[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 19, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (4-1-2, 13 points, 6th) vs. Blackpool (0-2-5, 2 points, 20th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Blackpool: 10-1
Past Meetings: 4W 0D 0L

We have a perfect record against Blackpool, who were promoted to the Premier League last year and avoided the drop by a single point. At this point, I’d likely tip them for the drop, as their early season schedule hasn’t been that bad but they are winless in their first seven. 30 year old Greek striker Lazaros Sentementes has led the team in goal scoring for five consecutive years and has 5 already this year. Blackpool actually spent a decent amount of money in July, dishing out £19.5 million on 12 players, with Giresunspor’s Kassim Abdallah commanding £4.2 million of that. The 29 year old Tanzanian has been ever-present at right fullback for Blackpool so far.

We are in desperate need of a win here to get back on track in the league and we are huge favourites today. We have a mid-week Champions League game at home against Palermo so I’ll be playing a few of our regular backups today to ensure we’re fresh for that contest. Up front, I’ve moved Chiquinho into our advanced forward role, something he rarely plays for us. Andy Broomes returns from injury and will play to his right. In midfield, Mads Pedersen starts on the left side and Neil Cairney is back in the starting lineup as well. On defence, Rayane Hamon returns after missing one game due to injury and also starting is Emerson on the right side. Saber Nasri will wear the captain’s armband today, as we give Salim Loucif the night off. Also resting today is Claudio Contreras. We’ll give Manuel Perez another chance in goal - he’s been very average this year but I noticed he FINALLY has started to gain basic knowledge of English. Back to a control mentality as favourites today.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, S. Nasri, R. Hamon, Emerson
M - M. Pedersen, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - Chiquinho, A. Broomes
Bench - Rafinha, M. Mutesa, E. Harvey, B. Raab, L. Kunchev, A. Bamba, P. Secchi

Eww. Blackpool are in a very defensive 4–2-1-2-1 look, with two defensive central midfielders, two wide attacking midfielders and a lone striker in Sentementes. Nathan Potter is their goalkeeper. It’s frustrating to see guys like Benedikt Raab looking overconfident in warmups - he’s on the bench today but that’s ridiculous. No fooling around today - I expect a win and I tell the players as much in the pre-game team talk.

20’ - Blackpool with a goal kick and Renato Gaucho heads the ball back over the defence and Chiquinho latches onto it. His speed is too much and he’s able to gain an angle on Potter and slot the ball just into the corner of the net. Good start. DOVER GOAL 1-0

HALFTIME - Dull half, as Blackpool are keeping everyone back and we’re having trouble breaking them down. We DOMINATE the half, with 68% of possession and outshoot them 13-0 (3-0 on target). Like I said, they had no intention of moving forward at all. We need to be careful here but I encourage the players to keep pushing.

64’ - We simply can’t break them down right now. I take out Neil Cairney, who has been VERY disappointing this year and bring in Benedikt Raab.

77’ - We complete a GORGEOUS pass play, with Chiquinho firing a great pass into the box from the left flank to Gianluca Bolis and he makes a move and puts the ball past Potter and IN. But wait…offsides? That’s a WOEFUL call. We aren’t catching ANY breaks right now. No goal.

90’ - We take out Jose and bring in Emmerson Harvey.

Man. That’s just ugly.

Dover 1 - 0 Blackpool
Goals - Chiquinho (7.6)
Assists - Renato Gaucho (7.5)
Man of the Match - Chiquinho
Other Dover Notables - Emerson (7.1), Rayane Hamon (7.4), Saber Nasri (7.2)
Attendance - 22,247

Well, we should be smoking a team like Blackpool but it’s becoming painfully obvious that the loss of Paul Moses to injury is almost impossible to overcome. Blackpool never even tried to venture forward and we completely skunked them on the stat page, with us holding 68% of the ball and an outrageous 29-0 (5-0 on target) shot advantage. We just couldn’t break down their 10 man defence and shots on goal were almost impossible to come by. I continue to be very disappointed with Neil Cairney.

-- United and Sunderland battle to a draw as do division leaders Arsenal and Huddersfield. Middlesbrough are shocked at home by Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle continue their fine play with a convincing win over Derby. City and Chelsea also win.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 8 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Arsenal - 20 points
2. Chelsea - 19 points
3. Manchester United - 19 points
4. Middlesbrough - 18 points
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5. Newcastle - 17 points
6. Dover - 16 points
7. Manchester City - 14 points
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Pedersen Unhappy

-- In a definite first, I get a note that newcomer Mads Pedersen is unhappy and wants to talk to me about my team talks. Now this should be interesting! In the Blackpool game, I demanded a win prior to the game, encouraged the team at half then told them the result wasn’t good enough afterwards. So I tell him I have no concerns about my team talks, nor should he and his retort is priceless - “I think you’re in denial about your man management skills”. Haha. I look for the option about winning multiple trophies and a Champions League title but that’s not available to me and I hold my breath before telling him he’s being unprofessional. Thankfully, he backs off. Then, hilariously, the press brings it up in the ensuing press conference, asking “will you be delegating that responsibility to a more inspirational speaker?”. God, I love this game!



Dover U18 Update

-- James Campbell scores two goals and we get singles from Joshua Stokes, Neil Evans, Robert Hoffmann and Felix Hernandez in a convincing 6-1 win over Southampton in U18 play. Stuart Cousins notched two assists coming off the bench in the win.



Dover Injury Update

-- Zoltan Bardi (dislocated shoulder) will be returning to full training soon, thankfully. Graham Allan (fractured arm) is a few weeks from returning while Paul Moses and Manuel Lugo are both months away.



Champions League Update

-- In Group E action, Spurs, despite being a number four seed, have taken the lead in a group with Barcelona, HSV and Panathinaikos. Crazy! Sevilla and Sampdoria are on top in Group F so far, United and Porto lead the way in Group G and OL and Shakhtar are ahead in Group H as expected.



Injury Update

-- Zoltan Bardi returns to full training after eight weeks on the sidelines with a dislocated shoulder. He’ll need lots of time to get back into game shape.



Next Up

-- We are slight favourites as we welcome Italian club Palermo to Crabble Athletic Ground in Group C Champions League action.