[NoSkillz]

Sun. November 17, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Manchester United (9-2-1, 29 points, 1st) vs. Dover (8-2-2, 26 points, 3rd)
Old Trafford, Manchester, UK

Betting Odds: Manchester United: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 11-5
Past Meetings: 6W 4D 9L

We played United five times last season and went 3-2-0 against them, with two Premier League games, the League Cup final and a two-leg Champions League semi-final. They are doing well this year after two consecutive fourth place finishes in the league and they are also set to cruise into the knockout stages of the Champions League once again. Yaya Sanogo is absolutely on fire this year and already has an astonishing 26 goals across all competitions, including 15 in only 12 league games. At 31 years young, he’s on the downside of a great career but is obviously still producing at an amazing clip. You will not believe this but United spent NO MONEY AT ALL in the July transfer window - that’s right, one of the largest clubs in the world bought ZERO PLAYERS!!! Truly bizarre! The club has former Dover players Cristian Rodriguez and Said Henni, although Henni is suspended today and will miss the game.

We make only one change to our lineup after the 4-1 win over Sunderland and that’s by necessity, as Arsene Bamba is hurt and will miss the next month of action. Mads Pedersen is in at left midfield in his place. We will be playing a counter attacking style today on the road as underdogs.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - M. Pedersen, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - A. Broomes, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, B. Raab, G. Allan, Z. Bardi

United is in a flat 4-4-2 as well and Sanogo is up front alongside Tom Bull. Liviu Dragomir is in goal. I tell the team this is a winnable fixture despite the odds.

22’ - United has been the better team thus far and they take advantage. Mads Pedersen, in for Arsene Bamba, makes his second poor pass of the game and it’s intercepted. United move up the pitch and it’s Omar Hernandez taking a pass from fellow midfielder Bogdan Marinescu. Hernandez is about five yards outside the area and hits a brilliant, low and hard shot that Perez gets a piece of but not enough. It’s in and we’re behind. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 0-1

HALFTIME - We are very mistake-prone today and you can’t do that against a top club. Possession is dead even and United outshot us 11-5 (3-1 on target) - we generating very little thus far. I switch to a control mentality in hopes of opening things up a bit and I tell the team I want to see much more from each of them in the second half.

62’ - We’re playing much better here but can’t get that elusive goal. I make a double substitution, bringing in Zoltan Bardi and Benedikt Raab and taking out Andy Broomes and Neil Cairney.

89’ - We move to an overload mentality for the last few minutes (3 minutes of injury time) and also bring in Graham Allan for Gianluca Bolis.

We get a great chance on a Jose shot from just outside the area but Dragomir makes a brilliant save. That’s all - we’re barely a few months into the year and we’ve already lost more games than we did all of last season. Boy, we continue to miss Paul Moses…

Manchester United 1 - 0 Dover
Goals -
Assists -
Man of the Match - Bogdan Marinescu (Manchester United MC - 8.0)
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.0), Rayane Hamon (5.8)
Attendance - 73,408

Possession ends up dead even and shots are in United’s favour, 17-15 (6-6 on target). A better second half but Chiquinho (who has gone eight games and over ten hours without a goal), Mads Pedersen and Neil Cairney continue to disappoint. Three losses in league play already - a tough season so far without our superstar scorer up front.

-- There was only one other game on Sunday and it was Reading and Wolves battling to a 2-2 draw.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 13 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 32 points
2. Manchester City - 27 points
3. Chelsea - 26 points (after 12 games)
4. Dover - 26 points
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5. Middlesbrough - 26 points
6. Newcastle - 25 points (after 12 games)
7. Arsenal - 24 points
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International Update

-- Gaining youth caps are Eneko Remirez (Spain), Hans Briers (Belgium), Emerson (Brazil) and Felix Hernandez (France - one assist).

-- Gaining senior team caps are Jose (Brazil), [b]Lyubomir Kunchev/b] (Bulgaria), Mads Pedersen (Denmark - one goal), Saber Nasri (Tunisia), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary), Emmerson Harvey (England - one assist), Chiquinho (Belgium - one goal), Rayane Hamon (France), Neil Cairney and Graham Allan (Scotland) and Claudio Contreras (Argentina).

-- Claudio Contreras gets his first ever senior team cap for Argentina in that game! Very cool - he’s really blossomed into a top line central defender after coming here as an 18 year old. Andy Broomes didn’t get in the game for England so he is still looking for his first senior team cap.



Club World Championship?

-- I guess there is yet another perk to winning the Premier League, as I have a number of fixtures rescheduled due to us playing in the FIFA Club World Championship. Crazy.



Injury Update

-- Reserves midfielder Warren Ward returns from injury and then we lose goalkeeper Manuel Perez to a flu bug he caught while on international duty with Mexico. He’ll miss about a week. Paul Moses, Arsene Bamba and Manuel Lugo are all still a ways away from returning.



Dover Reserves Update

-- 18 year old Alberto Velazquez continues to dominate in non-competitive games, scoring two goals and adding an assist as we beat Reading’s Reserves 3-2. Velazquez is already up to 23 goals in 18 non-competitive games!



Next Up

-- Middlesbrough visit Crabble Athletic Ground for a Premier League matchup.