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Old 02-15-2014, 01:15 AM   #208
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Wed. November 10, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Huddersfield (4-2-5, 14 points, 12th) vs. Dover (6-4-1, 22 points, 4th)
The Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK

Betting Odds: Huddersfield: 11-5 Draw: 11-5 Dover: Evens (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 5W 0D 2L

We are rare road favourites in this contest against mid-table Huddersfield, a team we've had great success against in past meetings, winning five of seven total matches and four in a row. They seem to be giving it their all in the League Cup and have reached the quarterfinal stage in that competition but have had an easy road, with wins over lower league Tranmere, Birmingham and MK Dons. They just got blasted by newly promoted Blackburn 3-0 on the weekend and with 12 goals in 11 league games, they are obviously having difficulty finding the back of the net. They certainly splashed the cash in the transfer window, spending £25 million overall, with £9 million spent on Catania DM Jose Antonio Marco and £5.75 million on Brazilian midfielder Antonio by way of Mallorca. Striker David Caldwell leads the team with 4 goals in 12 contests and the team has a number of key players missing today, including dangerous midfielders Dennis Lotters and Sergey Gusev.

We are about to hit an international break, with our next meaningful game taking place in ten days against Blackburn. Therefore, we'll go with the best lineup I can put on the pitch, the same starting eleven from our win against Everton on Sunday. We've used a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) with success against Huddersfield in the past but I'll start with a flat 4-4-2 control mentality to start. I only make one change to my bench, with Paul Moses being named as a substitute over the unfit Zoltan Bardi.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, K. Kalfas
S - S. Andrea, G. Gesios
Bench - J. Kuciak, P. Tjiuoro, Mancini, S. Spall, C. Murray, A. Zubizarreta, P. Moses

Huddersfield are in a 4-1-3-2 formation with a DMC and three central midfielders, a pretty tight formation. Paul Lumsden and Nelson Oliveira are starting up front and leading scorer David Caldwell is on the bench for some reason. I tell the team they can win tonight and pull aside Gesios and Cairney (I have faith) along with Shanon Andrea (Pick up where you left off) for personal pep talks.

9' - We've carried the play thus far, with a couple of corners and extended possession but no shots on goal. We get a free kick from midway in Huddersfield territory and Rocca lines up for the kick and sends it into the area. Arsene Bamba meets the ball with a diving header and pots it into the far corner of the goal. Great start men! DOVER GOAL 1-0

24' - Giorgos Gesios, who my assistant has been telling me looks "ill-disciplined", takes down a man for the second time in the game and now is yellow carded.

30' - Gesios takes a pass at midfield and races past his marker and in toward goal. From the top of the area, he shoots woefully wide. Gesios continues to struggle immensely for us this year and still only has one goal since his return from injury.

33' - Wilke is called upon to make a great save on a curling shot from outside the area.

38' - Huddersfield are taking the play to us right now. Oliveira gets a header from in close but puts it over the goal. We're under heavy pressure and not matching their formation well at the moment.

42' - Another great chance sees Oliveira get past his marker into the area but Wilke again is there for the fine save.

44' - Andrea takes a throw in down the left side and crosses into the box but Kostas Kalfas heads it over the goal. "That should have been a goal", the announcer bellows.

45'+1 - We get one more chance on a counter, as Gesios sends a great ball up field to Andrea. He cuts in toward goal but shoots low and wide.

HALFTIME - After a great first ten minutes, it was all Huddersfield, as they hold 53% of possession but we outshoot them 6-5 (1-2 on target). Gesios (6.3) and Andrea (6.2) are struggling up front while Wilke is continuing his incredible form in goal. I encourage the team in the dressing room and decide to switch to a counter attacking mentality.

47' - We work a quick counter and Andrea Rocca sends a great ball up field to a streaking Shanon Andrea. He's dribbling in all alone but Huddersfield's keeper Alex Smithies charges out and makes a great stop. That was a great chance.

50' - We have a free kick and Rocca sends in another delightful ball to the foot of Gesios and his point blank blast is saved spectacularly by Smithies. We get a couple of other cracks at the ball before it's kicked to safety. Gesios is officially jinxed right now…what a brilliant chance.

