[NoSkillz]

Sat. December 16, 2023

Barclays Premier League
Dover (10-3-1, 33 points, 2nd) vs. Middlesbrough (10–1-4, 31 points, 6th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

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

Middlesbrough are playing exceptional football this season and could pass us on the very tightly packed table with a win today. They have wins against Manchester City and Tottenham already this season and they play a very aggressive offensive style, with 3 attacking central midfielders in behind leading scorer Roland Hoxha. Like many of our games this year, we get lucky today, as Hoxha is battling a broken wrist and will miss about a week of action. The guy is the Premier League’s LEADING SCORER with 14 goals in only 11 games! In his place today will most likely be Tomas Pavlik, who has 5 goals in 11 appearances. They’ve also got a good midfielder in Taksiarxis Fountas…quite a mouthful there! Their two big July signings were Victor Camara from Panathinaikos in Greece for £3.5 million and Watford’s Maarten Geerts for £3.6 million. Camara has only played two games and Geerts hasn’t played any! Curious…

Chiquinho and Gian Marco Fanfoni are both available today but will not dress, as they are still trying to regain fitness after their injury spells. A few changes today from our win over Bayern Munich - Shanon Andrea will get the start alongside Paul Moses, who is already up to 20 goals by the way! Newly extended Ingo Wilke is back in goal and I’m also giving a start to young DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz - the kid has scored 3 goals in only four games so far and deserves a league start. He’ll play in place of Saber Nasri today. Flat 4-4-2 with a control mentality today at home.

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

Middlesbrough are in their 4-2-3-1 with 3 AMC’s, as usual. It’s a formation that always gives us trouble but we’ve played decently against them in the last few years as we’ve improved. Pavlik is alone up front and Thorgan Hazard and Abdullah Demir will need to be watched at AMC. Sinan Bolat is in goal - I notice in the Match Analysis screen that Sinan Bolat has FOUR SHUTOUTS IN A ROW and hasn’t given up a goal in 372 consecutive minutes. Well…we’re the team to hopefully end that run!

1’ - Right off the opening kick, Middlesbrough work quick passes with all of those tight midfielders and they spring AMC Sean Murray. He’s in all alone and WILKE makes the save! That formation gives us FITS and it shows right in the first minute. We can NOT step up and challenge them, as there are always guys moving forward in this formation.

3’ - Middlesbrough continue to apply pressure in our stadium, with a cross to the foot of Abdullah Demir and Wilke again is in the right position and makes the stop.

9’ - Possession is being DOMINATED by Middlesbrough and now Fountas with a rocket destined for the top corner but Wilke sprawls head-long to make the save.

12’ - Middlesbrough have possession again and Murray gets the ball to Abdullah Demir in midfield. From maybe 15 yards inside the half way line, he sends a shot at goal and it hits the crossbar, bounces off Wilke’s back and goes into the net. Holy crap. This is a disaster of a start and Wilke gets credit for an own goal. MIDDLESBROUGH GOAL 1-0

25’ - We’ve started to get some possession the last ten minutes and finally strike for a shot on goal but Moses’ shot is stopped easily by Sinan Bolat.

28’ - Moses is running down the field with the ball and just as he’s about to enter the penalty area, a Middlesbrough defender tackles the ball away. Jose picks up the loose ball and immediately spots Shanon Andrea running unmarked. He sends a quick pass to him and our much-maligned striker blasts the ball past Sinan Bolat and into the net! We pull level! DOVER GOAL 1-1

30’ - Boy, Middlesbrough’s passing is something else when they have possession. They strike with a long shot again but Wilke dives and holds on nicely.

44’ - Pavlik runs down the right sideline and crosses in and Murray is there with the quick shot but Wilke dives and keeps it out. They get a corner out of it and the header is off the crossbar. Boy, it’s once again all Middlesbrough after our goal.

45’+1 - We have a free kick and we eventually send a GREAT through ball into Graham Allan and his shot is past Sinan Bolat and IN! But wait…OFFSIDES? The replay confirms he was just inside the back shoulder of the last defender. NO GOAL.

HALFTIME - We’re getting schooled in our own stadium. They hold 55% of possession and a 13-7 (4-3 on target) shot advantage. I go against my assistant, who would prefer to use the fans as motivation but I’m full of piss and vinegar and tell them I’m ANGRY. We need to be better than this.

49’ - In something I don’t think I’ve seen before, we get four consecutive corners, with the first three having our crosses cleared behind the byline by Middlesbrough defenders. On the fourth, Graham Allan goes to Claudio Contreras at the far post and he heads the ball past Sinan Bolat and into the net! Contreras has four goals already this year and we come storming out of the dressing room at half and have the lead now! DOVER GOAL 2-1

For some reason, Middlesbrough move to a flat 4-4-2.

51’ - Then again, maybe they know what they’re doing. Right away, they move up field and Pavlik eludes a Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz tackle and is in all alone. His shot is stopped but the rebound is right to Tom Cairney. He has an open net but Contreras blocks the shot and the ball is cleared to safety! Whew!

54’ - Middlesbrough with the corner and Tom Cairney’s cross is headed by Sebastian Coates, their captain, and past Wilke and IN. My gosh. MIDDLESBROUGH GOAL 2-2

64’ - I’m pissed at Neil Cairney, who has done nothing for weeks and is shown as “playing nervously”. I also pull out a struggling Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. In come Andrea Rocca and Saber Nasri.

65’ - Right after coming on, Jose passes to Andrea Rocca and his shot is off the crossbar!

78’ - We pull out Shanon Andrea and bring in Andy Broomes, hoping his speed and fresh legs late in the game make a difference.

80’ - Rocca to Moses and his piledriver is punched to safety by Sinan Bolat.

Middlesbrough go into tank mode for the last ten minutes and there’s nothing else worth noting.

Dover 2 - 2 Middlesbrough
Goals - Shanon Andrea (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.9)
Assists - Graham Allan (7.2), Jose (6.9)
Man of the Match - Ingo Wilke (9.0)
Other Dover Notables - Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (5.9)
Attendance - 20,709

We fight back in the second half but they still edge us in possession with 52% of the ball. We end up outshooting them 21-19 (7-6 on target). Wilke wins man of the match honours in his first game with the new contract. Yilmaz and Salim Loucif (6.0) were brutal. I tell the players the effort wasn’t good enough.

-- In other Premier League action, Tottenham hold Man City to a scoreless draw, Sunderland, our next opponents, annihilate Fulham 6-0 and Chelsea edge Newcastle 2-1. Man United win 2-1 over Arsenal and Liverpool beat Norwich to knock us down to 3rd place, albeit still with a game in hand on all of the clubs.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 16 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 37 points
2. Liverpool - 36 points
3. Dover - 34 points (after 15 games)
4. Manchester City - 34 points
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5. Manchester City - 32 points
6. Middlesbrough - 32 points
7. Aston Villa - 26 points
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Premier League Team of the Week

-- GK Ingo Wilke deservedly makes the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week for his great performance against Middlesbrough.



Injury Update

-- We still have a few injuries on the squad. Rayane Hamon (groin strain) is coming back soon and Gianluca Bolis (dislocated shoulder) is a couple weeks away from returning to full training. Zoltan Bardi (torn ankle ligaments) is on the long-term injury list.



Next Up

-- We head to the Stadium of Light to face mid-table Sunderland in midweek Premier League action.