[NoSkillz]

Tue. January 9, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (16-4-1, 52 points, 1st) vs. Manchester United (14-6-1, 48 points, 2nd)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 Manchester United: 6-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 3W 3D 9L

Like Tottenham, Manchester United come into a match against us on a very long unbeaten streak that has reached 12 games. Their last loss was in Champions League group play against Ajax and that was on the heels of a 17 game unbeaten streak. So United has only lost one game in their last 30!!! Holy smokes. Yet we’re four points clear so it says something about our dominance as well! United continue to be led by the ageless Yaya Sanogo, who has 21 goals in 28 matches thus far, as he continues to try to keep pace with our superstar Paul Moses. We haven’t had an awful lot of success against United and that leads to us being the slightest of underdogs at home today. That said, we can beat these guys but we’ll have to stop Sanogo.

Jose, Gianluca Bolis and Rafinha will start today and that means Andrea Rocca, Graham Allan and Renato Gaucho are on the bench. Moses starts for the first time ever against his former team, as I kept him out of our starting lineup in our 1-1 draw early in the season. We have an FA Cup match coming up on the weekend against a Championship side so we can leave it all out on the field today since we’ll likely go with a lot of backups in that contest. Control mentality at home, as usual.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - Renato Gaucho, S. Nasri, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, H. Cruz, G. Allan, S. Andrea

United play a flat 4-4-2 and it’s Sandro, a guy I haven’t heard of before, up front with Yaya Sanogo. Sandro is a 30 year old striker just picked up in July for over £18 million and he has 8 goals in 17 matches. Former White Cristian Rodriguez starts at DC and Liviu Dragomir is in goal. I tell the team to play well for the home fans today. LETS DO THIS!!!

6’ - On an innocent looking play, Jose stubs Eden Hazard’s toe or something in our penalty area and the referee points to the spot! PENALTY! Veteran midfielder Roman Zozulya steps up and puts the ball into the top of the net and we’re down immediately. Crappy call in my opinion. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 0-1

11’ - Dragomir kicks the ball upfield and Rayane Hamon heads it back over the defence. Paul Moses runs onto the ball and looks offsides but there is no call. He’s in on goal and his trademark low blast is past Dragomir and IN! Instant reply and we pull level! DOVER GOAL 1-1

13’ - United have a corner and the cross is into Cristian Rodriguez but he sends the ball back out to Zozulya. I guess he knew what he was doing, as the midfielder strikes a low blast that hits off Rafinha and deflects past Ingo Wilke and it’s IN. That’s two for Zozulya and we’re behind again! What is going on!? MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 1-2

15’ - Paul Moses is all, “I’M GOING TO CARRY ALL OF YOU SAD SACKS ON MY BACK!” and takes the ensuing kickoff and runs right through the United defence but Dragomir makes a diving save.

17’ - This game is absolutely bonkers and I love it! We show great skill in moving up field with many short, crisp passes. Cairney gets the ball near the edge of the area and sends a great ball to the left to Arsene Bamba. Our in demand midfielder gets into the area and rips a shot that Dragomir gets a piece of but NOT ENOUGH! It’s IN the net and we pull level once again! DOVER GOAL 2-2

19’ - Wilke has to be alert, as Sanogo feeds Sandro in the area but our keeper makes the save.

28’ - United are playing well today and get another chance with Eduardo Padilla in the area and Wilke is in good position for the reflex save.

30’ - Moses with a pass off to Bamba and he eludes a tackle and walks in but his shot is right at Dragomir. Easy stop.

36’ - Chiquinho is taken down just outside the area and we have a free kick. Jose takes it and his cross to the far post is headed by Claudio Contreras and it’s OFF THE CROSSBAR! Ooooooh!

40’ - This referee is obviously on the take, as he gives Contreras a yellow for taking down Sanogo. United have already been called for three big fouls but weren’t given a yellow on any of them. Plus, the guy awarded a pretty shady penalty too. Not good.

44’ - Contreras takes a knock and has the dreaded cross of doom above his name. He can continue for now but we’ll have to see what happens after the game.

45’+1 - Bamba with a sensational feed up to Moses and he storms in on goal. His shot is stopped by Dragomir and both Chiquinho and Bolis get chances at the rebound but their shots can’t get through to the net. So close!

