[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 2, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Dover (3-2-1, 11 points, 3rd) vs. Fulham (2-1-3, 7 points, 15th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Fulham: 11-5
Past Meetings: 4W 2D 2L

Fulham escaped relegation by the skin of their nose last year, drawing their last game to stay up on goal differential. We signed Wayne Rooney from their club in the offseason and they were busy buying during the window, spending £5.5 million on Guillermo Piras, a central defender from Stoke and spent £11.25 million overall. We have to show these guys respect: they beat Manchester United AND Everton already but dropped a home decision to Blackburn last weekend. What a wild sport! Striker Milan Djuric has four goals in six games and is their danger man. DC Sam Magri is a guy I've looked at for years as a potential option for our club but I've never pulled the trigger.

I'm going to bench Giorgos Gesios in this game - simply put, he needs to sit and watch. In a shocking decision, I'm going to play Paul Moses despite him hating my guts - I want to see if I can get him to use his hatred towards me and channel it into scoring goals for the club. Some Darth Vader-esque Jedi Mind shit. I'll play his mentor Wayne Rooney beside him and keep Gesios and Shanon Andrea on the bench just in case. We have two weeks off after this game so no other major changes. Claudio Contreras is back in for the injured Paulus Tjiuoro. This is a pretty big game: with a loss, we'd likely drop right down into a mid-table position so we need the three points!

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 - P. Moses, W. Rooney
Bench - J. Kuciak, Mancini, S. Spall, C. Murray, K. Kalfas, G. Gesios, S. Andrea

Fulham are in a 4-2-3-1. I tell the team I expect a win today and pull aside Moses and Hamon and tell them to pick up where they left off last time.

3' - Yikes. Right off the bat, their top player Milan Djuric gets behind Contreras and rifles a shot that Wilke is able to save. Not a lot of Fulham supporters in their end so it won't be a sellout here.

14' - We've had FIVE corners already and on this last one, there are multiple scrambles in front of the net and we're diving and sliding all over the place trying to get the ball in but their keeper Joe Lewis is either there or a Fulham defender is there to block the shots. Just crazy action and we're still scoreless.

20' - Lewis makes an incredible diving save off a Rocca free kick. We earn a corner and Rayane Hamon heads it over the net. We need to put one away!

23' - Salim Loucif gets a yellow card after taking down a Fulham player from behind.

36' - Moses and Rooney get point blank shots off in the area, one is blocked and one is saved by Lewis, who has been excellent so far for Fulham.

40' - We clear off a throw in and Rooney sends the ball up to Moses. He's one on one with a defender and speeds by him and in on goal. He's got a poor angle but gets it under Lewis but it JUST misses the far corner. That would have been something.

44' - I think I have an ulcer. Now it's Andrea Rocca getting a great through ball courtesy of Cairney but he also shoots wide on the partial breakaway.

45'+1 - We win a corner and Rocca's cross meets the 6' 6" Claudio Contreras. He heads it off a Fulham defender and it's IN! Contreras has his first ever Premier League goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0

HALFTIME - Holy smokes we are shooting from everywhere! 23 first half shots!!! We outshoot them 23-5 (5-1 on target) and have 56% of possession. Yet only one goal. I tell the team I'm pleased thus far.

65' - We've continued to pour on pressure here but not many shots have hit the target. I take out Paul Moses and bring in Giorgos Gesios.

68' - We work the ball around nicely and Rocca gets a chance with his right foot from the top of the box but Lewis is there once again.

73' - Rooney with a delightful back heel pass into the area to Gesios but his shot is weak and Lewis makes another save.

74' - I take out Salim Loucif, who has a yellow and bring on Jozef Kuciak.

79' - A Fulham defender tries a long ball up the centre but Contreras is there and heads it back up field. There's a race for it and it's VINTAGE Giorgos Gesios, speeding past the defender, picking up the ball and he sees Lewis charging out so he LOBS it over his head and into the net. Gesios has his first of the year! DOVER GOAL 2-0

84' - I take out Gianluca Bolis and bring in Kostas Kalfas.

86' - Off a throw in, Rocca sends the ball out wide to Arsene Bamba and he sends a quick cross into the area. Wayne Rooney is there and baseball slides it into the back of the net. Two quick ones and Rooney scores against the team that sold him to us! DOVER GOAL 3-0

We close it out from there. Dominating win!

Dover 3 - 0 Fulham
Goals - Claudio Contreras (9.0), Giorgos Gesios (7.4), Wayne Rooney (7.8)
Assists - Claudio Contreras, Arsene Bamba (7.6), Andrea Rocca (8.6)
Man of the Match - Claudio Contreras
Other Dover Notables - Rayane Hamon (7.6), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Neil Cairney (7.7)
Attendance - 12,554

The stats are almost unbelievable - a 58% possession number and we outshoot them 40 (YES FORTY) to 10 (12-2 on target). Their keeper Jeff Lewis kept the game from getting out of hand. It's great to see Gesios finally get on the board and hopefully he'll start poking them in regularly. This was EASILY Claudio Contreras' best ever game. He was sensational and I'm delighted with the impact Rayane Hamon is having.

-- Man City have a tough early season schedule and they draw against Liverpool 1-1. United beat Huddersfield 1-0 and Chelsea beat Wolves 2-0. Tottenham also win so we maintain our hold on third for the moment. We have an international break coming up and have two weeks before our next senior team game.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- We beat Aldershot 2-1 in U18 action. Gregoire Lambert scores both of our goals in the win.



International Update

-- Eight more of our players are called up for international duty: Emmerson Harvey, Paul Moses & Emmanuel Agbo (England U21s), Kostas Kalfas (Greece U21s), Giorgos Gesios (Greece), Shanon Andrea (Holland) and Neil Cairney & Cameron Murray (Scotland). We also get a note that Paulus Tjiuoro is overlooked for Namibia's team due to his injury. Carlos Guzman (Argentina) and Thomas Andersen (Denmark) continue to represent their country in the U20 World Cup.

-- Salim Loucif scores his second, third and FOURTH international goals in Algeria's three wins over Burundi, Angola and Ivory Coast in the African Nations qualifying. Youssouf Sylla got a clean sheet in a 2-0 Ivory Coast win over Mauritius in the same competition but lost to Loucif's Algeria team 2-1. Arsene Bamba is still looking for his first cap and it will be tough to come by: I notice that Ivory Coast don't utilize wide midfielders in their basic formation. Emmanuel Agbo gets an assist and Paul Moses scores for England's U21 team while Kostas Kalfas scores twice in Greece's 4-2 win over Italy in Euro U21 qualifying. Neil Cairney got an assist in Scotland's 7-2 win over Lithuania in World Cup qualifying and Giorgos Gesios scored twice in Greece's 5-0 win over Hungary in the same competition. Gesios would score another goal in a 2-0 Greece win over Luxembourg and he is now up to 16 international goals in as many matches.

-- Carlos Guzman breaks his foot during a game against Mexico in the U20 World Cup. He'll miss three months. He's a top prospect so that's a big blow to his development.



-- Two of our players are named to the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week: Andrea Rocca and Claudio Contreras get the honours.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- A depleted reserves team loses 2-1 to Fulham. Shaun Spall scores our only goal.

-- One week later, the Reserves beat Reading 2-1. In that game, Aitor Zubizarreta scores both goals.



Next Up

-- We head to White Hart Lane to face second place Tottenham in Premier League play.