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05-22-2014, 11:58 PM
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#401 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. August 12, 2023
Preseason Friendly Dover vs. Celtic (Scotland Premier League) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Celtic are 47 time (!!!) Scottish Premier League champions and have won the league two years in a row. Once again, they’ll be taking part in the group stage of the Champions League. They only brought in three players during July and spent only £3.1 million, with the majority on Duisburg midfielder Louis Nijhuis. Their highest valued player is a striker on loan from Real Madrid named Ulisse Rubino. We’ve played this club in friendlies three previous times, winning two of them. Pretty much a full starting lineup today, with only Graham Allan trying to regain fitness after his injury so he’s in for Gianluca Bolis. I plan on playing our starters for 60 minutes max today - we don’t need the injuries! Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Roccal, G. Allan S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho Dover 3 - 0 Celtic Goals - Shanon Andrea (8.2), Zoltan Bardi (7.3), Neil McLaughlin OG Assists - Chiquinho (6.8) Man of the Match - Shanon Andrea Other Dover Notables - Attendance - 10,795 A bit of a snoozer, as we dominated the first half but couldn’t get shots on target. We finally broke through with a 50th minute goal from Andrea and that sent us on our way. In the end, we held 53% of possession and outshot them 30-3 (9-2 on target). Uninspiring finale to our preseason but it’s a win. Oh yeah, no injuries either. -- We close out the preseason 8-0-1, with only a single loss to Bayern Munich. Transfer News -- Velez in Argentina are looking to bring in Carlos Guzman on a season-long loan, offering me £375,000 up front and setting a future fee of over £6 million for the defender only valued at a little over £2 million. I reject the deal - first of all, I doubt they’ll activate the buyout for that much and secondly, while Guzman is only a third option at left fullback for us, I need the depth here just in case of injury. Injury Update -- We were completely healthy until an accidental collision during an international game for Gian Marco Fanfoni, where he picked up some bruised ribs. He’ll miss our opening game but should be fine in about a week. International Roundup -- Picking up caps are Rafinha (Brazil U20), Rafael Ramirez (Mexico U20), Felix Hernandez (France U20), Marcel Quade (Austria U21), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Manuel Perez (Mexico), Lyubomir Kunchev (Bulgaria - one assist), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary - two assists), Saber Nasri (Tunisia) and Giorgos Gesios (Greece - one goal). In the biggest news, Rayane Hamon got his first ever senior cap, coming on as a substitute for France. Congratulations to Rayane! U18 Update -- The U18’s open the season with a 2-1 win over Arsenal’s U18s in the first round of the U18 Cup competition. Gary Archer scored and we also benefited from an Arsenal own goal in the win. New Coach Signing -- Usually a coach signing isn’t worth mentioning but for some reason, I think it’s cool that I steal famed English international Steven Gerrard from Aston Villa and bring him to Dover as one of our assistant coaches. 2023-24 Dover Athletic Squad -- We head into our season opener against Everton with 27 first team players. Here's a look at a breakdown of our senior team along with notes on our reserves, players on loan and key U18 personel. Preferred starters are noted in bold.  GOALKEEPERS - Mathis Imbert, Manuel Perez, Ingo Wilke IN: Mathis Imbert (Olympique Lyonnais - Free) OUT: Wilke is incredibly beginning his NINTH season with our club and is easily the longest tenured player here right now, turning 30 in January. Like fine wine, he’s getting better with age and is coming off his finest season yet. He’ll start more than half of our games for certain but Perez is coming on strong and will play more in his second year with the club. The Mexican still hasn’t learned English so I’m hesitant to give him too many games. Imbert is strictly depth and will play a lot with our reserves after I failed to entice other teams to take him on loan. Our goalkeeping is in great shape. DEFENDERS - Claudio Contreras, Carlos Guzman, Rayane Hamon, Salim Loucif, Saber Nasri, Rafinha, Steve Reed, Renato Gaucho, Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz IN: Saber Nasri (Sheffield Wednesday - £13m), Rafinha (Omonoia - £4.3m) OUT: Kostas Zagos (Chelsea - £21.5m), Emmanuel Agbo (Chesterfield - Free), Andrew Stanley (Luton Town - Free), Daniel Traore (Everton - £1.7m), Hans Briers (Coventry - Loan), Mwemere Mutesa (AS Saint-Etienne - Loan), Sebastien Kraft (AJ Auxerre - £100k) Once again, we return with all four starters from last year. All four continue to grow together and Contreras especially raised the level of his game last year. There are no weaknesses among our top four at the back. Saber Nasri will be a key addition for us, bringing great speed and superb intangibles and will likely get 25-30 starts as our third option in the middle. Yilmaz played well as a 19 year old and has earned my trust. Rafinha was a key signing after the departure of the versatile Kostas Zagos and Rafinha has many of the same qualities, mainly the ability to play both fullback positions. Guzman and Reed won’t play an awful lot - Guzman still has plenty of potential while Reed is simply depth. With Nasri and Rafinha joining our team, we’ve gotten better AND younger at this position over last year. MIDFIELDERS - Graham Allan, Arsene Bamba, Gianluca Bolis, Neil Cairney, Helder Cruz, Gian Marco Fanfoni, Emmerson Harvey, Jose, Lyubomir Kunchev, Rafael Ramirez, Andrea Rocca IN: Emmerson Harvey (Promoted from Dover U18), Jose (Zenit - £16.5m), Lyubomir Kunchev (Promoted from Dover U18), Rafael Ramirez (FC Lorient - £5.25m) OUT: Mancini (Released), Jamie Matthews (Released), Steve Ingram (Bristol Rovers - Free), Shaun Spall (Norwich - Loan), Kostas Kalfas (Genoa - £7.5m), Johnny Mardenborough (Released), Jonathan Gauthier (Perth Glory FC - Free), Marcel Quade (Savona - Loan) As with our defence, for the fourth consecutive season, all four midfield starters return. We finally got to see Cairney settle in and what a sight it was, with 15 goals and 40 points for us last year. We’ll look for something similar this year, although that production will almost be impossible to match. Rocca continues to be solid alongside Cairney but we’re looking for bounce back years from Bamba and Bolis, as both saw production declines last year. Graham Allan was superb in the second half of last season and will be our main backup at wide midfield, with capable support from Helder Cruz, who joined us in the January window and 19 year old Bulgarian international Lyubomir Kunchev, a graduate of our U18 program. In the middle, we’ve added a world-class player in Jose, who will be brought on slowly at first but should still get 25+ starts over the course of the season. It’s an embarrassment of riches in the middle, with returning loanee Fanfoni, big prospect Harvey finally up for good from the U18s and newcomer Rafael Ramirez, who likely is the odd man out. Our depth is almost ludicrous at this position and our midfield is unquestionably a major strength of this club. STRIKERS - Shanon Andrea, Zoltan Bardi, Andy Broomes, Chiquinho, Paul Moses IN: Andy Broomes (Manchester City - £1.3m) OUT: Giorgos Gesios (Hoffenheim - Loan), Orlando Scolari (Girondins Bordeaux - Loan), Rogelio Garcia (Werder Bremen - £9.75m), Wayne Rooney (Retired) We lost Said Henni in January so he’s not shown in the “out” column, which means we are arguably weaker at striker than we were at the start of last season. That said, Henni was a third choice at best last year and with a trifecta of Andrea, Chiquinho and the ever-improving Moses, we are as deep and as prolific as any team in this league and perhaps in Europe. Bardi continues to perform well when called upon and Broomes will take over our fifth striker role occupied last year by a non-productive Wayne Rooney. I envision Moses playing a bit more than last year and he’ll start pushing Andrea hard for the main starting role opposite Chiquinho. We