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Sat. December 4, 2021
Barclays Premier League
Middlesbrough (6-4-4, 22 points, 10th) vs. Dover (8-4-2, 28 points, 3rd)
The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, UK
Betting Odds: Middlesbrough: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 7-4
Past Meetings: 4W 0D 3L
Middlesbrough were big sellers during the window, selling off £23 million worth of players while only spending £4.7 million. That said, they are in 10th so far and playing well, having recently knocked off Everton and Huddersfield while also just drawing Blackburn 4-4 in a barn-burner of a game last weekend. Their top scorer is striker Luke de Jong, who has only started 8 of 14 games. Attacking midfielder Thorgan Hazard is their highest valued player and they usually play with three central attacking midfielders.
We need to regroup after our disastrous game against Sheffield Wednesday so we'll go to a flat 4-4-2 Counter for this game. We have our last Champions League group game coming up in four days so I'll be careful here - I'm going to rest Shanon Andrea, our leading scorer. He's been sensational but he's essentially played every game this year due to all our injuries so he'll play against Schalke later this week. Giorgos Gesios and Zoltan Bardi will start up front for the first time together this year. I'm also starting Paulus Tjiuoro for Claudio Contreras - the Argentinian will play against Schalke later this week.
Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, P. Tjiuoro, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi
Bench - J. Kuciak, C. Contreras, Mancini, S. Spall, C. Murray, A. Zubizarreta, S. Andrea
Middlesbrough come out in their tight 4-2-3-1 formation, with three central attacking mids. Chris Gadi is up front - he's got 2 goals in four games so far so he's not used often. I tell the team they can win this and pull aside Gesios ("pick up where you left off"), Bardi and Rocca ("I have faith") for pep talks.
2' - Bardi starts a counter and moves the ball quickly up field to Gesios. He storms in and shoots hard and low to the near post but Middlesbrough keeper Sinan Bolat makes the save.
12' - Bolis runs down the right flank and crosses into the box. Gesios gets up and heads it to goal but Sinan Bolat is there for the save.
16' - Middlesbrough work the ball around nicely outside our area and the ball comes to AMC Taksiarxis Fountas (what a name) - he hits a "trademark piledriver" from 20 yards that is perfectly placed into the far corner of the goal. Their first real chance and we're down. MIDDLESBROUGH GOAL 0-1
23' - We're playing poorly again. They get a gorgeous through ball to Abdullah Demir and his shot from inside the area is high and wide. That's a brutal miss and it should be 2-0.
Nothing.
HALFTIME - Brutal again. Middlesbrough are dominating - 51% of possession and a 12-6 (4-4 on target) shot edge. I peel paint in the room and tell the team they must get a result here. I switch to a 4-4-2 DM Control mentality to start the second half.
52' - Bardi gets off a rocket from distance that Sinan Bolat has some trouble with but it's cleared to safety.
53' - Man, Gesios. He's just cold as ice for our senior team. He gets a glorious pass from Rocca and moves into the area but shoots weakly right at the keeper. Easy save.
57' - Middlesbrough striker Chris Gadi weaves through our defence into the area and there are about three shots directed at goal but somehow we keep it out. Just a crazy scene.
59' - Bolis goes on a long run down field on a counter and cuts into goal with a hard shot that is turned aside by Sinan Bolat.
72' - We continue to get weak shots on goal, this time from Bamba in close.
74' - Aitor Zubizarreta is in for Bolis. We switch back to a flat 4-4-2 and go overload.
77' - Right away, Zubizarreta makes an impact, as he wins a tackle down the right and crosses into Bamba but his header is once again right at the keeper.
80' - Middlesbrough spring super-sub Luke de Jong on a breakaway but he shoots wide. Can we take advantage of that miss??
86' - Neil Cairney with the yellow card. I just don't understand this letdown AGAIN.
90'+4 - Add insult to injury - Cairney gets a second yellow and is gone.
We're officially slumping?
Middlesbrough 1 - 0 Dover
Goals -
Assists -
Man of the Match - Taksiarxis Fountas (Middlesbrough AMC - 8.3)
Other Dover Notables - Renato Gaucho (7.0), Giorgos Gesios (5.8)
Attendance - 18,589
Wow. We score five against Barcelona then get shutout in consecutive games against Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough? We were dominated and we could never get comfortable against that formation of theirs - they hold 53% of overall possession and outshot us 22-16 (6-10 on target). Gesios gets a brutal rating and he just hasn't been the same player since returning from injury, although he's still doing great for Greece (and our reserves team).
-- Reading moves ahead of us with their draw on the strength of their nine wins versus our eight (we're tied in goal differential) plus they still have a game in hand on us. United and City both win as well to pull further ahead of us, as things tighten considerably in the top seven.
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 15 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)
1. Manchester City - 36 points
2. Manchester United - 31 points
3. Reading - 28 points (14 games)
4. Dover - 28 points
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5. Arsenal - 28 points
6. Liverpool - 26 points
7. Chelsea - 25 points
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Dover U18 Team Update
-- Striker Gregoire Lambert scores three times and Phil Whitbread bags the brace in a convincing 5-0 win over Reading's U18s.
Next Up
-- We head to Germany to face Schalke in our final Group stage match in the Champions League, with hopes of moving on to the knockout stages.
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