51' - On another free kick, Rocca's cross is headed toward goal by Claudio Contreras and another scrum ensues that sees Huddersfield clear just in time. We're POURING ON PRESSURE!

65' - Things calm down for a long stretch and we bring in disgruntled striker Paul Moses for a completely ineffective Shanon Andrea.

73' - A wild play near our goal, as Salim Loucif is taken down right in front of the ref and all of our players have their hands up but no call is forthcoming. That allows Lumsden to walk in on goal but Wilke again is there to make the great stop.

79' - Claudio Contreras takes a knock but can shake it off. We'll have to evaluate him after the game.

80' - Aitor Zubizarreta comes on for the exhausted Kostas Kalfas.

86' - Gesios takes a nice feed from Zubizarreta in the penalty area and shoots hard at goal but Smithies does well to push it over the net.

87' - I take out Contreras and bring in Paulus Tjiuoro.

We hold them off the rest of the way. Decent second half where we had complete control by the looks of it.

Huddersfield 0 - 1 Dover
Goals - Arsene Bamba (7.6)
Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.3)
Man of the Match - Ingo Wilke (8.3)
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.4), Neil Cairney (7.1)
Attendance - 15,537

Indeed, the match stats prove my thoughts on our second half domination, as we hold 55% of overall possession and a huge 16-6 (7-3 on target) shot advantage. We did everything but score in that half. Wilke was sensational in goal for us and he may be the most unheralded player on my team - I always seem to be looking for the "next" guy in net but Wilke consistently outperforms his ratings.

-- Thankfully, Claudio Contreras comes away from the game with no lasting injury. He had the dreaded "cross" over his name so I feared the worst but he'll be just fine. He's upped his game considerably in the last few weeks and has become a first-choice player again over Paulus Tjiuoro.

-- In other Premier League play, Man City beats Fulham 3-0, United knock off Chelsea by the same scoreline and Sunderland can only manage a draw against relegation candidates Derby, which allows us to move past them on the table into 3rd place.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 12 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 28 points
2. Manchester City - 27 points
3. Dover - 25 points
4. Sunderland - 23 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Aston Villa - 22 points
6. Arsenal - 21 points (11 games)
7. Liverpool - 19 points
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International Update

-- We have four more players called up for international duty, with Arsene Bamba and Youssouf Sylla getting the call from Ivory Coast and Neil Cairney and Cameron Murray getting called up by Scotland.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- With many of our top U18s away on international duty, we still are able to secure a 3-0 win over Portsmouth. Striker Eddie Robinson bags a brace and Ben Lee notches a single marker.

-- A few days later, the kids are back in action and beat Carlisle 1-0. Once again, it's Eddie Robinson doing the scoring.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- Steve Ingram and Carlo Cerbone score in a 2-0 win over Wolves. Jozef Varga had an assist and was man of the match in a game where many of our lesser known players got a chance to play.



International Update

-- Many of our players take part in international friendlies. Giorgos Gesios scores both goals for Greece in their 2-1 win over Bulgaria then pots two more in a 3-0 win over San Marino a few days later - good to see Gesios put a bunch in the net and I hope it starts happening with the club that pays him! Paulus Tjiuoro (Nambia), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Claudio Contreras (Argentina U20), Louis Reed (England U20), Youssouf Sylla (Ivory Coast) and Neil Cairney (Scotland) all get positive notices. Loucif is captaining Algeria, a great sign - he's our vice captain this year and we're performing well with him as acting captain with Wayne Rooney on the injured reserve. Louis Reed earned his first youth cap with England. And Kostas Kalfas came on as a substitute in that 3-0 Greece win over San Marino, giving Kalfas his first ever senior team cap. He was delighted and says as much in the press afterwards.



Free Transfer Deadline

-- The free transfer deadline passes with no Dover activity. I contemplated picking up a young fullback but I don't need any extra players right now - I figured I could sell the guy eventually but I ended up passing.



Next Up

-- We host Blackburn, newly promoted from the Championship.
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