[NoSkillz]

Sun. August 29, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Dover (2-0-0, 6 points, 3rd) vs. Reading (2-0-0, 6 points, 4th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

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

It's a battle of early season unbeatens as we host Reading, the defending FA Cup champions. We've historically had some success against them but this is a very good team and we'll have to be on top of our game to secure a win. They STORMED through their first Europa League qualification round, beating Paralimni 7-0 and 4-0 to win 11-0 on aggregate. Yikes. They have two 1-0 wins in league play over Huddersfield and Blackburn. They stood pat in the transfer market, only bringing in a 25 year old fullback in on loan from Everton in Adrian Padureanu. They have a lot of attacking options in guys like Hani Megahed and Cees Duarte, who has two goals so far this season. Jay Rodriguez has 4 goals in his first five games. Martin Prochazka, a player we had here at Dover on loan last year, is getting regular first team action this year and has played well.

No changes whatsoever to my lineup. I considered giving young striker Paul Moses his first start but I think I'll hold off. I'll definitely give him a start in a reserves match to see what he does there. He's lacked confidence in highlights so far and honestly, why would I take out Shanon Andrea or Wayne Rooney right now when they're both playing so well. We'll go to a control mentality at home.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, W. Rooney
Bench - J. Kuciak, P. Tjiuoro, Mancini, S. Spall, C. Murray, K. Kalfas, P. Moses

Cees Duarte is on the bench and Jay Rodriguez isn't even dressed, as Reading start Megahed and James Hunter up front. Oh right…Hunter is good too. Lots of talent up front for these guys. They start in a 4-4-2 as well and I tell the team they can win this.

3' - Reading clear a Rocca corner and they work a counter attack up to Megahed. His speed is too much for Renato Gaucho and he's able to cut in on goal and get a hard shot off. Wilke makes the save and Renato Gaucho clears the ball to safety.

8' - Shanon Andrea heads a goal kick up field and Rooney, looking like he's 25 instead of 35, beats the defenders to the ball but shoots high over the net.

19' - Possession changes hands a couple of times off headers near midfield and their captain Adam Lallana gains control. Rayane Hamon closes him down but that allows Lallana to spring their midfielder James Gregan on a nice through ball. Gregan has a step on Claudio Contreras and he's able to pound one past Wilke and into the net. READING GOAL 0-1

24' - Reading have possession at midfield and the ball comes to Megahed. He cuts to the left toward Hamon, who is backing off then moves back to the right to gain space. Contreras is left behind and Megahed makes enough space to dribble into the area and fire a low blast into the left corner of the net. Two in the space of five minutes and we're in BIG trouble. READING GOAL 0-2

30' - We are pouring on pressure but keep taking shots from distance that get blocked. Salim Loucif has the ball near the right sidelines about half way in the Reading zone and he passes to Cairney in the middle. He sends a one touch pass up to Andrea, who has his back to the goal. He takes it, crosses over with Rooney and in doing so, makes enough space for himself to get into the area and hit a low blast into the near corner. We needed that goal! DOVER GOAL 1-2

33' - We win a corner and Rocca makes the cross into the far post. Contreras gets up and heads it toward goal and Andrea is there to deflect it away from the keeper and into the net. Two for Andrea in three minutes and we pull back from two down! Wow! DOVER GOAL 2-2

35' - Off the ensuing kickoff, Gregan gets it up to Megahed and he again abuses our defence. This time it's Hamon who gets bitch slapped, as Megahed turns past him and storms in on goal. Hamon is right there but doesn't even attempt to tackle the striker, as Megahed rounds Wilke and blasts it into the net. Megahed's second and this game is a shootout. READING GOAL 2-3

36' - This game is WILD. Off the kickoff, Rooney and Andrea work a give and go and Andrea just jets past the Reading defence, gets to the area and JUST shoots wide. Where is the defence on both sides???

39' - Just so wild. Bamba runs down the left and sends a cross that gets all the way through to Gianluca Bolis. He is working against the grain so to speak, as everyone is looking to the right while he's darting left but Antonio, the Reading keeper, makes the brilliant adjustment to stop Bolis' left foot shot.

40' - Antonio makes another point blank stop off a Bamba blast. So much offence in this game.

