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Old 03-09-2014, 12:15 PM   #257
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Sat. April 30, 2022

Barclays Premier League
Arsenal (19-6-11, 63 points, 6th) vs. Dover (21-9-6, 72 points, 3rd)
Emirates Stadium, London, UK

Betting Odds: Arsenal: 7-4 Draw: 11-5 Dover: 5-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 3W 2D 6L

It's a definitive statement that the pundits feel we've arrived, as we're road FAVOURITES against Arsenal!!! The Gunners are really struggling right now, coming off an embarrassing 4-1 loss to the likely relegated Blackburn last weekend and they've lost four of their last six matches in all competitions. We destroyed them 6-0 at home earlier this year but also dropped a home FA Cup tie against them a bit later in the year. They have some balance in their scoring, with DC/ST Nchimunya Munyao leading the club with 16 goals, ST Boakye has 15 and fellow striker Lee Ross has 14. Arsenal are getting set to face Reading in the FA Cup finals in a couple weeks.

With essentially nothing to play for other than positioning (still important), I'm going to give a few players a day off today. GK Ingo Wilke, Rayane Hamon, Salim Loucif, Gianluca Bolis and Shanon Andrea are all going to be watching from the stands today. Youssouf Sylla will play his last game in a Dover kit today in goal and DR Ross McLaughlin is in line for his first start of the year. Also starting for the first time ever as a senior player will be MC Emmerson Harvey. Aitor Zubizarreta deserves a start at MR for his fine play this year and getting their last starts up front this year will be on-loan Paul Moses alongside captain Wayne Rooney. We'll stick with a control mentality to start, since we're favourites, but I won't hesitate to move to a counter if we get a lead or if Arsenal put a lot of pressure on us early.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - Y. Sylla
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, P. Tjiuoro, R. McLaughlin
M - A. Bamba, , N. Cairney, E. Harvey, A. Zubizarreta
S - P. Moses, W. Rooney
Bench - A. Kokaina, J. Kuciak, J. Varga, Mancini, S. Nasri, K. Kalfas, G. Gesios

Arsenal are starting a top lineup, with Boakye and Ross up front, Aaron Ramsey at MR and Munyao is at DC. I tell the team they can win this today and pull aside Tjiuoro to tell him to pick up where they left off last game, Harvey to tell him there's no pressure on him today and finally out-of-form Claudio Contreras to tell him I have faith.

1' - Ouch. Emmerson Harvey gives the ball away and Arsenal move up field quickly, with Lee Ross bursting past Contreras and shooting past Sylla into the net. Instant goal. Ooh boy. ARSENAL GOAL 0-1

20' - We've settled down thankfully and have a good chance off a Bamba corner but the ball rattles around and we can't really get a strong shot on Oscar Ustari, the Arsenal keeper.

27' - Ross with another great chance on a through ball but Sylla makes the great save and we clear.

41' - We're not playing well. Now it's Ramsey being sent in alone and Sylla makes a brilliant stop on the breakaway to keep us in this game.

HALFTIME - Well, we're not playing a full strength side so I guess this is to be expected. Arsenal hold 54% of possession and a 11-7 (5-2 on target) shot edge. A number of our players have poor ratings and Rooney leads the way with a 5.9. Boy, it's feast or famine with that guy. Either he's great or he sucks. I tell the team I want to see more from them after half and move to a counter attacking mentality to start.

50' - Cesc Fabregas plays a one-two with midfielder Yann M'Vila and then sends a delicious through ball to Boakye and he is in on goal and makes no mistake. ARSENAL GOAL 0-2

53' - Boy, we're sitting back and they are STILL taking it to us. Sylla with great positioning to make another save off Ramsey. He should have scored on this one.

60' - I take out Rooney and bring in Samir Nasri. We move to a 4-4-2 DM and attack, with Zubizarreta moving to AMC and Nasri is at AMR.

62' - We have a throw in down the right side and Emmerson Harvey gets the ball. He avoids a sliding tackle from Fabregas and dribbles slowly toward the penalty area. He sends a little touch pass through the defence and Paul Moses gets there first, rounds the keeper and puts the ball into the empty net! We are still alive! DOVER GOAL 1-2

72' - A double substitution as we take out the ineffective Ross McLaughlin and bring in Jozef Kuciak while also taking out Zubizarreta and bringing in Kostas Kalfas. Nasri moves to the middle and Kalfas is out wide to the right.

