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Old 01-18-2014, 11:24 PM   #133
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Sat. May 15, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Everton (16-10-10, 58 points, 6th) vs. Dover (22-7-7, 73 points, 3rd)
Goodison Park, Liverpool, UK

Betting Odds: Everton: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 7-4
Past Meetings: 2W 1D 3L

Everton continue to play great football and sit in 6th place - they are in the driver's seat as they look to take Continental play away from Liverpool for the first time in ages. A win against us would do the trick for Everton but obviously, we have our own needs to look after and we won't be conceding anything today. Everton have won three in a row against some pretty impressive competition in Liverpool, Arsenal and Reading and they also defeated us 2-1 earlier this year at Crabble so we will need to bring our "A" game. Striker Ekow Mumuni has 16 goals to lead them this year and fellow forward Chris Wood sits with 12. They are solid in midfield as well, led by Jack Rodwell.

No changes to our lineup or tactics from the Newcastle game. We'll go flat 4-4-2 control even though my scouts say Everton plays well against that formation - we've enjoyed most of our recent success with two up front so I'll stick with what is working.

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

Everton are in their customary flat 4-4-2 as well but start veteran striker Daniel Sturridge up front with Chris Wood, as Mumuni is on the bench today. I tell the team that they can win this game, now go out and do it!

2' - They send a long ball up field that looks like it's way offside but the flag is down. Right midfielder Paul Anderson takes the ball and hits a ferocious ball that Wilke dives to save. The rebound comes straight to Chris Wood but with the net at his mercy, he shoots wide!

12' - Everton are in complete command and hold possession well - Sturridge sends a great pass up to his strike partner and Wood has another glorious chance that he shoots wide. We need to be better here.

14' - Oh boy - we lose the ball in midfield and Claudio Contreras takes down Wood on an ugly foul about five yards outside our area. STRAIGHT RED CARD! We are quickly down to ten men.

I go to three at the back for now but will likely need to bring another defender in.

19' - It's Everton again with possession and the ball comes to midfielder Nenad Krsticic. He turns and sends a through ball to Sturridge. He's onside and in on goal and he blasts it into the back of the net. We're in trouble. EVERTON GOAL 0-1

30' - We have a throw in and Cairney sends the ball into the middle to Andrea Rocca. He sends a great pass into Gesios at the top of the area and our lethal striker turns to his left to gain a step and left foots the ball into the far corner of the net! WOW! DOVER GOAL 1-1

I drop Neil Cairney into the centre of the defence and move Zoltan Bardi to midfield, giving us a 4-4-1 look.

38' - Everton with a GORGEOUS tic-tac-toe passing play to spring Sturridge and Wilke makes an equally brilliant save to keep the game tied.

45'+1 - Gesios with a fantastic through ball to a charging Andrea Rocca. He has room to move in further but shoots from just outside the area and it's high. Good chance there!

HALFTIME - Well, Contreras getting sent off seemed to stir us up a bit and we were better in the second part of that half. Still, Everton are dominating possession, holding it an obscene 66% of the game but shots are even 7-7 (3-2 on target for Everton). I make two half-time switches, taking out Gianluca Bolis and bringing in Mancini to play DC and Liam Craig is on for Arsene Bamba. I switch to a 4-3-2 formation, with Liam Craig playing MC.

48' - Everton's Anderson scores off a header but he's way offside on the play. Whew!

51' - I move to a counter attacking system.

56' - Everton get another great chance on a cross into the box. Our defence look confused and Sturridge is right on top of Wilke. The ball squirts loose and Gaucho kicks it to safety just in time.

59' - We work a counter attack and it's Neil Cairney heading up the right wing. He can't get by his man so he slows down and plays it back to Salim Loucif. He sends a pass into the middle to Rocca, as play slows down enough to make me think nothing is coming of this. He sends a pass to Gesios, who has his back to the goal and is about 10 yards outside the area. He turns to his right and unleashes a curling bullet that the Everton keeper Di Capua dives to punch away but instead, he only gets a piece and the ball goes into the corner of the net! STUNNING strike from Gesios, his second of the game and with only 10 men, we're up a goal!! DOVER GOAL 2-1

63' - Holy crap! We have a free kick and kind of mess it up but regain possession outside the area. Cairney sends a pass to Tjiuoro, who is leaving the area to get back to his defensive position and he surprises the whole stadium with a through ball into the box to a storming Gesios. I'm thinking hat trick but Di Capua makes a SPECTACULAR diving save on the bullet and keeps Everton within one. What a dagger that would have been!

There's just WILD action on the field in both directions, as players are going down and there are chances for both teams. Just a wild scene but no shots on goal.

