[NoSkillz]

Wed. March 13, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (22-6-1, 72 points, 1st) vs. Liverpool (17-4-8, 55 points, 6th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Liverpool: 11-5
Past Meetings: 5W 3D 9L

We have only one loss through 29 league games and it was against Liverpool in a 5-3 dismantling back in November. Young striker Cheikh Bocande leads the team with 15 goals and wide midfielder David Maclennan has 7. Dover killer Jonjo Shelvey is injured and will miss tonight’s game. These guys play pretty close to the vest and I expect them to keep the scoreline down but I will push hard to gain some revenge for our only loss of the season.

Besides starting goalkeeper Manuel Perez, we make no other changes to our lineup. I was contemplating benching guys like Rayane Hamon and Renato Gaucho but both have reacted positively to both personal chats after their poor Chelsea performance AND to my pre-game press conference. So they’ll stay in.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, Jose, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, A. Broomes, S. Andrea

They are playing a 4-4-2DM (4-2-3-1) just like Chelsea, a formation we traditionally struggle with. That said, we’re at home so I’m not intimidated. Bocande is alone up front and Adam Hill and Bi Quattara will be dangerous in midfield. Chris Dunn is in goal. I consider demanding a win for retribution but decide to tell the team to go out there and perform for the fans.

8’ - Loucif takes a pass up the right sidelines and feeds a ball into Gianluca Bolis, who is completely unmarked. He cuts in and wires a rocket but Dunn is in good position and makes the save.

26’ - Not much happening but we win a free kick from way out (35 yards). Andrea Rocca takes it and he fires his trademark left-footed curling ROCKET that bends around the wall and past a diving Chris Dunn and IN! Wicked strike from Rocca, his first of the year and we’re ahead! DOVER GOAL 1-0

39’ - Rocca is having a great half and sends in Moses on a partial break. His shot is turned aside by Dunn.

HALFTIME - Liverpool are playing tight defence, like I thought they would and the game can still go either way. We edge them in possession with 51% of the ball and outshoot them 11-9 (5-0 on target). I encourage the team to keep pressing in the second half - lets get that insurance marker!

51’ - Yellow card for Chiquinho.

63’ - This is two consecutive duds for Chiquinho so he’s out and Shanon Andrea is in.

Liverpool are ALL OVER us right now. No real strong shots on target but they are simply dominating right now.

71’ - Another dud game from Arsene Bamba, his second in a row as well. Rafinha comes in for him, as some of our main starters must be getting a bit tired from all of the big games we’ve had lately.

88’ - We have been better the last ten minutes and see some much needed “Moses Magic”, as our superlative young striker takes the ball at midfield from Rocca, dances through three Liverpool defenders and cuts in on goal before shooting hard and low past Dunn and it’s IN! They won’t catch us now! Superb individual effort from our leading scorer! DOVER GOAL 2-0

That’s all she wrote.

Dover 2 - 0 Liverpool
Goals - Andrea Rocca (8.9), Paul Moses (8.3)
Assists - Andrea Rocca
Man of the Match - Andrea Rocca
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.2), Salim Loucif (7.3), Rayane Hamon (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.2), Renato Gaucho (7.3)
Attendance - 22,278

We end up with 52% of overall possession and a 16-14 (6-1 on target) shot advantage. A solid game but a bit nervy there in the first twenty minutes of the second half as Liverpool came in waves. Our defence played well and this was Andrea Rocca’s best game of the year by far.

-- There is only one other match today and it’s Manchester United getting past Newcastle 2-1 to move into second place in the league.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 30 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 75 points
2. Manchester United - 63 points
3. Tottenham - 62 points
4. Chelsea - 61 points
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5. Manchester City - 57 points
6. Liverpool - 55 points
7. Arsenal - 51 points
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Champions League Update

-- Ajax whip Chelsea 3-1 and win 4-3 on aggregate to move on. Real Madrid ease past Bursaspor 4-1 and 7-3 on aggregate and they are also through to the quarterfinals.



More Records for Moses

-- Our 20 year old wonderkid continues to re-write the Dover record books, as his goal against Liverpool was his 26th in league play so far this year, beating Chiquinho’s 25 goals scored last year. I think Moses has a few more left in him this year!



Next Up

-- We host Holland’s AZ in the second leg of the Champions League first knockout round and hold a comfortable 3-2 lead thus far after a big road win a couple weeks back.