[NoSkillz]

Tue. April 23, 2024

UEFA Champions League - Semi Final First Leg
Dover (1st in English Premier League) vs. Manchester United (3rd in English Premier League)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 11-5 Draw: 11-5 Manchester United: Evens (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 5W 3D 9L

We’re installed as underdogs at home against United, which hopefully is enough to motivate our club. They are on a good run of form and haven’t lost in eight games, with their last defeat to crosstown rivals City in the 6th round of the FA Cup. Yaya Sanogo continues to be the man who fuels their offence and he sits with 37 goals from 47 matches. Oscar Briceno is another striker having a fine season, with 19 goals in 26 matches. Old friend Said Henni is injured and won’t play today but we’ll definitely see Cristian Rodriguez in the back four.

My advance scout feels United struggle against one striker attacks so we’re going to start with our 4-2-3-1 formation today and that means that our struggling striker Chiquinho is on the bench today. His morale and attitude are at all time lows right now due to his slump so I hope to either bring him on as a substitute, if needed, or get him in a reserves game coming up tomorrow to try to get his confidence back. Graham Allan will also start today at right midfield for Gianluca Bolis - Allan has been great in continental play this year and deserves the chance in a big game. Control mentality - we’ve shown we can beat these guys and it would be great to get a few goals here at home today to put the pressure on them in the second leg.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - N. Cairney, Jose
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Allan
S - P. Moses
Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, G. Bolis, Chiquinho, S. Andrea

Alright - United are in a flat 4-4-2 with Sanogo and Tom Bull up front. Liviu Dragomir is in goal. Lets put on a good performance today for the home supporters!

12’ - It’s essentially been 12 minutes of United highlights to start. Not good. Wilke has to be sharp on a Ehsan Zamani shot but no real chances yet. Yaya Sanogo is banged up after a tackle from Rayane Hamon so I instruct our players to go after him with hard tackling. Hopefully we can knock him off his game.

13’ - Now Tom Bull just dribbles past a stone footed Claudio Contreras and rifles a shot but Wilke makes a spectacular stop.

18’ - We finally get a break on a counter attack and it’s Paul Moses weaving around the defence and shooting from in close and Dragomir does well to make the save.

35’ - NOO! We send a long ball up over the defence and it’s Moses again in on goal and he shoots just WIDE! UGH!!!

HALFTIME - We outplayed them the last 20 minutes of the half but it’s another uninspiring home performance at a time we need it most. Possession is dead even and we hold a 6-5 (1-5 on target) shot advantage. All five of their shots are on goal! We need to move to a two striker formation - screw the advance scouts! We need a goal at home! So we move to a flat 4-4-2.

47’ - Wilke with another fine stop, this time on a shot from distance from Marinescu. They get a corner and it’s Marinescu AGAIN with a hard blast destined for the far corner but Wilke dives, saves and holds on!

48’ - We work the ball up the left side and Neil Cairney sends it wide to Arsene Bamba. He sends a 50/50 ball into the box and Paul Moses beats our old friend Cristan Rodriguez to it then quickly slots a left footed shot into the short side past Dragomir and IN! WOOO! DOVER GOAL 1-0

50’ - Geez, Wilke has been AWESOME lately! Now he’s called upon again on a Zamani shot from in close after he beats Renato Gaucho inside.

55’ - I can’t even keep track of all the great chances United are getting! They get a free kick and the cross is into Bull, who heads it WIDE past the open net! What a chance missed there…

61’ - Rayane Hamon is hurt and needs to come out. In comes Saber Nasri. DOVER INJURY: Rayane Hamon (OUT)

63’ - A fine move sees Moses and Jose play a give and go, resulting in Moses cutting in on goal but Dragomir is well positioned for the stop!

United are in a 5-2-1-2 formation. Weird. It’s like they are protecting a one goal deficit.

68’ - Jose with a yellow card.

74’ - We pull Jose and bring in Andrea Rocca.

85’ - We have a free kick from about ten yards outside the area and Rocca steps up. He delivers his PATENTED curling shot that bends around the wall and goes into the left corner of the net past a diving Dragomir. SPECTACULAR SHOT by Rocca, the super sub! DOVER GOAL 2-0

Wow. United now are in a 4-2-4!

90’ - We take out Neil Cairney and bring in Emmerson Harvey. We also move to a counter attack formation. Three minutes of added time by the way.

That’s what I’m talking about!!

Dover 2 - 0 Manchester United
Goals - Paul Moses (7.7), Andrea Rocca (7.4)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (7.7)
Man of the Match - Ingo Wilke (7.9)
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.2), Rayane Hamon (7.1), Claudio Contreras (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Jose (7.0)
Attendance - 23,000

What a second half! We end up with 51% of possession and an 18-17 (7-11 on target) shot advantage. 11 saves for Wilke!! He gets his second consecutive Man of the Match honour. We take a two goal lead into Old Trafford for the second leg!!!

-- The news isn’t good on Rayane Hamon - he pulled a hamstring and will miss the next 2-3 weeks, thereby missing our return matchup against United. Saber Nasri will fill in.



Dover Reserves Team Update

-- We suffer a rare loss, falling 2-0 to Arsenal’s reserves. We put a pretty damned good team on the field too, including the struggling Chiquinho and Shanon Andrea, along with Rafinha and Gian Marco Fanfoni, among others. Chiquinho and Andrea were brutal again. I have no idea what’s going on with Chiquinho but this slump is BRUTAL right now.



Champions League Update

-- In the other semi-final, it’s Barcelona taking control after a 2-0 road victory over Real Madrid. Who else but Enrique was the main man, scoring both goals for Barca. He has 33 goals on the season, which pales in comparison to our very own Paul Moses but Enrique is at his best in the Champions League, with 18 goals in only 10 games! I’m guessing he plays a lot of midfield during league play and only suits up at striker in continental matches.



International Update

-- Young on-loan defender Mwemere Mutesa once again represents Rwanda in the African U20 Championship qualifiers and plays well. At 20 years old, he already has 23 senior team caps and he’s playing well for AS Saint-Etienne this year. He may crack our roster next season but we’ll see…



Next Up

-- We have our final road match of the Premier League season, heading to 8th place Middlesbrough in a game that means nothing to us with the title already wrapped up.