[NoSkillz]

Sat. February 27, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Dover (17-4-7, 55 points, 4th) vs. Arsenal (14-6-8, 48 points, 5th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Arsenal: 4-5 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 2W 1D 5L

Arsenal are starting to make noise in the Premier League after a bit of a mid-season swoon but their attention is divided due to Champions League play, as they just lost the first leg in a first round knockout versus powerful Read Madrid 2-1 at home. They have a balanced lineup, with leading scorer Adam Hlousek having 10 goals, Tiago Alves scoring 9 and seven players with 5 or more. Despite being behind us in the standings, they have incredible talent everywhere.

My scouts say they struggle against a 4-4-1-1 but that's not a formation I usually roll with so I'll go with the flat 4-4-2 and stick with a slightly aggressive Control philosophy. My only lineup change is a bit of a shocker, bringing in veteran DC Oliver Nicholas for only his second start of the season in the place of young Claudio Contreras, who has struggled in recent games but will be on the bench.

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

Arsenal are pretty healthy and will start Alves and Boakye up front, with top scorer Hlousek playing left midfield and dangerous Jack Wilshere playing MR. With a capacity crowd on hand, my assistant thinks that the fans will play a role so I tell the lads to go out there and perform for their supporters.

3' - We get a great early chance, as Andrea Rocca feeds Neil Cairney in the middle of the field and from at least 10 yards outside the box, his rocket goes off the hands of a diving Paul Randall, the Arsenal keeper, off the goal post and out!

4' - Off an ensuing goal kick, Rocca heads the ball back upfield and Bardi latches onto it. He rounds the keeper and with the net at his mercy, shoots WIDE with his left foot! Oh my…that needed to go in!

16' - Through a quarter hour, it's all Dover, as Bardi cuts to the middle, feeds an unmarked Arsene Bamba at the top of the area but his shot is high and wide.

25' - We have a corner and Rocca gets the ball back after feeding Cairney lurking outside the area. His cross is cleared and Arsenal work a counter attack with numbers. They feed into the area and Paulus Tjiuoro is stripped of the ball in our box, allowing Boakye to get a quick shot off. Wilke is there brilliantly to make the save.

29' - Another Dover corner and it's Tjiuoro running into the ball and heading it at goal but Randall makes a great effort to push it over the net. We get another corner and this time Rocca goes to the near post and Oliver Nicholas but again, Randall is there to make the save and hold on.

32' - Arsenal work the ball into our area and Boakye, with his back to the goal, turns on Nicholas and hits a sharp shot that Wilke turns aside.

33' - Salim Loucif, who must have gotten a yellow card in a non-highlighted play, sends the ball up the right flank to out-of-form Gianluca Bolis. He makes a nice move to cut into goal and forces Randall to make a pretty good stop from close range.

36' - So many chances but no finish. Bolis again makes a nice dribble down the right side and crosses into the middle. Bardi is shielding off the defender and turns toward goal but Randall again is sensational in making a diving save.

39' - In a similar looking play, Salim Loucif and Neil Cairney play some one-twos down the right side and Cairney sends the ball into the box. The ball deflects to the foot of Bardi in the same position he was in last time but on this occasion, he's able to turn and fire a low shot past Randall as we get a MUCH deserved goal. Beauty! DOVER GOAL 1-0

40' - Poor defending off the ensuing kick off, as Arsenal clinically move up the field and it's Alves getting a half step on Tjiuoro as he enters the area. His shot eludes Wilke but not the goal post and Tjiuoro gets there just in time to clear the garbage away from danger. Lucky! We immediately move up field and Gesios sends a great left footed cross from the byline that Rocca heads violently toward goal but Randall is there to make the great save again. What action!

45' - Gesios gets hurt at midfield but play goes on with Arsenal having possession. Boakye sends a lovely through ball to Alves and he has a step on Tjiuoro. He cuts to the right side of the box then switches to his left foot before unleashing a ROCKET into the top corner. Great goal but a killer as we enter half - we deserve a lead in this game. Gesios hopefully can shake it off. ARSENAL GOAL 1-1

45'+2 - We get another GLORIOUS chance, as Bolis moves up field down the right. With Gesios being attended to off the field, I notice Bardi is also down on the ground behind the play but Bolis' cross meets the foot of Bamba and his hard shot is once again saved in brilliant fashion by Randall. This guy has been incredible in the first half! Now both of my strikers are banged up.

HALFTIME - What a RIDICULOUS half of football! We are somehow losing possession (48% to 52%) but hold an UNBELIEVABLE 16-6 (9-4 on target) shot advantage. NINE SHOTS ON GOAL in the first half - this goaltender is something else. Bardi looks really banged up and Gesios isn't much better - I'll have to sub out Bardi soon for sure. I tell the players I'm pleased and pull aside a couple of guys for individual talks. We need to get another past this guy!

48' - Ouch - Oliver Nicholas flubs on a tackle at midfield and it's their leading scorer Adam Hlousek walking in all alone on a breakaway from midfield. Tjiuoro catches up and forces him to shoot a second earlier than he likely wanted and he JUST fires wide. Arsenal inexplicably took out their goal scorer Alves, moved Hlousek up to striker and brought in midfielder Bebe at half.

54' - It's all Arsenal to start this half and it's Jack Wilshere making his presence known, as a loose ball comes to him in the area but his blast just curls wide.

55' - Bebe tackles Bolis hard and now he's hurt. Gesios is doing fine while Bardi will likely have to be taken off soon.