are going to score a lot this year and I’d love to finally break the 100 goal barrier after coming up one short last season. RESERVE TEAM - We don’t necessarily have any “reserves only” players this year but I don’t envision Mathis Imbert playing for our senior team and guys like Steve Reed, Carlos Guzman, Rafael Ramirez and Andy Broomes won’t play much unless injuries begin to mount. Therefore, the majority of their playing time will come at the reserves level. U18 SQUAD - GK Anthony Gardiner, GK Steven Potter, DR Damian Thorne, DR Adam Betts, DR Ben Lee, DL Shane Holmes, DR Takfarinas Madani, ML Felix Hernandez, MC Dominic Beard, MR Sean Woolley, ML Adam Hyde, MC Phil Whitbread, MC Gary Archer, MC James Campbell, MR Steven Miller, MR Terry Williams, ML Joshua Stokes, MC Jay Doyle, MC Warren Wind, AM Pete Smith, AML Matthew Neil, ST Jim Ryan, ST Eddie Robinson, ST Ben Patterson, ST Norberto Vazquez We aren’t ripe with prospects like we usually are - Felix Hernandez (3.5 potential) and Norberto Vazquez (3.0 potential) are the best in this bunch. PLAYERS AWAY ON LOAN - DR Hans Briers, DC Mwemere Mutesa, MR Marcel Quade, MC Shaun Spall, ST Giorgos Gesios, ST Orlando Scolari Mutesa looks like a great prospect and I hope he plays a lot in France. Spall will be gone after this year and I’ll likely keep trying to sell Gesios and Scolari upon their return in July next year. Briers and Quade are middling prospects at best. Overall, I love this roster and my goals are two-fold: 1. Win the Barclays Premier League 2. Make the semi-finals of the Champions League Next Up -- We open the 2023/24 season at home, welcoming Everton to Crabble Athletic Ground.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-23-2014, 01:54 AM
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#402 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. August 19, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (0-0-0, 0 points, -) vs. Everton (0-0-0, 0 points, -) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Everton: 7-4 Past Meetings: 7W 1D 4L For the second consecutive season, we face Everton in the home opener, only this time we’re at home. They usually fight for a continental spot each year but in 2022/23, they finished back in 12th. Their big offseason signing is 26 year old Southampton striker Mike Hall, who comes over for £6.25 million after scoring 18 goals in 34 games in the Championship last year. Everton also spent a couple million pounds to bring in 27 year old Wolfsburg midfielder Mohamed Medjkane on loan for the season. Other dangerous players to watch will be wide midfielder Daniele Bentivoglio and strikers Erik Ulrik and Chris Wood. Wood has been prolific in past years but is 31 and I imagine Hall will eventually take over for him. Everton also has two former Dover players in defenders Jozef Kuciak and Daniel Traore. We are pretty much healthy right across the board, with only Gian Marco Fanfoni on the shelf but even he will be due back in a few days. We’ll go with our main starting eleven today and use a control mentality at home. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, Jose, E. Harvey, H. Cruz, G. Allan, P. Moses Everton come out in a 4-4-2 diamond formation, a look we usually do well against. Newcomer Mike Hall is up front with veteran Chris Wood. Franco Di Capua is their goalkeeper while former Dover defender Daniel Traore is on the bench for Everton today. Lets play well for the fans today! 27’ - We are dominating the highlights but can’t get any great chances. Andrea springs Chiquinho up the middle and he quickly fires on goal and it’s off the goalpost and out! Come on guys…we need some shots here! 29’ - On a failed Rocca corner kick, Everton march up field and we just back right off. A cross comes into the middle and there is the wily veteran Wood, sliding at the ball and sending it past Wilke and IN. Not good. EVERTON GOAL 0-1 43’ - Wow. Shanon Andrea is sent on a clear cut breakaway and misses the net. This is awful. 44’ - WHAT IS GOING ON?! Now it’s Mike Hall getting past Loucif, dancing in through the defence and RIFLING A ROCKET into the top corner past Wilke and we’re down two goals at home. Holy crap! EVERTON GOAL 0-2 45’+1 - We have possession and slowly move up field. The ball comes to Gianluca Bolis in the middle and he touches a little ball through the defence to Chiquinho. His one touch blast is low and past Di Capua and in. Bad goal to give up by Everton as we pull to within one at half. DOVER GOAL 1-2 HALFTIME - That goal saved the team from getting torched in the half time team talk. We hold 55% of possession and a 13-7 (3-3 on target) shot advantage. I ask “where is the passion?” 49’ - Rocca takes a corner and it’s headed off the crossbar by Contreras, our second piece of woodwork already. 60’ - Wow. We need an infusion of something so in comes Paul Moses and out comes Shanon Andrea. 71’ - Bamba cuts in and hits a blast at Di Capua and he makes the fine reflex save! 72’ - Out comes Andrea Rocca and in comes Jose We switch to an attacking mentality 73’ - We have a corner and it’s Jose delivering the ball into the area. Contreras is at the far post and heads it off an Everton defender and the ball bounces right onto the foot of Arsene Bamba, who quickly hits the ball into the back of the net! We pull level from two behind! DOVER GOAL 2-2 Everton now switch to a 4-2-2-2 with two DMCs, as they go into a defensive shell. We move back into a control mentality. 85’ - Cairney threads the ball through to Paul Moses and he is in behind the defence and SCORES! But wait! The flag is up? BAD CALL - the replay shows Moses right on the inside shoulder of the defensive line. 86' - I take out Gianluca Bolis and bring in Graham Allan. We move to an attacking mentality again. 88' - Allan with a ROCKET that is stopped by a diving Di Capua. 89’ - We are putting on SERIOUS PRESSURE and there is a mad scramble in the Everton box after a Bamba corner. We get a header and a subsequent shot both blocked and Everton clear. Just crazy stuff… 90'+1 - Wow - our defence is obviously pinching and that allows Mike Hall to get loose and his curling blast is saved by a diving Ingo Wilke! At least we get a point. Dover 2 - 2 Everton Goals - Chiquinho (7.2), Arsene Bamba (7.7) Assists - Gianluca Bolis (7.3), Jose (6.9) Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba Other Dover Notables - Claudio Contreras (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.0) Attendance - 21,633 Well, we did everything but win I guess, as we hold 57% of the ball and a huge 32-9 (11-4 on target) shot advantage. I sympathize with the team after the game. That Moses disallowed goal was a killer. I’m convinced that part of our problem is the fact that we don’t have full comprehension of our tactics yet - this is a bit of a curious thing for me, as we haven’t made any changes yet we’re still a long way away from having “full bars” on our match preparation screens. -- Manchester United get off to a great start, annihilating Reading 6-0 and City beat up on Norwich 3-0. Last year’s champions Chelsea stumble in a 2-2 draw against Wolves. Dover U18 Update -- The U18’s get their league season off to a good start with a 4-2 win over Aldershot. Gary Archer and Ben Patterson both bag braces in the victory while substitute Adam Hyde notches three assists in the match. Season Ticket Update -- Projections had us selling approximately 5600 season ticket packages but the team confirm that the final total is only 5317. Disappointing but a sizeable increase over last year’s total of 4562. Champions League Update -- The Champions Playoff and Best Placed Playoff stages begin with teams such as Sheriff, FK Austria Wien, Schalke, AS Monaco and CSKA Moscow taking part. We’ll enter the competition at the Group Stage this year. Dover Reserves Team Update -- Helder Cruz scores three goals, including two penalty shots and adds two assists in a five point night while Zoltan Bardi scores the other three goals in a 6-1 whitewash over Aston Villa. Next Up -- Our first road game of the year is at Craven Cottage as we take on newly promoted Fulham.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-23-2014 at 04:55 PM. |
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05-23-2014, 09:41 PM
