[NoSkillz]

Sat. January 9, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Dover (14-2-6, 44 points, 3rd) vs. Sheffield Wednesday (5-5-12, 20 points, 17th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-3 (Favourites) Draw: 3-1 Sheffield Wednesday: 7-1
Past Meetings: 3W 1D 3L

Sheffield Wednesday are barely staying afloat right now in the Premier League and have lost six straight in all competitions. This is a common position for them, as they've finished in 17th in two of the last three seasons. James Agbo is their leading scorer with 9 goals in 14 appearances and he's fit for this matchup. That said, their best player is fellow striker Steve Pates, a very dynamic forward who has battled injuries this year and poor form, with only 1 goal in eight appearances. They also spent 7 million pounds on French midfielder Paul Pogba, bringing him over from Wolverhampton, but with one goal in 19 games, he hasn't exactly been worth the outlay.

This is our last game in a crazy stretch and we'll have an eight day rest before our next game against Chelsea on Monday the 18th. Giorgos Gesios (injury) and Neil Cairney (suspension) will miss this affair. I'll play Gerardo Escobar up front and Mancini will play in midfield.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - J. Varga, P. Tjiuoro, C. Rodriguez, S. Loucif
M - Mancini, A. Rocca
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis
S - G. Escobar
Bench - J. Kuciak, C. Contreras, L. Craig, Mancini, C. Murray, P. Kostal, P. Simek

They are in a flat 4-4-2 with Pates up front and their leading scorer Agbo is not even on the bench. I tell the team I expect a win and pull aside Varga and Bardi ("pick up where you left off") and Escobar ("I have faith in your abilities") for personal chats. Escobar has really struggled lately and it would be great to see him pot one today.

5' - We win a corner and the ball eventually comes out to Mancini at the top of the area and his shot is just curled wide.

13' - We clear a corner but the ball comes to their striker Pates and his shot is just over the bar.

15' - Pates again gets away and dribbles all the way into our area but his low shot is just turned aside by Wilke.

22' - We seem to have most of the possession but all of the highlights are going their way. They win a corner and it's Pates again but his header is right at Wilke and he holds on.

30' - We continue to generate nothing and now Cristian Rodriguez gets a yellow for taking down Pates, who seems to be very motivated today.

37' - We move the ball up to Bardi and he streaks down the left side, his off wing. He makes it to the corner of the area and tries the left footed shot to the far post and it hits the woodwork and bounces out. Terrible angle but great effort from Bardi to make something out of nothing. Still scoreless though.

38' - Off an ensuing throw in, we send a cross into the area but no one is there. Jozef Varga comes up from his fullback position and sends the ball back to the top of the area to Mancini but his low blast is JUST wide. Great chance.

43' - Rocca and Mancini play some one-twos and Mancini gets another chance from just outside the area but their keeper makes the nice diving save and holds on. Mancini has been very active today.

HALFTIME - We're holding a 58% to 42% possession edge and have outshot them 11-6 (3-2 on target) but most of our shots are from distance. My assistant thinks I should tell them to go out there and win it for the supporters and I go along with it - I don't think that usually works for this team but we'll see. I pull Escobar (6.1 at half) and Bardi (6.5 at half) and tell them they can make the difference. I also switch to a flat 4-4-2 control to get some more penetration hopefully in their box.

46' - We kick off and move up field with Escobar. He sends it wide to Bamba near the byline and with little room, he sends a low ball back into the box. Mancini runs into it and sends a shot that deflects off Paul Herd, their central midfielder and goes into the net. Rapid response out of the dressing room and Mancini finally cashes in after many first half chances! DOVER GOAL 1-0

51' - Escobar shows speed and skill to knife through midfield and gain a step on the defenders. His hard shot is pushed aside by the Sheffield keeper.

57' - Pates has been very effective this game and again, he is able to get behind our defence and walk in alone down the left side. Thankfully Pates is forced to use his weaker foot and Wilke is able to make the fine save.

63' - Escobar makes a nice run down the left, gets to the byline and cuts back to his right foot before sending in a little lob that is headed over by the Sheffield defender. On the corner that follows, Andrea Rocca sends it to the near post and Paulus Tjiuoro is able to head it home through traffic for the much needed two-goal cushion! DOVER GOAL 2-0

71' - Petr Simek comes on for Zoltan Bardi up front.

73' - I bring in young Claudio Contreras for Cristian Rodriguez, who was yellow carded earlier in the game.

