The story so far…a new dawn or more of the same?

Lots of people say you can’t judge a team until after 10 games. I’m unconvinced by that but here’s what I would say we have learnt so far. Everybody agrees that our football is better. Going to Prenton Park is no longer done out of a sense of loyalty, it’s actually starting to be something I look forward to again. Been a few seasons since I felt that way.

1. Scoring goals is problematic. Joe Ironside works hard but his goal return rate is really poor. Other players put the ball in the onion bag, but we are not converting chances into goals. This needs sorting quickly.
2. Our defence is far from convincing: Smudge has been solid but centrally we are not dominating the opposition.  Neither Faulkner or Turnbull have shown the necessary understanding with Smith.Nevett though looks solid. 
3. Our wide backs are good but only a little bit better than what we had last season: This may seem a harsh judgement but Senior and Slater work well, the forward transitions don’t always flow. That may not be their fault, it might be players not making themselves available for the pass. 
4. Will Vaulks is excellent: No complaints. A superb signing. Hard working and calm. 
5. Tom Ince is good: I don’t join in the hero worship though. I don’t like how he berates junior team mates at times. After Rochdale, it could be said he needs to 
6. The loan signings have made positive contributions: Dylan Jones, Zane Okoro and Faulkner have all been good to reasonable. Nevett, as mentioned, looks solid, Kamara looks a little short of match fitness.
7. Charlie Whittaker needs to be used better: It seems that Chaz is recognised as offering us something but he hasn’t yet shone. 
8. We need to get better at using substitutions: This might reflect the depth of the squad but often we have made changes that have weakened our overall performance.
9. Our away form is concerning: We need more points on the road, why we fail to win on our travels is a mystery.
10. We are much more pleasing on the eye but results matter: Darrell Clarke has turned us into a more attractive team. There have been a number of really enjoyable performances but games where we have dropped points that we should have won. This may be linked to point 8, we need to steer clear of a relegation dog-fight.

The performance against Chesterfield was poor. And we obviously carried a bit of a hangover for the first 15 minutes against Rochdale. So far we’ve played 4 teams in the top 10.  We haven’t taken one point from 12 in those games. It’s pointing towards a mid-table finish, but a few poor results could see us struggling, a few good ones would make the world of a difference.

You don’t support Tranmere for the glory, not over the past few seasons. Darrell Clarke has brought an improvement in play. That now needs to be built upon.