[NoSkillz]

Sat. December 12, 2020

Barclays Premier League
Dover (11-1-4, 34 points, 3rd) vs. Fulham (3-4-9, 13 points, 19th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Fulham: 7-2
Past Meetings: 4W 0D 2L

We welcome struggling Fulham to our newly expanded Crabble Athletic Ground, where we expect in excess of 15,000 supporters! Fulham is one of the few Premier League teams that we have a winning record against, winning four of our six previous matchups. We're solid favourites in this game against the relegation candidates.

Fulham have spent 19 of the past 20 years in the Premier League, with the outlier being the 2016-17 season when they slipped briefly down to the Championship. They'd win the league that year to get promoted back up and they've finished in 15th spot two seasons in a row coming into this year. Their big offseason signing was to bring Manchester United great Wayne Rooney into the club. Rooney is in the twilight of his career but has 8 goals in 19 games so far this year across all competitions, joint leader with the suspended Milan Djuric, another Fulham striker. Djuric is their highest valued player at £3,300,000 so we're fortunate to avoid him this time. They also have a fine young DC in Sam Magri but other than that, they have few stars.

Fulham are struggling in Premier League play but have inexplicably stayed alive in the League Cup, reaching the two-leg semifinals against Southampton, another curiosity.

We are forced to make a couple of changes in this one. Cristian Rodriguez is serving his one game suspension today so Thomas Andersen will slot into his spot and we'll play Gerardo Escobar up front all alone, with Zoltan Bardi sitting directly behind him in the AMC slot of our 4-4-2 DM. Giorgos Gesios is available off the bench but he's a bit tired recovering from his bruised rib suffered in our scoreless draw last weekend against Newcastle. DR Salim Loucif is fully fit after missing a month of action and will head back into the starting eleven. Jozef Kuciak was superb in relief of Loucif but will move to the bench for this match.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, T. Andersen, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney
AM - C. Murray, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis
S - G. Escobar
Bench - J. Kuciak, J. Varga, D. Pratley, Mancini, M. Prochazka, L. Craig, G. Gesios

Fulham start in a flat 4-4-2 with a tired Wayne Rooney up front. I tell the team I expect a victory today.

4' - We win a throw in down the left side and Gaucho tosses it to Cameron Murray. He sends a lovely ball into Neil Cairney, who takes it to his right foot but sends an inexplicably weak shot right at the Fulham keeper. I expected a bullet there!

14' - Not many chances so far as it's raining in Dover. Murray works a counter and a nice cross comes into the box but Bardi takes down their man in their area and gets the early yellow card.

26' - We're generating nothing and I'm getting impatient as Renato Gaucho takes down Rooney and also gets a yellow.

29' - Fulham win a corner and Menno Hoek sends a lovely ball that meets the head of 25 year old reserve striker Mark Wright and he sends it nicely into the back of the net. His first ever goal for Fulham and we're down to the 19th placed team in the league. FULHAM GOAL 0-1

35 - A wild play ensues after we win a corner. Rocca's ball is headed by Paulus Tjiuoro back to the far post and Bardi heads it again towards goal. It is stopped by a Fulham defender guarding the post but it pops back out to Thomas Andersen, who boots it past a diving Fulham keeper to tie it up. Andersen's first goal for Dover! DOVER GOAL 1-1

36' - Just before our goal I made a shout to hassle them more and to also get stuck in and off the kickoff, we tackle the ball away from them and move up field. Cairney gets the ball and sends a lovely touch pass through the defence to Murray but his hard shot is stopped before the ball is kicked behind the net by the Fulham defender. We do nothing with the ensuing corner.

45' - Rooney gets hurt on a challenge from Andersen and is pulled out. Coming on for him is a former Dover striker, Robbie Benson.

HALFTIME - We lead in possession 58% to 42% and in shots 6-2 (4-1 on target) but I feel like we aren't playing well. I change to our 4-4-2 Flat control formation and tell the team to go out and win for the record 15,000+ supporters in attendance!

59' - Still nothing happening. Renato Gaucho takes the ball around midfield and makes his way down the left flank. He sends a diagonal cross into the area that hits the back of a defender and bounces out to Cairney, whose left footed one-touch strike just goes wide.

60' - A careless turnover in midfield by Cairney results in Andrea Rocca taking down an opponent and getting a yellow.

62' - Giorgos Gesios is brought on for a very ineffective Escobar.

71' - We win a corner and Gaucho heads it just over.

75' - We get another corner and Bardi takes it at the near post off his chest and with no reason whatsoever, shoots it straight out of play. What is going on guys??

I immediately take Bardi out and replace him with Darren Pratley. I move back to a one striker formation (4-4-2 DM).

86' - Renato Gaucho gets hurt on a tackle and needs to come off. Jozef Varga comes on as a replacement.

I switch to attack for the last five minutes. It hasn't worked in the past but I feel we need to press for a win.

88' - Ha - right away they cause a turnover and barely shoot wide. Fulham are in a 4-2-3-1 with 2 defensive mids right now.

Fulham basically go into full-on turtle mode for the four extra minutes and get their draw. Very disjointed performance from our team and I'm thinking of peeling paint, but that usually doesn't work well after games.

Dover 1 - 1 Fulham
Goals - Thomas Andersen (7.3)
Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.1)
Man of the Match - Mark Wright (Fulham ST)
Other Dover Notables - Renato Gaucho (7.1), Cameron Murray (7.0), Gerardo Escobar (5.8)
Attendance - 15,750 (Sell-Out!)

I go with a more subtle approach and just tell the team that their effort wasn't good enough. Fulham controlled play in that second half enough where total possession was only 51-49 in our favour. Shots ended up 10-4 (4-2) for us as well. Really poor performance in front of a capacity ground at our new 15,750 seat stadium. All of a sudden, we're generating little offence.

-- Great. Renato Gaucho broke his ribs in the game and will miss at least four weeks. He's almost irreplaceable - Jozef Varga is the next man up.

-- Ingo Wilke once again speaks out about wanting a new contract and after I hear he's causing issues in the locker room, I confront him about his unprofessionalism. He apologizes and goes on his way.

-- There's a marquee matchup on Sunday and it's United defeating City 1-0 in the Manchester derby, City's first loss of the season. United moves to within two points of 1st place after the win. Chelsea beats Bolton 3-0 on Sunday as well and moves ahead of us into 3rd on the table. We have an eight point cushion over 5th placed Everton right now…our next opponent.



Injury Update

-- We've got a few players on the shelf right now. Petr Kostal should be back to full fitness within the next few days from his broken ribs and striker Petr Simek is also close to a return after his hamstring pull. ML Arsene Bamba is at least a couple weeks away from a return from his hernia surgery and of course, we'll be missing Renato Gaucho for another month or so.



Next Up

-- A tough 4 vs 5 matchup at home versus Everton