82' - Petr Simek has had at least three decent chances since coming on but continues to hog the ball and take shots from distance, nullifying the opportunities. Once again, he takes a lovely feed from Arsene Bamba and gets into the area. This time his shot is on goal and the Sheffield keeper can only deflect it away but it goes right to Gerardo Escobar and he makes no mistake putting it into the empty net. Long awaited marker from Escobar, just as I hoped in the pre-game! DOVER GOAL 3-0

89' - Tjiuoro gets hurt making a tackle and needs to come off. I move Mancini back into defence and bring on Darren Pratley for the remaining few minutes.

And that's it!

Dover 3 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday
Goals - Mancini (7.8), Paulus Tjiuoro (8.2), Gerardo Escobar (7.8)
Assists - Andrea Rocca (8.2), Arsene Bamba (7.4), Petr Simek (6.8)
Man of the Match - Paulus Tjiuoro
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.1), Salim Loucif (7.6), Cristian Rodriguez (7.1), Jozef Varga (7.3)
Attendance - 15,750 (sell-out)

Another patient, professional performance from our group, who didn't panic when we couldn't score in the first half - a little tactic change in the second half seemed to work and we were off. He held the ball for 57% of the time and outshot them by a whopping 25-8 (10-3 on target). Excellent stuff and I'm happy we're not showing complacency when playing these bottom level teams.

-- Everyone around us continues to win, including Man United, Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool below us. We hold onto third place but have a tougher slate of games coming up.

-- The injury to Paulus Tjiuoro isn't bad: he'll miss about a week after straining his neck.



Dover U18 Update

-- Our youth team has been out of action for ages but just defeated Southampton's youth club 3-2. Carlo Cerbone continues to score at will and Steve Sinnot and Gregoire Lambert also added singles in the victory.



-- DR Salim Loucif is called up by Algeria for the Africa Cup of Nations event. He ends up coming on as a substitute in a 1-1 draw versus Zambia and plays well. He will miss the Chelsea game and perhaps more as the tournament proceeds.



-- Renato Gaucho has returned to full training after missing four weeks due to fractured ribs. Thankfully, Jozef Varga has played beautifully in his place but it's great to get the talented youngster back with the club.



-- We have three players named to the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week: GK Ingo Wilke, DC Paulus Tjiuoro and ML Arsene Bamba are all honoured.



-- Ingo Wilke gets injured during a challenge in training and will miss about a week. He could be back by Monday, when we play Chelsea.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- We defeated Arsenal away 3-1 on the strength of two goals from Roberto. On loan winger Martin Prochazka scored the other goal. Hilariously, after the game, I get a call from Roberto's agent saying that "because of his emergence as a FIRST TEAM PLAYER and more pointedly, in the wake of his impressive display in the reserves game victory", he deserves a new contract. Wait a second…I almost spit my drink out in laughter! Roberto has made ONE start all year with our senior team and he was horrible. I actually contemplate it for a second because he'll be really cheap but in the end, I reject the request. Simply put, he's not good enough to play for our club and I plan on letting him go once the season ends.



-- Liverpool come calling again, this time for Arsene Bamba, offering me £12,500,000, a pretty crazy sum of money to be honest. Bamba has been sensational for us since coming over for £7 million from Metalurg, with 6 goals and 4 assists in 13 league games. I reject the deal but if Liverpool really want him, he's there for the taking, as he has a minimum release clause that is triggered for any bids just south of £15 million.

-- I have a bid that is accepted for Valencia striker David Serrano, a very technically gifted player who spent a number of years with Real Madrid's "B" team Castilla. Serrano is a 3.0/3.0 rated player but has VERY impressive attributes in a number of key categories. The bid was very modest (£1.8 million) but he's asking for a salary that would make him our highest paid player and I can't disrupt the chemistry of our team for a guy who may not even start for us. In the end, if I go for another striker, it will have to be someone that is world class.



Dover U18 Update

-- Another youth game, another youth win! Gregoire Lambert scores a hat trick and strike partner Carlo Cerbone scores the other one in a 4-0 victory over Brighton's U18s.



Transfer IN

-- I bring in ANOTHER DC and yet another Argentine. Welcome 31 year old Emir Faccioli to Dover on a £1.1 million deal with West Bromwich. Again, my hope is that the veteran (and English speaking) Faccioli will help our young star Cristian Rodriguez properly settle in Dover. Faccioli is signed through the end of next season and has decent talent (currently 3.0/3.0) but won't be a first team player with our club despite starting with West Brom.





Next Up

-- A big 3 vs. 4 tilt at home versus Chelsea, a team we've never beaten