[NoSkillz]

Sat. July 22, 2023

Preseason Friendly
Dover vs. Werder Bremen
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

We played Werder Bremen in a preseason friendly two seasons ago and beat them 3-2. They’ve been a mid-table side over the past couple of years in the German Bundesliga but traditionally fight for a top five position, finishing as high as second on two occasions during this dynasty. They only finished in tenth last year but were the German Cup winners, which earned them a spot in this year’s Europa League. They’ve been big sellers in July, getting £30 million in 9 transfers out but haven’t brought a SINGLE player in yet. They are currently going after my fifth choice striker, Rogelio Garcia and I’m open to moving him if the price is right.

Our exciting new midfielder Jose will play alongside Neil Cairney today. We can’t wait to see him on the pitch! Only a few players are unfit, including striker Shanon Andrea, who will start today with Zoltan Bardi as his strike partner.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Imbert
D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi

Dover 1 - 0 Werder Bremen
Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.2)
Assists - Shanon Andrea (7.0)
Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.0), Rayane Hamon (7.0), Claudio Contreras (7.2), Gianluca Bolis (7.0)
Attendance - 15,616

A complete snoozefest. We out possessed them with 55% of the ball and a 17-6 (3-0 on target) shot advantage. Very few chances. Jose looked okay in his first game but my assistant indicated that he was “disinterested” for much of the game. I don’t like seeing that in the kid’s first game.



Loan OUT

-- We loan out 19 year old DC prospect Mwemere Mutesa to AS Saint-Etienne in French Ligue 1 for the season. Mutesa is a 2.5/4.0 player so he has plenty of potential - he’s actually much more of a prospect than Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz but I’d like to see Mutesa play a lot of games and with Rayane Hamon, Claudio Contreras and newcomer Saber Nasri all healthy, Mutesa would have struggled to get playing time. Hopefully he sees that in France and develops accordingly.



Injury Update

-- Graham Allan is still out a few more weeks with his twisted ankle while Gian Marco Fanfoni (Torn Calf Muscle) and Emmerson Harvey (Fractured Wrist) are both back in light training and soon will return to full training with the squad.



Transfer OUT

-- We sell 19 year old Sebastian Kraft to AJ Auxerre, our next preseason opponent, for a tidy sum of £2,500 - that’s right, twenty five hundred pounds only! Hey, that’s a profit on the £1,500 we bought him for! Kraft spent last year with our U18s and I brought him in after Shanon Andrea put in a good word about him, as they both played together at Bayern Munich. Kraft was way down our depth chart and isn’t going to amount to much - I do have a clause built in that will see us get an extra £100,000 if he plays in 10 league games so we’ll hope he gets some playing time. Good luck to the kid in France.



Transfer OUT

-- I mentioned that Werder Bremen were after my young fifth choice striker Rogelio Garcia, who I picked up on a free transfer from Porto last year. I sent him on a season-long loan to Sporting CP, where he scored 13 goals in 22 games and I expected him to provide depth here. He is an intriguing prospect, with great speed (17 acc and 17 pace) and size (6’ 3” 191lbs, 17 strength) and he was rated anywhere between 2.5 to 3.5 stars by my scouts. I asked for the moon for Garcia - £9,250,000 with additional clauses and I’m shocked when the German club come back to me and accept my conditions. I guess I have no choice but to take the money. This could be a bad move but I’m very happy with my current four-man strike force and I don’t see how Garcia would have gotten much playing time beyond a major injury crisis. Garcia was molten hot during our preseason schedule but never suited up in an official game for our club. I’ll be watching his career with interest. Now, I’m on the lookout for a young striker to fill his slot, preferably someone who could play for the U18s and get called up in a pinch.



Next Up

-- Sebastian Kraft and his new club, AJ Auxerre, visit Crabble Athletic Ground for a preseason friendly.