[NoSkillz]

Sat. November 25, 2023

Barclays Premier League
Dover (8-3-1, 27 points, 2nd) vs. Manchester City (8-3-1, 27 points, 4th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 Manchester City: 6-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 2W 2D 7L

What can we say about Man City? They were four time consecutive Champions League winners up until last year and three time consecutive Premier League Champions as well but a last day of the season loss to us at Man City Stadium knocked them down to fifth place and the indignity of Europa League football. They are currently in the group stages of that competition and have already guaranteed their spot in knockout stage play. They have an identical record as us right now but we are ahead on goal differential. This is a very different team than the “Enrique years”, where they routinely went out and scored at will. Now, they are very much a defensive minded team first and have allowed only 6 goals in 12 games, scoring only 19 themselves. By contrast, we have scored 36 (!) and allowed 14 so far. Like us, City have some major injury issues right now. Regular leading scorer Jelle Hoegee, a Dover killer, is out for up to five months with a broken leg and huge signing from last year, Mario Brito, is out for a month after damaging knee cartilage in training this week. Solid DC Kevin Renton will also likely miss the game today. City continue to spend at will, dishing out £91 million in transfer fees in July, with the most notable signing being 24 year old Real Madrid fullback Capitao, who cost them a ludicrous £44 million. That much for a fullback is beyond ridiculous. They also spent £18.5 million on Sampdoria DC Maikel Jungbluth and £14.25 million on another fullback, Gustavo Mercado from Fiorentina. With Hoegee out, their danger man will be French forward Ryan Bonin, who has 11 goals in 17 games across all competitions so far this year. He only played in two games last year after coming over from Rangers in Scotland in a £16 million deal but with Hoegee hurt, Bonin is now the main man.

We have injury concerns of our own, with Chiquinho and Paul Moses both out for today’s game. Moses should be back in about a week but Chiquinho will miss at least a month of action. Gianluca Bolis, Graham Allan and Gian Marco Fanfoni are also injured at the moment. We’ll go with Shanon Andrea and Zoltan Bardi up front today and 19 year old Lyubomir Kunchev will get his second consecutive start at MR with Bolis and Allan on the shelf. Arsene Bamba returns from injury today to play ML. Jose will play at midfield, as he’s starting to earn more playing time over Andrea Rocca. I contemplated benching our struggling captain Salim Loucif but I want his influence in there today against top competition. We have a Champions League match against Dynamo Kyiv in a few days and perhaps I’ll sit him out in that contest. We are slight dogs but this is a vulnerable City team today - we’ll go with 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, N. Cairney, Jose, L. Kunchev
S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi
Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, H. Cruz, R. Ramirez, A. Broomes

Holy crap! City are in a 4-2-2-2 formation, something I’ve NEVER seen from them, with 2 DMCs! WOW. Talk about a defensive tactic! Bonin and Vaclav Kadlec are up front - I’ve never heard of Kadlec before. Capitao, Mercado and Jungbluth are all playing on defence today. This is a completely different City team than we’ve ever seen before. Even Joe Hart is on the bench in favour of GK Antonio, a really great keeper who City bought off Reading in July. This could be a tight game but we’ll try to play positive football for the fans today. I also pull aside young Kunchev to tell him I have faith in his ability.

13’ - On a play that looks blatantly offsides, Ryan Bonin is behind our defence and shoots but Wilke is there to make the stop. We’re looking a bit nervous for some reason and I’ve seen two brutal giveaways so far.

17’ - We have a free kick deep in City territory, almost on the left byline. Bamba takes it and it’s to the far post - Claudio Contreras is there and heads it past Antonio and into the net! The keeper should have had that one but we’ll take it! DOVER GOAL 1-0

24’ - We have a corner and Jose takes it. The cross is headed out by City captain Salah Abbes but Neil Cairney strikes it with fury back toward goal. It hits a City defender and ricochets right to Zoltan Bardi on the near post and he calmly heads it into the open net! What a start! DOVER GOAL 2-0

32’ - Bardi pulls a Chiquinho and blatantly dives in the City area. That’s a yellow card.

38’ - Jose with a takedown near midfield and he also gets a yellow card.

45’ - Neil Cairney with a glorious shot from outside the area. It’s headed for the far corner and Antonio sprawls headlong to make a spectacular stop. What a great save!

