[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 30, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Sunderland (6-0-3, 18 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (5-3-1, 18 points, 4th)
The Stadium of Light, Sunderland, UK

Betting Odds: Sunderland: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 3-1
Past Meetings: 2W 0D 4L

Sunderland are flying high early in the season, with six wins from nine matches, an impressive +11 goal differential and they are on a six game winning streak across all competitions. 28 year old Scottish striker Craig Flett has 10 goals already in only 11 matches and will be the man we need to watch. Matt Barber is an excellent midfielder who compares quite closely with our own wonderkid Neil Cairney. Sunderland spent BIG in the transfer market, most notably paying £7,500,000 for 29 year old Brazilian attacking midfielder Zezinho from Lazio. They also spent £3.4 million on another attacking mid, Argentinian Cristian Bagalini from Torino but he hasn't played a league game as of yet. Overall, Sunderland spent almost £17 million in transfer fees in July and August and it's obviously paying off thus far.

We have a huge Champions League match against CSKA Moscow in four days but I'm going with a pretty strong club today, with the thought that most of the players will be ready to go by that mid-week game regardless. I'm going with a one striker formation, as Giorgos Gesios has been brutal lately and Zoltan Bardi is far from being fully fit. Both will be on the bench today. We'll start Shanon Andrea up front and sitting behind him will be Aitor Zubizarreta, getting his first start of the season - he's been excellent with the reserves this year and deserves a chance today.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, P. Tjiuoro, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney
AM - A. Bamba, A. Zubizarreta, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea
Bench - J. Kuciak, C. Contreras, Mancini, S. Spall, S. Nasri, Z. Bardi, G. Gesios

Sunderland are in a flat 4-4-2 with Flett and Ben Sahar, another dangerous striker, up front. Barber is in midfield along with former Dover loanee George MacKenzie and Zezinho is flanked out to the left. No personal chats today - I tell the team this is winnable.

5' - They have a throw in deep in our territory and it's Zezinho with the ball. He pivots toward the byline and immediately crosses into the area. Ben Sahar outfights Paulus Tjiuoro and heads it into the net for the quick strike. SUNDERLAND GOAL 0-1

9' - We work the ball up to Arsene Bamba and he streaks down the left sideline. He sends a cross into the box to Andrea and he is able to get a shot at goal but Sunderland keeper Sam Cowler is there. The rebound pops out and Sunderland defender Kanda Nantoume tries to tackle the ball away from Andrea and in the process, he puts it into his own goal! DOVER GOAL 1-1

30' - It's pretty much all Sunderland in highlights. Ben Sahar gets off a rocket from distance and Wilke sticks his arm up and blocks it away.

33' - We're just gifting possession all over the field and it's apparent I need to make a tactics change at half, at the very least. Sunderland work a counter and Flett storms up field. He gets a harmless looking pass through to the middle and Sahar heads it at goal, forcing Wilke into a save.

42' - Neil Cairney, who has already received a warning in this game, now gets a yellow. We'll have to be very careful with him.

43' - Off the ensuing free kick, Sunderland work up field and George MacKenzie is able to avoid a tackle from Tjiuoro, walk in and shoot but Wilke is there again with the save.

45' - We win a tackle around midfield and Bamba has the ball about halfway in the Sunderland end of the field. He's being closed down by the right fullback but makes an INCREDIBLE pass into the box to Shanon Andrea, who somehow escaped his marker and he's inexplicably all alone. He is clinical with his finish and we have a shocking lead! DOVER GOAL 2-1

45'+2 - Ben Sahar gets another header off a cross but it just goes over the net as the referee blows for half time.

HALFTIME - Unquestionably, Sunderland have been the better team in all respects except for the most important: the scoreboard! They held 54% of possession, a number which seems small but outshoot us by a wide margin, 11-3 (5-1 on target). We need to make changes here and do - we move to a flat 4-4-2, take out Zubizarreta and bring in Zoltan Bardi at striker. I encourage the team in the dressing room and pull aside Rocca (who my assistant says looks disinterested today) and Tjiuoro (who was skinned a few times) to tell them I have faith in them.

50' - Great. While making a pass, Andrea Rocca goes down and needs to be taken off. Shaun Spall is in.

53' - Sunderland get a corner and MacKenzie crosses it to the near post to Nantoume and he makes up for his earlier own goal by heading it into the net. Sunderland pull level. SUNDERLAND GOAL 2-2

56' - Salim Loucif gets a yellow.

69' - Rayane Hamon with the yellow on a blatant takedown of Flett.

There's nothing going on other than shots from distance. Poor performance from our club but a draw is okay.

Sunderland 2 - 2 Dover
Goals - Shanon Andrea (7.2)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9)
Man of the Match - Kanda Nantoume (Sunderland DC - 7.5)
Other Dover Notables - Renato Gaucho (7.0), Zoltan Bardi (5.9)
Attendance - 39,074

Sunderland maintained their 54% possession edge and outshot us 21-8 (7-2 on target). A really poor performance but I stay positive and tell the team the result was good. Bardi, who is woefully unfit, gets a brutal rating for his second half, as he barely touched the ball and looked poor when he did. Simply put, we need to play better than this.

-- Thankfully, the news is positive on injured midfielder Andrea Rocca, who only suffered a bruised thigh and will be back in around a week.

-- United continue to storm through the league, destroying Middlesbrough 6-1. City defeat Southampton to move into second on the table and we fall into fifth after the draw.



November Update

-- November sees us play four Premier League games, with Everton and Blackburn visiting Crabble Athletic Ground and we'll travel to Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday. We also have two Champions League matches, first against CSKA Moscow in Russia and then we host Barcelona at the end of the month.

-- We get positive training reports from Giorgos Gesios, Arsene Bamba and Claudio Contreras, along with U18 players Sebastian Kraft, Ben Lee and Phil Whitbread. Negative reports come in for Samir Nasri and Jozef Varga. Both Varga and Nasri get talking-to's.



Premier League Monthly Awards

-- The sensational Yaya Sanogo from Manchester United wins player of the month honours.

-- Sheffield Wednesday striker Steve Pates wins the young player of the month award. Renato Gaucho continues to impress, coming in third.

-- Aston Villa boss Phil Brown wins manager of the month honours.



November Board Confidence Update

-- The board are delighted with the leadership qualities I'm demonstrating. Stature increase continues to be the positive and Oliver Nicholas' departure the negative.

-- We lost a measly £4,530 last month.



Injury Update

-- Andrea Rocca will be out a week or so and Wayne Rooney is months from returning.



U18 Team Update

-- United loanee Paul Moses scored once and added three assists as we wallop Exeter 6-0 in U18 Cup action. Moses is down with the U18s to ensure his fitness but with him being so unhappy, I don't really want him around the senior team unless necessary.



Next Up

-- We're back to Champions League play and we head to Russia to face CSKA Moscow!