[NoSkillz]

Wed. November 29, 2023

UEFA Champions League - Group C
Dover (2-2-0, 8 points, 2nd) vs. Dynamo Kyiv (0-1-3, 1 point, 4th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dynamo Kyiv: 11-5
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 0L

Kyiv is by far the weakest link in our group and they’ve scored only twice and allowed 17 in four games in this stage. We walloped them 4-0 in their stadium earlier this year. They do have a couple of prolific scorers in strikers Antonio Santos and Goran Brajkovic and the club is in second place in the Ukrainian Premier League but we should still be able to dominate them.

That said, I’m giving some backups a chance to play today. Paul Moses and Graham Allan will both play after returning from injuries, with Moses only missing one game and Allan missed a couple. Emmerson Harvey will get his first start of the year in midfield alongside Andrea Rocca. Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Saber Nasri will play in central defence and Rafinha will start at right fullback for Salim Loucif. Nasri will captain the team today. Manuel Perez is in goal. I’ll have a few key players available on the bench, namely Neil Cairney and Rayane Hamon. Loucif, Jose and Claudio Contreras will all get the night off completely. Control mentality at home.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - R. Gaucho, M. Yilmaz, S. Nasri, Rafinha
M - A. Bamba, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi
Bench - S. Reed, R. Hamon, N. Cairney, R. Ramirez, H. Cruz, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes

Dynamo Kyiv are in a flat 4-4-2 as well with Brajkovic and Santos up front and Jose is in goal. I’m tempted to tell the team I expect a win but instead, I tell them to perform for the fans - there is no word of overconfidence according to my assistant so I go with the less direct approach in the team talk. A win or draw and we move on to the Knockout stages.

4’ - Bardi lays a pass off to Andrea Rocca and his piledriver from distance is saved by Jose. We get a corner out of it and Rocca’s cross is to Saber Nasri at the near post. He takes it off his chest and just when I think he’s sending it back out to Rocca, he turns and fires on goal instead. Jose makes the save but Paul Moses is there for the rebound and he pumps it in! Great start boys! DOVER GOAL 1-0

8’ - We’re all over them, as Emmerson Harvey sends in a great cross to Graham Allan and it’s headed home. However, the referee deems Allan offsides. NO GOAL.

10’ - Renato Gaucho allows a man in behind him then takes him down on the chase. Easy yellow card for our fullback there.

13’ - Kyiv with the goal kick and it’s headed back up the pitch and over the defence by Saber Nasri. Zoltan Bardi gets to it first and shoots from the edge of the area and it’s past Jose and into the top corner. Great strike Bardi! DOVER GOAL 2-0

28’ - We have a corner and Rocca crosses to the far post. There is young Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and he heads it forcefully into the far corner of the net! Our spares are doing GREAT! DOVER GOAL 3-0

35’ - Graham Allan runs down the right and attempts a cross but it’s booted out by a Kyiv defender. Arsene Bamba runs out of the area to chase it down then just turns and hits a prayer back toward the goal. Somehow…someway…it’s over the head of Jose and into the top corner of the net! HOLY CRAP! “He didn’t mean it but the ball went in!” bellows the announcer! We can do no wrong today! DOVER GOAL 4-0

36’ - We steal the ball away on the ensuing kick off and move up the pitch. Moses lays it off to Bamba and he speeds into the area. With no angle whatsoever, he blasts it at goal and it’s off Jose’s hands and INTO THE NET. My God…this is embarrassing for our opponents! DOVER GOAL 5-0

HALFTIME - Craziness. We only edge them in possession with 51% but outshoot them 14-3 (9-1 on target). We’re just in complete control. I tell the team I’m pleased but with the game already well in hand, I pull Paul Moses and Renato Gaucho from the game and put in Andy Broomes and Steve Reed. No need for Moses to get hurt!

61’ - Not much happening but Kyiv get their best chance, as Santos eludes a Nasri tackle and is in on goal but Perez makes a wonderful stop on him.

We take a bit of a risk, using our last substitute with a half hour left, bringing in Lyubomir Kunchev for Graham Allan, who is a bit gassed after just returning from injury.

