[NoSkillz]

Sat. April 24, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Fulham (6-8-20, 26 points, 19th) vs. Dover (21-6-7, 69 points, 3rd)
Craven Cottage, Fulham, UK

Betting Odds: Fulham: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5
Past Meetings: 4W 1D 2L

Fulham will be in tough to stay in the Premier League but they are within shouting distance of safety, only two points back of 17th. They beat Reading 1-0 away two weeks ago to give them some life but this is a team we should be defeating. Striker Milan Djuric has 14 goals to lead the team and legend of the game Wayne Rooney has 11 of his own. Beyond that, there's not much to them.

We will make a few changes, with two players sitting out due to being out of form. I've been getting messages from my assistant for three weeks about benching Paulus Tjiuoro and after another dud against Spurs, he will sit on the bench. Also riding the pine will be leading scorer Giorgos Gesios - this is a tough move for me in a must-win game but Gesios was also named by my opposite number as the big threat in this match - usually, this unnerves the player so it reinforces my decision to keep him out of the starting lineup. Petr Simek has been spectacular on the reserve team and deserves a start. I'll also give Argentine defender Emir Faccioli his first ever Dover start alongside countryman Claudio Contreras. Flat 4-4-2 control philosophy for this one, as we've struggled of late in our one striker formation. Zoltan Bardi is healthy and back in the lineup up front.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, E. Faccioli, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - P. Simek, Z. Bardi
Bench - P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak, Mancini, D. Pratley, C. Murray, P. Kostal, G. Gesios

Interestingly enough, Fulham come out in our 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) formation. Hmmm. I may revert to that formation at some point, as I like our chances matching them man for man. I tell the team I expect a win today against the relegation candidates.

4' - We work the ball around and Simek gets a one touch chance from the top of the area but it's safely held by Lewis, the Fulham keeper.

8' - Gianluca Bolis steals the ball at midfield and dribbles up the right flank. He makes a low cross into the box and Arsene Bamba is there completely alone and easily puts it into the empty net. Beautiful speed and vision from Bolis! Great start guys! DOVER GOAL 1-0

12' - Their midfielder Jake Livermore takes the ball at midfield and does well to dribble through a couple of our defenders before shooting right at Wilke. Nice moves but poor effort on the shot.

13' - We work up field and Neil Cairney and Arsene Bamba work a RIDICULOUS one-two that sees Cairney springing Bamba into the box. He streaks in and RIPS IT into the far corner for his second goal in five minutes! Wonderful move! DOVER GOAL 2-0

15' - Wayne Rooney pulls the ball down near midfield and passes back to Cole Skuse. Skuse delivers a wonderful through ball into right midfielder Marcus Astvald and he walks in on Wilke and shoots underneath him for the quick reply. Ugh. FULHAM GOAL 2-1

32' - Rooney sends a ball up to striker Djuric and it seems like a relatively harmless one-on-two, with Contreras and Faccioli back. However, Djuric gains some space, runs into the area and UNLEASHES a blast into the net past Wilke. Fulham pull two back and are level. So so bad. FULHAM GOAL 2-2

37' - Bardi chips it over to the right to Bolis and he cuts in with a shot that is blocked behind by Lewis. The corner is headed out to Cairney and he is able to get a shot off that just goes over the net.

39' - Fulham's keeper boots a goal kick up field but Contreras heads it back the other way and Simek is there. He beats his man but shoots harmlessly wide. Poor effort.

HALFTIME - Well, that was not great - we hold 55% of possession and outshot them 11-7 (5-4 on target) but give up a two goal advantage. Emir Faccioli is struggling (5.9 rating). I decide to switch to a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) to match Fulham. Lets see if we can do anything here. I tell the team they can win this game.

57' - My goodness nothing is happening. Rooney was substituted out at half, by the way. They get the ball up to Djuric and once again he uses his speed to evade Faccioli and Wilke is forced to make a lovely save.

70' - We're not generating anything. I bring in the cavalry: Giorgos Gesios is on for Simek and Paulus Tjiuoro is on for Faccioli - we also move back to a flat 4-4-2 control system.

80' - Fulham continue to hold most of possession this half. I move to attack.

90'+2 - What a dud. Nothing happening. Cairney pulls down a man and gets a yellow. That's all.

Fulham 2 - 2 Dover
Goals - Arsene Bamba 2 (8.8)
Assists - Neil Cairney (6.9), Gianluca Bolis (7.1)
Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba
Other Dover Notables -
Attendance - 15,914

Andrea Rocca only got a 6.0 rating, one of the worst I've ever seen from him. We're starting to struggle at the worst possible time. We can't draw versus the 19th placed team in the league.

-- Chelsea win away at Bolton to pull level on points with us but sit a slot below due to goal differential. In positive news, Arsenal lost 4-2 away against Everton so we now have an 8 point advantage on them with only 9 points available. One more point will essentially get us into Champions League play. The other big fixture sees Manchester City knock off United 2-0, essentially locking up their second consecutive Premier League title and their fourth in six years!

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE 3 GAMES REMAINING)

1. Man City - 92 points
2. Man United - 83 points
3. Dover - 70 points
4. Chelsea - 70 points
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5. Arsenal - 62 points
6. Everton - 55 points
7. Liverpool - 52 points
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8. Reading - 52 points
9. Middlesbrough - 52 points
10. Tottenham - 47 points


Dover U18 Update

-- Gregoire Lambert kept up his hot play, scoring twice in a 3-0 win over MK Dons U18. DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz scored our other goal.



-- Arsene Bamba was named to the Premier League Team of the Week for his two goal performance against Fulham.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- Reserve striker Roberto scores both of our goals in a 2-1 win over Fulham. Once again, his agent pesters me after the game and I finally relent, offering a new contract extension. It's a modest deal - Roberto likely isn't good enough to feature for us at any point but he's cheap insurance and he's certainly proved capable of scoring against lesser competition. He has 22 reserve team goals this year in 14 starts (25 overall appearances).



May Update

-- We close out the season with games against mid-table Newcastle (home), Everton (away) and Manchester City (home). We are very close to securing Champions League qualification but finishing in third place is obviously more ideal than fourth.

-- I get positive training reports for Zoltan Bardi, Gianluca Bolis and Paulus Tjiuoro on the senior team and for Gregoire Lambert and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz on the U18s. Once again, GK Lukasz Fabianski and veteran midfielder Liam Craig train poorly. Both are on the wrong side of 30 and have expiring contracts that won't be renewed.

-- Chelsea midfielder Bartosz Salamon wins the Barclays Premier League Player of the Month award.

-- Dover's own Gianluca Bolis wins the Premier League Young Player of the Month award! Neil Cairney finishes in second. Bolis also finishes in third for the Premier League goal of the month, with his great end-to-end goal versus Derby earlier in April.

-- City's Carlo Ancelotti wins Manager of the Month for the upteenth time and I finish in second place for April.



Next Up

-- We are big favourites at home against Newcastle.