one issue - we couldnt get a work permit for American Dan Dickinson, so I asked for mutual termination. That did not go down well, and Dave didnt have a lot of luck getting anything out of him, so we're going to have to cough up for a release. He would never have made it here anyway.
Anyway, here's a summary of what Dave had to say.
Games:
Our run of great results continued into November. The first match was the fourth round of the Capital Cup. We were drawn at home against West Ham. We played very well, with Cotterill, Stockton and Galloway getting on the score sheet for a 4:0 win. Cotterill player of the match, he was excellent on the wing.
We followed this up away to Aston Villa. We started brightly yet again, with Gabriel scoring in the 18th minute. Ake doubled the lead from a corner at 50 minutes, and we coasted from there. Until Villa scored in the 72nd minute, and went on full out attack mode. Eventually our defence crumbled and in the 92nd minute Villa equalised to make it 2:2. Cotterill followed up his excellent outing against the Hammers with another PotM here.
Everton was a great game, worthy of a longer writeup!
Going into the match Everton's manager Ronny Delia was under immense pressure from the media. "He's got to go" screamed the headlines, with the local press particularly upset about the contrast between high flying neighbour Tranmere and their relegation zone team. A massive underperformance considering the quality of their lineup - top quality includes Lukaku and "Chicharito" Hernandez up front, rising Welsh star George Williams lining up with Ross Barkley in the midfield, and Baines and Jagielka providing certainty at the back, supported by Bosnian international keeper Hadzikic, with Tim Howard still in running the training ground plays.
It was a cool and breezy night. Tranmere was, as usual, on attack from the whistle. Da Silva took a short corner, playing a one-two with Kent to improve his angle
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Gabriel was, unbelievably, unmarked on the near post - no contest, 1:0 Tranmere.
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It stayed 1:0 til the 69th minute. Everton had a throw in deep in Tranmere territory. Coleman played a 1-2 to Romeu, and then put a low pass into the box crowded with white shirts
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He found Zahovic on the near post, marked by Barbosa. He had a shot but it hit Barbosa in the shin, and sprayed back to Barkley
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Barkley saw Williams was loosely marked immediately in front of him, and passed to him. Williams took a first time shot
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Di Gennaro got a hand to it, but it was too powerful to stop and slewed off to the upper corner of the goal - 1:1!
Tranmere went on attack, not satisfied with a draw. Pressure culminated in a corner to Tranmere on 89 minutes. We are lethal from corners...
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Da Silva lined up, passed short to Cotterill.
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Only one Everton defender on the near post, and Cotterill took him on. The Everton man was drawn out to stop his run
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This left Gabriel unmarked 3m out from goal. Cotterill played a pass to him...
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Only one result from that position:
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Tranmere 2 Everton 1 - a great result from the local derby. Marco Da Silva was PoTM for setting up the first goal and general defensive excellence.
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The last game in November was away to Arsenal. A difficult match under any circumstances, but Tranmere at this stage is running rampant so anything could happen!
We were looking good, but Arsenal had worked out our primary scoring tactic (ie pass it to Gabriel) and was marking him tight. So tight that he spent most of the first half flat on his back, wondering where his legs went. Wilshere was booked for it on 10 mins, Koscielny on 45, but there were plenty of non-booked dodgy tackles out there! That cut off our attacking momentum, so Tranmere was forced to play from the back more than we would normally like. It paid dividends for the Gunners. On 20 mins, Wilshere scored, followed by Welbeck on 40 - 2:0 to the home side at half time, big trouble for Tranmere. We came out strong and played ok, with Galloway scoring on 60. The last half hour were hectic but if I'm honest Arsenal had the better chances, and deserved to run out winners. 2:1 to Arsenal and our first loss of the season.
Welbeck PotM, and our stats generally not crash hot.
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At the end of November then we are still in great shape, even after our first loss. 4th in the Premier Division at the one-third mark in the season, I'll take that any day.
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Falcao has pulled ahead on the top goals metric, he's firing a goal a game and keeping his manager happy. Gabriel in second at 9 from 12. No major changes to form etc, although Cotterill has been solid as a backup winger and will get more game time in that position.
In injuries, Macleod recovered from his first injury only to immediately injure himself again in training. I might need to put him in some cotton wool!
Awards:
Falcao was player of the month - 6 goals from 3 games, not bad
Gabriel was again young player of the month, and Cotterill came third.
Villas-Boas (Man U manager) was manager of the month. I didnt rank after the Arsenal loss.
