[NoSkillz]

Sat. January 15, 2022

Barclays Premier League
Southampton (4-5-13, 17 points, 18th) vs. Dover (11-7-5, 40 points, 4th)
St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton, UK

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

Southampton promoted up from the Championship this year and are in the relegation zone but despite that, they are favoured today at home. They held us to a 1-1 draw at Crabble earlier this year but we dominated every aspect of that game except on the scoresheet. The Saints are actually on a good run of form recently, having won 3 of their last 4 in all competitions so I don't expect this to be easy. Striker Mike Hall has 9 goals in 19 games and midfielder Nathan Redmond has 6.

We're making some changes today. Youssouf Sylla will start in goal, Paulus Tjiuoro comes in for Claudio Contreras, Mancini is in for the injured Neil Cairney and Kostas Kalfas starts at right midfield for Gianluca Bolis. We'll play with one striker up front in Gesios. Wayne Rooney is on the bench as we may need his influence to calm things down a bit. Control mentality today.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - Y. Sylla
D - R. Gaucho, P. Tjiuoro, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - Mancini, A. Rocca
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, K. Kalfas
S - G. Gesios
Bench - J. Varga, J. Kuciak, A. Zubizarreta, G. Bolis, C. Murray, W. Rooney, P. Moses

Southampton are in a flat 4-4-2 to begin the game. Mike Hall is up front with Oliver Spilar. I tell the team they can win today and pull aside Rocca, Bardi and Sylla to say I have faith in them.

5' - We get a glorious chance early, as Rocca sends up a ball to Gesios, he breaks through a tackle and is in on goal but John Ruddy, the Saints keeper, makes the tremendous save.

6' - Almost right away, Southampton work back up field and they send Spilar into our area. He sends a hard blast past Sylla and we're down early. The slump continues. SOUTHAMPTON GOAL 0-1

11' - Gesios is sent up field nicely by Bamba and gets off a rocket that is stopped by Ruddy. The big rebound comes to Bardi and with an open net, he shoots wide. This seems like a repeat of last game and we're only ten minutes in...

15' - Southampton work a counter attack as our defenders are woefully out of position after a botched free kick. Thomas Ince gets a great ball into the box to midfielder Roberto and he has a sitter that he shoots wide? Looks like our finishing lately. That should have been another goal for the Saints.

23' - We intercept a bad Southampton pass and Bamba sends it up to Gesios. He shoots hard from distance and Ruddy makes the nice save.

28' - Gesios gets a yellow card.

34' - Now Salim Loucif gets a yellow. He's looked particularly bad today.

37' - Arsene Bamba gets loose inside the area and RIPS a shot off the pipe.

38' - WHAT IS GOING ON?!?! There is a scramble at the top of the area and Ruddy, their keeper, for some reason comes bursting out to try to grab the ball. Bamba sees this and sends a lob over his head but for the second time in two minutes, he hits the goal post and Southampton clear JUST before Gesios gets to the ball. We are slumping something fierce right now.

39' - A continuation of the previous play sees Rocca dance around a tackle, walk into the area and shoot but Ruddy makes the brilliant save.

44' - Now it's Ruddy looking like a Hall of Famer on a Bardi shot. We make all goalies look great!

HALFTIME - I'm at a bit of a loss right now with this team. We're controlling this game but we just can't score. 57% possession and an 11-8 (6-2 on target) shot advantage. Hard to tear into them - the team looks motivated, we just can't get any breaks. All I can do is sympathize with the team in the room and tell my strikers I have faith in them. I bring in Gianluca Bolis, move Kalfas to midfield and take out Mancini. I switch to a flat 4-4-2 control mentality.

58' - Not much going on until a counter attack 13 minutes into the second half. Gesios is moving up field and spots Bolis cutting into the middle. Southampton claim he's offsides but there's no flag and Bolis deposits the ball into the net! Our half time substitute pays off! DOVER GOAL 1-1

62' - Southampton are playing a bit nervously after our goal and we win a corner. Rocca's cross is headed toward goal by Paulus Tjiuoro but Ruddy makes the spectacular diving stop.

69' - Incredible! We have a throw in down the left side and Bamba throws it to Gesios. He sends it back to the sideline to Bamba and he immediately crosses into the box. Zoltan Bardi measures it then jumps, heading it past Ruddy and into the net! We're ahead and Ruddy can't believe it! DOVER GOAL 2-1

75' - Southampton have possession and work some nice passes, eventually getting it to Thomas Ince. The midfielder, on a poor angle, turns and fires a shot that hits off the inside of the goal post and goes in. You have to be kidding me. SOUTHAMPTON GOAL 2-2

80' - We're on edge all of a sudden and Thomas Ince is sprung again, walking right into goal but Sylla makes a spectacular, game-saving stop.

