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Old 03-29-2014, 11:05 PM   #307
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Tue. November 1, 2022

UEFA Champions League - Group B
Sevilla (2-0-1, 6 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (3-0-0, 9 points, 1st)
Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Sevilla, Spain

Betting Odds: Sevilla: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 3-1
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 0L

We beat Sevilla 3-0 at home two weeks ago but I am guessing this will be our toughest group stage matchup. That said, with a 3-0-0 record, this isn't a must-win by any means and we will put a few backups in today just to keep our squad fresh for our league match this weekend. Said Henni will start up front with Chiquinho. Graham Allan will get the call today at right midfield and Shaun Spall will play MC. Kostas Zagos will play right fullback and Salim Loucif will play in central defence with Claudio Contreras. Manuel Perez, who has been excellent so far this year, will play goal.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - M. Perez
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Loucif, K. Zagos
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, S. Spall, G. Allan
S - S. Henni, Chiquinho
Bench - C. Guzman, D. Traore, G. Fanfoni, G. Bolis, Z. Bardi, W. Rooney, P. Moses

Sevilla are in a 4-4-2 diamond formation. Emmanuel Asamoah and Mahatma Otoo are up front and Juan Nsue is in goal. I tell the team they can win today and pull aside Spall, Bamba and Allan to say I have faith in their abilities.

14' - It's ALL Sevilla right now. They are simply dominating possession. No great chances yet, thankfully.

25' - The first great chance comes form the foot of Asamoah, as he speeds in past Loucif and Contreras but his low, hard blast is saved by Perez.

28' - We cough the ball up deep in their end and for some reason, Salim Loucif is way up on the play and completely out of position as Sevilla storm down the field. It's Otoo sent in on a full breakaway and he shoots just as Contreras gets back and Perez makes the great stop!

35' - Chiquinho takes down a man unnecessarily and is given a yellow. He'll miss our next Champions League match for yellow card accumulation.

HALFTIME - Sevilla are in complete control here - they held 51% of possession and outshot us 13-6 (6-0 on target). Henni has been pathetic up front and Graham Allan no better, as we're generating nothing. With little to lose, I'm going to switch to a control mentality in the second half. My assistant wants to use the subtle approach and say we're pleased to be level so I do that while switching the tactics but also pull aside Henni ("I have faith in you") and Chiquinho and Zagos ("Prove a point out there").

55' - A better start to the half as we have some possession but no shots on target still. Sevilla have it deep in our end and Contreras brings down Asamoah just outside the box and he's given a yellow.

64' - Asamoah again avoids a tackle from Contreras and walks right in but Perez is up to the task.

65' - I take out Chiquinho and bring in Paul Moses. We need offense and still don't have one shot on target.

69' - Contreras continues to get skinned by Asamoah and Perez is forced to make another brilliant stop. Geez.

71' - Kostas Zagos with the yellow card now. I immediately take out Zagos and bring in Daniel Traore, moving Loucif back to his natural right fullback position.

85' - And topping off a wonderfully pathetic performance, their cultured midfielder Javier Pastore back heels a beauty into our area and there is Asamoah and he finally is able to beat poor Manual Perez, who has gotten ZERO support today and Sevilla deservedly have their lead. SEVILLA GOAL 0-1

We bring in Wayne Rooney for the completely invisible Said Henni and move to an Overload mentality.

87' - Perfect. Arsene Bamba gets hurt and needs to come off. We're down to ten men and we can NOT afford to lose another midfielder.

Horrible performance.

Sevilla 1 - 0 Dover
Goals -
Assists -
Man of the Match - Octavio Hernandez (Sevilla MC - 8.6)
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.2)
Attendance - 43,343

Pure domination for Sevilla, as they hold 55% of possession and a 22-9 (10-0 on target) shot advantage. ZERO shots on goal - I'm not sure if that's ever happened to us at any level. I tell the team I'm supremely disappointed in their efforts. Our lack of depth at MC and MR is showing - I can't believe how bad Graham Allan has played for us so far - I thought he'd be a huge upgrade as a backup for Gianluca Bolis but he's having great difficulty settling in…or he simply isn't as good as I thought he was. Perez was sensational for us in goal but only got a 6.8 for some reason.

-- Thankfully, Arsene Bamba's injury isn't bad - he'll miss a week or so with a bruised rib.

-- In other Champions League action, Porto destroy Slovan Bratislava 5-0 so they are still alive in our group. They'll need to beat us and likely beat Sevilla to have a true chance but that huge win (and away no less) will help their cause tremendously. In Group A, Olympique Lyonnais win 3-1 over AaB and Anderlecht win 3-0 over Dortmund. In Group C, Man United cruise over Galatasaray 4-1 and Panathinaikos and Celtic battle to a scoreless draw. In Group D, Barcelona and AZ draw 2-2 in a bit of a surprise while Palermo throttle Dinamo 5-0.

-- The next night, in Group E, Real Madrid toppled CSKA Moscow 3-0 and OM walloped Grasshoppers 5-0. In Group F, Benfica beat Le Mans FC 4-2 and Man City held off Hoffenheim 1-0. In Group G, FC Bayern won 3-0 over Shakhtar and Sampdoria won 2-1 over Fenerbahce while in Group F, Atletico Madrid wins 3-1 over Fiorentina and Liverpool beat up on Partizan 3-0.



Dover Reserves Team Update

-- Paul Moses continues to tear it up for our reserves, scoring two goals and assisting on two others in a 4-2 win over Chelsea's reserves. Jonathan Gauthier and Lyubomir Kunchev (on a penalty) scored the other goals.



Injury Update

-- Andrea Rocca returns to full training. Hopefully he'll be ready for our midweek game against Arsenal but at worst he should be good to go for next weekend against Newcastle.



Next Up

-- We hope to break our losing streak against Liverpool, who are struggling a bit to start in Premier League play.

Last edited by NoSkillz : 03-29-2014 at 11:07 PM.
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