[NoSkillz]

Tue. January 14, 2025

League Cup - Semi Final First Leg
Dover (3rd in Barclays Premier League) vs. Manchester United (1st in Barclays Premier League)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Manchester United: 7-4
Past Meetings: 6W 4D 10L

We host Manchester United in the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals as we face a tough road in trying to win a third consecutive title. We defeated United 4-1 at Wembley in the finals last year and also beat them in a two-leg semi final in the Champions League last year. However, we dropped a 1-0 decision in league play earlier this year at Old Trafford. Yaya Sanogo is on fire this year, with an absurd 37 goals in 30 matches thus far. Said Henni, a Dover player for a short time last year, is second with 9 but he’s hurt…again. He always is injured. Another former Dover player, defender Cristian Rodriguez, looks to be blossoming this year and has a very solid 7.37 average rating - he was my choice as future captain of our club but United made an offer our chairman couldn’t refuse and off he went.

Paul Moses has regained full fitness and despite being a bit tired after our FA Cup win on Saturday over Norwich, he’ll start today. Pretty full lineup today but Mads Pedersen is at left midfield for the injured Arsene Bamba. We called up U18 star Felix Hernandez and he’ll be on the bench today. Control mentality and flat 4-4-2 at home as slight favourites. Ingo Wilke is in goal.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - M. Pedersen, B. Raab, Jose, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - Emerson, S. Nasri, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, F. Hernandez, G. Allan, A. Broomes

United are taking this seriously today as well, starting a full lineup of stars. Sanogo is up front with Ishak Belfodil, Omar Hernandez is in midfield, Rodriguez at DC and Liviu Dragomir is in goal in their flat 4-4-2. As usual, I ask the players to put on a show for the supporters.

18’ - We’re playing quite well but so is United in the early goings, with some great back and forth play. We build an attack from the goalkeeper out and a key play sees Renato Gaucho sending a long, cross field pass to the opposite flank and to Gianluca Bolis. Bolis heads it on to Chiquinho and he BURSTS through the United defence and in on a partial break. His shot is saved by Dragomir but the rebound pops out to the ever lethal Paul Moses and he slots it home! DOVER GOAL 1-0

29’ - We win a corner and Benedikt Raab’s cross is to the far post and Claudio Contreras and his header is off a United defender and IN! DOVER GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME - We are playing beautiful football today, playing with pace, passion and precision. We hold 55% of the ball and a 16-3 (7-2 on target) shot advantage. With this being a two-leg tie, I won’t back down in the second half - lets score a couple more!

69’ - United are really coming on strong here and I switch to a counter attacking mentality.

70’ - Incredible. Just like in the Manchester City collapse from a couple weeks ago, our opposition score right after my tactics change, as Omar Hernandez crosses into the area on a free kick and it’s headed in off the crossbar by Eduardo Padilla. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 2-1

78’ - I bring in Andy Broomes for Paul Moses and switch back to a control mentality. I don’t want to sit back with a one goal lead…lets push forward boys!

85’ - We bring in Neil Cairney for Jose and switch back to the counter attack mentality, as United have changed to a 4-2-4.

90’+3 - We milk time and bring in Saber Nasri for Rayane Hamon.

We hold them off and take a one goal lead into the second leg.

Dover 2 - 1 Manchester United
Goals - Paul Moses (7.3), Claudio Contreras (8.0)
Assists - Chiquinho (6.8), Benedikt Raab (8.6)
Man of the Match - Liviu Dragomir (Manchester United GK - 9.4)
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.4), Salim Loucif (7.2), Renato Gaucho (7.0)
Attendance - 23,000 (Sell-Out)

We hold 53% of overall possession and a 24-14 (13-9 on target) shot advantage. The United keeper is named man of the match and he was spectacular - one sequence saw us get three point blank shots off in a row and he saved them all…incredible stuff. Wilke was excellent as well and made a few HUGE stops to keep our one goal advantage. Benedikt Raab continues to impress. Fun game to watch - really tense and great flow all game.

-- The other semi-final sees Sunderland defeat Spurs 3-1 to take a commanding lead into the second leg.



Transfer Market Fun

-- I see a news blurb about former Dover fullback Kostas Zagos, who I sold to Chelsea two years ago for a whopping £21.5 million, easily the largest transfer fee ever received by our club. Zagos was excellent for us but that was an offer I couldn’t turn down. Well, Zagos would only start 20 games for them over the past two years and now they’ve given up on him, selling him to Reading for only £4.4 million!! Holy crap! He’s only 25 years old too - can’t believe they gave up on the English international so soon.

-- Chelsea come calling for 17 year old right fullback Eneko Remirez, who I bought for £2.5 million in the offseason. Considering I bought him just this summer for the same amount from Athletic Club Bilbao, that’s a pretty insulting offer. I negotiate, asking for £5.5 million up front and additional clauses. I don’t see them going for it but I’m perfectly fine letting Remirez develop in our youth system. Indeed, we find out the next day that they’ve withdrawn from talks. Sounds good.



U18 Update

-- The under 18s win 3-0 over Eastleigh, as we get goals from Joshua Stokes, Freddie Laird and star striker Alberto Velazquez.



Premier League Update

-- We have a Monday game this week so we get to watch all of the weekend action. Chelsea get back on the winning track with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa. Arsenal best Derby 3-0, City beat Sheffield United 1-0, Newcastle win a 4-3 thriller over Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday beat Sunderland 1-0 and United edge Spurs 1-0.



Injury Update

-- Manuel Lugo, on the shelf for the last four months, is finally back to full training. With five healthy strikers now, my ideal situation would see Lugo accept a loan assignment for the rest of the season. I’ll try to find a club for him.



Transfer News

-- 22 year old DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz has accepted a deal with Aris in Greece and will be leaving our club on July 1st on a Bosman transfer. Yilmaz’s agent walked out on our negotiation and wouldn’t come back to the table so I lose the £2 million rated defender for nothing. He’s been with us since he was 16 years old so it’s bittersweet to say the least but he is our fifth option on the senior team and ultimately won’t be missed. Still, he always played great when called upon. Tough loss.



Next Up

-- We are big favourites as we head on the road to face Huddersfield Town in Premier League play.