[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 31, 2020

Barclays Premier League
Dover (6-0-3, 18 points, 2nd) vs. Manchester United (6-0-3, 18 points, 3rd)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 7-2 Draw: 9-4 Manchester United: 4-6 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 5L

We welcome Jurgen Klinsmann's Man United to Crabble Athletic Ground. United continue to be a powerhouse in this dynasty, having won three Premier League championships over the past ten years, including two in a row (2017-18 & 2018-19). They have qualified for Champions League play every single year since 1990-91, a span of 20 years! We both have the exact same record at this point of the season, with us up due to a better goal differential. At 0-0-5, it goes without saying that we've had our troubles historically with United, as they've scored 17 goals in those games to our 2. I'm hoping we have put together a team that can compete with them in the future…and hopefully the present as well! Like Arsenal last week, United is currently in the Champions League and has a match coming up in four days so I'm hoping they play a weaker side today. Wishful thinking, perhaps, as I notice that they are leading their group with a perfect 3-0 record and will be facing the winless SK Rapid Wien on Wednesday. THEY'LL likely be getting the weaker lineup!

It's a new era at United, with iconic striker Wayne Rooney sent packing to Fulham after years of great service. French striker Yaya Sanogo is their main threat up front, having scored 5 goals in 9 league games thus far. Javier Hernandez is also still around at 32 years old. They are loaded with high-valued players, like DM Omar Hernandez, 28 year old defender Luiz Carlos, 25 year old defender Eduardo Padilla and midfielder Eden Hazard.

My scouts, as usual, say they struggle versus a 4-5-1 but i've played that formation many times against them with no positive effect. I've looked at their losses this year to Arsenal and Reading and both of those teams played a flat 4-4-2 so that's what we'll go with. I'll likely start with my control philosophy but I'll be ready to revert to a counter attacking mode should United prove to be too strong. I'll be making a few changes to the lineup - Jozef Kuciak will come in for the injured Salim Loucif at right fullback. I'm giving ML Cameron Murray a chance to play over Arsene Bamba today - Cameron has been lights out for our reserves team and Bamba has struggled in recent contests. Lastly, in perhaps the boldest move, I'll bring in striker Gerardo Escobar for the in-form Zoltan Bardi - Escobar used to play for United so I want to give him a chance here to see what he can do. He's played well when called upon this year so it's not an outrageous move by any means.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak
M - C. Murray, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios, G. Escobar
Bench - T. Andersen, R. McLaughlin, Z. Bardi, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, A. Bamba, P. Simek

As expected, United come out in their customary flat 4-4-2. Sanogo and Hernandez are both up front so they are definitely taking this game VERY seriously. My assistant thinks I should tell the lads that they can win today and since they're an ambitious bunch, I go with it. I pull both of our strikers aside to tell them I have faith in their abilities and tell out-of-form winger Gianluca Bolis I expect a performance today. The kid isn't playing well with all of the transfer attention on him lately.

10' - Incredibly, most of the highlights have been in our favour and we've missed a couple of long shots by narrow margins. We win a corner and Rocca's ball is played right to the head of Paulus Tjiuoro, who hits a hard header right off the post and it luckily comes right back to Viviano, the Man U keeper. In the end, it wouldn't have counted anyway, as Escobar fouls a United defender in the box.

13' - We have a throw in down the left side of their zone and it's headed out to safety. Gesios chases the ball down in the middle of their side of the pitch and plays a ball up to Rocca. He immediately one-times a gorgeous pass into the box to a charging Gianluca Bolis and he strikes the ball with fury into the net! But wait, the assistant referee calls him offside? The replay shows that he was just on the guys outside shoulder - a marginal call and the game remains scoreless.

39' - We've had a number of highlights going both ways but no real great chances. They finally get their first one, as Sanogo is sprung in the box but he has a poor angle and Wilke turns him aside. The play continues on and Hernandez wins a challenge inside the area and has the net at his mercy. He makes no mistake and we're down. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 0-1

42' - It's Javier Hernandez again, this time running down the left flank, cutting inside and getting the ball to Sanogo, who is stopped on a point blank effort by Wilke. The ball is moved back the other way as we counter and after a great number of passes, the ball is played into Neil Cairney but his shot is stopped by Viviano. Nice sequence there.

43' - We continue to pour on pressure. Cairney gets a nice through-ball to Cameron Murray and his strong left footed blast just misses wide, hitting the side netting.

HALFTIME - We are completely dominating this game, winning possession by an incredible 61%-39% margin and lead in shots 11-7 but they have five on target to our one, so we're not making our shots count at all. I tell the players I'm pleased but single out Gesios (Prove a Point) and Rocca as having underperformed. My assistant tells me that Rocca looks "disinterested" today - not a good thing from one of my best players.

47' - Gesios starts the play at midfield and works the ball up to Escobar. He feeds Bolis cutting into the area and his strong shot is turned aside by a diving VIviano! We can't get the rebound through and it's deflected away for a corner. Rocca's corner from the left side is headed away but we work it back into Bolis again, courtesy of Cairney and Bolis' shot hits the goal post! We just can't put the ball away!

