[NoSkillz]

Mon. December 4, 2023

League Cup - Quarterfinal
Sheffield Wednesday (18th in Premier League) vs. Dover (3rd in Premier League)
Hillsborough, Sheffield, UK

Betting Odds: Sheffield Wednesday: 9-2 Draw: N/A Dover: 1-2 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 7W 3D 4L

Sheffield are coming off two fine seasons in a row in the Premier League, finishing 8th in 2021/22 and last year they finished 6th, earning a Europa League spot. They have made it to the Group Stage and are looking good to move onto the knockout rounds. However, they are struggling immensely in the league, with only one win so far and they are in the drop zone in the early stages of the year. A major part of the problem is the fact that their top player, striker Steve Pates, is injured and will miss another month of action with torn ankle ligaments. His strike partner, Darijo Jukic, is picking up the slack, with 8 goals in 20 appearances to lead the team. They tried to bolster their club in the July window, spending £29 million, with a cool £10 million on Sunderland DC Kanda Nantoume. He’s been ever-present but has struggled like the rest of the club thus far. One of their big off-season moves was to sell us Saber Nasri for £13 million and he’s been worth the outlay so far.

Nasri won’t be starting today but I’ll look to get him in at some point. We’ll go with a pretty full lineup today, with only Arsene Bamba and Renato Gaucho getting the night off. Helder Cruz and Rafinha will start in their place. We’re huge favourites on the road today so we’ll stick with our flat 4-4-2 and our control mentality.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi
Bench - C. Guzman, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, L. Kunchev, S. Andrea, A. Broomes

Sheffield come out in a flat 4-4-2 as well, with Sandi Labrovic and Ricardo Silva up front. I’ve never heard of either player. Robert Kucera is in goal. Eugenio Balestra is a right midfielder that will be dangerous but this is an eminently beatable team and I tell the team as much in the dressing room before the game.

19’ - After a decent first few minutes, we’re looking very average here. Neil Cairney with a yellow card.

28’ - We are playing down to their level and finally get our first shot on goal, a weak effort from Helder Cruz that’s turned aside by Kucera.

33’ - Zoltan Bardi with a prayer from distance and it’s over Kucera’s head and off the crossbar!

37’ - Now Bardi is hurt and has the cross of doom above his name. He needs to come off - I bring in Andy Broomes to play alongside Moses, who has been very quiet so far. DOVER INJURY - ZOLTAN BARDI

40’ - There is Moses, taking a Rafinha pass, bursting in and shooting but his weak left footed effort is turned aside by Kucera.

41’ - Off a failed corner, Cairney sends the ball back out wide to Jose and his curling blast handcuffs Kucera but the Sheffield keeper is able to punch the ball to safety.

HALFTIME - The stat sheet says it’s all Dover, as we hold 65% of possession and a huge 14-1 (4-0 on target) shot advantage but there is something missing right now. There is no urgency to our game. I tell the team they are outplaying them all over the pitch now start scoring! I also pull aside Moses, who had a rough half, and tell him he can be the difference maker here.

71’ - Wow. It’s amazing how you can go from playing incredible games against top competition like Man City to putting in a dud like this against a relegation candidate. I pull out Claudio Contreras and bring in Saber Nasri. Hopefully, the former Wednesday defender can bring a spark to the club.

74’ - We send a pass up to Moses and he streaks in down the left side. He shows good vision in getting back to his right foot and crossing a pass in and Graham Allan is there. His shot is pathetically weak and right at Kucera but the Sheffield keeper has butterfingers and the ball squirts off his hands and just over the goal line. Sheesh. Ugly goal but one we needed. DOVER GOAL 1-0

76’ - Sheffield finally get a shot on goal, as midfielder Alfonso Martinez sends a free kick at the net but Wilke is in good position for the save.

81’ - Hamon wins a headwall at midfield but goes down and he’s unable to continue. Great. We bring in Carlos Guzman to take his place. DOVER INJURY - RAYANE HAMON

89’ - Yellow card for Jose.

90’+4 - Now a yellow card for Paul Moses as well.

90’+5 - We give them a corner and Martinez crosses to the far post and former Dover loanee Simon Woodman. His header is OFF THE POST! There are two possible fouls as both teams fight for the ball in our penalty area and the referee is waving off both of them! The ball squirts loose and he blows the whistle!

We escape. Poor game.

Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 1 Dover
Goals - Graham Allan (7.5)
Assists - Paul Moses (6.8)
Man of the Match - Graham Allan
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.4), Rayane Hamon (7.2), Rafinha (7.1), Neil Cairney (7.4)
Attendance - 23,578

Sheffield did a better job that half but in the end, we still held 57% of possession and a 21-3 (5-1 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team the result was good but it was a poor performance.

-- The news isn’t good on the injury front. Zoltan Bardi tears ankle ligaments in the collision with Sheffield midfielder Alfonso Martinez and will miss about six weeks of action. Ugh. All of a sudden, we’re getting thin at striker and we’ll be needing Shanon Andrea to break out of his season-long slump! DOVER INJURY: ZOLTAN BARDI (6 WEEKS - TORN ANKLE LIGAMENTS)

-- Meanwhile, Rayane Hamon is hurt again, straining his groin. He’ll miss about two or three weeks. DOVER INJURY: RAYANE HAMON (3 WEEKS - GROIN STRAIN)



Injury Update

-- What better time is there to give you an injury update. In addition to the two new injures to Bardi and Hamon, we are still missing Chiquinho, Gian Marco Fanfoni and Gianluca Bolis. Bolis is the furthest away of those three.



Dover Reserves Team Update

-- We field a less talented side but still destroy Reading’s Reserves 5-0 after they go down to ten men. Rafael Ramirez scored twice and we got singles from Norberto Vazquez, Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Damian Thorne. Lyubomir Kunchev notched four assists in the game!



League Cup - Semi Final Draw

-- Alright, we’re down to the final four teams and we’re still in the running to defend our title from last year. There are two Championship sides still left in Burnley and Southampton, along with ourselves and Manchester United from the Premier League. We’re drawn first out of the hat and we get Southampton, with the first leg taking place at Crabble on January 16th.



Next Up

-- After facing their reserves team, we play Reading for real in a Premier League matchup at home.