[NoSkillz]

Sat. December 30, 2023

Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa (9-2-7, 29 points, 7th) vs. Dover (12-4-1, 40 points, 1st)
Villa Park, Birmingham, UK

Betting Odds: Aston Villa: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 4W 2D 6L

Villa has been a VERY tough opponent for us, likely the most difficult outside of the top clubs like United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. We haven’t beaten them in two years so we’re due! Villa have been in the Premier League since 1987, a 36 year stretch. They usually finish in the mid-table so they are slightly exceeding expectations this year. Striker Antonio leads the team with 8 goals in 14 matches but again, in a season that has seen us avoid many great players due to injury or suspension, Antonio is injured today and won’t play. Mohamed Messaoudi will likely be their danger man up front and AMC Bebe and his five goals will also need to be watched. Their big offseason signing was 23 year old attacking midfielder Nassim Bailleul and he has 4 goals and 7 assists in 21 games. He was picked up for £2.9 million from Atalanta in Italy’s Serie A.

Today’s match begins a stretch of three games in four days, a ludicrous stretch but one that most of the teams in our league will have to deal with upon a glance at the schedule. So at least we all have to deal with it! We play today (Saturday) then have matches on Monday AND Tuesday. Needless to say, squad rotation will be in place for these three games and thankfully, I’m almost completely healthy now, with only Zoltan Bardi on the injury list. We make only two changes from the Blackpool game - Ingo Wilke is back in net and Jose will be in the midfield for Andrea Rocca. We’re decent sized favourites on the road so we’ll go with our control mentality.

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

Crap. Villa play a 4-2-3-1 with three attacking central mids, the same formation Middlesbrough play and one that gives us fits. Igor Dobes, a guy I’ve never heard of, is alone up front. Bailleul is at AMC along with Reece Butcher, a long-time transfer target of mine, and Teco. Antonio Kraljevic is in goal and he always does well against us. I tell the team they can win today and tell Salim Loucif to pick up where he left off last game.

3’ - Jose with a GLORIOUS ball into the area to Chiquinho and he blasts it right at Kraljevic! Damn! As a side note, the Villa manager spoke out about Chiquinho in his pre-game presser as the man they need to stop. Again, this usually means poor performances by our guys but we’ll see if Chiquinho can break through today like Moses did last game under the same pressure.

10’ - Loucif with an early yellow card.

15’ - We certainly have the majority of possession early and Chiquinho with a nice pass to spring Paul Moses but his shot is saved well by the Villa keeper.

20’ - We have a free kick just outside the area and it’s Jose taking it. His blast is off Reece Butcher, who is in the Villa wall, and it deflects past Kraljevic and IN! It counts as an own goal so Jose is still looking for his first in a Dover kit but we lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0

27’ - We’re gifting them a lot of possession the last ten minutes but we steal and work a counter attack with Chiquinho racing down the right sideline. He crosses and it’s right on the foot of Paul Moses but his one-time blast is saved in spectacular fashion by Kraljevic! WOW. Even his defence is clapping at that one!

31’ - Another great Jose pass finds Chiquinho and Kraljevic again is giving us nightmares, sprawling full out to make the stop!

44’ - We earn a corner and Graham Allan crosses to the near post. For the first game I can remember, I decide to switch things up a bit and move Neil Cairney from his traditional spot outside the area to the near post and he rewards me by heading the ball past Kraljevic and IN! DOVER GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME - That was a good half of football! We edge them on possession with 52% of the ball but outshoot them by a wide margin: 14-5 (5-0 on target). I tell the team I’m pleased thus far!

Villa change tactics to a 4-3-1-2.

46’ - Right away, Villa strike on a counter. A cross is into the box to substitute striker Messaoudi and his header is stopped by a diving Ingo Wilkei

49’ - Messaoudi takes down Rayane Hamon and Hamon, always injury prone and just back from a few weeks on the shelf, has the dreaded cross of death above his name again. Geez. He can stay in for now but I expect him to be on the sidelines again.

50’ - Off a throw in, a Renato Gaucho cross is headed by Salim Loucif, of all people, but Kraljevic is in good position and makes the stop.

65’ - Graham Allan is off and Gianluca Bolis is on.

73’ - Neil Cairney comes out and in comes Emmerson Harvey.

80’ - Villa play a long ball over our defence and Messaoudi wins the race. With Hamon and Contreras in close pursuit, Messaoudi places the ball past Wilke, off the inside of the right post and IN. We’re in a fight to the finish here. ASTON VILLA GOAL 2-1

83’ - We win a corner and Jose takes it. The cross is to the near post and Emmerson Harvey and his header deflects off a Villa defender but Kraljevic still makes the save. There’s a rebound though and it’s right on Paul Moses’ foot and it’s just a simple tap in putt from there and we have our two goal cushion back! DOVER GOAL 3-1

87’ - Arsene Bamba is out and Helder Cruz is in.