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#403 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. August 26, 2023
Barclays Premier League Fulham (0-0-1, 0 points, 15th) vs. Dover (0-1-0, 1 points, 8th) Craven Cottage, London, UK Betting Odds: Fulham: 7-4 Draw: 11-5 Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 7W 2D 2L Fulham got relegated from the Premier League after the 21/22 season, when they finished in dead last. They struggled in their return to the Championship, finishing 6th and in the last playoff position but they were able to win both playoff rounds to get the immediate promotion back into the Premier League after only one year away. They’ll likely battle against relegation all year and did very little in the July transfer window, with their biggest signing being GK Luke West for only £850,000 from Norwich. Their most dangerous scorer is likely Milan Djuric and they also have two former Dover players in striker Robbie Benson and defender Ross McLaughlin, who is hurt right now. In fact, Fulham have six injured players today. I’m not satisfied with our performance last week in our opener against Everton and make three changes to the lineup. In are GK Manuel Perez, MC Jose, getting his first start at Dover and ST Paul Moses, getting his first start since signing with our club from Manchester United. Shanon Andrea won’t even be on the bench today after his 6.2 performance last week - I have Zoltan Bardi on the bench instead. Despite being on the road, I’ll go with a control mentality as favourites. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, A. Rocca, G. Fanfoni, H. Cruz, G. Allan, Z. Bardi Fulham are in a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) with Djuric alone up front and Robbie Benson at AMC right behind him. Interesting. Joe Lewis is their goalkeeper. I tell the team I want a better performance in front of our travelling supporters. 6’ - Our first yellow card of the year comes on a Jose trip of former Dover player Robbie Benson. The announcer calls it a dive and Benson had a huge penchant for the dramatic in his one year with our club so I tend to believe him. That said, Jose gets the booking. 21’ - We finally get our first shot on net, as Moses shoots but it’s right at Lewis. Fulham look very tidy so far. 28’ - We have the ball at midfield and Jose sends a ball up through the defence and Moses latches onto it. He’s dribbling down the left, cuts in and shoots past Lewis, into the far corner and IN. We are on the board. DOVER GOAL 1-0 30’ - We have a free kick near midfield and Jose sends it up to Chiquinho. He then lays a touch pass off to Moses and our 19 year old protege shows his ridiculous acceleration, bursting past two defenders and into the area where he rips a low blast past Lewis and in for his second goal in three minutes. Magnificent move by Moses!!! DOVER GOAL 2-0 HALFTIME - Decent half saved by the brilliance of Paul Moses. We hold 54% of the possession and a 12-7 (5-2 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team I’m pleased so far. 48’ - We hit Fulham on the break and it’s a two-on-one with Moses leading the way and Chiquinho running alongside him. Moses makes the great pass into the middle but Chiquinho’s blast is stopped by Lewis! Wow. What a save that was and Chiquinho has his head in his hands. Fulham then lose the ball at midfield and it’s Chiquinho passing through the middle and there is Moses, running in on goal and shooting low to the right post and IN! HAT TRICK FOR PAUL MOSES! What a sequence!!! DOVER GOAL 3-0 54’ - We have a free kick inside their territory and Jose makes a HORRIBLE pass right to Fulham and they storm up field. The cross comes in and is headed toward goal but Perez makes the brilliant stop. He bobbles it a bit and recovers but that should have been a Fulham goal. HORRIFIC pass by Jose. 56’ - We have a corner and Bamba’s cross is to Hamon and he sends it back to Bamba. He cuts into the box and passes back to Neil Cairney, whose blast deflects off the head of Paul Moses and IN! Moses can do no wrong and has FOUR GOALS, tying a Dover single game record! DOVER GOAL 4-0 60’ - A double substitution, as I take out Jose and Chiquinho and bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni and Zoltan Bardi. Lets get Moses his fifth goal!! 68’ - OH MY. We work a beautiful passing play, from Bamba, to Fanfoni, to the middle to Cairney and finally through the defence and there is the spectacular Moses but his quick shot is to the left post and JUST WIDE! Ooooh!! 70’ - HOLY MOSES. There is a 50/50 ball and Moses pushes the Fulham player blatantly down but there is no call. Another Fulham defender has it and Moses simply strips the ball from him and runs from the midfield stripe in on goal. He shoots hard and low but Lewis makes the spectacular stop to keep Moses from scoring his fifth. “A vintage Moses performance”, screams the announcer! Haha! 72’ - Out comes Renato Gaucho and in comes Rafinha, as we make our last substitution and get the 19 year old his first action with our club. 90’ - Fulham are looking dangerous in our end but they botch a pass and we move on the counter. The ball is sent wide to Bamba and he crosses into the middle and Gianluca Bolis is completely unmarked and has a wide open net. No mistake is made and we strike for our fifth! DOVER GOAL 5-0 Moses! Fulham 0 - 5 Dover Goals - Paul Moses 4 (9.8), Gianluca Bolis (8.1) Assists - Chiquinho 2 (8.1), Jose (7.6), Neil Cairney (8.2), Arsene Bamba (8.2) Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (8.1), Rayane Hamon (8.1), Claudio Contreras (7.9), Renato Gaucho (7.3) Attendance - 23,279 Words can’t describe the pure skill possessed by Paul Moses. We hold 52% of the ball and outshoot Fulham 26-10 (11-3 on target). All of our starters except for GK Perez (6.9) get ratings over 7.3. -- Chelsea beat Birmingham 2-1 while Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal also win. Middlesbrough beat Spurs 4-3 in a thriller. Dover U18 Update -- The U18’s continue their early season winning ways, defeating Reading 3-1. Striker Eddie Robinson scores twice and promising winger Felix Hernandez scores the other goal and adds two assists as well. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- SIX of our players make the team of the week: Salim Loucif, Rayane Hamon, Gianluca Bolis, Neil Cairney, Paul Moses and Chiquinho get the honour. Champions League Update -- Moving on to the Group Stage in Champions League action are Basel, Partizan, Ajax, Palermo, FK Austria Wein, APOEL, Hajduk, CSKA Moscow, AS Monaco and Sevilla. -- We are given £6.174 million for making it into the Group Stage! Dover Reserves Team Update -- Striker Andy Broomes scores three goals and Lyubomir Kunchev adds a single in a 4-1 win over Bolton’s Reserves. Champions League - Group Stage Draw -- Our co-efficient continues to rise but we’re third seeds for a second consecutive year, albeit the highest ranked third seed. Here is a look at the seeds, in order: 1st Seeds Manchester United Real Madrid FC Bayern Munich Olympique Lyonnais Atletico Madrid Barcelona Arsenal Sevilla 2nd Seeds Palermo OM Sampdoria HSV AS Monaco FC Galatasaray Benfica CSKA Moscow 3rd Seeds Dover Spartak Moscow AZ Chelsea Ajax Bursaspor Hoffenheim Juventus 4th Seeds Panathinaikos Celtic Dynamo Kyiv Partizan Hajduk FK Austria Wien Basel APOEL Wow - Talk about a dangerous pod of third seeds, with us, Chelsea and Juventus in there! And the results…UGLY! Likely the worst result we could have hoped for: GROUP A Arsenal Galatasaray Spartak Moscow Basel GROUP B Barcelona AS Monaco FC AZ Hajduk GROUP C FC Bayern Munich Palermo Dover Dynamo Kyiv GROUP D Real Madrid Benfica Juventus Partizan GROUP E Manchester United HSV Ajax APOEL GROUP F Sevilla OM Hoffenheim Celtic GROUP G Olympique Lyonnais CSKA Moscow Chelsea Panathinaikos GROUP H Atletico Madrid Sampdoria Bursaspor FK Austria Wien By coefficient, we face the 3rd best 1st seed, the BEST 2nd seed and the third best 4th seed. Group of death. Group G looks pretty daunting as well and Group D isn’t too shabby either. This will be very difficult for us to move on. Even the press talk about it after the draw, saying we’ve been handed a very tough group. Transfer Deadline -- The transfer deadline passes without any more offers. Thankfully, no one was sniffing around Chiquinho after the big scare back in July! September