60' - Sanogo wins a challenge at midfield and streaks toward our goal with everyone behind him. For some reason, he takes a wasteful shot that goes harmlessly wide.

62' - Zoltan Bardi comes in for Escobar.

65' - Oh my God. We have a throw in deep in their territory and it's Gesios making a left footed cross into the box. The ball deflects around and comes right to Bardi and with the net at his mercy, he fires wide from no more than 8 yards away. A complete sitter missed! Was that our chance? A shocking miss.

71' - Jozef Kuciak, who has played well for the injured Salim Loucif, is tired so I take him out in favour of Ross McLaughlin.

74' - We win a free kick in our end and Cristian Rodriguez sends the ball up the left side to no one in particular. Man U defender Luiz Carlos is taken off the ball by Gesios and he streaks down the left side toward the area. United central defender Boyata comes over to help and strips the ball from Gesios for a split second but Gesios won't quit. He takes the ball right back on what could have been a foul and then fires a low shot past the startled United keeper! We have tied it up!!! What a great effort from Gesios, who I almost took out of the game minutes earlier but reconsidered. DOVER GOAL 1-1

77' - It's still all Dover. We win a free kick just outside the box near the right byline and Rocca's cross is a good one but Gesios fouls one of their defenders. Yellow card for Gesios, our team's first on the day versus three for United.

80' - Wow, we're playing well! We steal the ball again and start a counter down the right flank with Bolis. He sends a nice ball into the middle to Bardi and his low blast JUST misses wide! We take out Gesios and replace him with Petr Simek. Hopefully we can utilize his world-class speed against the tired United defenders in the last ten minutes of the match.

82 - Ross McLaughlin takes down their man just outside the box and is given a yellow for the foul. On the resulting free kick, it's Luiz Carlos sending in a curling left footed pass that meets the head of Sanogo and he sends it forcefully into the net. What a dagger. We don't deserve to lose this game. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 1-2

90'+2 - We get a couple of corners but don't capitalize.

And that's it.

Dover 1 - 2 Manchester United
Goals - Giorgos Gesios (7.2)
Assists - None
Man of the Match - Luiz Carlos (Manchester United DR)
Other Dover Notables - Renato Gaucho (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.0)
Attendance - 9135 (Sellout)

Simply put, we deserved a better fate. We won the possession battle by a 57-43 mark and outshot them 20-11 (3-6 on target). We lost this game but if anything, we finally proved to them and maybe ourselves that we can compete with any team in this league, playing our own style and not playing defensively. I tell the players they gave a good effort

-- We take a big hit on the table after this loss, dropping all the way down to 5th place. Manchester City destroyed Norwich 7-1 and now is five points clear at the top over United.



November Update

-- We have a busier November, with five league games against Reading (home), Middlesbrough (away), Aston Villa (away), Derby (home) and Huddersfield (away). Not quite as tough as last month but Reading is in 4th place and Middlesbrough are in 6th so it will still be a very challenging month. There are no easy games in this bloody league, that's for sure.

-- I get positive training reports for Andrea Rocca, Gerardo Escobar and Ross McLaughlin, along with our top youth prospect Abdallaye Kokaina. The only negative report comes back for our captain Darren Pratley - I don't confront him on it, as I usually do in these instances. Pratley is simply getting old.



Barclays Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Man City's superlative striker Enrique once again is player of the month, with two of his teammates finishing in 2nd and 3rd.

-- Dover's own Neil Cairney is awarded as the Barclays Premier League Young Player of the Month for October! Cairney only had one assist in his four October games but he continues to impress on the pitch. Our young DC Cristian Rodriguez finishes third in the voting.

-- City's Carlo Ancelotti wins the manager of the month once again, as his team won all four games and outscored the opposition an incredible 19-5 in only four games!



November Board Confidence Update

-- The board are delighted with the leadership qualities I'm demonstrating. Stature increase a plus; Simon Rideout's departure continues to be the disappointing thing. Get over it guys - our strikers are killing it this year and Rideout would have never seen the pitch! We made £495,000 last month.

-- We're given the opportunity to buyout yet another transfer clause, this time for defender Rachid Diallo. I sold him to Litex in Bulgaria for £1,400,000 in the last window and also got a 20% sell-on clause added to the deal. I'm being offered a buyout for £712,000 - that would mean the only way I can lose is if Litex sells him for over £3,500,000 - I don't see that happening. I will take the £712k and run! I go to accept the deal and see that there is another buyout available for MC Shaun Halsall - the figure is more modest but again, the deal is too good to turn down and I accept another £47k in free money, this time from Halsall's new club Swindon.



Injury Update

-- Backup striker Petr Simek collided with star midfielder Andrea Rocca in training and unfortunately, it was Rocca who took the worst of it, sustaining a facial injury. He'll be out for about five days, likely missing our game against Reading this weekend.



Next Up

-- The big games keep coming. We welcome 4th placed Reading to Crabble Athletic Ground in Barclays Premier League action.