77' - Incredibly, the best chances continue to be ours, as Liam Craig sends a nice little touch pass to Gesios and his left footed shot is saved nicely by Di Capua. Everton don't seem to have an answer for this three tight midfielder formation.

81' - They get their best chance of the half off a corner but Ryan Shawcross heads the ball just over.

86' - Zoltan Bardi, who hasn't been great today, gets a yellow card.

90'+2 - We continue to hold them off! I take out the incredible Andrea Rocca and bring in Darren Pratley as a time wasting maneuver.

WOW! WHAT A WIN!

Everton 1 - 2 Dover
Goals - Giorgos Gesios 2 (9.1)
Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (8.8)
Man of the Match - Giorgos Gesios
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.0), Renato Gaucho (7.1), Neil Cairney (7.1)
Attendance - 38, 921

With only ten men, we seemed to confound Everton and they had absolutely no success in breaking us down. They held the ball for 59% of the game but we ended up outshooting them 21-12 (6-5 on target), just crazy numbers! Gianluca Bolis (6.2) and Zoltan Bardi (6.1) struggled but who cares! What a sensational win!

-- Claudio Contreras will miss our last game against City due to his straight red card. A disciplinary committee will meet to determine whether the suspension will be longer and I file an appeal - I doubt it will help, as the foul was pretty nasty.

-- Man City defeat Reading 1-0 to lock up the Barclays Premier League title. So that gives them a treble of sorts for this year: the European Super Cup, Carling Cup (League Cup) and now the Premier League. They go for a quadruple in the Champions League finals against Real Madrid. Chelsea beat Stoke away 1-0 to stay level on points with us but seeing as we play City next weekend and they play Middlesbrough at home, I'd say it's not looking good for us to finish in 3rd. We'll see I guess! I may not field a full-strength side that night, as I'd like to give some playing time to some of our lesser lights if possible. At least I'm saying that now…we'll see what I say next week! Everton, despite the loss to us, still are in control of their Continental destiny, as they are two points ahead of Liverpool and face Villa next week. Liverpool face Sheffield Wednesday. And crazy enough, there is still an incredible race to stay alive at the bottom of the table, as NO TEAM is officially relegated with only one game left! Norwich is in last with 26 points, Stoke is two ahead and are tied on points with Fulham. Bolton is one further point ahead and Sheffield Wednesday at 31 points aren't safe either! What a race to the finish!

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE 1 GAME REMAINING)

1. Man City - 95 points
2. Man United - 89 points
3. Dover - 76 points (+39 GD)
CL 4. Chelsea - 76 points (+27 GD)
----------------------------------------------------
EL 5. Arsenal - 66 points
6. Everton - 58 points (+17 GD)
7. Liverpool - 56 points (+15 GD)
----------------------------------------------------
8. Middlesbrough - 53 points
9. Reading - 52 points
10. Newcastle - 49 points
11. Sunderland - 49 points
12. Tottenham - 48 points
13. Huddersfield - 46 points
14. Derby - 41 points
15. Aston Villa - 40 points
16. Sheffield Wednesday - 31 points (-37 GD)
17. Bolton - 29 points (-47 GD)
----------------------------------------------------
18. Fulham - 28 points (-36 GD)
19. Stoke - 28 points (-38 GD)
20. Norwich - 26 points (-47 GD)



-- We are happy to announce that fine DR Salim Loucif has signed a contract extension that will see him remain at Dover for four years. This was necessary to eliminate his meagre minimum release clause - Loucif gets an extra few thousand pounds a week, a nice signing bonus and I get the knowledge that no one can take him off my hands for less than £15 million! Everyone is happy!

-- A couple of my players are unhappy: backup fullback Jozef Varga wants more playing time but I tell him I'll be the one making the decisions about who stays and who goes and he quickly apologizes. More of a concern is Andrea Rocca being unhappy with his contract. He's due to expire in one year's time so I'll likely look to give him a nice raise in the offseason.



-- Andrea Rocca and Giorgos Gesios both make the Barclays Premier League team of the week.



-- The FA rule against my appeal of Claudio Contreras's one game ban. I just hope they don't give him more games. A couple days later, I find out that he's given a further two-game ban so he will be suspended for our final game this year and our first two contests next season.



-- I offer a number of my scouts contract extensions and they all accept. I'm going to be changing the way I scout for the upcoming season, as I'll need more exposure due to my upcoming Continental experience. More importantly, I think I need a better system of finding good players in the other great leagues of the world.



-- I have a significant offer accepted for a great young German midfielder (£10 million) but the 18 year old isn't interested in even talking about a contract at this point. I'm not sure if this is something I can revisit when the game recognizes that I will be playing Champions League football next season.



Next Up

-- We face Premier League champions Manchester City at Crabble in our last game of the season.
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