[NoSkillz]

Wed. February 3, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Sunderland (8-5-12, 29 points, 14th) vs. Dover (16-3-6, 51 points, 3rd)
The Stadium of Light, Sunderland, UK

Betting Odds: Sunderland: 11-5 Draw: 11-5 Dover: Evens (Favourite)
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 4L

Sunderland were last on the table when we met them early in the season and they stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to beat us 3-2 at Crabble Athletic Ground, an embarrassing result. They've recovered somewhat and are back into a relatively safe, mid-table position. They're a team to be respected, with a number of fine players: leading scorer Ben Sahar, their veteran striker, has 12 goals while strike partner Craig Flett has 7. Their best player is midfielder Matt Barber, like our own Neil Cairney, a former wonderkid. He was clinical in our last game as he almost singlehandedly willed his team to a win.

I'm going to play a flat 4-4-2 control in this game, going away from the single striker formation that has done so well for us over the past couple of months. I think we can match up well against Sunderland on a man to man basis and they usually play a flat 4-4-2 as well. I'll be careful in this game, as we have another contest in only three days against Liverpool but I will start our best eleven for this one, with Ingo Wilke back in goal. DR Salim Loucif is tired after just returning from International duty so he'll be on the bench tonight.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak
M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi
Bench - O. Nicholas, J. Varga, S. Loucif, D. Pratley, L. Craig, P. Kostal, G. Escobar

As expected, Sunderland are in a flat 4-4-2 as well. Sahar and Danny Welbeck are both on the bench and Craig Flett isn't even dressed. Former Dover player George MacKenzie, who played for us on loan from Chelsea a few years ago, will line up alongside Matt Barber in the midfield for Sunderland. I tell the players they can win this game and pull aside Gesios and Rocca ("pick up where you left off") and Bardi ("I have faith") for individual chats.

3' - Neil Cairney gets the ball at midfield and sends a nice through ball to Zoltan Bardi. Bardi is late getting to it and it's tackled away but right on the foot of Cairney. He dribbles back in, through the defence and gets a low, hard shot on net but it's saved by Sam Cowler, the Sunderland keeper and cleared away.

8' - They have a throw in down our right flank and it's sent in to the excellent Matt Barber. He quickly turns and feeds a ball in that deflects off one of our defenders and reaches their striker, Russell Mitchell and he puts the ball into the back of the net. However, the assistant's flag is up! Offsides! Whew!

18' - Sunderland seems to be dominating possession right now but we catch a little break as we move up the field. Zoltan Bardi cuts in from the right sideline and feeds Giorgos Gesios but his quick shot is way wide.

26' - It's Barber again, this time with a cross into the area and Wilke has to make a fine diving save on a header from Mitchell.

44' - There's a long period between highlights and it's Mitchell again, sent through all alone and Wilke makes another sprawling save.

HALFTIME - Sunderland again has shown up to play against us. They are playing much faster than us, owning 57% of the ball and outshooting us 7-5 (3-3 on target). I decide to change to a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) formation with the control philosophy and reinforce that the team can win this game. Ben Sahar is on at half for Sunderland in place of Mitchell, a surprising move since Mitchell was pretty effective in the first half.

46' - In a goal VERY reminiscent of the one we scored in injury time last game, Zoltan Bardi takes a pass from Bamba and streaks into the left side of the Sunderland box. He reaches the byline and sends a low ball into the centre and who is there but Giorgos Gesios, this time staying on his feet to strike it home. Fantastic response from the dressing room and a goal right off the opening kick off! DOVER GOAL 1-0

50' - We start a quick counter attack and it's Bolis running down the right side, eluding a tackle and we have numbers heading to the net. Bolis sends a high cross over the head of Gesios but it meets the head of Bamba. Unfortunately he directs it just wide. GREAT chance there and we should have done better with that one.

I give a "retain possession" shout around the 57' mark.

70' - Salim Loucif is brought on for Jozef Kuciak and I change to a flat 4-4-2 Counter attacking formation.

72' - We win a free kick just outside the area and Andrea Rocca sends one of his trademark, curling blasts towards the far corner but it screams just wide.

75' - We gain possession and start moving the ball around nicely. A ball is sent to the middle of the field to Rocca and former Dover player George MacKenzie screams towards him and delivers a horror tackle right in front of the referee. Rocca goes down like a ton of bricks and MacKenzie is given the straight RED CARD! Sunderland is down to ten men.

76' - Gerardo Escobar is on for Zoltan Bardi.

79' - We send a long ball up field and Escobar wins a tackle with their last man and has a partial break. He has to shoot with his weaker left foot and it just goes wide!

82' - Bamba has the ball after a pass from Renato Gaucho and he dribbles halfway into Sunderland's end of the field. He spots Rocca streaking down the middle of the field and delivers a pinpoint pass to him in the box. Rocca latches onto it without breaking stride and delivers a low ROCKET into the net that the keeper can't even think about stopping. Glorious! DOVER GOAL 2-0

84' - I take off Rocca and bring in our captain Darren Pratley. Sunderland are in a 4-1-4 formation (!!)

85' - Sunderland work the ball up field on a counter attack and Ben Sahar, their leading scorer, has a half step on Tjiuoro. He gets a quick shot off but Wilke turns it aside before Renato Gaucho kicks it behind the net. We clear the corner with ease.

We have a couple corners on both sides but otherwise we close things out with efficiency.

Sunderland 0 - 2 Dover
Goals - Giorgos Gesios (7.6), Andrea Rocca (7.7)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (7.1), Zoltan Bardi (7.3)
Man of the Match - Jamie Holt (Sunderland DC - 7.8)
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Jozef Kuciak (7.0), Claudio Contreras (7.1), Renato Gaucho (7.2), Neil Cairney (7.3)
Attendance - 31,411

We had a much better second half but their red card certainly didn't hurt our chances. They won the possession battle 54% to 46% but we outshot them on the game 13-9 (7-4 on target). Their centre halfback Jamie Holt was the homers choice as man of the match in a 2-0 loss? Can't say I've seen that before. We extend our unbeaten streak to seven games with this win.

-- After the game, star midfielder Andrea Rocca expresses displeasure with his contract. Boy, everyone is piling on at the same time. I tell him he's being unprofessional and he apologizes. I'll need to start looking at these contracts soon...

-- There are a couple of good results for us on Wednesday in other action: Liverpool loses at home to Reading and United knocks off Arsenal 4-1 so we now are 12 points up on 5th place and have a firm grasp on a Champions League slot. Chelsea beat up on Villa so they continue to stay level on points with us.



-- A young midfielder that I picked up in June from PSG named Jonathan Gauthier sees his loan contract run out with Brighton and they return him to us. He notched one assist in 11 games with Brighton. I offer him around to other clubs in hopes of extending his loan and I get no takers. Damn - to the reserves he goes. Gauthier isn't in my plans - hopefully I can move him for a few bucks at some point.



-- Seven of our players are getting called up for international duty: Carlo Cerbone to Italy's U19s, Thomas Andersen to Denmark's U21s, Emmanuel Agbo to England's U21s, Paulus Tjiuoro to Namibia, Oliver Nicholas to Eritrea, Zoltan Bardi to Hungary and Lukasz Fabianski to Poland. I instruct the managers of Namibia and Hungary to only play Tjiuoro and Bardi for a half at most, as we have a match against Man United only three days after their friendlies.



Next Up

-- A big home match against Liverpool on Saturday