[NoSkillz]

Sat. January 8, 2022

Barclays Premier League
Dover (11-6-4, 39 points, 4th) vs. Wolves (6-3-12, 21 points, 16th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Wolves: 7-2
Past Meetings: 4W 1D 1L

We are comfortable favourites against Wolves, who are faring just fine in their return to top flight English football. We were held to a scoreless draw in Wolverhampton earlier in the year and they have also reached the League Cup Semi Finals against Sunderland. Striker Emanuele Testardi is their top scorer with 7 goals in 23 games - they play a defensive style and don't score too many goals.

With Shanon Andrea on the shelf long-term, Giorgos Gesios is back in the spotlight and will need to continue his recent good form in Andrea's absence. We'll go with a 4-2-3-1 formation, something that has been successful for us at home recently and we have a full lineup going today. Andrea Rocca will start for the first time since returning from his month-long injury.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios
Bench - J. Varga, J. Kuciak, P. Tjiuoro, Mancini, A. Zubizarreta, C. Murray, P. Moses

Wolves come out in a very defensive 4-2-2-2 formation with 2 DMC's. Leading scorer Testardi is on the bench and they have Stefano Zeno and Steven Fletcher up front. I tell the team this is a winnable game in the dressing room.

12' - No highlights until now as we must be having difficulty breaking down their defensive formation. Bardi sends a nice through ball to Bamba and his shot is turned aside by Wayne Hennessey, the Wolves keeper.

15' - Fletcher turns on Rayane Hamon at the top of the area and unleashes a blast that is stopped by Wilke.

36' - Man there is nothing happening. We get a ball into Gesios at the edge of the area, he pivots and shoots and Hennessey can only turn the ball behind the net on his rocket of a shot. We get a corner and Bolis runs onto Rocca's cross but the header is blocked behind the net again. The second corner is headed wide by Hamon.

45'+1 - We get a free kick from just outside the area and Rocca curls a blast around the wall and off the goal post! Man!

45'+4 - There were only supposed to be two minutes of injury time but here we are with Wolves having a corner. The cross comes in and Neil Cairney is called for a foul in the area. That's a PENALTY. Steven Fletcher takes the kick and Wilke goes the wrong way and it's in the net for the shocking goal. Oh boy. WOLVES GOAL 0-1

HALFTIME - We hold 52% of the ball and outshoot them 11-3 (4-2). This is a team we can't lose to, especially at home. I change to a flat 4-4-2 control mentality and tell the team that they're letting each other down and that our pride is at stake!

48' - Rocca has a free kick from distance and the goalkeeper has to make a great save on the curling blast.

61' - NOTHING!!! My god, why can't we break this team down?!?!?!

73' - Off a free kick at midfield we work it up to Bardi, he cuts through the D and fires but Hennessey is there once again.

We move to an overload system.

86' - We're piling on pressure but they have so many guys back. Rocca gets a great shot from the edge of the area but it's blocked aside by Hennessey behind the net. We get a corner and Rocca's cross is HEADED INTO THE NET BY BARDI!!! Wow! DOVER GOAL 1-1

I made a change just before the goal to move to a three striker formation, with Paul Moses coming on for Claudio Contreras. We'll stick with it and see what we can do, putting us in a 3-4-3 formation.

No highlights the rest of the way. We're fortunate to escape with a draw against a bottom dweller.

Dover 1 - 1 Wolves
Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.4)
Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.2)
Man of the Match - Gueida Fofana (Wolves DM - 7.8)
Other Dover Notables - Rayane Hamon (7.0), Neil Cairney (5.6)
Attendance - 13,328

Cairney gets the obvious blame for the penalty kick goal against and his rating suffers. We hold 54% of possession and outshot them 21-5 (9-2 on target). We just couldn't get the ball into the net and it's looking like we're REALLY going to miss Shanon Andrea's goal scoring touch.

-- In other action, Man City shockingly lose a second straight game, this time to Arsenal 1-0. United win big over Sheffield Wednesday so they're only a point back now. Liverpool could only manage a scoreless draw against league cellar dwellers Derby County so we stay in fourth place although Arsenal are now nipping at our heels.



Transfer Window Fun

-- HSV bid £9.5 million on our vice-captain Salim Loucif and I immediately reject it. Loucif has a £15 million release clause so if they want him, they know what to bid.

-- Juventus and Liverpool both make formal offers for Giorgos Gesios, with Liverpool offering about £12.5 million and Juventus approximately £14.5 million. Both are rejected - if I had Shanon Andrea healthy, I'd CONSIDER moving Gesios for the right price but that price would be closer to 20 million.

-- Man City offer me £10 million for Rayane Hamon and Chelsea bid £8 million on Arsene Bamba. Rejected and rejected. Go away - like I'd sell my top players to my rivals…who do you think I am? Arsene Wenger?



Dover U18 Update

-- Pete Smith, Gregoire Lambert, Eddie Robinson score and we also benefit from an own goal as our U18s wallop Wycombe 4-0.



Next Up

-- We have a big game at Crabble, hosting third placed Liverpool in Barclays Premier League action.