[NoSkillz]

Sat. May 1, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Dover (21-7-7, 70 points, 3rd) vs. Newcastle (13-7-15, 46 points, 11th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 2-5 (Favourites) Draw: 11-4 Newcastle: 13-2
Past Meetings: 0W 1D 2L

We've struggled historically against Newcastle but we're HUGE favourites today, one of our biggest lines in our time in the Premier League I'm sure. Newcastle just promoted last year and are doing well to be in mid-table at this late stage of the season. We've never beaten them before and could only get a scoreless draw against them earlier this year. They've got a very dangerous French striker named Stanislas Vigneau, who has 15 goals across all competitions.

No fooling around today. A full strength lineup will be put on the pitch and we'll utilize a flat 4-4-2 control system. The only change I make is to move Andrea Rocca into an attacking "advanced playmaker" role and put Neil Cairney into a supporting role as a deep-lying playmaker…essentially, just switching spots.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi
Bench - J. Varga, J. Kuciak, Mancini, D. Pratley, L. Craig, P. Kostal, P. Simek

Newcastle are in the same formation that Fulham were in: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1). Vigneau is up front all alone. I tell the team to go out there and give a great performance for their supporters!

3' - We have a free kick from well out and Andrea Rocca curls one around the wall that hits the post and deflects right to the Newcastle keeper Jak Alnwick. Great shot!

15' - Neil Cairney sends a great through ball down the left middle portion of the field to Gesios. He's on his wrong foot but cuts back to his stronger right foot and is tackled off the ball in the area. The ref lets play go on as we appeal for a penalty. No call!

16' - We work a counter attack and Zoltan Bardi gets the ball at midfield. He dribbles down the right and two men are in pursuit, with Gesios running down the middle with another defender, essentially making it a 2 on 3 play. Bardi stops and attempts a cross into the area that looks like it deflects on the way. Gesios runs into it and hits the ball on the half volley right into the back of the net! Beautiful counter and Gesios ends his mini-slump! DOVER GOAL 1-0

The team is looking fired up today and very motivated according to our assistant.

27' - We win a corner and Rocca's ball comes out to Gianluca Bolis. He sees Paulus Tjiuoro retreating from the area and sends it to his unmarked teammate - Tjiuoro blasts it toward goal and it hits Newcastle defender Ibon on the leg and ricochets into the top corner of the net. Wow! Both of our "out-of-form" players are on the board today! DOVER GOAL 2-0

34' - Bardi gets the ball off a throw in deep in their end and he makes a ridiculous back heel pass into the box to Rocca but his shot is weak and easily saved by Alnwick. Great pass!

38' - Off a Newcastle goal kick, Cairney heads the ball upfield and Bardi attempts to latch onto it. He's taken down hard and is hurt but play continues on with Gesios chasing it down. He's got a break and rifles it JUST WIDE. Holy smokes. What a glorious chance for Gesios. Hopefully Bardi isn't too badly hurt but he needs to come off for some treatment.

39' - Off the ensuing goal kick, Newcastle work up field and it's midfielder David Maclennan who is sent in on a lovely ball but his shot is easily saved and held by Wilke.

45'+1 - Vigneau gets past Tjiuoro and has a partial break but shoots high and wide.

HALFTIME - That's much more like it! We hold 54% of possession and outshot them 9-4 (4-1 on target). Bardi is banged up but I'm going to keep him in there for now. I tell the team I'm pleased thus far.

51' - Crazy play off a free kick from Rocca - the ball is cleared and eventually comes to Gianluca Bolis. He cuts into goal and rips a blast that goes off the crossbar, then hits the goalkeeper's back before bouncing back over the net. So we get a corner out of it and Rocca delivers to the near post and to Bardi and he heads the ball into the net! That's our first goal off a corner in a long time but we'll take it! DOVER GOAL 3-0

Newcastle move to a 4-4-2 diamond formation.

60' - Cairney loses the ball and then fouls the guy who took it away. Yellow card for Cairney.

68' - Cairney sends the ball up to Gesios and he feeds a quick one-touch pass to Bardi, who is breaking behind the defence. Bardi left foots it toward goal but it's turned aside by Alnwick and cleared to safety.

With Cairney sitting with a yellow, I take him out in favour of defensive-minded midfielder Mancini.

70' - Bolis continues to play well, getting off a wicked blast off a cleared corner that is pushed over the goal by Alnwick.

73' - I take out the excellent Andrea Rocca and put in Darren Pratley.

76' - Giorgos Gesios shows his immense skill, running down the left, juking a defender and delivering a left footed arching cross that meets the head of Bardi but he just puts it over. Great skill there!

77' - Paulus Tjiuoro gets absolutely skinned by Vigneau then the Newcastle striker dekes around Claudio Contreras as well before delivering a low blast that Wilke turns aside. The rebound is available but Renato Gaucho clears just in time.