Update -- Business starts to pick up in September, with four Premier League contests: Tottenham (Home), Manchester United (away), Newcastle (Home) and Norwich (away). We also have our first Champions League game in an away contest at Dynamo Kyiv and we start our defense of the League Cup, with third round action slated to begin at the end of the month. So six games in September and there is an international break sprinkled in there too for good measure! -- We get positive training reports for Emmerson Harvey, Rafael Ramirez and Mathis Imbert but a negative report for Carlos Guzman. Time to have a chat with that youngster. Positive reports also come in for U18 players Felix Hernandez, Pete Smith and Eddie Robinson. September Board Confidence Update -- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership of the team, with our stature increase continuing to be the main positive. No negatives for the third consecutive month. -- We made a profit of £731,000 last month. League Cup - 3rd Round Draw -- The tough draws continue and we’ll start our defense of the League Cup with a match against Liverpool, who have won the League Cup a record high eight times. Thankfully, it’s at home. Next Up -- We welcome Tottenham to Crabble Athletic Ground in Premier League action.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-23-2014 at 09:49 PM. |
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05-24-2014, 12:03 AM
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#404 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. September 2, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (1-1-0, 4 points, 4th) vs. Tottenham (0-1-1, 1 points, 13th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Tottenham: 13-8 Past Meetings: 5W 4D 2L Last year, Tottenham were bought out by an oil tycoon who dumped a whole bunch of capital into the club but then they proceeded to royally flop, finishing an embarrassing 10th and out of continental competition. They are off to a rough start again and you can tell they are a club in transition, with too many older players making too much money. They have started the process of getting younger and they were HUGE spenders again in the transfer market, sending £55 million to Bayern Munich for two players: 26 year old Cameroon striker Jean Junior and Uruguayan fullback Christian Sosa. Junior is a very fast and talented forward that we’ll have to keep an eye on today. Veteran midfielder Gareth Bale is still around too but at 34 years old, he’s got very little left in the tank despite making a ludicrous £160,000 per week! We are coming off a dominating performance against Fulham and I decide to keep four goal man Paul Moses in the starting lineup. How could I possibly take him out after that performance? I do go back to GK Ingo Wilke and MC Andrea Rocca. Jose has two assists in as many games but he’ll be on the bench to start. Control mentality at home. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, Jose, G. Fanfoni, H. Cruz, G. Allan, S. Andrea Spurs come out in a flat 4-4-2 as well, with old friend Gerardo Escobar up front along with new signing Jean Junior. Aaron Flynn is in goal. We need a better performance in front of our home supporters today. 12’ - We have possession and it looks like a nothing play, as Rocca gets the ball up to Moses. From just outside the area, he cuts right and lets go with a VICIOUS shot that goes right into the top corner of the net on the far side, past the outstretched Flynn and our young wonderkid strikes again! Incredible shot! DOVER GOAL 1-0 14’ - Off the ensuing kick, Escobar avoids a tackle from Rayane Hamon and walks in on goal. His shot is stopped by a diving Wilke but the rebound pops right to Jean Junior. He shoots but Claudio Contreras is there to block the ball and kick it to safety. WOW. We are super lucky there! 22’ - Our defence and midfield are letting Spurs control play and Stanley Hermsen walks right in and rips a blast that forces Wilke into a spectacular stop. 28’ - Chiquinho embellishes on a tackle and is given an unsportsmanlike yellow card. 30’ - Rocca with a rocket from distance. It’s aimed at the top corner but Flynn makes a brilliant stop. We get a corner that is cleared and Tottenham send a long ball up field and Jean Junior is behind the defence. He shoots low and it’s IN but the assistant’s flag is up. Offsides! NO GOAL! HALFTIME - A drab match. We hold 54% of possession but they outshoot us 6-6 (3-2 on target). We’ve generated very little here today. I offer encouragement to the team in the dressing room. Lets score one more guys! 53’ - We are in complete control to start the second half and Spurs have already been handed two yellows in the first five minutes. We send a long ball up to Chiquinho and he’s in the area and taken down! PENALTY! Their defender gets a yellow and it’s Neil Cairney stepping up. He scored on an incredible ten out of eleven penalties last year and this is his first of this season. Cairney usually goes right and that’s the goalkeeper’s guess but our star midfielder changes it up and goes left and it’s an easy goal! DOVER GOAL 2-0 55’ - Escobar gets past Contreras and shoots but the effort is weak and Wilke makes the save. 58’ - Chiquinho is making me nervous out there with his yellow card so I pull him out and bring in Shanon Andrea. 66’ - Similar to Moses’ goal earlier, Spurs have an innocent looking possession in our end and it’s Jean Junior getting the ball. He’s at least five yards outside our area but he turns and fires and his blast curls past Contreras, past Wilke and into the far corner of the net. THAT’S a special goal and Spurs pull to within one. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-1 67’ - Immediately off the ensuing kick off, we move down field and there is a great chance as Bamba’s cross comes to Moses and his shot is off a diving Flynn and sitting near the goal line. Spurs clear back to centre but we head the ball back up field and it comes to Neil Cairney. He takes the first touch off his chest and just fires a shot toward goal and it’s off a diving Flynn and INTO THE NET! WOWOW! What a rocket blast from Cairney, his second of the game and we strike back immediately! DOVER GOAL 3-1 76’ - Escobar dances past Hamon again and his shot is wide. I’m not pleased with Hamon’s game today. He’s looked awful in the highlights. Out comes Andrea Rocca and in comes Jose. 86’ - I take out Rayane Hamon and bring in Saber Nasri. Solid enough. Dover 3 - 1 Tottenham Goals - Neil Cairney 2 (8.9), Paul Moses (7.5) Assists - Rayane Hamon (7.0), Andrea Rocca (7.0), Chiquinho (6.9) Man of the Match - Neil Cairney Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.1), Claudio Contreras (7.1), Renato Gaucho (7.1) Attendance - 19,524 We held 56% of possession and a 19-13 (6-6 on target) shot advantage. Cairney was excellent. -- Liverpool are at the top of the heap with a perfect 3-0-0 record after knocking off defending champion Chelsea away. Arsenal also win. United win on Sunday over Wolves. -- Manchester United manager Jurgen Klinsmann has been to watch both of our last two games and he’s evidently interested in Claudio Contreras, Chiquinho and Gianluca Bolis. International Update -- We have 25 (!!) players called up for international duty. Gaining caps are Hans Briers (Belgium U21), Emmerson Harvey (England U21 - one assist) and Andy Broomes (England U21), Lyubomir Kunchev (Bulgaria U21 - one goal and one assist), Rafael Ramirez (Mexico U20), Rafinha (Brazil U20), Marcel Quade (Austria U21 - one assist), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary - THREE goals), Saber Nasri (Tunisia), Paul Moses (England - one goal), Graham Allan and Neil Cairney (Scotland), Manuel Perez (Mexico), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Chiquinho (Belgium - one goal), Giorgos Gesios (Greece), Mwemere Mutesa (Rwanda) and Arsene Bamba (Ivory Coast). Also, midfielder Jose got his first ever call up from Brazil and earns his first official cap, playing well in a 4-1 win over Slovenia. Congratulations to Jose! -- The goal by Moses is his first ever senior level goal for England. Congrats to the youngster! Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Neil Cairney once again makes the Team of the Week in the Premier League. Dover U18 Update -- The young kids beat Oxford 3-0, with goals coming from Phil Whitbread, Jim Ryan and Pete Smith. Champions League Odds -- Barcelona are the favourites to win this year, with 3-1 odds. The other main contenders are Manchester United (4-1), Sampdoria (15-2), Atletico Madrid (9-1), Real Madrid (901) and Bayern Munich (9-1). Two years ago we were 33-1, last year we were 20-1 and this year we move up to 18-1. Dover Reserves Team Update -- With most of our players away on international duty, I field a team filled with U18 prospects but we still win 3-0 over Blackburn Reserves. We get goals from Sean Woolley, Norberto Vazquez and Gary Archer. Next Up -- We head to Old Trafford to take on league powerhouse Manchester United.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-24-2014, 04:39 PM
