[NoSkillz]

Wed. January 4, 2023

Barclays Premier League
Dover (15-2-3, 47 points, 2nd) vs. Sunderland (10-5-5, 35 points, 7th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Sunderland: 11-5
Past Meetings: 4W 1D 4L

Sunderland are on a great run of form right now and have moved all the way up to 7th on the table after going five games without a loss in the Premier League. Craig Flett continues to be their danger man up front with 10 goals in 22 matches and excellent midfielder Matt Barber has 6 goals in 23 appearances.

We will greatly miss Shanon Andrea today, as he serves a one game suspension for his two yellow cards and subsequent sending off in our last match. Said Henni, currently considering contract offers from our club and Manchester United, will start up front with Chiquinho. Shaun Spall will play alongside Neil Cairney in midfield.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, S. Spall, G. Bolis
S - S. Henni, Chiquinho
Bench - M. Yilmaz, K. Zagos, G. Fanfoni, E. Harvey, G. Allan, Z. Bardi, P. Moses

Sunderland line up in a flat 4-4-2 as well, with Flett and Lucas Alba up front, Barber in midfield and Sam Cowler in goal. Lets play well for the supporters!

1' - I don't even know what to say anymore. We have the opening kick and Said Henni dribbles immediately up field, sends a lovely ball to Chiquinho and from 25 yards, he strikes the ball with FURY and it's past Cowler and IN! That took all of 13 SECONDS!!! WOW! DOVER GOAL 1-0

2' - The last game we played against Sunderland was very physical and featured 10 yellows. We're off to a fine start, as Rayane Hamon tugs on Flett's jersey and gets an early yellow.

16' - Things calm down for a stretch until Henni sends another lovely touch to Chiquinho but his shot this time is weak and right at Cowler. Easy stop.

18' - A cleared cross is right on the foot of Cairney but his bullet from distance is again right at a well-positioned Cowler.

20' - Henni takes a poor clearance and streaks through the defence but Cowler makes a great save to keep Sunderland within a goal.

29' - Hamon is hurt on a challenge from Craig Flett and needs to come off. Wonderful. I bring in Kostas Zagos and move him to right fullback, bringing Salim Loucif into the middle.

32' - Said Henni gets another chance after some back and forth play but it's a weak left footed effort and Cowler makes the stop.

44' - On Sunderland's first real chance of the game, Alba feeds the lethal Craig Flett at the edge of the area and he takes one step before firing low past Wilke and it's in. Sunderland draw level late in the half. SUNDERLAND GOAL 1-1

HALFTIME - Weird half, as Sunderland somehow have a 52% possession edge but we outshot them 8-6 (6-1 on target). We thought it would be easy after the first minute goal but we need to get focused. I have the option to say "You're outplaying them everywhere" and my coach wants to go with that. Come on guys!

51' - Chiquinho with a glorious through ball to Henni but our in-demand striker hits the goal post! Ugh!

56' - Henni AGAIN is sent in nicely by Chiquinho but Cowler is there for the save.

63' - I take out Henni and bring in Paul Moses.

64' - Geez. Salim Loucif takes a man down JUST OUTSIDE the area and gets a yellow. I thought for sure that was a penalty. They do nothing with the free kick.

70' - I take out Shaun Spall and bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni.

80' - Sunderland have been controlling the play and are slowing things down in an attempt to get a result here.

81' - Great chance, as Chiquinho passes to Moses and he bursts into the area through the defence but Cowler alertly speeds out and grabs the ball just as Moses is about to shoot.

88' - Another great chance sees Moses send a shot to the far corner but the excellent Cowler dives full out to make the save. The rebound is to Bolis and he is tackled and the ball is about to go in the net but Cowler recovers just in time!!!

89' - I'm going to have a heart attack, as Bolis feeds Chiquinho and from way out, he rifles a shot off the crossbar!

90'+1 - Annnnd. It gets worse. We win a corner and Bamba's cross is headed toward goal by Contreras then headed again into the net by Paul Moses! But wait…a FOUL?!?! He didn't touch anyone?!!! This is ridiculous. No goal. They show a replay and even the announcers say it looks like a valid goal. TERRIBLE CALL.

90'+3 - Moses gets another chance and his rocket is saved again by Cowler, who has to be the man of the match today.

We were robbed.

Dover 1 - 1 Sunderland
Goals - Chiquinho (7.3)
Assists - Said Henni (6.7)
Man of the Match - Lucas Alba (Sunderland ST - 7.5)
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.2), Renato Gaucho (7.2)
Attendance - 17,865

Possession was dead even but we outshot them by a wide margin, 20-13 (10-1). Alba is inexplicably the man of the match. I sympathize with the team in the room after the game. Tough draw. We deserved better.

-- AANND. We are officially FUCKED. Rayane Hamon picks up the same injury as Andrea Rocca, sustaining a serious hip injury. He will miss about two months of action. Hamon is easily our best defender and we are now down to TWO central defenders and both are just KIDS in Claudio Contreras and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. Salim Loucif can also play DC in a pinch so we'll likely rely on him as well and we have a kid on the U18 squad who is a great prospect in Rwanda international Mwemere Mutesa

-- Chiquinho's goal sets a new Dover record for fastest goal to start a game at only 13 seconds - the old record holder was Kofi Poyser back in January 2011 at 22 seconds!

-- We do get some help around the league. Chelsea continue to roll, beating Newcastle but Wolves somehow manage a draw against United. Arsenal and Man City also win while Derby hold Sheffield Wednesday to a draw.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 21 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Chelsea - 53 points
2. Dover - 48 points
3. Manchester United - 47 points
4. Manchester City - 43 points
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5. Sheffield Wednesday - 42 points
6. Arsenal - 42 points
7. Sunderland - 36 points
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Transfer Market

-- I have a 27 year old Brazilian DC sign a contract with us on a free but he will need a work permit. Unfortunately, my scouts feel it won't be granted to us but there have been at least two instances where I was able to defy the odds in similar circumstances. We'll hope for the best - he's got a continental reputation and will give us some much needed cover in the middle of our defence while Rayane Hamon and Daniel Traore recover from their injuries.



Transfer OUT

-- Well, that didn't take long. New summer signing Said Henni rejects our contract offer and accepts the deal from Manchester United and he departs after just a few short months with our club in a £15,500,000 transfer deal, a number that matched his minimum release clause. Henni had 5 goals and 5 assists in 21 appearances (14 starts) after coming over from Anderlecht, the same club we purchased Chiquinho from. This is a tough loss but he wasn't a regular starter for us so we can take this money and use it to bring in a backup left midfielder while also guaranteeing that we'll be making an offer soon on Paul Moses just to fuck United over for stealing Henni from us!



Major Contract Extension Announced

-- We won't have the same thing happen to Chiquinho, as he accepts our contract extension offer. He gets a very modest bump in pay (£3K per week, now up to £84K/week) but we get an extra year on the deal (now expires at the end of 2027 season) AND increase the minimum release clause to £31.5 million.



Next Up

-- After five consecutive home matches, we head to the road to Huddersfield in Premier League play.