Tranmere Rovers
The curious picking of players of the match
Tranmere Crest
By David Sindall
November 22 2025
Most home games you hear an announcement that ‘our match sponsors have chosen….as player of the match’. Usually there is a murmur of disbelief in the people that sit around me because often the player chosen has either scored a goal or is far from the obvious choice. It’s strange.
You might argue picking a player of the match misses the point. We are a team, our wins and defeats are rarely down to a single player. Too often it seems that the choice is down to a player who scores a couple of goals, or the only goal. That’s like always deciding that the vocalist is the best performer in a band. It overlooks the contributions of others and reduces a match down to a simplistic approach.
Whilst the dust is settling I would be minded to nominate Sam Finley as our best player against Milton Keynes Dons, I think the same was true against Cheltenham the previous week At the same time I thought Joe Ironside had one of his best performances in a Rovers shirt. He didn’t score but he made a nuisance of himself. Without the goals a good case could be made for Charlie Whittaker. I suspect we are going to have trouble holding on to Charlie. Billy Blacker also played well.
Yet, it seems the player of the match is usually a battle between Connor Jennings and Omari Patrick. Now, I would happily iron Connor’s socks for him. Love the guy. Omari, well he’s great but I don’t have the same affection for him as I do for super Connor Jennings (we signed him from Wrexham, but I think you know that). It seems that all others have to eat the crumbs at the table.
Which brings me on to Nathan Smith aka Smudge. From my perspective he has been our player of the season so far. He rarely makes a mistake, gives 120% and has the makings of a cult player. He should, imho, be Captain. I think he wore the armband at Port Vale and to me he would make a fantastic leader.
As for Richie Smallwood, last season, away at Bradford City, he was their best player on the pitch. He bossed the Ref, got in our players faces, made a nuisance of himself. This season he seems, to be kind, subdued. He hasn’t brought the passion he had at Valley Parade to Prenton Park. It feels like he is mourning his previous role, Captain at City. And his performances have been under-par. I hope we, as supporters, can lift him rather than getting on his back.
From my perspective there have been glimmers of the team we could be in the past couple of games. There is enough passion there at times, we just need it to be there for 90 minutes. There is enough creativity too, but it’s sporadic. I think our manager is good enough, despite not having the budget that I suspect he was promised. And I think we as supporters can ignore all the politics around the club and get behind the team. They need us.
All views expressed are personal
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22/11/2025 19:46
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Quote:Absolutely .Bored rover
We meed to start by calling it Man of the match again
