[NoSkillz]

Wed. October 11, 2023

Barclays Premier League
Dover (4-2-0, 14 points, 4th) vs. Newcastle (1-2-3, 5 points, 15th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Newcastle: 9-2
Past Meetings: 5W 1D 2L

Newcastle are in the Premier League for the fourth year in a row and have only spent one single season (2019/20) out of the top flight since 2009/10. They’ve finished as high as 7th twice but usually are a mid-to-bottom of the table club. They were modest spenders in the July transfer window, paying £3.5 million for 26 year old PSG midfielder Mugahid Al-Nour, their largest purchase. They spent another £7 million on three players: Jamal Comminges from Derby, Piotr Wrobel from Bursaspor and Paul Gould from Arsenal. Gould and Al-Nour are co-leaders in goals so far with 3 apiece.

We are rotating the squad a bit right now but do have a nice international break coming up. That said, I’m resting Salim Loucif for the first time this season and also will be spelling Arsene Bamba and Andrea Rocca. Paul Moses is back in the lineup at striker for Shanon Andrea and getting starts today will be Helder Cruz, Jose, Rafinha and Manuel Perez. We are big favourites today, so normal tactics and mentality.

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

Newcastle are in a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) look with Paul Gould alone up front. Jak Alnwick is in goal - he always plays us tough. Newcastle usually play pretty tight but with this formation, perhaps they’ll try to open things up a bit. My assistant tells me that there is an air of overconfidence in the room and they think they can just show up and Newcastle will roll over. I tell them I expect a win today so perhaps that will wake them up.

7’ - Contreras has it at midfield and sends a ball up to Neil Cairney. He sends a ball into the area and Paul Moses beats the Newcastle defender to it and quickly shoots low to the far corner and it’s past Alnwick and in the net. Great start! DOVER GOAL 1-0

28’ - No shots on goal. Ugh. We’re definitely playing down to these guys right now. Gianluca Bolis with a yellow card. They have a free kick just outside our area and the cross is a beauty, right to the head of Paul Gould but Perez makes the great stop!

32’ - We have possession near midfield and it’s Rafinha moving it up the right flank to Bolis. He spots Moses in the middle and our young striker cuts between two defenders, dribbles to the top of the area and shoots and Alnwick is there but can only get a piece of it and the ball is IN. How can I take Moses out of the lineup? The dude is incredible! DOVER GOAL 2-0

41’ - A nice through ball from Gould to Vince Scala and Perez is called upon to make a stellar save!

HALFTIME - It’s all Paul Moses so far. We edge them on possession, holding 52% of the ball and outshoot them 11-3 (5-1 on target). I decide to encourage the team - we want more goals. I also tell the overconfident Helder Cruz that I’m disappointed in his attitude today.

53’ - All we need to do is give it to Moses and it’s MAGIC. Cairney lays the ball off to him half way in Newcastle territory and he simply walks through four defenders and then beats Alnwick low to the right post and Moses has his hat trick. MAGNIFICENT individual effort from Moses. DOVER GOAL 3-0

Four of our guys are showing complacency right now - with Moses on the team, I guess that’s to be expected, as he’s singlehandedly winning this game for us.

64’ - With both of them showing complacency, I take out today’s captain Saber Nasri and midfielder Jose and bring in Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Emmerson Harvey.

65’ - Right after the substitution, we have a corner and it’s Paul Moses taking it. It’s cleared back to Moses by Emmerson Harvey and Moses sends it to the byline to Chiquinho. With no angle at all, Chiquinho turns and fires and it’s somehow past Alnwick and IN! Crazy! DOVER GOAL 4-0

68’ - With a big lead, we use our last sub and take out Chiquinho and bring in Zoltan Bardi.

75’ - A Moses corner is headed toward goal by Contreras but Alnwick makes the save. Emmerson Harvey follows up on the rebound but it’s booted away near the goal line by Newcastle. Harvey fouls a player right afterward and gets the yellow card.

84’ - Another corner and Moses’ cross is bobbled by Alnwick, allowing Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz to head the ball past him and into the net! Another goal from Yilmaz, his second in as many games and we hit for five once again! DOVER GOAL 5-0

We’re dominating these middle of the road teams!

Dover 5 - 0 Newcastle
Goals - Paul Moses 3 (9.8), Chiquinho (8.2), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.4)
Assists - Neil Cairney 2 (9.1), Paul Moses 2, Gianluca Bolis (8.1),
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.5), Rafinha (7.7), Claudio Contreras (8.1), Renato Gaucho (7.8), Helder Cruz (7.4)
Attendance - 18,348

We are just too much for these types of teams. We have 53% of possession and a wide 28-10 (10-2 on target) shot advantage. Moses with FIVE POINTS! On the opposite end is midfielder Jose, who has been great thus far but put up a DUD today, with a 6.1 rating. He was about to earn a permanent starting job but I can’t have him playing with complacency like he did today.

-- There was only one other Premier League game, as today was a “catch up” day and it was United knocking off Sheffield Wednesday 2-1. With the win, we vault all the way into first place!


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 7 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 17 points
2. Manchester City - 17 points
3. Manchester United - 16 points
4. Liverpool - 16 points
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5. Middlesbrough - 16 points
6. Reading - 13 points
7. Tottenham - 11 points
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Dover U18 Update

-- Pete Smith and Jim Ryan score in a 2-1 win over Swindon in Under 18 Cup 3rd Round action.



International Duty

-- Gaining caps are Hans Briers (Belgium U21 - 2 assists), Marcel Quade (Austria U21 - 1 assist), Paul Moses (England U21 - 1 goal, 2 assists), Emmerson Harvey (England U21), Steve Reed (England U21), Andy Broomes (England U21), Steven Potter (England U20), Felix Hernandez (France U19 - 1 goal), Graham Allan (Scotland - 1 goal), Neil Cairney (Scotland), Chiquinho (Belgium - 3 goals, 2 assists in two games), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary - FIVE goals in two games), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Saber Nasri (Tunisia), Lyubomir Kunchev (Bulgaria - 1 goal), Arsene Bamba (Ivory Coast), Mwemere Mutesa (Rwanda) and Giorgos Gesios (Greece).

-- The goal by Kunchev is his first international goal for Bulgaria. Congrats to Lyubomir!



Injury Update

-- Defender Rayane Hamon is close to returning to full training from his broken arm.



Dover Reserves Team Update

-- With most of our players away on international duty, we field a weaker side and draw against Fulham’s reserves 1-1. Helder Cruz scores our only goal. I’ve had Shanon Andrea with the reserves for the last two games and he hasn’t scored - if he can’t score for the reserves, he won’t be playing on the senior team. It’s been a shockingly bad start to the season for Andrea - he’s only 27 so I can’t quite understand what’s going on but it may simply be just a slump.



Next Up

-- We’re on the road, heading to Wolverhampton to face Wolves in Premier League play.