Sat. December 19, 2020
Barclays Premier League
Dover (11-2-4, 35 points, 4th) vs. Everton (7-6-4, 27 points, 5th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK
Betting Odds: Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Everton: 7-4
Past Meetings: 2W 1D 2L
Everton are a Premier League staple, usually finishing mid-table in this tough league but they have one continental appearance over the past ten years, playing the Europa League in 2017-18. They are off to a great start this year and sit just below us on the table.
They've got two explosive strikers in Ekow Mumuni and Chris Wood. 28 year old Ghana native Mumuni has 12 goals in 16 total appearances already this year - he was picked up on a free from Le Mans FC in France so he's turning out to be quite a bargain buy for Everton. Their best player is likely Jack Rodwell, a 29 year old MC who has been with the club his whole life. Rodwell is extremely influential and a great defensive-minded midfielder by the look of it.
We have a number of players out of form right now and my coaches are suggesting I bench
Zoltan Bardi and I agree with their assessment. I contemplate bringing in
Roberto for his first start of the year but after I find out Everton play well against a flat 4-4-2, a formation I considered going with, I decide on my one striker formation and will go with
Andrea Rocca at AMC and slot him behind
Giorgos Gesios. Captain
Darren Pratley gets a rare start at midfield with Bardi out of the lineup.
Jozef Varga is in for the injured
Renato Gaucho. I'm also going with
Lukasz Fabianski in goal after Wilke's little tirade about his contract earlier this week. Got to show who's boss
Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - L. Fabianski
D - J. Varga, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - D. Pratley, N. Cairney
AM - C. Murray, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios
Bench - L. Koscielny, T. Andersen, Z. Bardi, Mancini, M. Prochazka, L. Craig, Roberto
Interestingly enough, Everton have the explosive Mumuni on the bench to start and aging striker Daniel Sturridge is up front instead alongside Chris Wood. They start in a flat 4-4-2 and I tell the team that the fans deserve a win - go get it for them!
1' - We start quickly and after some nice passing, it's Jozef Varga crossing into the box onto the left foot of Gesios but his weak shot is handled easily by Di Capua.
4' - Cameron Murray gets a yellow.
7' - We work possession off a throw in at midfield and Pratley sends a ball to the edge of the area to Cameron Murray. He turns to his stronger left foot and sends a wicked blast low to the corner of the net but Di Capua does brilliantly to push it behind. Great save! The ensuing corner is cleared but we regain possession and Pratley ends up sending a rocket just wide. A good start for us…now lets put one away!
10' - Our hot-headed wonderkid Neil Cairney loses possession then pulls down the guy who stole the ball from him. Yellow card for Cairney.
11 - We must commit another foul seconds later close to our area. We set up a horribly placed wall and Frenchman Jires Kembo-Ekoko is able to send a straight blast into the corner of the goal and we're behind despite controlling play. Ugh.
EVERTON GOAL 0-1
18' - Lethargy has set in and they are taking it to us now. They work a counter attack and a long ball is sent up to Daniel Sturridge. It's a two-on-two but Paulus Tjiuoro misses a tackle and they have numbers. Sturridge brilliantly lays it off for an oncoming midfielder but Fabianski makes an excellent save and we are able to clear the ball to safety. That should have been a goal.
26' - Varga with the ugly takedown near midfield and he gets a yellow too. Three yellows already for us.
27' - Geez. Make that FOUR yellows. Now it's Cristian Rodriguez, just back from suspension after a red card against Newcastle. He will be suspended for our match against Man City next weekend due to piling up too many yellows. Very undisciplined game for us.
29' - Pratley has the ball at midfield and feeds it to Gesios. He's about 10 yards outside the area and he takes it with his back to the goal, turns to his left foot and uses his speed and skill to race into the box. He gains enough space to get the ball onto his stronger right foot and finds the short side of the goal for the splendid reply! Great goal Gesios! His first in six games and we pull level!
DOVER GOAL 1-1
31' - Oh my goodness. Perhaps Sturridge ISN'T aging. The 31 year old takes the ball at midfield and just floors it past Salim Loucif and Paulus Tjiuoro. He steams in on goal and sends a wicked blast that is stopped by a diving Fabianski. The ball pops out and Varga loses a battle against their other striker and it's Chris Wood slotting it home into the empty net for the rapid reply. Terrible defence.
EVERTON GOAL 1-2
34' - Man, I'm kicking myself for being so blasé about Sturridge. He again flies past Tjiuoro on a through ball and Tjiuoro is forced to bring him down from behind. Our FIFTH yellow card. On the free kick, it's Kembo-Ekoko again firing a rocket off the woodwork. Incredibly lucky there.
