[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 3, 2020

Barclays Premier League
Dover (5-0-1, 15 points, 1st) vs. Sunderland (0-1-5, 1 point, 20th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Sunderland: 9-2
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 3L

Sunderland are off to a very poor start, losing their first five Premier League matches this year against admittedly good competition (Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal) before drawing 1-1 against Reading. They dropped down to the Championship in 2011-12 but went back up the next year, remaining in the top league ever since. They usually finish just above the relegation zone but they had a phenomenal 6th place finish in 2018-19 to qualify for Continental play last year then finished one spot below us last year in 12th. We beat them 5-2 in our most recent meeting but they won the previous three times we faced each other. They just bought a young stud MC from Wolves named Matt Barber - he has very similar attributes to our own Neil Cairney and Sunderland were smart to scoop him up from the relegated Wolves for £9.75 million. Striker Craig Flett is their big goal scorer but he's out of form right now, with only 1 goal in their first six games.

Simply put, we need to win this game. I'll go with our full strength lineup today and go to our 4-4-2 DM with no tweaks. I expect a win boys!

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios
Bench - T. Andersen, J. Kuciak, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek

They start in a flat 4-4-2.

3' - Gianluca Bolis turns the ball over on a careless pass and their dangerous striker Craig Flett gets the ball at midfield. He's brought down on a challenge from Paulus Tjiuoro and Flett is hurt badly enough to be substituted off. No foul called on the play either.

9' - We pass the ball around well in their half and it's Neil Cairney taking the ball into the area. He eludes a sliding tackle and makes a brilliant pass to the left to an unmarked Zoltan Bardi, who one times it past their stunned keeper. A special play by Cairney! DOVER GOAL 1-0

17' - They have a throw in deep in our end and they make the long throw into the box. Somehow they gain possession and are able to get a shot off but it's weak and Wilke easy holds on.

19' - On the ensuing clear, Giorgos Gesios is fouled and their defender is given a yellow. We take the free kick and the ball comes back to Andrea Rocca. His through ball finds Gesios in the middle of the field and from 25 yards, he fires a bullet past the diving Sunderland keeper and we're up two! What a strike! DOVER GOAL 2-0

24' - Their new midfield signing Barber gets the ball past midfield and while cutting to his left, makes a splendid pass up field to a breaking Ben Sahar. The struggling Sunderland striker bolts past Tjiuoro and cleanly strikes the ball low into the corner of the net. Sahar's first of the year and a nice goal but poor awareness on Tjiuoro's part. SUNDERLAND GOAL 2-1

36' - On a free kick from our half, Tjiuoro, lofts one deep down the right flank. Gianluca Bolis gets there first, cuts in and rips a rocket just past the bar. Close!

45' - Off a throw in, Renato Gaucho sends in a cross that eludes the Sunderland defenders and finds the foot of Bolis but his quick shot is stopped by their diving keeper. Incredible save!

HALFTIME - The scoreline is a little tight for my liking but we're dominating this game. 59% possession and an 8-5 (5-3 on target) shots advantage. We need to keep pressing and I encourage them to keep going.

49' - They work a counter attack after a poor corner on our part. A pass comes into their stud MC Barber around the top of our penalty area, he cuts to his right foot with his back to the net and unleashes a rocket that hits the woodwork, then bounces off a diving Wilke into our net. Incredible goal by the youngster and Sunderland comes from two back to pull level. Ouch. SUNDERLAND GOAL 2-2

53' - On a Sunderland throw in deep in our zone, again they try to throw into the penalty area but Bardi intercepts and sends a quick pass up to Gesios. He beats his mark and strolls into their area and just launches it high. Good chance there.

58' - I'm livid. Their player gets hurt on an attempted challenge and we show good sportsmanship and kick the ball out of play so he can get medical attention. Instead of throwing the ball back to us upon the resumption of play, Sunderland keep the ball and their MR Sterling has a point blank chance that's stopped by Wilke. This means war!

66' - I substitute Tjiuoro out for Thomas Andersen and change to an attacking philosophy.

70' - We're in shock. After another terrible corner, Barber starts the counter attack by lofting a direct pass over the heads of Loucif and Gaucho, who were defending by the halfway line. Their striker Sahar gets there first and holds the ball up in our area. Loucif goes down to tackle him and completely misses and now there are THREE Sunderland players entering the area to our one defender. Sahar has the pick of the lot, makes the cross crease pass to a wide open Kieran Gibbs and we're now down. This is a disaster! SUNDERLAND GOAL 2-3

85' - We're getting nowhere. INCREDIBLE. I overload.

90 - We simply can't get the ball - no highlights - I tried to take Gesios and Bolis off minutes ago and just now, they get substituted.

No more highlights. What a disastrous result.

Dover 2 - 3 Sunderland
Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.6), Giorgos Gesios (7.2)
Assists - Neil Cairney (7.1), Andrea Rocca (7.3)
Man of the Match - Matt Barber (Sunderland MC - 8.9)
Other Dover Notables - None
Attendance - 9135 (Sellout)

They obviously smoked us in the second half, as we ended up only edging possession for the game 51-49 despite holding it for 59% of the first half. Shots were in our favour too, 13-10 (6-5 on target). Our defence was terrible, with Gaucho getting a 6.0, Loucif 6.1 and Bolis was uncharacteristically bad at 6.0. An interesting thing that I noticed too is that GK Ingo Wilke, on his personal page, indicates that "the team would do just as well if Bolis was sold" under "poor relationships". I wonder if Bolis is developing a bad attitude due to the fact he wants to move to a bigger club. Something to keep an eye on.

-- I absolutely peel the paint off in the dressing room after the game, telling the players they should be embarrassed in themselves. Morale drops huge of course but I had to do it. We really needed this win and now we face three powerhouse teams in a row. We are in big trouble all of a sudden and could easily lose five in a row by the time this month is out.

-- Man United actually lost 1-0 to Arsenal so we stay level with them on points but it's Manchester City taking over the lead in the division as they paste Middlesbrough 4-0 behind three more goals from the sensational Enrique.



Dover U18 Update

-- Our U18 squad came away with a 2-1 win over Wycombe. Chris Paterson continues to impress my assistant but it was Richard Rae (a "greyed out" player) and Gary Cook scoring the goals for Dover.



International Duty

-- Ten of our players are called up by their respective countries for international duty. Thomas Andersen, Gianluca Bolis, Renato Gaucho, Zoltan Bardi, Salim Loucif, Oliver Nicholas, Neil Cairney, Cameron Murray, Paulus Tjiuoro and Giorgos Gesios all get the call.