45’+2 - We work the ball out wide to Bamba and his last second cross is to Moses but his fine header is saved well by Dragomir as the whistle blows to end a crazy half!

HALFTIME - The neutrals are pleased with this one! We edge them in possession with 51% and have a 15-8 (6-4 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team they can beat these guys and pull aside struggling Jose (5.5), Rafinha (5.9) and Chiquinho (6.4) and tell them I have faith in their abilities. I could use a Chiquinho goal right now but he’s in another one of his slumps.

59’ - A much slower start to the second half with few chances. We finally strike from distance, as a curling Jose shot is turned aside by a diving Dragomir!

64’ - Saber Nasri is brought on for the injured Claudio Contreras.

67’ - We have a free kick at midfield and Rayane Hamon passes up to Cairney who immediately feeds Chiquinho at the outer edge of the area. He turns and fires a shot with his weaker left foot and it’s into the top corner of the net for a SPECTACULAR goal! United players run to complain to the assistant about possible offsides but to no avail! We finally take the lead! DOVER GOAL 3-2

73’ - We get a GLORIOUS chance as Moses is tackled while entering the area and the ball spills right to Chiquinho but his blast is saved in spectacular fashion by Dragomir. A game saver there…

75’ - We move to a counter attacking mentality.

80’ - Bamba heads to the penalty area but loses the ball. It squirts back to Jose and he sends in a great ball to Chiquinho and his blast is off the underside of the crossbar and IN!!!!! But wait?! OFFSIDES?!!?!?! Oh man…the replay is inconclusive. Terrible call again!!! We’re getting jobbed here but we still lead…

90’ - Moses takes a throw in and makes a perfect pass into the box to Gianluca Bolis but his shot is saved in fine fashion by the United keeper! Wow. He’s been good today.

There’s five minutes of extra time but United can’t get anything going! HUGE WIN!!!

Dover 3 - 2 Manchester United
Goals - Paul Moses (7.7), Arsene Bamba (7.7), Chiquinho (7.3)
Assists - Neil Cairney 2 (7.5), Rayane Hamon (7.6)
Man of the Match - Roman Zozulya (Manchester United MC - 8.8)
Other Dover Notables - Jose (7.0)
Attendance - 23,000

OUR FIRST SELL-OUT!!! Damn straight!!! This is a monumental win for us and we pasted them in that second half, with overall possession of 56% and an incredible 28-9 (13-4 on target) shot advantage. Yaya Sanogo was a complete non-factor and we take a big lead in the Premier League standings! Even Jose comes back to have a great second half and get a 7.0 rating.

-- Claudio Contreras suffers a twisted knee and will miss about two weeks. Not bad. We have depth. DOVER INJURY: CLAUDIO CONTRERAS (Twisted Knee)

-- There were two other “make-up” games today and Man City beat up on Birmingham 4-0 in the one other key matchup. On Wednesday, Middlesbrough can only manage a home draw against Newcastle, Arsenal surprise Liverpool while Chelsea and Tottenham win comfortably.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 23 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 55 points (after 22 games)
2. Manchester United - 48 points (after 22 games)
3. Tottenham - 48 points
4. Liverpool - 46 points
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5. Manchester City - 45 points (after 22 games)
6. Chelsea - 43 points (after 21 games)
7. Middlesbrough - 42 points
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Record Attendance Broken

-- Our first ever sell out in our 23,000 seat stadium assured us of a new attendance record at Crabble Athletic Ground, breaking the old mark of 22,947 set against Wolves in January 2023.



Transfer Window Fun

-- Stuttgart offer £11,500,000 for Wonderkid Rafinha and it’s rejected, of course.

-- Rafael Ramirez accepts a loan deal with CS Sedan Ardennes of French Ligue 1 but the deal falls through when they can’t find any money to pay the £250,000 up front fee. Back to the drawing board…



Dover Injury Update

-- Zoltan Bardi returns to full training after missing five weeks with torn ankle ligaments. Incredibly, he's already match fit two days later and he is ready to go for our weekend FA Cup match if we need him!



Next Up

-- We have our first FA Cup match of the year, starting with a third round matchup against Championship side Ipswich Town here at Crabble Athletic Ground.