73' - And just like that, we're done. Sylla kicks the ball up field and it's headed back over our defence. Boakye gets there before Kuciak and Sylla can't stop him and we're down two once again. ARSENAL GOAL 1-3

80' - Ross has the ball down the left and crosses into our area but Renato Gaucho is there. He's about to clear but he's stripped of the ball by Boakye and he quickly shoots past Sylla for his hat trick. What a disaster this game is and if anything, I learn that my depth, simply put, isn't very good versus the best teams. ARSENAL GOAL 1-4

We change back to a control mentality.

81' - We're frustrated now. Arsene Bamba with a yellow card.

87' - Moses has a partial break and he's pull down from behind by Munyao. I'm thinking it might be a straight red but the referee only gives him a yellow. We have a free kick and Samir Nasri crosses into the box and there's Bamba with a header past Ustari and into the net. Too little, too late. DOVER GOAL 2-4

Oh well, we'll move on.

Arsenal 4 - 2 Dover
Goals - Paul Moses (7.2), Arsene Bamba (7.5)
Assists - Emmerson Harvey (7.1), Samir Nasri (6.9)
Man of the Match - Boakye (Arsenal ST - 9.4)
Other Dover Notables - Ross McLaughlin (5.8), Paulus Tjiuoro (5.5), Claudio Contreras (5.3), Wayne Rooney (5.8)
Attendance - 60,184

Arsenal get a deserved victory, holding 52% of possession and a 21-13 (12-4 on target) shot advantage. Poor Sylla was under fire. Our defence was terrible today and Contreras, like Wayne Rooney, continues to be a picture of inconsistency this year.

-- Wow. United lose to Wolves (!!!) 3-1 and Liverpool can only get a draw against Everton so we stay in third place, level on points with second placed United! Blackburn joins Southampton and Fulham as the teams to be relegated. Reading and Chelsea will battle it out for the final Europa League spot, with Chelsea in the drivers seat just because of their last opponent, who is Derby. Reading face a tough Everton team in their final game.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE 1 GAME REMAINING UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester City - 82 points
2. Manchester United - 72 points
3. Dover - 72 points
4. Liverpool - 71 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Arsenal - 66 points
6. Chelsea - 64 points
7. Reading - 64 points
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Dover U18 Update

-- Defender Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz scores two more goals in a 3-0 win over Reading's U18 club. Gregoire Lambert scores the other goal.



May Update

-- We have only one game left, a home matchup versus league champions Manchester City.

-- We get positive training reports for Abdallaye Kokaina, Paul Moses and Emmerson Harvey and a negative report for veteran Samir Nasri. On the U18 squad, positive notices come in for Garry Doyle, Ben Lee and Gregoire Lambert.



Barclays Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Aston Villa's Kevin Renton wins Player of the Month, with the DC scoring three times.

-- Renato Gaucho once again wins Young Player of the Month honours!

-- Sheffield Wednesday's Malky Mackay wins manager of the month honours after leading his club to four wins in five matches, their only loss to us. I finish in third for the month.



May Board Confidence Update

-- The board are delighted with the leadership I'm demonstrating. Our stature increase is the main positive and the negative is our loss this week to Arsenal.

-- We made £2.91 million last month.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- Paul Moses bags a brace and fellow striker Carlo Cerbone notches a single in a 3-3 draw against Aston Villa's reserves.



International Update

-- Louis Read and Emmerson Harvey are called up by England's U19 club.



Injury Update

-- Andrea Rocca returns to full training after missing a month with broken ribs. He may be on the bench at the very least for our season finale against City.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- The U18s finish off the season with a 2-0 win away at Crawley, with Gregoire Lambert and Phil Whitbread scoring. The youth team goes an incredible 24-2-0 this year, scoring 91 goals and allowing only 8!!! Lambert scored 44 goals in 33 non-competitive games this year. Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, our fine DC prospect, scored 12 goals.



Spanish Young Player of the Year Award

-- Our Danish defender Thomas Anderson, who is playing on loan at Getafe in LIGA, finishes third in young player of the year voting.



Next Up

-- We host Premier League champions Manchester City at Crabble Athletic Ground in our final game of the 2021/22 season.

Last edited by NoSkillz : 03-09-2014 at 12:18 PM.
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