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#405 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. September 16, 2023
Barclays Premier League Manchester United (1-1-1, 4 points, 12th) vs. Dover (2-1-0, 7 points, 3rd) Old Trafford, Manchester, UK Betting Odds: Manchester United: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Dover: 7-2 Past Meetings: 3W 2D 9L United finished below us last year on the table but they continue to be very strong. That said, they are another aging club, with superstar Yaya Sanogo now 30 years old, usually the age strikers start to decline. They nabbed Said Henni from us last year and he’s struggling to fit into the club, with only 2 goals in 14 league games so far. United were pretty quiet in the July transfer window spending £26.5 million overall, with £18.75 million spent on 29 year old Braga striker Sandro. Not a smart move in my opinion but we’ll see if he pays off for them at his advanced age. He hasn’t suited up in a league game as of yet. We have our first Champions League match coming up in midweek but I’ll hold nothing back today, going with mostly a full roster. I will be starting Shanon Andrea up front though - Paul Moses played a couple of games for England and is a bit tired and I don’t really want to play him right away against his former club. I’ll save him for the Champions League game. Counter attacking mentality today on the road against big, bad Man U. Dover: 4-4-2 Counter GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, Jose, G. Fanfoni, H. Cruz, G. Allan, P. Moses United are also in a flat 4-4-2 with Sanogo and Ishak Belfodil up front. Henni is at left midfield and another former friend, Cristian Rodriguez, starts at DC. Liviu Dragomir is in goal. Do it for the supporters, guys… 13’ - We have the majority of highlights so far but the first major incident sees Rayane Hamon take down Yaya Sanogo on a 50/50 ball and he earns a yellow card for that. Wilke then has to make a great save on the free kick, as Sanogo gets his head on the ball and Wilke turns it aside. 19’ - Shanon Andrea with our first shot on goal but it’s weak and Dragomir makes the easy stop. 28’ - We get a glorious chance, as Rocca’s free kick is in the box and right to Neil Cairney. His header is right on and Dragomir makes the brilliant stop and Cairney shoots the rebound WIDE. Oooh.. 35’ - We work it off a throw in deep down the left hand side and Rocca and Renato Gaucho play a give and go. Renato Gaucho uses his weaker right foot and sends in a cross and there is Gianluca Bolis, cutting in from his right wing and taking the ball against the grain of play. Dragomir is out of position and Bolis has the wide open net and makes no mistake. I look for a raised flag but there isn’t one! Great goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0 43’ - We have a corner kick and Rocca’s cross is headed off the crossbar by Claudio Contreras! HALFTIME - Wow. I don’t know if United is this bad or if we’re this good but we’re dominating this game! 62% possession at Old Trafford for our club and a 12-6 (2-1 on target) shot advantage! Wow! I contemplate pulling back even further but I want to see if we can maintain this domination, as it’s essentially been all Dover for 45 minutes. I’m pleased, to say the least. 56’ - Jurgen Klinsmann must have laid into their players at halftime because it’s a different United squad in the first ten minutes of the second half. Omar Hernandez with a rocket launcher from distance but Wilke is in good position and holds on for the save. 66’ - Arsene Bamba takes a knock and I decide to take him off, bringing in Helder Cruz. 68’ - I pull completely back, narrowing the width, slowing our tempo, playing deep, etc. 70’ - United continue to pile on pressure and it’s Hernandez up to Sanogo and from about five yards outside the area, he unleashes a howitzer that curls past Wilke and into the far corner. Great goal and United pull level. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 1-1 I immediately move back to a regular counter attack. I also realize that I have Rocca and Cairney playing in their opposite roles today, a ridiculous mistake. I switch them into their proper spots after the goal. 76’ - Double substitution, as I bring in Paul Moses and Jose and take out Shanon Andrea and Neil Cairney, who was horrible today…partially my fault for not noticing him playing as an advanced playmaker instead of his preferred box-to-box role. 77’ - Great curling free kick from Rocca but Dragomir is well positioned for the stop. 86’ - Those player substitutions have lifted our level of play and it’s Chiquinho getting some space for the first time all game and forcing Dragomir into a fine diving stop. We’ll take the draw at Old Trafford. Manchester United 1 - 1 Dover Goals - Gianluca Bolis (7.5) Assists - Renato Gaucho (7.0) Man of the Match - Yaya Sanogo (Manchester United ST - 8.3) Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.1), Arsene Bamba (7.0) Attendance - 74,714 We held 54% of overall possession and an 18-12 (4-4 on target) shot advantage. They certainly carried play in the second half but a point at Old Trafford is always welcomed. I think we’re starting to prove that we’re better than these teams but we’ll see if that proves to be the case in the long run. -- Boy, Chelsea continue to struggle, only getting a draw against recently promoted Blackpool. Liverpool continue to play great early football, beating Arsenal 3-1 to maintain their undefeated record and they are actually passed at the top by Middlesbrough of all teams, who are off to a flier of a start, with 14 goals in four games and an unblemished record, with wins over Tottenham, United and Newcastle. Not bad! Man City move ahead of us into third and haven’t given up a goal yet in their first four games. Dover U18 Update -- The U18s battle to a 2-2 draw against Barnet, with Pete Smith and Adam Hyde scoring the goals. Next Up -- We head to the Ukraine and our first game of Champions League Group Stage is against Dynamo Kyiv.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-24-2014, 09:56 PM
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#406 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. September 19, 2023
UEFA Champions League - Group C Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine Premier League) vs. Dover Valeriy Lobanovsky Stadium Dinamo, Kyiv, Ukraine Betting Odds: Dynamo Kyiv: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 13-8 Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L Dynamo Kyiv won the Ukrainian Premier League last year for the first time since 2012. This is a small club, with an estimated value of around £20 million and their most dangerous player is a loanee from Manchester United named Antonio Santos, a 21 year old striker. Their lone transfer this year was to bring in 23 year old Zurich midfielder Wilfried Simo for £5.75 million. I think we should defeat this team but we’re in their stadium so I won’t be complacent. That said, I want to give a few of our backups a game so coming in are Graham Allan, Jose, Saber Nasri (his first Dover start) and Manuel Perez. Paul Moses starts up front. Control mentality on the road despite being slight underdogs - I think we’re better than these guys. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, E. Harvey, G. Fanfoni, H. Cruz, G. Bolis, Z. Bardi Kiev are in a flat 4-4-2 as well with Santos and Goran Brajkovic up front and Jose in goal. I tell the team they can win this game tonight. 