44' - We are working the ball around deep in their territory and Cairney sets it out wide left to Renato Gaucho. He heads toward the byline and sends in a low cross to the penalty spot and Gianluca Bolis, working in from his wide position on the right, slides baseball style at the ball and sends it into the net for the late equalizer! Epic match. DOVER GOAL 3-3

HALFTIME - This match is ridiculous. We simply can't handle Megahed's speed. We have 58% of possession and outshot them 12-8 (6-4 on target) but they are playing their counter attack well. I feel fortunate to be level right now. I decide to pull back and move to a counter attacking mentality to start the half. I tell the team I'm pleased with their efforts but pull aside my two beleaguered centre half backs Hamon and Contreras and tell them to go out there and prove a point.

50' - Bolis looks like a different player this year, much more consistent and he is making plays again, as he dribbles down the right and sends a high cross that Andrea heads to goal but Antonio is there to make the save.

53' - A really wild play ensues off a Reading free kick from around half. They send all their players in but the kicker and a guy right beside him. They go short but Gianluca Bolis closes him down right away and he freezes up. His pass deflects off Bolis right to Shanon Andrea and he has a breakaway down the entire half of the field. He cuts in and sends a blast to the far corner but Antonio makes a brilliant diving save to just push it wide of the post. Wow! They clear the corner to safety.

58' - Another Dover defensive breakdown sees Gregan dribbling in on a partial break but his shot is weak and right at Wilke.

60' - Oh our central defence is awful today. Contreras misses a tackle on Hunter and allows him to get into the area but his shot is woefully wide. I don't like using subs on DCs but I think it has to happen here.

62 - Contreras is out and Paulus Tjiuoro is in. That's two sub 6.0 performances in a row for our fine young defensive prospect.

67' - Bolis has the ball on the right sideline and sends it into Rooney, who has his back to the goal just outside the area. He turns to his left and sends a gorgeous ball through the defence where Arsene Bamba latches onto it. Bamba is one on one with the keeper and sends it into the far corner of the net. Bamba's first of the year on a stunning pass from Rooney and we have our first lead! DOVER GOAL 4-3

80' - We have a throw in deep in their territory down the left and Bamba sends it in to Renato Gaucho, who immediately touches it back to our winger. Bamba runs to the byline and sends a high cross into the area. Antonio and two of the Reading defenders are there but the positively INSPIRED Gianluca Bolis, all 5' 9" of him, rises above all three to head the ball forcefully into the net. Bolis, YOU STUD! His second of the game and we have an insurance marker! DOVER GOAL 5-3

83' - Rooney and Cairney are taken out and in their place come Paul Moses and Shaun Spall.

85' - Reading defender Mark O'Brien, who is a name I remember from Radii's Woking/Ipswich dynasty, makes a horrific pass at midfield right to Andrea Rocca. We immediately hit them on the counter, as Rocca sends the ball upfield and Andrea is storming down the field. The Dutch international gets there first, takes a look and pounds a shot into the right side of the net. HAT TRICK FOR ANDREA!!! What a game this is! DOVER GOAL 6-3

89' - My God Bolis is incredible right now. He just completely skins his opposite number and speeds down the right. He sends in a cross and Moses is there but from a very awkward angle, he sends it just wide into the side netting.

Deep breath...

Dover 6 - 3 Reading
Goals - Shanon Andrea 3 (9.6), Gianluca Bolis 2 (9.2), Arsene Bamba (8.4)
Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (8.7), Renato Gaucho (7.1), Neil Cairney (7.5), Arsene Bamba, Wayne Rooney (7.7)
Man of the Match - Shanon Andrea
Other Dover Notables - Claudio Contreras (5.9)
Attendance - 14,805 (Sell-Out)

We held 53% of overall possession, giving up a bit by going to a counter attack but we scored three second half goals in the counter to win going away in a game we were down 2-0 in. Just a sensational fight back and we seem to be on a goal scoring roll right now. Andrea, simply put, has been sensational in the past few games and both he and Gianluca Bolis are up to five goals in our first five games. This was, without question, Bolis' best game in a Dover kit and he's really starting to show off that potential and he's obviously gaining some much needed consistency in his game. Rooney continues to delight at 35 years old and is up to 3 goals and 3 assists in five matches. What a game!

-- Sheffield Wednesday shock Arsenal at Emirates 2-1 while Everton and Villa battle to a scoreless draw. With our win and also due to Manchester City not having a match this weekend, we sit alone in first place in the league with 9 points. City has six with a game in hand.

-- We can finally take a breath, as we have almost two weeks to prepare for our next match after having two games per week all month.



