[NoSkillz]

Sun. January 21, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (17-4-1, 55 Points, 1st) vs. Norwich (3-2-18, 11 points, 19th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Norwich: 10-1
Past Meetings: 7W 1D 1L

We are HEAVY favourites against an overmatched Norwich side who are currently seven points from safety, looking destined for the drop only a year after winning the Championship in 2022/23. They’ve actually spent some money in January in hopes of staying up, bringing in three players, with the biggest being Aston Villa fullback Redouane Chihab for £3.2 million. These guys really struggle to score goals and their team leader, midfielder Liam Palmer, has five goals. Their top striker, Paul Bryce, has only three. They have a current Dover player in Shaun Spall, who is ineligible to play against us and a couple of former Dover players in Carlo Cerbone (backup ST) and Louis Read, a backup keeper.

We have six days off after today’s contest so we have the ability to field a full strength side again today, which isn’t good news for Norwich! I will give a start to Manuel Perez, otherwise we’ll go with the exact same outfielders. Due to his overconfidence last game, I’m not dressing wide midfielder Helder Cruz today. Claudio Contreras is still hurt but I’d say there is an excellent chance he’ll be ready to play next weekend against Newcastle.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, S. Nasri, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, Rafinha, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, G. Allan, Z. Bardi

Norwich are in a 4-4-2 diamond formation with two MCs. Paul Bryce is up front with old friend Carlo Cerbone. Tommy Devlin has the unfortunate task of trying to stop us in goal today. We are HUGE favourites today and tell the players I want to see a good performance for the fans today, while pulling aside Bolis, Cairney and Bamba for personal talks.

13’ - No real chances to this point but we’ve dominated the highlights, as expected. A free kick is booted out to safety by Norwich and Neil Cairney is back to collect the ball. He sends a long pass toward the penalty area and Arsene Bamba has the ball. He turns and quickly fires through traffic with his weaker right foot and Devlin isn’t expecting it. It goes off his hands and into the net. Weak goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0

24’ - A Tommy Devlin goal kick is sent up field then headed back over the defence by Jose. Chiquinho wins the race to the ball, touches the ball wide to the left around the Norwich keeper and easily deposits the ball into the empty net. Superb! DOVER GOAL 2-0

37’ - Moses gets his first great chance and Devlin makes a sprawling stop.

44’ - We have a free kick just outside the area on the right side and Jose passes to Cairney lurking outside the box. His rocket launcher is aimed just a hair too high and the ball is off the crossbar.

HALFTIME - Despite a modest scoreline, we are dominating once again, with 61% of the possession and a ridiculous 16-2 (5-0 on target) shot advantage. Good stuff. Lets put a couple more in if possible…

73’ - We still are dominating but just can’t get any shots on target. Jose is tired and on comes Andrea Rocca.

74’ - We have a corner and it’s headed out to safety by Norwich. We recover and move the ball out wide to the left to fullback Renato Gaucho and he sends a high cross to the far post. Running in unmarked is Gianluca Bolis and he slides after the ball and knocks it past Devlin and in! Nice cross! DOVER GOAL 3-0

76’ - Cairney strikes the woodwork for the second time this game.

83’ - A double substitution as we bring in Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Rafinha and take out Rayane Hamon and Arsene Bamba.

Easy win.

Dover 3 - 0 Norwich
Goals - Arsene Bamba (8.1), Chiquinho (7.8), Gianluca Bolis (8.0)
Assists - Renato Gaucho (8.4), Neil Cairney (7.1), Jose (7.3)
Man of the Match - Renato Gaucho
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.4), Rayane Hamon (7.4), Saber Nasri (7.4)
Attendance - 23,000

Well, it looks like the fans have finally gotten “Dover Fever”, as we have our third consecutive sell-out and against a poor team as well. A good omen. We held 64% of overall possession and a 28-3 (8-0 on target) shot advantage. Complete domination. Paul Moses was uncharacteristically average with only a 6.6 rating.

-- The only other game on Sunday sees Chelsea continue their good form in shocking Manchester City at the Etihad 1-0.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 24 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 58 points (after 23 games)
2. Manchester United - 51 points (after 23 games)
3. Tottenham - 51 points
4. Manchester City - 48 points
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5. Chelsea - 46 points (after 22 games)
6. Liverpool - 46 points
7. Middlesbrough - 45 points
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Injury Update

-- Our only injured player, DC Claudio Contreras, returns to full training. Excellent. He’s been sensational this year and it’s great to get the big man back.



Premier League Team of the Week

-- Renato Gaucho and Arsene Bamba make the Premier League team of the week.



Injury Update

-- Goalkeeper Manuel Perez comes down with a virus of some sort so we send him home to ensure the other guys don’t pick up any symptoms. Perez will miss a week or so - I had him earmarked to start in the second leg of the League Cup but perhaps that spot will go to young Mathis Imbert, who is still looking for his first senior team game for our club.



Dover Reserves Team Update

-- Despite going down to ten men after a Carlos Guzman red card, we annihilate Blackburn’s reserves 10-2! Shanon Andrea scored a hat trick, Zoltan Bardi and substitute Andy Broomes bagged braces and Gian Marco Fanfoni, Helder Cruz and Emmerson Harvey notched singles.



Premier League Update

-- Chelsea play one of their make up games, defeating Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 and they move into fourth place. They are on a very good run of form right now.



Transfer Window Fun

-- Palermo come calling for reserve wide midfielder Helder Cruz, offering me a whopping £8 million for his services. Wow, that’s a lot of money for him. However, they offer very little money up front and while there’s no question it’s a good offer, I’m not willing to weaken my roster just for money. We want to win the league and I need my depth to stay strong. Rejected! True to form, Cruz’s agent indicates he wants a new deal and I turn it down, necessitating a private chat. Cruz is defiant and I chastise him for his unprofessionalism and luckily for him, he apologizes for his conduct. Don’t cross the boss, young man!



Next Up

-- We head out on the road to face Newcastle in Premier League action.