[NoSkillz]

Tue. September 28, 2021

Champions League - Group Stage
Dover (0-1-0, 1 point, 3rd) vs. Schalke (1-0-0, 3 points, 1st)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 Schalke: 6-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

Schalke finished 3rd in the Bundesliga to qualify for the Champions League but are struggling big-time this year, as they are mired just outside the relegation zone in 15th with one win and 6 points in seven games. They shut out CSKA Moscow in their first Champions League game to take the early lead in Group F. They just spent £11.25 million on Mexican goalkeeper Miguel Angel Lozano and he's having trouble settling in by the looks of it. Former Dover loanee Alan Krivic is on Schalke and he's been getting playing time lately so there's a good chance we'll go up against him. Leo is their most dangerous striker and has two goals in six games so far. Schalke was a Champions League runner up in 2014 and have won the Bundesliga 10 times, most recently in 2018. They are a big club…close to twice our value and have rich ownership.

Giorgos Gesios is finally fit and I'm going to play him up front today with Shanon Andrea. Wayne Rooney will be on the bench so Salim Loucif will captain the squad. I will continue to play Paulus Tjiuoro ahead of Claudio Contreras, as the veteran has outplayed his younger counterpart and deserves the extra playing time. I bring up Paul Moses for the bench, just in case I need his speed.

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

Schalke is also in a flat 4-4-2. Leo starts up front with Salvador Bravo. Krivic is on the bench. I tell the team they can beat these guys and pull aside Gesios, Andrea and Bolis for individual chats.

4' - Schalke work a counter attack and the ball gets up to Salvador Bravo. He's in behind Loucif and has a break - Wilke charges out at him and Bravo shoots way over the goal. Lucky.

6' - Bolis has the ball about 10 yards outside the area and passes to the middle to Rocca. He evades a tackle from Schalke midfielder Rodrigo and sends a ball to the left to Arsene Bamba. He's just on the edge of the area and sends a one-time blast that Lozano can't handle and it's in the net. What a start! DOVER GOAL 1-0

13' - Rodrigo has a free kick from just outside our area and he curls a shot that avoids our wall and skims the outside of the post. Whew!

20' - We gain the ball at midfield and Cairney sends a clever pass through the middle to Gesios. He's got defenders around him and shoots from outside the area and Lozano is in position to make the grab.

21' - Gesios again with a shot that tests Lozano from distance and the goalkeeper dives to turn it away. Gesios is "looking fired up" and playing as well as I've seen so far since returning from injury, a good sign.

25' - Rocca takes a throw in and sends a gorgeous cross into the box. Bolis is there to head it in the net but he's immediately ruled offsides. He had to have been to be that wide open. No goal.

29' - We continue to pour on pressure. Bamba gets taken down just at the corner of the penalty area and Rocca sends the free kick back to Cairney lurking outside the box. His rocket is turned behind the net by Lozano. They clear the corner.

34' - Great. Tjiuoro gets hurt on a challenge and needs to come out. I didn't put Contreras on the bench. I have to bring on Jozef Kuciak and he goes to right fullback while Salim Loucif moves into a central defending role, a position he rarely plays for us.

35' - Right away, Schalke work up field and get a shot from distance that Wilke has trouble with but Renato Gaucho clears the ball away from trouble.

38' - Bamba gets a yellow card.

40' - Gesios is being tended to on the sidelines and Schalke gets a corner that results in them getting a hard shot on goal. Wilke is there to grab it for the fine save.

45'+2 - Bamba streaks down the left sideline and sends a cross into Gesios. He's all alone with the net at his mercy and Lozano makes the RIDICULOUS diving save. I'm stunned…Gesios NEVER misses sitters like that! How he was onside is incredible too…he was WIDE OPEN. Ugh!

HALFTIME - We're taking the play to them - 56% possession and a 13-8 (5-2 on target) shot advantage. Gesios only got a 6.2, likely due to the missed chances. He's also banged up after coming off the field and my assistant thinks we should take him out but I've already made one substitution and don't want to make another so early. He'll have to stay in. I tell the team I'm pleased and once again tell Gesios I have faith in his abilities.

49' - Cairney springs Gesios but he's taken down just outside the area. It was a bit of a flop and the ref agrees - Gesios gets a yellow for diving.

52' - A nice three-way passing play between Cairney, Gesios and Andrea sees Andrea left foot a shot from in close towards goal but Lozano is there for the save.

55' - Bravo walks through our defence but he's on his weaker foot and his shot is saved with flair by Wilke.

56' - Gesios steals the ball at midfield and speeds down toward the Schalke goal before just shooting wide. Great play until the finish, as the commentator says "Gesios is playing with real passion today!".

61' - A free kick and Rocca once again lays it off to Neil Cairney, whose blast almost knocks the net down. It's off the crossbar and Schalke clear. My gosh.

62' - Now Gesios sends Andrea in down the left side. He is inside the area and left foots it just wide of the far corner. We need to finish these guys!

73' - Wilke makes a brilliant save on midfielder Cai Xin's blast!

74' - Gesios is out and Wayne Rooney comes in.

75' - Rooney, from about 40 yards out, curls a shot that Lozano can't get to but it hits the goalpost! Holy crap!

79' - Rooney sends a lovely ball to the right to Bolis and he speeds in, taking a shot that Lozano has to dive to stop and Schalke concedes a corner.

