October 2023

October 2023
During the month of October, Yeovil Town F.C played 4 League matches, 1 Europa League match and 1 EFL Cup match.

They ended the month 1st in the League.

Premier League: MD8
"What an electric performance! Truth be told, I am more excited about the clean sheet as it is something we worked hard to maintain. We earned that.

Mounie returns to his former team and put in a fantastic display. He allowed Yearwood, Sigurdsson and Ward-Prowse to be the creative engines that supplied the other forwards. Callum too. It was important for him to build on his performance from Thursday and he did exactly that. With him and a few of the other lads heading away for International duty, let's hope that they can stay fit and carry on from where they left off two weeks from now!

Congratulations James Ward-Prowse on winning the EPL POTM award for September!"

Premier League: MD9
"This was a tough game for us. Watford pressed so hard for the majority of the game and they should feel unlucky to come away with nothing. Once we managed to take the lead through Mounie, they penned us into our own half and battled hard to break us down.

Compared to last year, where we would have likely thrown away the lead, I think we've made a lot of progress. We will need to continue this sort of resilience over the whole season and we can't help but finish in the top 5 again.

On another note, Lasse Sorensen has been training with the first team again. We're aiming to have him involved against Chelsea, whilst picking up some match fitness on Thursday!"

Europa League Group Stage: MD3
"If ever there was a game of two halves, this was it. Crazy how much of a difference there was between each 45-minutes.

We set up with last seasons 3-5-2 as a means of getting the most out of Brewster and James—2 goals and 2 assists for Rhian and 1 apiece for James suggests that it turned out quite well! It certainly suited Callum when he came on for 20-minutes too as he was inches away from a hattrick!

We're on track for qualification and 2 more wins should be all we need from the remaining 3 fixtures. I think we can do it! Next up we play Chelsea, who are chasing us up to the top of the table. We're naturally worried about the threat of Benkovic but we're just going to have to adapt to his qualities."

Premier League: MD10
"That was tight. You could tell both teams were keen to put their foot down but were respectful of the threat of the other team. After they scored their first goal, through a Benkovic assist no less, our heads sunk for ten minutes—they have only conceded 3 goals in the league, after all. But Callum hit them on the break and was understandably reserved in his celebration. That looked like the game done but somehow we found James in the middle of the box and found the winning goal. He did have a niggle and I can now confirm that he's going to miss about 3-weeks. But what a way to go out!

Suddenly, the narrative is changing. Now people aren't just talking about us finishing in the top 5, but potentially being league winners. To which, I can only say that these predictions are premature. We started well last season too, lest we forget. Do I believe this team is capable of doing that? I don't see why not. But it not our ambition right now. We are aiming for the top four and going as far as we can in Europe."

EFL Cup: Round of 16
"Phew! What a vintage performance! The plan was always to use players who don't get a lot of minutes in the EFL Cup and FA Cup and that happens to involve a lot of veterans like Omar, Gabriel, Marwin, Daniel and Tom. Bedding them in with a few youngsters from our academy (Callum Davis, Elliot Carter) I think provides us with the perfect blend of youth and experience!

This game was 5 - 0. The last-minute header from their corner honestly stains what was otherwise a very entertaining and solid game. Everyone stepped up today, with Schram and Brewster leading the way! 11 saves (from 16 shots) and a hattrick for Rhian really put the finishing dots on a team performance that warranted this result. Reuvers too! A goal and an assist. He is unfortunately down the pecking order and it's hard for me to promise him more minutes, but if he can keep performing on the few occasions that he gets on the pitch, he will keep endearing himself to the fans and might play his way into a few bigger games!

I enjoy this competition, and whilst it isn't a priority for us this season, I will always put my teams out to play to the best of their ability. That is the least we should expect and today they proved that against a QPR side who had everything to play for."

Premier League: MD11
"It's not that I am upset with the result, but just who it was against. I would have honestly preferred anyone other than Leicester. We had 9 shot, all on target, so we only really have ourselves to blame. It was in our hands but instead, we've extended our feud with Leicester by being so wasteful. It's a shame the month ended like this but it's not the end of the world. Leicester is a strong side this year and has had a great start to the season, like us."

YeoLaTengo Monthly Review
October comes to a close and what was a fantastic month is slightly tarnished by the shock defeat to Leicester. Don't worry, it won't be long before the reverse fixture and we can get some revenge!

This month was all about the kids. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Rhian Brewster had a prolific month in front of goal and both seem to have settled at the same time as each other. Along with others, they each combined to help the team score 20 goals across 6 games! The team just continues to be prolific in front of goal and are getting better defensively, though they still ship a goal or two too many!

Our Europa League campaign has been strong and we now only need one more win to secure qualification into the knockouts. Here's how the table looks right now:

YeoLaTengo Player of the Month
It's tough to make a call here. Another equally deserving candidate is James Ward-Prowse, who looks likely to win the EPL POTM award for the month in spite of his injury. With that said, it's not a case of James going under-appreciated. But it's impossible for us to ignore Callum Hudson-Odoi. The kid has really found his confidence and scored in 4 consecutive games. It almost looks as though he has gotten quicker! Everyone has a hard time catching him! If he builds on his form this month, then there is no doubt that he will continue to reign in many more accolades before the season is complete.

League Table Preview
A snapshot of Yeovil Town in the Premier League, with the teams in close proximity.