2’ - Chiquinho dives again for the second time in three games and is called on it, getting an early yellow card. I hate guys who flop around. 13’ - A bit of a sluggish start, as Moses shoots wide after breaking through the defence. 23’ - We head the ball over their defence and it’s Chiquinho barring down on goal but his shot is right at Jose and saved. 30’ - Jose with a glorious long ball up to Moses and he’s in on goal. His shot is stopped and Chiquinho sends the rebound to Jose and his low shot is stopped by his namesake in Kiev’s goal. Great sequence but we continue to be snakebitten today. 36’ - Moses hasn’t been great this half but he won’t be denied, as Jose finds him streaking up the middle of the field and sends a wonderful pass through the defence. Moses is in on goal and makes no mistake this time, putting it low and hard underneath the Kiev keeper and we have our lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0 HALFTIME - I’m not overly impressed with our play today. We hold a slight possession edge with 52% of the ball and an 11-3 (6-1 on target) shot advantage. Jose is looking good for us so far but I’m waiting for Chiquinho to start showing his quality. I encourage the players to keep pressing. 49’ - A crazy good long ball from Salim Loucif up to Moses and his shot is stopped by Jose, who has been great for Kiev today. 58’ - Another long ball up to Moses, this time from Contreras and Moses rounds the keeper and looks poised to score but CHIQUINHO gets in his way and Moses’ shot is off his strike partner and bounces to safety. What are you doing Chiquinho!?!?! I immediately take him out, as he tries yet another dive in the area but it goes uncalled. Zoltan Bardi is in and Chiquinho will not be playing in our next game. I’m pretty furious with him. 65’ - There’s a scramble in front after a great run up field by Saber Nasri (of all people!) and Bardi heads the ball into the net. However, it’s called back on a foul, as the ref says Bardi pushed their keeper in the process. Harsh decision. I take out a tired Graham Allan and bring in Gianluca Bolis. 73’ - Renato Gaucho sends the ball up to Moses but Kiev is sitting back. Our striker runs toward the byline and he’s on his left foot with no angle but somehow moves the ball to his right leg and from about two yards in front of the keeper, shoots hard right over his head and into the top corner of the net. RIDICULOUS goal from Paul Moses and we have a bit of a cushion! DOVER GOAL 2-0 75’ - Bardi streaks in on goal but shoots right at Jose and he makes the stop. Ugh! 77’ - We use our last substitution, bringing in Rafinha for the excellent Renato Gaucho. 80’ - Bardi has the ball at midfield and notices Moses all alone so he passes up to him. He is dribbling in and a Kiev defender cuts him off at the edge of the area and knocks the ball away. However, it’s right to Arsene Bamba and he has a wide open net to shoot at and makes no mistake! DOVER GOAL 3-0 84’ - Manuel Perez is called on to make a fine save to keep his shutout. 85’ - We have a free kick in our end of the field and Saber Nasri sends a long ball up field. For some reason, Kiev have stopped defending and Zoltan Bardi is able to grab the ball, take two steps into the area and he fires low and past Jose and IN! DOVER GOAL 4-0 We close it out from there. Great win! Dynamo Kyiv 0 - 4 Dover Goals - Paul Moses 2 (9.3), Arsene Bamba (8.4), Zoltan Bardi (7.5) Assists - Saber Nasri (8.6), Renato Gaucho (7.1), Jose (7.9) Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.0), Salim Loucif (7.9), Claudio Contreras (8.0), Neil Cairney (7.4) Attendance - 16,643 We only edge them in possession with 51% of the ball but outshoot them 24-6 (15-2 on target). Moses was sensational, as usual and Nasri was very impressive in his first start with us. Jose continues to produce at midfield. -- We earn £696,000 for the victory. -- In the other Group C contest, Palermo battles to a 1-1 draw in Germany against Bayern Munich. Those teams will be tough! Dover Reserves Team Update -- We destroy Derby’s reserves 7-0 behind a three goal, one assist performance from striker Andy Broomes. Emmerson Harvey scored two goals of his own and added an assist. Also scoring were Steve Reed and Norberto Vazquez. Gian Marco Fanfoni added three assists in the comprehensive victory. Transfer Clause Money IN -- We get a cool £250,000 from Fulham due to former defender Ross McLaughlin reaching 20 league games for their club. Great stuff. Premier League Update -- We have the weekend off from Premier League play but many of the other clubs are in action. Middlesbrough continue to surprise early and win again to improve to a perfect 5-0-0. Man City win by shutout again and they are now 4-1-0 with zero goals against. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 5 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Middlesbrough - 15 points 2. Manchester City - 13 points 3. Liverpool - 12 points 4. Reading - 10 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Dover - 8 points (after 4 games) 6. Sunderland - 8 points 7. Arsenal - 8 points ---------------------------------------------------- Next Up -- We begin our defense of the League Cup with a third round home matchup against Liverpool.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-24-2014, 11:36 PM
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#407 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. September 27, 2023
League Cup - Third Round Dover vs. Liverpool Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 11-5 Draw: N/A Liverpool: Evens (Favourites) Past Meetings: 5W 2D 8L Liverpool finished 7th last year and with mid-table Newcastle winning the 2023 FA Cup, that left the Reds without Continental play for this season. Liverpool have done a decent job getting a bit younger, with solid players like midfielder Adam Hill and huge striker Cheikh Bocande. They spent heavily in the offseason, splashing about £72 million on eight players. Too many great players to mention but I always admired James Gregan, a midfielder, when he played for Reading and he came over to Liverpool in a £11.5 million deal. We have a Premier League game in three days against lowly Norwich, just promoted back into the Premier League, so I’ll use a few backups today and likely on Saturday as well. Fullback Rafinha will start at right fullback, his first senior team start and Saber Nasri will play for a second consecutive game, this time spelling Claudio Contreras. Jose gets a second consecutive start, this time in place of Neil Cairney. We are going with a single striker today in Paul Moses and Zoltan Bardi will sit behind him at AMC. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, S. Nasri, R. Hamon, Rafinha M - Jose, A. Rocca AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - P. Moses Bench - S. Loucif, M. Yilmaz, E. Harvey, G. Fanfoni, H. Cruz, G. Bolis, A. Broomes Liverpool come out in the same formation as us, with Bocande alone up front and Chris Dunn in goal. He’s always tough against us. 3’ - Rafinha gets the ball from Wilke on a throw and he clears it up the middle of the field and right to a Liverpool midfielder. They quickly pass up to Jonjo Shelvey and his quick pass is up to Liverpool newcomer Said Abdel Kader. He’s in on goal and SCORES. Holy crap - what a horrific gaffe by Rafinha and we’re quickly behind. LIVERPOOL GOAL 0-1 11’ - Now Liverpool work a counter and it’s another newcomer, left midfielder David Maclennan, storming down the field with Rafinha chasing. He gets a bullet off and Wilke makes the great stop. 23’ - Adding injury to insult, Rayane Hamon comes up limping and needs to come off. In comes Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz in his place. DOVER INJURY: Rayane Hamon 29’ - Our first chance comes from Moses, as he has a half step on the defence but can’t shake the guys chasing him, which forces him to shoot a bit earlier than he’d like and Dunn is there for the save. HALFTIME - Well, this is disappointing. We hold 54% of possession and a 6-3 (3-2 on target) shot advantage but our chances have been few and far between. I expect better and I tell the players as much in the dressing room at half. I also switch to a flat 4-4-2 for the second half. We need a couple goals here. 55’ - Bolis with a wonderful pass up to Bardi and he’s in alone. He slows down for some reason, allowing his pursuers to catch him and he shoots harmlessly wide. Ugly. 61’ - Rocca gets hurt on a challenge and while he can continue, his fitness takes a major hit. On comes Gian Marco Fanfoni. 