81' - Tjiuoro AGAIN is left in Vigneau's dust and the striker has a clear break. He gets into the area and a hard-charging Tjiuoro gets tangled up with him. Vigneau falls but there is no foul called and we clear the ball away. Man…lucky there. Again, I have lots of great talent at DC even after the forced sale of Cristian Rodriguez but our distinct lack of pace in the centre hurts us.

90' - Mancini gets a great ball delivered to him by Gesios and from the outer edge of the box rips a shot that Alnwick can only push over the bar. Nothing comes of that corner.

90'+2 - It's Mancini again, delivering another blast that Alnwick barely pushes aside.

And it's over. GREAT game!

Dover 3 - 0 Newcastle
Goals - Giorgos Gesios (7.7), Paulus Tjiuoro (8.2), Zoltan Bardi (8.3)
Assists - Zoltan Bardi, Gianluca Bolis (7.5), Andrea Rocca (7.6)
Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (8.1), Claudio Contreras (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.3)
Attendance - 15,750 (Sell-Out)

Absolute domination! We hold 57% of overall possession and outshoot them 23-9 (10-3 on target). A convincing performance when we needed it most!

-- With that win, DOVER HAVE GUARANTEED A PLACE IN THE 2021/22 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!! That was my major goal coming into this season…well, I was just simply hoping for Continental qualification but I don't know if I could have ever expected our first foray into European play to be in the Champions League…just a stunning achievement!

-- In other BPL play, Arsenal absolutely STUN league leading Man City 2-0 at Emirates Stadium, only City's second loss of the year! Man United beat Tottenham 2-0 to stay mathematically alive in the race but City sits with a ridiculous goal differential of +73 and United is at +55 so there's no realistic way United can overtake City for the championship. Chelsea destroy Sheffield Wednesday on Monday to keep pace with us as we both battle it out for third place. The four Champions League teams have been decided and Arsenal have locked up a Europa League spot. The last remaining spot will be decided between Everton and Liverpool, most likely. With Tottenham and Reading facing off in the FA Cup, the winner of that title will get the last Europa League position from what I understand.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE 2 GAMES REMAINING)

CL 1. Man City - 92 points
CL 2. Man United - 86 points
CL 3. Dover - 73 points
CL 4. Chelsea - 73 points
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EL 5. Arsenal - 65 points
6. Everton - 58 points
7. Liverpool - 55 points
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8. Middlesbrough - 53 points
9. Reading - 52 points
10. Tottenham - 47 points


Dover U18 Update

-- We battle to a scoreless draw against Eastleigh. Striker Carlo Cerbone is the pick of our players in the game according to our youth team manager.



-- Reserve striker Roberto agrees to a four year contract extension, seeing his salary bumped modestly to £2,100 per week from £1,800. There's a pretty solid chance I'll sell him at some point in the future but he's played well on the reserves this year and may deserve a look in one of our last two games, which aren't particularly meaningful.



May Board Confidence Update

-- The board are absolutely delighted with the way I'm leading the team. Our stature increase is the main factor but they are slightly disappointed with the signing of Emir Faccioli - the Argentinian defender was brought on to help tutor Cristian Rodriguez but then he got stolen away by United. Faccioli may not be around long but he can still help with our other Argentinian defender, Claudio Contreras.

-- We made a profit of £1.91 million last month.



-- Paulus Tjiuoro was named to the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- Our reserve team close out their season with an emphatic 7-2 win over Burnley. Gerardo Escobar scores a hat trick while newly resigned Roberto and veteran midfielder Liam Craig bag braces. Our reserve team finishes the season with 16 wins, 2 draws and NO losses!



Dover Staff Additions

-- I think this is the first time I've ever gone after staff members who are currently employed with other teams but our increased stature certainly is making it easier to get better people. I pay Sheffield Wednesday £170K for Scottish coach Brian McLaughlin and owe Wolves £100K for Spanish scout Angel. McLaughlin's signing makes one of my other coaches expendable so that's a plus.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- With two weeks in-between league games, our U18s play a second time and they destroy Oxford 7-1. Gregoire Lambert, Carlo Cerbone and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz all score two goals in the contest. That wraps up the season for our U18s, as they win their league by ten points over Reading, finishing with a 22-4-2 record.


--- I guess it's that time of year: many of our players look to be targets when the transfer window opens and I notice one of the targets, my DR Salim Loucif has a release clause at only £3,100,000! His current value is higher than that! So I immediately offer him a contract extension and it's accepted by his agent. Should be a formality but I changed the release clause to around £15,000,000. I also have to field questions about Neil Cairney and Chelsea's interest in our wonderkid. Cairney, of course, is intrigued but I issue a hands off warning. That said, Chelsea is one of the few teams with the cash to take him off our hands.



Next Up

-- We head out for our last away game of the year in Everton.