[NoSkillz]

Sat. August 24, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (1-0-0, 3 points, 6th) vs. Newcastle (1-0-0, 3 points, 9th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Newcastle: 7-2
Past Meetings: 7W 1D 2L

We’ve won our last seven games against Newcastle and they will be in tough against us today in our home opener. They beat Aston Villa 2-1 in week one as they look to improve upon a 12th place finish last year. They did a little spending in July, dishing out £14 million on nine new players, with the largest fee spent on Leverkusen midfielder Miguel Angel Bravo, a 26 year old Mexican native. Stanislas Vigneau has led their team in scoring for four consecutive seasons and is the favourite to do so again.

Paul Moses is healthy after missing our last game with a neck injury and will start. Also starting is goalkeeper Manuel Perez, who is back from taking part in the Olympics for Mexico. Rafinha will also get his first start at left fullback for the injured Renato Gaucho.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - C. Guzman, S. Nasri, B. Raab, E. Harvey, G. Allan, M. Pedersen, A. Broomes

Newcastle are in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Vigneau up front and longtime keeper Jak Alnwick in goal. New signing Bravo also starts in midfield.

15’ - We have already gotten two yellow cards for unsportsmanlike conduct (diving), given to chronic diver Chiquinho and also to Gianluca Bolis. We are a bit unglued as Newcastle have possession and it’s midfielder David Foster, taking a back-heel pass from Vincenzo Scala and driving a 20 yard shot past a diving Manuel Perez and it’s in! Not a good start. NEWCASTLE GOAL 0-1

HALFTIME - This is a stunning half of football, as we only hold 43% of possession but outshoot them 13-3 (3-2 on target). We are putting up a complete turd in front of our home crowd. Riot act time! I question the team’s passion to win this game.

50’ - On a Alnwick goal kick, Jose heads the ball over the defence and Paul Moses gets there first. He rounds the keeper and he has an empty net to shoot at. No mistake is made and Moses has his first goal of the year. DOVER GOAL 1-1

67’ - We need a shake up so I take out Neil Cairney and bring in Benedikt Raab.

74’ - Chiquinho hasn’t been good and he comes off for Andy Broomes.

86’ - Last change, as we bring on Graham Allan for Gianluca Bolis and switch to an overload mentality.

90’+2 - Newcastle get two corner kicks and are milking time, hoping for the whistle but do one better, as the corner is headed in by centre back Fraser Baxter. DISASTER! NEWCASTLE GOAL 1-2

Umm, are you kidding me?!?!

Dover 1 - 2 Newcastle
Goals - Paul Moses (7.8)
Assists - Jose (7.7)
Man of the Match - Jak Alnwick (Newcastle GK - 8.2)
Other Dover Notables -
Attendance - 23,000 (Sell-Out)

This is an epic loss, as Newcastle out-possess us 56%-44% but we hammer them in shots 30-7 (11-4 on target). GK Alnwick was sensational for them. I absolutely tear into the team in the dressing room - we only lost two games all season last year and here we lose at home to a mid-table constant.

-- Aston Villa surprise Man City but Everton, Middlesbrough, Chelsea, Arsenal and United all win.



Dover U18 Update

-- The U18s win 5-2 over Reading, with goals scored by Ben Patterson, Alberto Velazquez, Felix Hernandez, Nathan Protheroe and Freddie Laird.



Champions League Update

-- Teams are battling to join us in the Group Stage and Manchester United destroy Ajax 7-0 on aggregate to advance. Also moving on are Young Boys, Partizan, Sheriff, Atletico Madrid, Palermo, Le Mans FC, Schalke, SK Sturm Graz and Omonoia.

-- We are given £6,174,000 for our future participation in the Champions League Group Stage.



Dover Reserves Update

-- The backups continue to dominate, destroying Sheffield United 8-1. Andy Broomes, Manuel Lugo and Mads Pedersen all scored twice while Emerson and Felix Hernandez notched singles. Broomes also had two assists for a four point night and fullback Carlos Guzman had three assists.



Champions League Group Stage Draw

-- For the first time, we are a first seed in Champions League group play - according to co-efficient, we are the worst #1 seed but that number is deflated due to two qualifying years where we weren’t playing in Europe. Lets see who we get:

GROUP A
Manchester City
OM
AZ
Young Boys

GROUP B
FC Bayern
Atletico Madrid
Club Brugge
Partizan

GROUP C
Dover
Palermo
Hoffenheim
Hibernian

GROUP D
Real Madrid
Galatasaray
Juventus
Sheriff

GROUP E
Barcelona
HSV
Panathinaikos
Tottenham

GROUP F
Sevilla
Sampdoria
Le Mans FC
Schalke

GROUP G
Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Porto
Omonoia

GROUP H
Olympique Lyonnais
Shakhtar
Bursaspor
SK Sturm Graz

-- Palermo is the second highest rated 2nd seed behind Atletico Madrid, Hoffenheim are the fifth rated 3rd seed and Hibernian are the fifth rated 4th seed. We should advance with ease but I guess anything can happen after that last game we played!!



Next Up

-- Another perk from our Champions League win last year is getting to take part in the UEFA Super Cup, a match between the Champions League winner and the Europa League winner. We’ll face Dortmund Borussia at Stade Louis II in Monaco as we look for another trophy.