International Duty

-- Fourteen of our players are called up for international duty. The most interesting name is Ross McLaughlin, our third-choice right fullback. This is his first senior team callup so we'll see if he can get his first cap. He did play seven times for the Scottish youth team.



-- Three of our players make the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week: Gianluca Bolis, Andrea Rocca and Shanon Andrea get the honours.


-- The Premier League transfer window closes and we can't get rid of Matthew Thompson. He'll head to our reserves and rot there.



September Update

-- With Premier League, Champions League and League Cup games coming up, September will be yet another busy month. Our senior team actually has a 13 day stretch between games, with our next match being a Premier League game away against Wolves on the 11th. From there, we head to Barcelona to take on Lionel Messi (yes, he's still around) and the largest club in the world in Champions League Group play. We're back home to host Southampton on the 18th in league play then three days later we host Norwich in the 3rd round of the League Cup. The 25th sees us face Aston Villa away and we finish the month with another Champions League match at home versus Schalke. So that's six games. Not too bad I guess…

-- We get positive training reports for Neil Cairney (awesome) and Steve Ingram (yawn). Ingram is a scrub home-grown player who won't see any senior team action. Negative reports come for veterans Samir Nasri and Wayne Rooney. Rooney has been sensational so far - I never envisioned him playing this much but injuries to our two top strikers have forced him into action. Giorgos Gesios has resumed light training so Rooney's time on the first team will soon be ending, although he's still our best deep-lying option at forward until Zoltan Bardi returns. I get positive training reports from the U18 team for Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, Pete Smith and Carlos Guzman. Yilmaz and Guzman are top prospects so that's good to see. We get a negative training report for new GK signing Louis Read and I have a sit-down with him to get him in line.



Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Sunderland lead the league with 11 goals in only three games and Matt Barber, their fine midfielder, wins Player of the Month honours.

-- Dover's young left fullback Renato Gaucho is named as the Barclays Premier League Young Player of the Month!

- Carlo Ancelotti wins about his 100th Manager of the Month award for City's 2-0-0 start. We start 3-0-0 but I come in second. Whatever jerks!



September Board Confidence Update

-- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. Stature increase is still the major plus and Oliver Nicholas' departure the only slight disappointment.

-- We made a fine profit of £5.44 million last month, with all of it due to our Champions League prize money. My wage bill has never been higher - I'm under budget after tweaking things but we're WAY in the hole this year and for the first time in awhile, we'll be relying big time on prize money to keep us profitable.



Gesios is Back!

-- Giorgos Gesios, our star Greek International striker, returns after missing four weeks with fractured ribs. He will likely be ready for next week's game against Wolves, at least as a sub - he'll need to regain match fitness but it helps that he's currently with Greece on international duty. That will help…



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- We field a very thin lineup as half our squad is off on international duty but we defeat Derby 3-1. Aitor Zubizarreta scores two goals and gets an assist on Steve Ingram's goal as well to cap off an impressive performance. Mancini picked up two assists and was man of the match with a 9.0 rating.



International Round-Up

-- I'm delighted to see that GK Youssouf Sylla put in a good performance in a 3-0 Ivory Coast win over Cape Verde Islands in African Nations Qualfiying. Salim Loucif also performed well in the same competition, leading Algeria to a 1-0 win. Neil Cairney scored for Scotland in their 2-0 win over Belgium in World Cup qualifying. Ross McLaughlin didn't dress for Scotland and therefore, didn't earn his first cap.



Champions League Group Stage Registration

-- I have to leave five openings in my lineup due to not having the "correct" English trained players, as my guys are 0-21 trained players and the requirements are for the players to only be trained between the ages of 15-21. But at least I register a proper lineup this time.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- We move into week two of our little international break as our U18s win 2-0 over Havant and Waterlooville. Johnny Mardenborough and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz scored the goals.



Dover Reserves Team Update

-- This might be worthy of it's own post but it's just a reserves game so I'll try to temper my excitement. Young on-loan striker Paul Moses has been very ordinary for the senior team so far in limited minutes off the bench and I finally had a chance to start him in a reserves game, as he just returned from England U19 international duty. Well - Moses SCORED SEVEN GOALS in our 8-1 win over Bolton. S E V E N G O A L S !!!!!!! I've never seen ANYTHING like this. I have to find money to sign this guy - I think he could be the next big thing.



Next Up

-- We are somehow underdogs as we head away from home to face recently promoted Wolves.