40' - Gianluca Bolis, a name I haven't really called out in two games, gets pulled down about 15 yards outside the area and draws a foul. Their star midfielder Jack Rodwell takes a knock on the play and goes off for a bit and on the ensuing free kick, Rocca passes to Pratley, who delivers a heavy blow off the crossbar. He had all day to walk in on that one.
45'+1 - They win a corner and the header is stopped by a diving Fabianski before we clear.
HALFTIME - Shots are even at 7 apiece but they have SIX on target to our four. Possession is in our favour 54% to 46%. That all said - we're playing horrible football. My assistant tells me that the team is showing "false confidence" due to our recent strong form and think they can just show up and win today. I question the team's passion and hope that spurs them on. No tactical changes yet. Rocca and Rodriguez are playing particularly poorly - Rocca doesn't play much in the AMC position and has not made any impact at all…a rare thing for him.
52' - Varga makes a stupid cross field pass to the other flank and Bolis is forced to take a man down. Another yellow. My God - more than half our team have yellows. We're in BIG trouble. I dial down the aggression.
62' - We continue to let Daniel Sturridge just dribble without consequence. He takes the ball at midfield and weaves in and out of our defence before rifling a shot that is barely turned aside by Fabianski.
65' - Pratley sends it through to Gesios and he pounds it into the net! But the side judge has his flag up. Offsides? The replay is inconclusive - it looked like Gesios was onside before the pass was made.
68' - Rocca finally shows some skill, gets into the area but right foots it weakly wide.
I need to do something so I move Cairney up to the AMC (not a trained position for him) and move Rocca back to midfield.
71' - Gesios is hurt but can shake it off - he sends in a lovely through ball to Bolis and his point blank shot is saved. We get the rebound and after some passing, Cairney's long blast is held by Di Capua.
73' - They get a corner and get the ball into the net but only after Chris Wood blatantly pushes down Tjiuoro. Foul is thankfully called and the goal doesn't count. By the way, they have ZERO yellows at this point.
76' - I bring in Roberto for Darren Pratley and move to an attacking 4-4-2, with Roberto moving up to striker.
77' - Wow, right away we get a chance! Gesios moves the ball beautifully upfield to a streaking Roberto and he's behind the defence. They force him to shoot a bit early and Di Capua is out to challenge and make the save.
81' - Gesios is tired and I have to bring in Zoltan Bardi.
84' - The wheels are falling off. SEVEN yellow cards, this time it's Rocca getting the honour. He too will miss our huge game against Man City. What a disaster this is...
85' - I bring in Liam Craig for Cameron Murray.
They hold us off nicely the rest of the way. Another horrible performance.
Dover 1 - 2 Everton
Goals - Giorgos Gesios (7.3)
Assists - Darren Pratley (6.9)
Man of the Match - Jires Kembo-Ekoko (Everton MC)
Other Dover Notables - Neil Cairney (7.0), Cristian Rodriguez (5.8)
Attendance - 15,750 (Sell-Out!)
They edge us in possession 51% to 49% while we outshoot them 15-12 (7-8 on target). I lock the door to the room and tell the team they should feel embarrassed about the performance. Morale hit coming but they need the shake up. We're looking at a dismal matchup next week on Boxing Day against table leaders Manchester City away and that will be a match we'll have to play without Rodriguez and Rocca, who will both be suspended for picking up too many yellows.
-- United win again and take over the league lead in points over an idle City, who see their game postponed due to a pending League Cup tie versus Huddersfield on Wednesday. Hopefully they'll be a bit tired for our Boxing Day matchup three days later. Chelsea draws and are now three points ahead of us on the table.
Dover U18 Update
-- The kids continue to dominate, winning 4-2 over Reading. Superstar youngster
Carlo Cerbone scores ALL FOUR GOALS in the win. Cerbone has an astonishing 22 goals in 17 non-competitive appearances so far this year and my scouts indicate that many of the biggest clubs are sniffing around him. He's only valued at £35,000 right now, the price I bought him at in the offseason. I'm sure that value will skyrocket.
--
Petr Simek returns to full training. We could use his speed up front and I may start him at some point when he's fully fit.
-- I see that Man City beats Huddersfield on Wednesday 2-1 in the League Cup quarterfinals. They do it with both of their stud strikers, Enrique and Jelle Hoegee, sitting in the stands. That means City was holding them out to play against us on the weekend. CRAP. Takes a lot of balls to hold both of them out of the lineup in a big game like that - hell, they weren't even on the bench for the match!
Next Up
-- We face league powerhouse Manchester City away on a Boxing Day matinee