[NoSkillz]

Tue. October 19, 2021

UEFA Champions League - Group Stage
Dover (1-1-0, 4 points, 2nd) vs. CSKA Moscow (0-0-2, 0 points, 4th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 CSKA Moscow: 6-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

We don't get much respect here as Moscow are slight favourites in our stadium despite two losses in the competition. They are in first place in their league this year and have an impressive 20-3-3 record. They've won their league seven times in their history and also won the Europa League in 2005. Their top scorer is Senegal international striker Lamine Thiam, who has 17 goals in 32 matches this year. They are a smaller club than us with a current value of £27.5 million (we're at £67 million right now) but we'll treat them with respect.

We'll have a pretty full lineup today. Giorgos Gesios returns up front and will have Wayne Rooney beside him. Neil Cairney and Salim Loucif are back in their normal starting slots as well and Paulus Tjiuoro will play in place of young Claudio Contreras, as I continue to look for low-pressure spots to put him in. We used a control mentality against Schalke so there's no reason to go with anything else against Moscow.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, P. Tjiuoro, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios, W. Rooney
Bench - J. Kuciak, C. Contreras, Mancini, S. Spall, S. Nasri, K. Kalfas, S. Andrea

They are also in a flat 4-4-2 to start. I tell the team they can win this game. Let's get it!

3' - GRR. Right off the bat, one of their defenders make an ugly tackle on Gesios and he needs to come off for some treatment. No foul call either. This means war!

10' - We storm up field with incredible speed and precision. Bamba has it down the left side and passes in to Cairney. He one-touches a brilliant through ball to Wayne Rooney and the veteran is in on goal. Rooney clinically finishes with his left foot and we open the scoring in fine fashion! Beauty! DOVER GOAL 1-0

17' - Rooney gets another great chance off a pass from Gianluca Bolis but his hard screamer is saved and cleared.

18' - Moscow move back up field and their striker Alan Kardec has it. It's a harmless looking possession at the edge of the area but our in-form defender Rayane Hamon completely whiffs on a tackle and Alan Kardec is in on Wilke and makes no mistake, putting it into the far corner of the net. Not good guys. CSKA MOSCOW GOAL 1-1

30' - Gesios shows his incredible speed and skill as he dribbles through the defence from centre half and has a half step dribbling into the area before blasting just wide.

36' - We work a counter attack up field with Bamba but he gets a weak shot on goal and Valery Zverev, the Moscow keeper, is in position.

39' - Renato Gaucho gets a yellow card.

45'+2 - They have a free kick and send it into our area and Paulus Tjiuoro is called for the hand ball! PENALTY! UGH! Midfielder Alan Dzagoev gets picked to take the kick and WILKE MAKES THE DIVING SAVE!!! WOW!

HALFTIME - We need to be better. We hold 52% of possession and shots are 8-8 (3-2 on target) in our favour. I make another cardinal mistake at half, as I accidentally bypass the team talk screen and head right into the second half. Great. Lets see what that does.

48' - Gesios gets a yellow card.

49' - Man. Hamon gets skinned by Alan Kardec AGAIN but Wilke this time makes a great save. Geez guys.

59' - Bamba sends a great pass over to Bolis, who is streaking into the area but Zverev makes a lovely save.

64' - We are playing like crap. Neil Cairney now with a yellow.

66' - I take out Wayne Rooney and bring in Samir Nasri. We switch to a 4-4-2 DM Control system, with Nasri dropping in behind Gesios. We need a goal.

78' - Bamba gets a weak header on goal but Zverev easily makes the stop. Gesios comes out and Shanon Andrea is in.

81' - Another nutty play. Andrea is way out and takes a curling shot that Zverev can't control. The ball pops loose and Nasri runs into it and shoots but it's right at Zverev and deflects to safety.

87' - Off a goal kick, Wilke sends it downfield and Andrea controls it. He dribbles all the way in and takes a hard shot that is turned behind the net by Zverev. We can't do anything with the corner.

Very disappointing draw.

Dover 1 - 1 CSKA Moscow
Goals - Wayne Rooney (7.2)
Assists - Neil Cairney (6.9)
Man of the Match - Valery Zverev (CSKA Moscow GK - 8.6)
Other Dover Notables - Rayane Hamon (7.5), Andrea Rocca (7.3), Arsene Bamba (7.0)
Attendance - 14,312

They end up edging us in possession 51%-49% and we outshoot them 15-14 (9-4 on target). Rightfully so, their keeper is man of the match. I talked about Hamon getting skinned on our goal and one other chance but he was 15 of 16 in headers and won 13 tackles so he gets a team-high rating. We're having a lot of trouble scoring goals this year. Not much to say, other than the fact that this is the type of game we likely need to win if we're going to advance to the knockout stages. In the end though, we played poorly and were very fortunate to escape with a tie considering the missed Moscow penalty late in the first half.

-- Thankfully, Barcelona do their job and knock off Schalke so we maintain 2nd spot and now have a two point cushion on the German side. Our next opponents, Manchester United, knocked off H. Tel-Aviv 6-0, their second win in a row by that scoreline. Yikes. Talk about being in-form!

-- We're given £348,000 for the draw



Next Up

-- We face first-placed and very much in-form Manchester United in Barclays Premier League play.