70’ - And in a scene that almost makes me spit out my soda, I watch as Paul Moses is dribbling in on goal and Liverpool defender Brian Reekers takes him down from behind. Ugly challenge, Reekers gets a yellow and my God, Moses is down with the dreaded cross above his name. Please be okay… DOVER INJURY: Paul Moses Graham Allan comes in for Moses to play striker. We move to an attacking mentality. 74’ - Allan with a rocket blast after taking a pass from Bamba but Dunn is in good position for the stop. 76’ - We win a corner and Bamba’s cross is headed toward goal by Yilmaz but cleared off the line in dramatic fashion by one of the Liverpool defenders. 78’ - It’s Bamba again, streaking down the left sideline and sending in a cross. It’s a beauty and there is Gianluca Bolis, heading it back to the left post and it’s IN! Late equalizer! DOVER GOAL 1-1 Back to a control mentality. 88’ - We are putting on tons of pressure and Liverpool are just holding on for dear life. Jose with a rocket launcher and Chris Dunn sprawls to make the stop. FULLTIME - We hold 53% of possession and a crazy 18-4 (7-2 on target) shot advantage. Liverpool are sitting back and likely hoping to get to penalty kicks at this point. 101’ - We have a corner and Bamba’s cross to the middle is headed by Saber Nasri and it’s past Dunn and IN THE NET! That’s Nasri’s first goal for Dover and we are in the lead! DOVER GOAL 2-1 103’ - Liverpool hold possession from the ensuing kick and they methodically move up field before sending a pass into the middle to the veteran Shelvey and he’s alone and scores. Unreal. LIVERPOOL GOAL 2-2 111’ - Last ten minutes of extra time. I switch to an attacking mentality. Win or bust! Lets try to avoid penalties. It doesn’t work. Off to penalties we go! Liverpool shoots first: Liverpool: Adam Hill shoots, Wilke guesses right and SAVES!!! Dover: Zoltan Bardi is up and SCORES!!! DOVER GOAL 1-0 Liverpool: James Efmorfidis is up, goes left and Wilke guesses right again! SAVE!!! Holy crap! Dover: Young Gian Marco Fanfoni is up next and he blasts it IN THE NET! Wooo! DOVER GOAL 2-0 Liverpool: Serban Purima is up and he shoots WIDE! What is going on!?! Dover: Young Rafinha can end it here and also make up for his major gaffe early in the game. He steps up and shoots hard, Dunn gets a piece of it but it’s IN THE NET! DOVER GOAL 3-0 We win and move on in the competition! Dover 2 - 2 Liverpool (Dover win 3-0 on penalties) Goals - Gianluca Bolis (7.8), Saber Nasri (8.0) Assists - Arsene Bamba 2 (8.8) Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba Other Dover Notables - Jose (7.0), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.2) Attendance - 19,371 Possession was slightly in our favour with 51% of the ball and we end up outshooting them 24-6 (9-3 on target). Now…those injuries to Hamon and Moses…please be okay guys… -- Paul Moses only has a dead leg and will miss three days. WHEW! The news isn’t so good for Rayane Hamon, who broke his arm in a fall and will miss around four weeks. We have capable cover in Saber Nasri, thankfully. Dover U18 Update -- The U18’s continue to roll, winning 3-0 over Swansea, with newcomer Norberto Vazquez netting two goals and Gary Archer scoring our third. Facilities Upgraded -- The planned expansion to our youth and training facilities is completed! Our youth facilities improve to “Adequate” from “Basic” and our training facilities improve from “Average” to “Good”. League Cup - Fourth Round Draw -- We get a decent draw and will face Championship side Derby in the fourth round at their stadium. Next Up -- We are back in action in Premier League play, facing newly promoted Norwich City in an away contest.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-24-2014 at 11:39 PM. |
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05-25-2014, 01:07 AM
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#408 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. September 30, 2023
Barclays Premier League Norwich (1-0-4, 3 points, 15th vs. Dover (2-2-0, 8 points, 5th) Carrow Road, Norwich, UK Betting Odds: Norwich: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 6W 1D 1L We are big favourites on the road against newly promoted Norwich, a team we’ve had great success against in the past. Norwich dropped to the Championship in 2021 and finished 8th that year but came back strong last year, winning the league with 97 points. They have one current Dover player on the team in midfielder Shaun Spall, who is there on loan all season. They also have our former striker Carlo Cerbone, who played sparingly last year for them but scored 5 goals in 9 league games and 8 goals overall in 13 games. Pretty good for Cerbone! Norwich likely lacks cash and they spent very little in the July window, with the £575,000 spent on Spall’s loan fee the largest chunk. They also bought our former reserves goalkeeper Louis Read from us for £300,000 but he hasn’t suited up in a senior game as of yet. We have a huge midweek Champions League game against FC Bayern Munich so we’ll be careful today. Quite a few backups are in today: Helder Cruz and Graham Allan are on the wings, Gian Marco Fanfoni gets his first start of the year at midfield and Rafinha is at left fullback today for Renato Gaucho. Shanon Andrea and Chiquinho are back in the starting lineup today and Paul Moses is watching from the press box today as he recovers from his dead leg. Manuel Perez in goal as well. I want to see better games from Andrea and Chiquinho today. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho Bench - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, E. Harvey, Jose, A. Bamba, G. Bolis, Z. Bardi Norwich come out in a narrow 4-4-2 diamond formation with two MCs. The dangerous Paul Bryce is at forward along with Thomas Eriksen and Tommy Devlin is in goal. No Carlo Cerbone, even on the bench. Lets play well for our travelling fans and I pull aside Saber Nasri to tell him to pick up where he left off. 6’ - Andrea gets a bit of space and fires a rocket but Devlin is in position for the fine save. Andrea is still looking for his first goal of the year. 37’ - Norwich is essentially playing keep away from us and look to be dominating possession. That said, we win a corner and Graham Allan’s cross is headed by Saber Nasri and it’s IN! Nasri scores for the second game in a row and we finally break the deadlock! DOVER GOAL 1-0 HALFTIME - Yikes. We have the lead but we’re DEFINITELY playing down to the level of our opposition. We only hold 41% of the possession (!!!) but outshoot them 6-5 (2-0 on target). Not good enough boys! I encourage the players to do better in the second half. 53’ - This is ridiculous, as Norwich continue to take the play to us and it’s their danger man, Danny Clapham, taking a pass at the outer edge of our area and firing a missile that’s past Perez and into the far corner for the shocking equalizer. NORWICH GOAL 1-1 55’ - Off the ensuing kick off, Graham Allan dances down the field and gets a great pass into the box to Chiquinho. He’s in tight and he’s usually money from this spot but his weak effort is right at Devlin and he makes the save. Chiquinho has his hands to the heavens but he continues to struggle along with Shanon Andrea. 63’ - Boy oh boy. We are starting to finally pressure them and it’s Cairney with a curling shot from distance beating Devlin…but not the goal post. Ugh. 68’ - I’m frustrated and I schedule a double substitution, including taking out the completely ineffective Shanon Andrea but as we wait for a break in play, Saber Nasri sends a long ball up field and Andrea chases it down. He looks way offsides but there’s no call, as Andrea wins a battle with the keeper Tommy Devlin, takes the ball and shoots it into the open net. Crazy sequence ends with Andrea finally getting his first of the year! DOVER GOAL 2-1 Andrea is off and in comes Zoltan Bardi. I also take out Fanfoni and bring in Jose. 73’ - We move to a counter attacking mentality. 