Another fine road win!

Aston Villa 1 - 3 Dover
Goals - Neil Cairney (7.6), Paul Moses (7.7), Reece Butcher OG
Assists - Jose 2 (9.0), Graham Allan (7.0)
Man of the Match - Jose
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.5), Rayane Hamon (7.0), Claudio Contreras (7.0), Renato Gaucho (7.1), Arsene Bamba (7.4), Chiquinho (7.0)
Attendance - 35,749

Another workmanlike performance, as we hold 55% of possession and a 25-8 (8-2 on target) shot advantage. Jose was simply brilliant today and he’s proving to be a GREAT acquisition already. And what can you say about Paul Moses? The guy just scores in almost every game.

-- I rarely see this but despite having the dreaded “cross of doom” above his head, Rayane Hamon escapes without a significant injury and won’t miss any time. Whew!

-- In other Premier League action, United beat Sunderland 4-0, Middlesbrough draw 1-1 against Everton, Chelsea beat up on Huddersfield 4-1, Newcastle SHOCK Manchester City 4-2, Liverpool eke past Wolves 3-2 and Spurs continue to roll with a 3-1 win over Reading.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 18 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 43 points
2. Liverpool - 43 points (after 19 games)
3. Manchester United - 41 points
4. Tottenham - 41 points (after 19 games)
----------------------------------------------------
5. Middlesbrough - 36 points (after 19 games)
6. Manchester City - 35 points
7. Chelsea - 31 points (after 17 games)
----------------------------------------------------



Dover U18 Update

-- The kids continue to win, beating Aldershot 3-0 behind another brace from Ben Patterson and a single from Jay Doyle.



Transfer Window Opens

-- The transfer window opens and there is speculation all over the place about our players. Deep breath…

-- Oh, and for the first time since I’ve taken over this team, I can’t think of ANY positions of need right now. I truly think we can win the league with this roster and I’m ready to give it our best shot! That’s assuming that I can keep all of our current players…



Change Season Expectations

-- I’m offered the chance by my board to change our season expectations but I will get no additional money even if I say I’m going for the title…which I am by the way! So I just keep the expectations as given at the season’s beginning, which was my guarantee of continental qualification.



January Update

-- January starts with a bang, as we have two games in two nights starting tonight against Everton (away) then we host Fulham tomorrow at Crabble Athletic Ground. We have four other Premier League games this month: Tottenham (away), Manchester United (home), Norwich (home) and Newcastle (away). We also have our first FA Cup match of the year at home against Ipswich Town and both of our League Cup semi-final matches. That’s NINE MATCHES this month. Holy crap! It could be TEN if we draw against Ipswich.

-- It was a good month for training, with Renato Gaucho, Helder Cruz and Andy Broomes getting positive notices for the senior team and Felix Hernandez, James Campbell and Ben Patterson get notices for the U18s. Only one negative comment comes in for Gianluca Bolis but he was injured for two months so that isn’t a surprise. I’m lenient with him.



2023 Year-End Awards

-- Paul Moses gets named to England’s Best Eleven for the 2023 season, as was former Dover fullback Kostas Zagos.

-- Atletico Madrid’s Thabo Mbambo wins European striker of the year and World Player of the Year in a bit of a shocker over our old friend Enrique.

-- Emiliano Pighin wins European Goalkeeper of the Year for Bayern Munich, a player we’re familiar with after facing him in Champions League group play. Pighin’s teammate Evandro wins defender of the year honours.

-- Nikolay Dubinin from OM wins European midfielder of the year.

-- Enrique wins the Ballon d’Or after another fantastic year, as he now plays for Barcelona.



December Awards

-- Spurs striker and former Dover player Gerardo Escobar wins Player of the Month honours after scoring six times in six games. Paul Moses comes in third.

-- Paul Moses wins Young Player of the Month after scoring four goals in five matches. Claudio Contreras comes in second.

-- After winning four of five matches in December, along with a draw, I’m named as the Premier League Manager of the Month for the second time in three months.



Transfer Talk

-- The first offers come in for Neil Cairney from Tottenham (£15,500,000) and Rafinha from Stuttgart (£4,500,000). Both are quickly rejected.



January Board Confidence Update

-- The board are “absolutely delighted” with the way I’m leading the team. Our 8-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in Champions League play is the main highlight and the Mathis Imbert signing is the only slight negative.

-- We had very few home games last month and therefore lost £1.13 million in December.



Next Up

-- We have the last of four consecutive road games, this time heading to Liverpool to play Everton.