45’+2 - We force a turnover and Andrea feeds Bardi cutting through the middle. His low shot is just turned beside the outside of the post by Antonio. We earn a corner but the ref blows for halftime before we get the chance to take it, a strange occurrence to be sure.

HALFTIME - This is almost shocking to see a Manchester City team play like this. We are dominating in every way, with 54% of possession and a 11-2 (6-1 on target) shot advantage. I have to imagine they’ll move to a more offensive formation at some point but we’ll see. I tell the lads I’m pleased!

47’ - Well, City are still in the same defensive look but they get a GLORIOUS chance, when Kadlec slips behind Contreras and is alone with Wilke but our keeper makes a breathtaking stop!

59’ - We’ve generated little in this half so far but earn a corner. Again, it’s Jose taking it and it’s to the near post this time and there is Zoltan Bardi heading it into the net for his second goal of the game!!! Wow! DOVER GOAL 3-0

68’ - Jose was brilliant today but I decide to bring him out since he has a yellow card and is tiring. In comes Andrea Rocca.

81’ - I can’t believe I’m able to do this against Man City, of all teams, but I take out young Lyubomir Kunchev and bring in Rafael Ramirez for his first ever Dover game. He goes in at right midfield, a position he’s not even trained for! Remember, we don’t have any other healthy right midfielders on the team right now.

86’ - Substitute striker Alex Saunders gets a great chance on a header but Wilke makes a brilliant stop to keep the shutout going!

87’ - Emmerson Harvey comes in for Neil Cairney.

90’+3 - City midfielder Thiago has a free kick from outside the area and curls one off the crossbar.

Wow. A stunning win against a perennial powerhouse!

Dover 3 - 0 Manchester City
Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.8), Claudio Contreras (8.6)
Assists - Jose (7.9), Arsene Bamba (7.9)
Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.4), Salim Loucif (7.9), Rayane Hamon (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Lyubomir Kunchev (7.0)
Attendance - 22,515

City really controlled the ball in the second half and ended up with 53% of overall possession but we outshot them 17-8 (7-4 on target). Bardi was terrific, as was our entire defence and it’s great to see a bounce back game from Salim Loucif. Shanon Andrea did nothing once again and his regression from major star to non-factor has been quite shocking. Still, a wonderful win without three key players in Bolis, Chiquinho and Moses.

-- Liverpool win over Fulham, United squeak by Wolves, Spurs upend Birmingham, Chelsea beat Everton, Middlesbrough continued their fine play with a 6-0 destruction of Sunderland and Aston Villa shock Arsenal 4-0. Arsenal fire their manager Michael Laudrup after the match and I’m named as the most likely successor.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 13 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Liverpool - 31 points
2. Dover - 30 points
3. Manchester United - 30 points
4. Tottenham - 27 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Manchester City - 27 points
6. Middlesbrough - 25 points
7. Aston Villa - 23 points
----------------------------------------------------


Coach Poached!

-- Diego Camacho rejects my contract offer and signs with Osasuna in Spain, his home country. Camacho was a really good coach but looking at our training screen, his loss doesn’t really affect us much, as we are no worse than 4.5 stars in any category. I will just stay with what I have for now and look for a new coach in the offseason.



Injury Update

-- Graham Allan returns to full training after missing two weeks with a groin injury. Young Lyubomir Kunchev did fine in his place but Allan is unquestionably a more cultured player and brings much more offence to the table. He’ll be welcomed back with open arms, as we continue to wait for our main starter at right midfield, Gianluca Bolis, to return from his injury.



Premier League Team of the Week

-- Ingo Wilke and Zoltan Bardi are named to the team of the week.



Champions League Update

-- Ajax shock United 2-1 and that allows them to join United in the knockout stage with one game left in Group Play. OM has guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage out of Group F, with Celtic and Sevilla battling it out for the second spot. Group G is wide open, with Chelsea, Olympique Lyonnais and Panathinaikos all still in the running to move on. Group H is settled already, with Bersaspor and Atletico Madrid stamping their passports for the next round while Sampdoria will be heading home after their last Group play game.



Dover U18 Update

-- In a rare midweek game, our U18 squad defeat Carlisle 4-0 in 4th Round U18 Cup action. Pete Smith bags a brace and singles come from Felix Hernandez and a Carlisle own goal.



Next Up

-- We host Group C weak link Dynamo Kyiv at Crabble Athletic Ground. A win or a tie will guarantee us passage into the Knockout stages.