67’ - We send a long ball over the defence and Bardi is there first. He’s at the byline and crosses into the box and there is young Andy Broomes, sliding at the ball and sending it past Jose and in! Broomes strikes for his first ever Dover goal! DOVER GOAL 6-0

69’ - Again, we steal the ball and move it around to Steve Reed down the right. He delivers a pass into the middle to Broomes, who eludes a tackle and dribbles in on goal. His shot is low and past Jose and in again! Two in three minutes for Andy Broomes. We have our SEVENTH! DOVER GOAL 7-0

88’ - We work a free kick and Rocca ends up sending a delicious ball into the area to young Kunchev. He’s at the byline and sends in a little cross and there is ANDY BROOMES, putting it into the open net and the young striker has a HALF GAME HAT TRICK! DOVER GOAL 8-0

Incredible performance and with one game left against FC Bayern Munich, we’re guaranteed our place in the knockout stages for the third year in a row!

Dover 8 - 0 Dynamo Kyiv
Goals - Andy Broomes 3 (9.5), Arsene Bamba 2 (9.4), Paul Moses (8.1), Zoltan Bardi (9.2), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (9.2)
Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (9.2), Saber Nasri (8.9), Paul Moses, Steve Reed (7.5), Lyubomir Kunchev (7.0)
Man of the Match - Andy Broomes
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.4), Rafinha (8.6), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Graham Allan (7.5), Emmerson Harvey (8.5)
Attendance - 21,558

We hold 53% of possession and outshoot them 24-5 (13-2 on target) in a dominating display of football. For the first time that I can ever remember, not only do all of our starters earn ratings over 7.0 but so do our three substitutions! What a game and it shows off our incredible depth here at the club this year!

-- We earn £696,000 for the win, as usual.

-- Palermo shocked Bayern Munich 4-1 and they still have a chance to move on into the knockout stages out of our group. In fact, they have a very good chance but they’ll need us to win in Germany…a very tall task! In Group A, Galatasaray are through but the second spot will be between Arsenal and Spartak Moscow. Barca are through in Group B and AZ and AS Monaco will fight it out for the second spot. Finally, in Group D, things are finalized with one game remaining, as Juventus and Real Madrid are both through.



Record Win!

-- After the headlines say “Dover Simply Gr-Eight!” (haha - so awesome!), we get another notice that our 8-0 win is the largest in team history, beating our old record by two goals. The former record of 6-0 was set against Torquay in a League Cup match a number of years ago.



December Update

-- As usual, a busy month is upcoming. We have five Premier League games: Reading (home), Middlesbrough (home), Sunderland (away), Blackpool (away) and Aston Villa (away). We also have our League Cup quarterfinal coming up next week against Sheffield Wednesday at their stadium and a Champions League Group Stage game in Germany against Bayern Munich. So seven games this month, with five of them away from home.

-- We get positive training reports for Rafinha, Lyubomir Kunchev and U18 players Joshua Stokes and Adam Hyde. A negative report comes in for the molten hot Zoltan Bardi. I’ll chat with him…



Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Young Middlesbrough striker Roland Hoxha wins player of the month honours after scoring seven goals in four games!

-- Our very own Claudio Contreras wins Young Player of the Month!! Interestingly enough, Carlo Cerbone, a former Dover U18 player, comes in third.

-- Spurs boss Robert Kelly wins Premier League Manager of the Month for November after winning all four games in the month.



December Board Confidence Update

-- The board are delighted with the leadership qualities I’m demonstrating. Our 8-0 Champions League whitewash of Dynamo Kyiv is the main highlight and the signing of third string keeper Mathis Imbert continues to be the only negative.

-- We made a profit of £2.45 million last month…nice!



Transfer Bonus Clauses

-- We’re offered buyouts on a couple of clauses put into the sale of spare part fullback Sebastien Kraft to AJ Auxerre in France. We get £78,750 for a league appearance clause and £200,000 to cancel a sell-on fee clause. Kraft isn’t even playing for their main squad so it was highly unlikely that we were going to get the full allotment of bonus money. This was an easy deal to accept…money, money, money, MONEY!



Dover U18 Update

-- The kids destroy Brighton’s U18 club 5-0. Ben Lee, Felix Hernandez, Norberto Vazquez, Joshua Stokes and a Brighton own goal account for our scores.



Premier League Update

-- We are idle this weekend, as we have a quarterfinal League Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday on Monday night. Man United, Man City, Middlesbrough and Chelsea all win while Arsenal and Liverpool draw. Liverpool drops down to second and United moves up into the lead.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 14 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 33 points
2. Liverpool - 32 points
3. Dover - 30 points (after 13 games)
4. Manchester City - 30 points
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5. Tottenham - 28 points
6. Middlesbrough - 28 points
7. Aston Villa - 23 points
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FA Cup - 3rd Round Draw

-- We get a home game against Championship side Ipswich Town in our first FA Cup action of the season. Not a bad draw! The game will be played in mid-January.



Next Up

-- We face fellow Premier League club Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup quarterfinals.