84' - AGAIN! Andrea dekes through the entire team and sends a byline cross through the goalcrease to Bolis. He has a poor angle but an open net and misses wide to the far side! Geez.

I take out a tired Andrea Rocca and bring in Shaun Spall.

88' - Rooney gets the ball around midfield and makes a brilliant pass with his left foot to a charging Andrea. He gets into the area down the left side and right foots it towards goal but Lozano stops it. There's a rebound though and it's SHAUN SPALL, just in the game, left footing it into the net for the HUGE GOAL! Wow! DOVER GOAL 2-0

Spall gets another breakaway in injury time and there's a rebound that could be put into the net but the referee blows full time. Wow!!!

Dover 2 - 0 Schalke
Goals - Arsene Bamba (8.1), Shaun Spall (7.4)
Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.3), Shanon Andrea (6.9)
Man of the Match - Miguel Angel Lozano (Schalke GK - 9.1)
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.5), Salim Loucif (7.3), Rayane Hamon (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.3)
Attendance - 13,875

What a win! A complete performance against a world-class club. We hold 54% of overall possession and outshoot them 29-14 (13-5 on target)!!! Their goalkeeper is man of the match after making 11 stops. Gesios got another terrible rating (6.1) but I thought he was lively and motivated throughout. I don't like playing him in a deep lying role but he's more suited to it than the smaller and weaker Shanon Andrea.

-- Paulus Tjiuoro will miss a couple weeks after suffering a thigh strain in the game.

-- We're given £696,000 for the win. WOW. I *heart* Champions League play!

-- Barcelona smoke CSKA Moscow 5-0 to take control of Group F but now we're in second. It looks like it's between us and Schalke to decide who will move on in this group but we're level on points with Barcelona. We'll next face Moscow at Crabble in three weeks.

Here's what happened in other Champions League play:

GROUP A: Shakhtar and Atletico Madrid played to a scoreless draw while Chelsea beat Spartak Moscow 3-1. Chelsea have six points and Atletico Madrid four. Shakhtar has a single point and Spartak Moscow are at zero.

GROUP B: Palermo and H. Tel-Aviv played to a 0-0 draw while Man United beat Ajax 3-1. Palermo leads the group with 4 points, United and Ajax have 3 and H. Tel-Aviv has one.

GROUP C: Partizan wins over Zaragoza 2-1 while FC Bayern beat Porto 4-2 away. Bayern has all six points, Porto and Partizan have three and Zaragoza have none.

GROUP D: OM embarrassed AaB 5-1 while Besiktas edged HSV 1-0 away. OM and Besiktas both have six points, meaning HSV and AaB are pointless.

GROUP E: Man City destroy Panathinaikos 4-0 away and Benfica THROTTLE Rangers 6-1 in Scotland. City and Benfica have all six points leaving Panathinaikos and Rangers at zero. Rangers already have a -10 goal differential.

GROUP F: Our group - Barcelona are in first on goal differential but we both have four points. Schalke has three points and CSKA Moscow have none.

GROUP G: Olympique Lyonnais beat up on FK Austria Wien 6-0 and Sampdoria edge Leverkusen 1-0. All four teams are sitting with three points but Austria Wien are in last with a -5 goal differential.

GROUP H: Anderlecht and Sevilla battle to a 0-0 draw while Galatasaray beat Litex 4-0. The Turkish side Galatasaray are in first with 6 points, Anderlecht has two draws and Sevilla and Litex both have single points.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- Cry baby Paul Moses is at it again, scoring four times before getting subbed out in the 60th minute and we benefit from THREE Burnley own goals in a 9-1 (!!) win in reserve team action. Aitor Zubizarreta and Kostas Kalfas scored the other goals. Mancini and Cameron Murray each had two assists.



International Update

-- Three of our players are called up for International duty: Salim Loucif (Algeria) and Youssouf Sylla & Arsene Bamba (Ivory Coast). Bamba is still looking for his first ever senior team cap.



October Update

-- We have four Premier League games in October, with home matches against Fulham and Manchester United and road tilts against Tottenham and Sunderland. A tough month. We also have a Champions League game at home against CSKA Moscow and a League Cup game against Liverpool. So six matches overall for the senior team. There is an international break coming up next week so we'll get a little rest there before the shit hits the fan late in the month with games aplenty.

-- We get positive training reports for Gianluca Bolis, Aitor Zubizarreta and Renato Gaucho, along with U18 players Louis Read, Damian Thorne and Gregoire Lambert. Negative reports come for Giorgos Gesios and Samir Nasri. Gesios' season has been a nightmare, pointless in five matches and a lowly 6.17 rating. I have a private chat with him to say his training level is unacceptable and he says he'll step it up.



Barclays Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Yaya Sanogo from Manchester United wins the Player of the Month award for September.

-- Sheffield Wednesday striker Steve Pates wins the Young Player of the Month award and Renato Gaucho finishes in third place.

-- Jurgen Klinsmann, Man United's manager, wins the Manager of the Month award for September.



October Board Confidence Update

-- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership. Stature increase continues to be the main positive and the poor play of Giorgos Gesios is the main concern. No shit!

-- We made a profit last month of £646,000. We're bleeding money for the most part this year and have lost over £25 million (!!!) so far in 2021-22. Lots of money spent on signing bonuses seem to be the biggest issue. Hopefully we can peck away at that deficit.



Next Up

-- We host Fulham in Premier League action at Crabble Athletic Ground.