[NoSkillz]

Wed. October 1, 2025

UEFA Champions League - Group D
Maribor (0-0-1, 0 points, 4th) vs. Dover (0-0-1, 0 points, 3rd)
Ljudski vrt, Maribor, Slovenia

Betting Odds: Maribor: 7-2 Draw: 9-4 Dover: 4-6 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

NK Maribor are a Slovenian side and this is the first time in their history that they’ve made it to the group stages, a victory in itself. The club’s value is £14 million and their highest valued player is 19 year old midfielder Ivica Zelenbaba, who is worth £210,000. They have a dangerous striker named Gjergi Xhaka, who has 9 goals in as many games. Still, this side has the quality of a Conference Premier team or maybe a League 2 side at best. We need to smoke them - they’ve already lost 6-0 to Spartak Moscow in their first group game.

I’m taking nothing for granted and will start as full a lineup as possible. Claudio Contreras still has two games to serve on a three game suspension so he will be replaced by Mwemere Mutesa today. I also call up 18 year old midfielder Juan Jose Culebras for the bench, as I’m short central midfielders with the injury to Emmerson Harvey and the ineligibility of Paolo Secchi.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, M. Mutesa, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - M. Pedersen, B. Raab, Jose, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, R. Lopez, A. Torres, J. Culebras, N. Cairney, Z. Bardi, M. Lugo

Maribor are in a flat 4-4-2 with Xhaka up front with Ivica Sabic. Dzenan Hadzic is their keeper. We need to score a bunch today to make up some of the eight goal deficit to Spartak Moscow - lets do this!

18’ - We are dominating, as expected but simply can’t get the ball into the net. Maribor now have possession in our end for the first time in the highlights and Gianluca Bolis shoves a guy down in our area. That’s a PENALTY! Up steps Alen Lukic and he puts the ball past Wilke and IN. OH MY GOD. MARIBOR GOAL 0-1

30’ - This Maribor goalkeeper is phenomenal today and making countless HUGE saves but we FINALLY break through, as Renato Gaucho sends a long, high cross into the area and heading it in for the second game in a row is Gianluca Bolis, making up for his idiotic penalty shove. We pull level. DOVER GOAL 1-1

34’ - We are just sending everyone forward and Chiquinho heads a little ball to Moses, who then splits the D, dribbles in and shoots low into the far corner. Ahh…we can breathe a bit. DOVER GOAL 2-1

42’ - We have a corner and Benedikt Raab’s cross is to the near post and Chiquinho. He heads it to the far post and Mwemere Mutesa finally heads it into the net. A bit of a cushion now. DOVER GOAL 3-1

HALFTIME - Well, at least we’re past the nervous stage and can just try to score more goals now. It’s all Dover: 66% possession and a 23-1 (10-1 on target) shot advantage. I encourage the players in the room at half.

71’ - UGH. We just can’t beat this keeper. Chiquinho and Benedikt Raab both have yellow cards and I pull them both out of the game in favour of Zoltan Bardi and Neil Cairney.

76’ - Seconds after Paul Moses TWICE hits the crossbar, we get another chance as our two subs hook up. Cairney feeds Bardi and with his back to the goal, he turns and fires a rocket into the top corner. Bardi is simply Mr. Reliable. DOVER GOAL 4-1

We played very well but just couldn’t score enough.

Maribor 1 - 4 Dover
Goals - Gianluca Bolis (8.0), Paul Moses (8.6), Mwemere Mutesa (8.5), Zoltan Bardi (7.3)
Assists - Chiquinho 2 (7.6), Renato Gaucho (8.1), Neil Cairney (6.9)
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.2), Rayane Hamon (7.2), Jose (7.2), Mads Pedersen (7.1)
Attendance - 11,573

We just didn’t have luck on our side, as we hit the woodwork FIVE TIMES, outshot them 42-3 (17 shots on target!!) and held 61% of possession.

-- Making matters worse, Real Madrid and Spartak Moscow battle to a scoreless draw, so we remain in third spot in our group.

-- We earn £696k for the victory.



October Update

-- We continue to have a relatively light schedule as we head into October, with three Premier League matches: Sheffield United (away), Newcastle (home) and Manchester United (away). In addition to the game we just played today against Maribor, we also have a huge Champions League clash against Spartak Moscow at home and a League Cup matchup at home against Leeds at the end of the month. So six total matches.

-- Training is going well at the club and I get positive notices for Paul Moses, Mads Pedersen and Adrian Torres, along with positive notices for U18 players Domenico Fracassetti, Fernando Estrada and Eneko Remirez[/b]. No negative notices this month!



Premier League Awards for September

-- Tottenham’s Jean Junior is named Barclays Premier League player of the month and Claudio Contreras finishes third.

-- For the second consecutive month, Rafinha is named Young Player of the Month.

-- Andy Broomes is awarded with the goal of the month for his stunner against Chelsea while Paul Moses finishes with the second best goal for his magnificent hat trick goal against Hull.

-- Jose Mourinho wins Manager of the Month honours for Manchester City while I finish in second for the month after winning in August.



International Update

-- Luis Miguel Garcia and Fernando Estrada both play well for Mexico in the U20 World Cup, as does Michel Benard for France.



Board Confidence Update

-- The board continue to be very pleased with my overall leadership. Our “amazing” stature increase is the main positive while they are slightly disappointed with the departure of Andrea Rocca.

-- We record a loss of £2.77 million for the month.



Next Up

-- We are on the road to Sheffield to face United in Premier League play.