2019/20 Barclays Premier League - Second Half Results
We made one relatively significant move once the transfer window opened in January. I brought in 18 year old
Renato Gaucho, a 6' 4" Brazilian left fullback from Internacional on a free transfer. Gaucho is a GREAT prospect - 2.5/4.5 - I'm shocked to be able to get a young player with such potential for nothing. He will immediately step into a rotation with
Bob Harris at DL and we immediately send July DL signing
Jozef Varga out on a six month loan.
I started to simplify our tactics in the second half of the season, utilizing a flat 4-4-2 and a 4-5-1 for games against tough opponents. Our first game of the second half, an away game against Fulham, saw us come away with a 2-0 win, gaining a measure of revenge for our opening day loss.
January would be a great month - we'd follow with a 2-1 home win over Everton before falling to Manchester United at Old Trafford 3-0. 34 year old Wayne Rooney, the legendary Man U striker, was one of the goal scorers in the United victory.
That would be our only loss of the month and we'd finally display some of the goal scoring ability that I'd hoped to see at the beginning of the season. We destroyed West Brom 6-1 at Crabble Athletic Ground, getting a hat trick from Giorgos Gesios and a brace from strike partner Gerardo Escobar and followed that up with an equally impressive 5-2 win over Sunderland. Gesios scored a brace in that contest and Escobar one as they started to show some impressive chemistry together.
We'd continue to win, knocking off Derby 2-1 away then most impressively, a 1-0 win against 3rd placed Huddersfield away, making it six victories in seven league games in the new year, including a season-high four in a row. By this point, we'd reached 9th place in the league and were within shouting distance of the coveted 7th position, a spot that would provide European play for the following year.
The team to break the streak would be Middlesbrough and it was partially due to a gruesome challenge on our striker and big signing Gesios that saw him come up with a broken arm. We'd lose the game 1-0 and Gesios would miss the next five weeks of action due to the injury and never really recover in time to make an impact at the end of the season.
That started a stretch of games where we lost four in a row, including an FA Cup tie but we'd thankfully finish on a high note. We'd go on a season-long six game undefeated streak (2 wins and 4 draws) before losing heavily to Arsenal in our third last game. Season ending victories against Aston Villa and Tottenham allowed us to finish our second half in style: we won 10 games, had 4 draws and only 5 losses in our last 19 games for 34 points.
We would finish 11th on the table for the second consecutive season but had four more points this year. Our goal differential was much improved: from minus 35 a year ago to minus 7 this year.
I truly believe we are on the right path.
Barclays Premier League 2019-20 League Awards
Top Goalscorer: Enrique, Manchester City - 43
Most Assists: Omar Hernandez, Manchester United - 23
Highest Average Rating: Enrique, Manchester City - 8.11 (34 apps)
Most Man of Match Awards: Enrique, Manchester City - 15
English Footballer of the Year: Enrique, Manchester City - 34 apps 43g 8a 8.11avg
English Players' Player of the Year: Miralem Pjanic, Manchester City - 34 apps 5g 16a 7.40avg
English Players' Young Player of the Year:
Andrea Rocca, Dover - 35 apps 6g 14a 7.38avg
Manager of the Year: Carlo Ancelotti, Manchester City
Barclays Premier League Players' Team of the Year
GK - Joe Hart, Manchester City
DL - Gareth Bale, Tottenham
DC - Leonel Galeano, Arsenal
DC - Salah Abbes, Manchester City
DR - Daniel Schwaab, Manchester City
ML - Diego Perotti, Liverpool
MC - Jack Wilshere, Arsenal
MC - Miralem Pjanic, Manchester City
MR - Bruno, Manchester City
ST - Enrique, Manchester City
ST - Steve Pates, Sheffield Wednesday
Only 43 goals for Enrique this year? He's slipping!
Andrea Rocca gets named as the best young player in the league by his peers. A monumental honour for young Rocca!
I'd win nothing this year: in January and May, I finished 2nd in the Manager of the Month voting but that's it.
Cup Competitions 2019-20
FA Cup -
A pretty solid run in the FA Cup, with victories against League 2 side Aldershot and Championship side Queens Park Rangers but we'd run into a wall in the fifth round against Chelsea, a team we've yet to knock off.
3rd Round - Dover 3 Aldershot 0
4th Round - Dover 3 QPR 1
5th Round - Dover 0 Chelsea 3
League Cup
A great draw to begin the event and a horrific draw for our second match. We played Man U tough, losing 1-0 away against a relatively weak side.
2nd Round - Dover 3 Bristol City 0
3rd Round - Manchester United 1 Dover 0
2019-20 Overall Dover Statistics
Top Goalscorer: Gerardo Escobar - 11
Top League Goalscorer: Giorgos Gesios - 9
Most Assists: Andrea Rocca - 14
Highest Average Rating: Andrea Rocca - 7.35 (37 apps)
Most Man of Match Awards: Andrea Rocca - 4
Fans Player of the Year: To be Determined
Escobar leads the team in goals for a second consecutive season. Gesios was a pretty big disappointment considering the fee I paid for him but I'm willing to give him a pass for this year - he had two significant injuries, missing over two months of action and also took some time to get acclimated to things here at Dover.
Zoltan Bardi was putrid in the first half of the season but got VERY hot in the last two months, coincidently when Gesios went down to injury, to bring his stats back to respectability, finishing with 6 goals and 5 assists for the year. If
Andrea Rocca doesn't win our supporters player of the year, I may get a tad angry. The guy is a huge difference maker for our club in all facets of the game.
I just hope I can keep him, as the vultures are starting to swarm...