58' - Wild play with Bolis on the sidelines being attended to, as Arsenal work a counter attack down the left flank. Bebe makes a great cross into Boakye and he gets by Wilke but somehow, Renato Gaucho steals the ball as he's about to put it in the yawning cage and sends it out of play. I don't know how he did it but I like it!

63' - Bardi comes out and I bring in Petr Simek up front.

71' - Petr Kostal comes on for Gianluca Bolis.

72' - Gesios takes the ball at midfield, goes on a little run and sends a great through ball to Simek. He cuts into the area from the left side and his hard shot is saved again by Randall. Our first real good chance of this half as SImek throws his arms up in the air!

79' - Arsenal get a corner and go short to Boakye. He turns and sends a harmless looking cross that is headed out but it bounces off one of their players and right onto the foot of defender Martin Watt. His shot deflects off one of our guys and into the net. This is a travesty. ARSENAL GOAL 1-2

I bring on Cameron Murray on for Arsene Bamba and switch to an attacking mode.

81' - HOLY CRAP! Off the ensuing kickoff, we work the ball around the field and eventually up to Gesios. He's running down the right centre of the pitch, cuts back to the left and then sends a ball through to Simek. His fresh legs give him a step on the defender and he walks in and quickly shoots into the top corner for the immediate reply! We pull level! DOVER GOAL 2-2

We move to a Counter Attack mode.

90' - We work a counter attack and Cairney sends it up to Simek. He is running out of room and shoots just wide from the top of the area.

There are a couple of dangerous looking counter attacks for both sides and we have the ball deep in their territory as the ref blows for full time about 4 minutes into extras. What a sensational match!

Dover 2 - 2 Arsenal
Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.3), Petr Simek (7.3)
Assists - Neil Cairney (8.0), Giorgos Gesios (7.5)
Man of the Match - Boakye (Arsenal ST - 8.4)
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Paulus Tjiuoro (7.1), Renato Gaucho (7.4), Andrea Rocca (7.3)
Attendance - 15,750 (Sell-out)

Just a fantastic game and we again prove we can hang with most of the big boys, with only United and City proving to be unbeatable. We end up with 52% of possession and outshoot them 22-13 (11-6 on target). Their keeper inexplicably gets only a 6.8 rating…what does the poor guy have to do? Striker Boakye had two assists and was named man of the match. Despite four of our players suffering knocks during the game, none of them are reporting ill-effects post game so we're fortunate there!

-- Relegation candidates Fulham draw Chelsea 0-0, a great result for us. We stay two points back of the Blues and maintain our edge on fifth place Arsenal. A few teams have mid-week games, like City and Liverpool.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(TEAMS HAVE 9 GAMES REMAINING UNLESS NOTED)

1. Man City - 73 points (10 games left)
2. Man United - 70 points
3. Chelsea - 58 points
4. Dover - 56 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Arsenal - 49 points
6. Everton - 48 points
7. Liverpool - 44 points (10 games left)
----------------------------------------------------
8. Reading - 42 points
9. Huddersfield - 40 points
10. Newcastle - 40 points



Dover U18 Update

-- We beat AFC Wimbledon 4-2 and it's striker Gregoire Lambert again, this time bagging a brace, as he's molten hot since returning from injury. Chris Paterson and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz score singles.



-- We officially announce a new deal with starting goalkeeper Ingo Wilke, who signs a three-year deal valued at £3,500,000, which amounts to £13,750 per week, quite the raise from his old salary of £3,900/wk! He's been sensational this year - he's had a good run but at 27 years old, it's safe to say he's never been better for us. I truly think he's outperforming his ratings and I like the idea of keeping him around.



March Update

-- A pretty quiet month in Premier League play, with only three matches: away at Reading, home versus Middlesbrough and home versus Aston Villa. We also face Huddersfield at home in the FA Cup quarterfinals.

-- We get positive training reports from Jozef Kuciak, Gianluca Bolis and reserve team member Jonathan Adam with negative reports coming from veterans Darren Pratley and Liam Craig. Pratley, our seldom-used captain and Craig won't be re-signed. We also get positive reports from U18 players Gregoire Lambert, Steve Sinnott and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. Good stuff.

-- DC Thomas Andersen, loaned out to Burnley in the Championship, wins his second consecutive Young Player of the Month Award from that league. He's played six matches for Burnley with a 7.30 rating. He obviously moved up a notch on my depth chart with the forced sale of Cristian Rodriguez to Manchester United.

-- Speaking of United, Yaya Sanogo used his great game against us last month to propel himself to Premier League Player of the Month honours. Everton fullback Milan Mojsky wins the Premier League Young Player of the Month while our own Neil Cairney finished in second place in February. City's Carlo Ancelotti once again wins the Manager of the Month award.


-- I have a few reports come in regarding tutoring, with positive experiences expressed from Jonathan Adam (Liam Craig tutored), Emmanuel Agbo (Oliver Nicholas tutored) and Jamie Matthews (Darren Pratley tutored) while reserve striker Dennis Kunz didn't learn much from fellow forward Petr Simek.



March Board Confidence Update

-- The board continues to be delighted with the leadership qualities I'm demonstrating. Stature increase the main plus and the signing of Martin Prochazka is the slight disappointment. We made a profit of £1.02 million last month.



-- Neil Cairney was selected in the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week for his performance against Arsenal.



Next Up

-- We head to the road to visit Reading in Premier League play.