83' - We get a free kick in our territory and we send it over the Southampton defence to Bolis. He dribbles down the flank and crosses and there is Gesios but his left footed volley HITS THE POST. UGH!!!

We bring in Paul Moses for Kostas Kalfas. Bardi moves back to central midfield and Moses is at striker.

90' - Bardi makes a tremendous pass to Bolis, who speeds through the defence but is on his weaker foot so the shot is easily saved by Ruddy.

90'+3 - There's only two minutes of injury time but Southampton foul us on a move up field and get a yellow. I'm expecting the whistle to blow before the free kick but the ref keeps it in his pocket. We're at midfield and Tjiuoro sends the free kick to Bamba down the left sidelines. This is definitely the last rush and Bamba runs down the left past Southampton fullback Stearman and sends in the desperation cross. It goes through the box and there is Gianluca Bolis, hitting it on the volley and past Ruddy for the SHOCKING GOAL! Bolis is the SUPER SUB and that's his second of the half and likely game winner! Holy SHIT! Late drama in Southampton!!! DOVER GOAL 3-2

The ref actually allows them to kick off at 94 minutes and they get one last rush but we head it away and the whistle blows. Gutsy effort.

Southampton 2 - 3 Dover
Goals - Gianluca Bolis 2 (8.7), Zoltan Bardi (7.7)
Assists - Arsene Bamba 2 (7.7), Giorgos Gesios (6.8)
Man of the Match - Gianluca Bolis
Other Dover Notables -
Attendance - 19,328

What a HUGE relief this is! We hold 52% of possession and outshoot them 20-11 (11-4 on target). Bolis made all the difference as a half time substitute. What a dramatic winner!

-- Two of our closest rivals lose, as Derby shock Reading 2-1 and Newcastle upset Arsenal 1-0. City finally win after three losses in a row, beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 and United win 1-0 over Sunderland. Liverpool throttle Chelsea 4-0 and they are officially on fire. We'll hold onto fourth spot for another week.

-- Arsene Bamba's agent comes to me after the game looking for a new deal, mostly in light of my refusal to entertain an offer from Chelsea. Bamba has been SENSATIONAL for us this year, with 16 (!!!!) assists already on the year. I think we can put something together and it also gives me the chance to increase his minimum release clause.



Dover U18 Update

-- Eddie Robinson scores twice, Emmerson Harvey scores on a penalty and Gregoire Lambert adds an injury time goal in a 4-0 U18 win over Woking. The U18s are undefeated so far this year and in fact, have only one tie. That's a lot of wins. They are 14-1-0 with 46 goals for and THREE GOALS AGAINST. Hahaha! Looks like we have some talent down there!



Transfer Window Fun

-- Man City continue to knock on our door, now offering £12 million for Rayane Hamon. That's a lot of money but Hamon is my replacement for Cristian Rodriguez and he's not for sale. They also continue to bid on young Emmerson Harvey to no avail. Harvey is now "Unsettled" as he thinks it's unfair that I don't entertain the offer from a "superior" club.

-- The work permit comes through again, this time for Mexican striker Rogelio Garcia from Porto. The 21 year old will join us on July 1st on a free Bosman transfer.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- With all of these games we're playing, essentially two a week, we haven't had a reserves game since December 1st!!! Needless to say, my spares are all lacking match fitness so I decide to schedule a friendly between the reserves and Cambridge City FC, a team we cancelled a preseason friendly against in August. We only win 2-1 away, with goals scored by Paul Moses and Wayne Rooney in his return from his hamstring tear. Rooney looked S L O W out there.

-- Paul Moses got hurt in the game but will miss only one to two weeks with a sprained wrist.

-- Kostas Kalfas suffered a groin strain in training and will miss up to three weeks.

-- We now have five players hurt: Moses, Kalfas, Shanon Andrea, Shaun Spall and Neil Cairney.



Contract Extension

-- We're pleased to come to terms on a two-year extension on Arsene Bamba's contract - he gets a little bump in pay, now making £21,000 per week, we get two additional years and also a much higher minimum release clause at £27.5 million. Excellent all-around.



Premier League Update

-- Some teams play makeup games and Reading, Arsenal and Man City all win while Chelsea loses. We hold on to fourth place but Arsenal are now tied with us in points and still have a game in hand. Reading also tie us on points but finally have matched us in games played. It's SUPER TIGHT for continental positions right now with most teams having 14 games left.



Real Madrid??

-- Jose Mourinho is possibly leaving at the end of this season when his contract expires and thoughts are that I'm the front runner for the job. Interesting.



Next Up

-- More Premier League action, as we welcome Aston Villa to Crabble Athletic Ground.