[NoSkillz]

Mon. July 22, 2024

Preseason Friendly
Olympique Lyonnais (France Ligue 1) vs. Dover
OL Land, Decines-Charpieu, France

OL are one of the biggest clubs in the world and haven’t finished outside the top two in Ligue 1 in ELEVEN years. They finished second last year to their main rival, OM. They were Champions League runners up in 2022, Europa League winners in 2021 and have won their domestic league 15 times. 27 year old Brazilian striker Tiago is valued at over £31 million and has spent seven years scoring in bushel loads for the club.

We’re going with a half strength lineup at best, as we continue to try to get our players fit for the start of the season. I’m even giving U18 graduate Gary Archer a start at midfield today. Rayane Hamon will also start as he returns to his home country.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, M. Mutesa, R. Hamon, Rafinha
M - M. Pedersen, G. Archer, B. Raab, G. Bolis
S - A. Broomes, Z. Bardi

Olympique Lyonnais 6 - 3 Dover
Goals - Andy Broomes PEN (6.9), Gianluca Bolis (8.1), Andrea Rocca (7.4)
Assists - Mwemere Mutesa (6.5), Gianluca Bolis, Mads Pedersen (6.9)
Man of the Match - Alejandro Garcia (Olympique Lyonnais MC - 9.4)
Other Dover Notables - Rafinha (5.7), Renato Gaucho (4.8), Gary Archer (5.8), Paolo Secchi (5.8), Alberto Velazquez (5.8)
Attendance - 57,926

So yeah, this was a MASSACRE!!! I don’t remember the last time we were beaten this badly but in front of a huge French crowd, we completely laid an egg. OL dominated in every facet - this was pretty embarrassing and I’ll be sure to start a MUCH better lineup in our next game in order to save a bit of face on this foreign tour. Adding injury to insult, new MC Benedikt Raab got hurt and needed to come off during the match but thankfully, it was just a gashed leg and he should be fine in about two weeks.



Transfer News

-- We have another deal cancelled involving out of favour midfielder Shaun Spall! This time, Valladolid can’t come up with the money to pay for him! Unreal. For a third time, I offer him around.



Thu. July 25, 2024

Preseason Friendly
Paris Saint-Germain (France Ligue 1) vs. Dover
Parc des Princes, Paris, France

PSG finished fourth in Ligue 1 last year to get back into European play for the first time in three years. It’s been a long while since they last won the league (1994) and they usually are just a tier below the powerhouses like OL and OM. They’ve been very quiet in the transfer window thus far and they don’t have a lot of high priced talent on their roster. I do notice that one of their keepers is Youssouf Sylla, who we sold to them three years ago after one very lacklustre season with our club. Sylla is their main starter and I expect him to play today.

No more messing around here. After our embarrassing loss the other day to Olympique Lyonnais, we need to show our true capabilities to the French fans and we’ll be starting a much stronger team today. The only backups playing today are Carlos Guzman, Saber Nasri and Graham Allan. I expect a much better performance from this lineup and despite this being preseason, I tell the team I expect a win today.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - C. Guzman, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho

Paris Saint-Germain 0 - 5 Dover
Goals - Paul Moses 2 (8.9), Neil Cairney PEN (8.5), Chiquinho (8.1), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.3)
Assists - Jose (7.5), Neil Cairney, Arsene Bamba (8.1), Paul Moses, Lyubomir Kunchev (6.9)
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.0), Salim Loucif (8.3), Saber Nasri (7.7), Claudio Contreras (7.7), Carlos Guzman (8.0)
Attendance - 21,665

That’s much better. A dominating performance from the get-go and we held 54% of possession and a 27-4 (9-0 on target) shot advantage. Moses is unstoppable and only injury (knock on wood) will keep him from tormenting our opposition this year. We head back to the US with our confidence restored!



Transfer Talk

-- Tottenham come to us with an official enquiry for Chiquinho and I tell them to bugger off. He has a minimum release clause of £31.5 million so Spurs can get him to the bargaining table if they are so inclined.



Preseason Televised Game

-- An upcoming preseason friendly against AS Monaco will be televised nationally. That will be the fourth preseason game (out of eight total) of ours that is televised this season.



Season Ticket Update

-- We’ve already eclipsed last year’s total of season tickets sold, as we reach 6272 packages for 2024/25 after having only 5317 subscribers last year. We’re still expected to get close to 7900 subscribers before the year begins.



Next Up

-- We host Aberdeen in a preseason friendly here at Crabble Athletic Ground.