Wed. January 18, 2023
Barclays Premier League
Tottenham (8-7-8, 31 points, 11th) vs. Dover (16-4-3, 52 points, 2nd)
White Hart Lane, London, UK
Betting Odds: Tottenham: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 7-4
Past Meetings: 5W 3D 2L
The Spurs are struggling immensely this year and that is likely causing a lot of stress in London, as their new oil tycoon owner has spent over £87 MILLION on new players to only sit 11th on the table. They just picked up midfielder Junior from Man City for £23 million in the past week and he could make his debut today. This is an aging club desperate for goal scoring and for a club used to high flying football, it's an absolute SHOCK to see that their leading scorer, striker Daniel Pacheco, has only FIVE goals. Another big offseason signing was former Dover striker Gerardo Escobar and he has four goals in 18 games. Knowing that he usually struggles when attention is placed on him, I singled out Escobar in my pre-match presser and he's evidently feeling pressure. We beat Spurs 3-0 at home earlier this year and I figure they'll be very focused today.
Claudio Contreras will make his return today, otherwise we'll be going with the same lineup from Sunday. We'll go with a counter attacking mentality today, being underdogs on the road.
Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Loucif, K. Zagos
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, G. Fanfoni, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho
Bench - S. Reed, M. Yilmaz, S. Spall, E. Harvey, G. Allan, Z. Bardi, P. Moses
Pacheco is on the bench and it's Escobar up front with Bojan. Gareth Bale is on left wing in their 4-4-2 and Matthieu Dreyer is in goal. Newcomer Junior, a £23 million signing, isn't in the lineup at all. I tell the team to go out there and perform well for the travelling supporters and pull aside the returning Contreras, who for some reason has poor morale, to tell him I have faith in him.
7' - Chiquinho with a routine shot from distance but Dreyer has trouble with it and it's over the net for a corner. Bamba's cross is headed toward goal by Contreras and it hits the cross bar!
24' - Claudio Contreras is banged up again and being tended to on the sidelines so we're temporarily at ten men. Spurs use that to their advantage as Bojan gets loose in the area but his shot is stopped nicely by Ingo Wilke.
27' - Cairney with a careless tackle and a yellow card.
34' - Andrea with a great run up field and he's in the area but shoots HIGH over the net. We're playing a bit "slow" today and Spurs are pressing quite a bit, giving us very little space.
39' - We're picking it up a bit here and it's Andrea again bursting past the defence and in on goal but Dreyer is there for the save.
42' - Escobar with a weak shot right at Wilke.
HALFTIME - Dull half but we're looking like the team more likely to score. We hold 59% of possession and an 11-6 (2-4 on target) shot advantage. I reiterate that I want to see some entertaining football for our supporters. I may end up moving to a control mentality but for now, I'll stick with a counter attacking system.
46' - Chiquinho steals the ball at midfield and works a great one-two with Shanon Andrea and Chiquinho is in all alone…his shot is SAVED by a diving Dreyer! What a chance!!
56' - Another break sees Andrea get away and again it's Dreyer making a HUGE stop. We're pouring on pressure right now.
61' - I bring in Shaun Spall and take out GIan Marco Fanfoni.
67' - Andrea has been incredibly dangerous all game but just can't beat Dreyer. Again, he lets loose with a rocket from inside the area and the Spurs keeper is up to the task.
72' - I take out Gianluca Bolis and bring in Graham Allan.
I also decide to switch to a control mentality. I want a goal here and we are dominating these guys.
82' - Somehow, Escobar gets behind our defence and he's in the area with a clean shot at goal but it's OFF THE POST! They get another chance and Wilke recovers and makes the stop!
89' - Shaun Spall with a yellow card.
90'+1 - Back to a counter attack mentality for the four minutes of injury time.
90'+4 - Loucif with a yellow card.
We are the better team but they hang on for a scoreless draw.
Tottenham 0 - 0 Dover
Goals -
Assists -
Man of the Match - Renato Gaucho (7.4)
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Kostas Zagos (7.1), Salim Loucif (7.1), Claudio Contreras (7.0), Gian Marco Fanfoni (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.0), Chiquinho (5.9)
Attendance - 34,571
We held 56% of overall possession and a 23-12 (9-6 on target) shot advantage. Dreyer was excellent for them. I'm not sure why Chiquinho got such a poor rating but he certainly wasn't super active today. We are now undefeated in our last 12 league games and in our last 17 games across all competitions. Wow!
-- We get help from Arsenal, as they defeat Chelsea at Zola Stadium 2-1, helping us gain a point on first place. Man City cruise 5-0 over Wolves and Sunderland beat Stoke. City are now within a point of us on the table and we have a HUGE match in three days against the leaders Chelsea which could define our entire season.
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 24 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)
1. Chelsea - 59 points
2. Dover - 53 points
3. Manchester City - 52 points
4. Manchester United - 51 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Arsenal - 49 points
6. Sheffield Wednesday - 45 points
7. Sunderland - 40 points
----------------------------------------------------
Transfer IN
--We complete a modest £1.3 million deal to bring 17 year old French left midfielder
Felix Hernandez to Dover!
Hernandez comes over from Reading and the youngster is a 1.0/3.0 player as a 17 year old. This is obviously a depth move for the future but I like his determination and perhaps down the road he can turn into a useable player. For now, he'll move to our U18 club and work on his skills.
Bonus Clause Money IN
-- We receive £250,000 in bonus money from our Cameron Murray transfer to Burnley, as he plays in his 20th league game to activate the clause put into his deal.
Next Up
-- We have the match of the season so far, a head-to-head battle with first placed Chelsea at our stadium.