90’ - Norwich have a couple dangerous looking rushes but nothing come of them and we work a counter with Chiquinho blazing down the right. He crosses into the area and Bardi gets a piece of it before it goes past him right to the foot of Helder Cruz and he rips a shot off Devlin and it’s IN! That is Cruz’s first goal for our club! DOVER GOAL 3-1 90’+2 - We use our last sub to waste time, bringing in young Carlos Guzman for Rafinha. Not pretty but it’s three points on the road and we’ll take it. Norwich 1 - 3 Dover Goals - Saber Nasri (8.4), Shanon Andrea (7.2), Helder Cruz (7.7) Assists - Saber Nasri, Graham Allan (7.7), Chiquinho (6.9) Man of the Match - Saber Nasri Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.1), Claudio Contreras (7.2) Attendance - 22,985 Norwich win the possession battle with 53% to our 47% but we outshoot them 17-9 (5-1 on target). I tell the team it’s a good result but a poor performance. Nasri is doing great for us so far and deservedly wins man of the match honours. -- A couple of our players, specifically Helder Cruz and Saber Nasri come out against me in the press, saying my “criticism” of the team after the game was unwarranted and the press say Nasri thinks I’m trying to force him out of the club. Holy over-reaction Batman! We’ll keep an eye on this to see if anything develops. -- Man City knock off the struggling defending champs Chelsea 2-1 and Huddersfield shock first placed Middlesbrough 2-0 to drop them from that perch. United also win and City take over first place for now. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 6 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Manchester City - 16 points 2. Middlesbrough - 15 points 3. Liverpool - 13 points 4. Reading - 13 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Dover - 11 points (after five games) 6. Manchester United - 10 points (after five games) 7. Sunderland - 9 points ---------------------------------------------------- Dover U18 Update -- We get two more goals from Norberto Vazquez and a single from Adam Hyde as the kids beat up on Hampton & Richmond 3-0. October Update -- October sees four Premier League games, with matches against Huddersfield (home), Newcastle (home), Wolves (away) and Birmingham (home). We also have two Champions League games, with Bayern Munich visiting Crabble Athletic Ground and then we head out to Italy later in the month to face Palermo. We’ll also face Derby in the 4th round of the League Cup. So seven matches in October. -- We get positive training notices for Claudio Contreras, Helder Cruz and Andy Broomes and also get positive notices for U18 players Felix Hernandez, Matthew Neil and Steven Potter. A negative notice comes in for striker Shanon Andrea. I have a chat with Andrea to tell him I’m not happy with his training and he isn’t happy about it. He’d better shape up quick, as he’s losing his starting job to Paul Moses. Premier League - Monthly Awards -- Yaya Sanogo from Man United wins Player of the Month honours for September after scoring 4 goals in as many games. -- Man City’s Kris Coton wins Young Player of the Month and Claudio Contreras finishes in second. -- Man City’s manager Dunga wins Manager of the Month and I finish in third. October Board Confidence Update -- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership, which is underlined by our convincing 4-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in Champions League play. No negatives again! -- We lost £279,000 last month. Transfer Clause Money IN -- We are offered a chance to buyout a couple of clauses negotiated in our sale of GK Louis Read to Norwich. I end up getting over £240,000 to buy out a games played clause and a sell on clause. Easy money. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Saber Nasri and Helder Cruz are both named to the Premier League team of the week. Neither are holding a grudge against me anymore, thankfully. Next Up -- It’s back to Champions League action, as we host the super powerful Bayern Munich in Group Stage play.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-26-2014, 11:16 PM
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#409 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. October 4, 2023
UEFA Champions League - Group C Dover (1-0-0, 3 points, 1st) vs. FC Bayern (0-1-0, 1 point, 2nd) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 FC Bayern: 6-4 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 0W 0D 1L We played Bayern Munich in the preseason and they defeated us 2-1 here at Crabble, our only loss all season thus far. We’ve gone on at length about their prowess in the German Bundesliga, where they finished second last year but have won the league 30 times. They were big spenders in July, splashing over £67 million on players like CSKA Moscow’s Lamine Thiam (£21.5 million), Cruzeiro’s Everton (£15.5 million) and Frankfurt’s Kevin Green (£13.5 million). They are deep everywhere and one of the biggest clubs in the world. They’ve won the Champions League four times (last win was in 2001) and finished runners up in 2018. I’m going to start striker Shanon Andrea today over Paul Moses - Bayern Munich is his former club and they bought him from Ascoli in Italy for £14.5 million in 2019 but they’d only give him 11 senior team games over a two year period (he scored five goals) and they’d eventually sell him to us for a bargain price of £5.5 million in 2021. He never really got a shot in Germany so we’ll let him gain a measure of revenge in this game. Andrea did score our only goal in our 2-1 preseason loss to their club. Despite being the slightest of underdogs, we’ll stick with a control mentality at home. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, G. Fanfoni, Jose, H. Cruz, G. Allan, P. Moses Bayern come out in a flat 4-4-2 as well and the dangerous Brazilian Capixaba is up front with Alejandro Villarreal. Emiliano Pighin is in goal. With my pre-game talk, I usually defer to my assistant and he always prefers using our supporters to motivate the club and I go with it. 1’ - Right off the opening kick off, Andrea is tackled hard and is hurt. It looks like he can continue but needs to come off for a minute. 17’ - Lots of shots for both teams from distance but no real chances until we work a ball into Andrea Rocca inside the area and his right foot shot is right at Pighin and easily held. 20’ - A glorious chance, as Chiquinho beautifully sets up Shanon Andrea and our striker is on a breakaway. He shoots low and Pighin makes the fantastic stop. 34’ - Boy, this must be a very physical game, as we’ve seen no less than FIVE injuries already. No one has to come off yet but lots of guys pulling up lame. 36’ - Ingo Wilke is called upon for the first time, making a spectacular stop on Villarreal! HALFTIME - A really ugly half of football, with countless giveaways on both sides and no offensive flow. Bayern is DOMINATING possession with 62% - they are just pummelling us and they outshoot us 8-3 (2-3 on target) as well. I tell the team they can win this game…now go out and get a goal! 46’ - Saber Nasri takes down Villarreal and is given a yellow. 54’ - A little more life from us so far this half and it’s Gianluca Bolis crossing into the area to Bamba but his header is stopped by Pighin. 58’ - We bring in Paul Moses and take out Shanon Andrea. A little speed and youth infusion! 61’ - We head the ball up field and Moses streaks after it. His shot is low and Pighin makes another fine stop! 63’ - Now we bring in Jose in the midfield for Andrea Rocca. 64’ - The quiet Neil Cairney with a yellow. I’m a bit disappointed in him today but perhaps he’s shadowing a top Bayern player - he’s done nothing offensively so far. 72’ - Claudio Contreras with a yellow as well. 80’ - Chiquinho with a chance at the outer edge of the area but it’s a weak shot and easily saved. 86’ - We simply can’t keep up with these guys. They are just dominating the ball and we can’t do anything about it. Their talented midfielder Parana takes a touch pass inside the area and has a glorious chance but Wilke makes the spectacular stop to keep the game scoreless. Disappointing effort but it’s clear that Bayern is a top club so I guess we can’t be too upset. Dover 0 - 0 FC Bayern Goals - Assists - Man of the Match - Emiliano Pighin (FC Bayern GK - 7.5) Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.0), Saber Nasri (7.0) Attendance - 21,943 We did a bit better in the second half and ended up with only 45% of overall possession but outshot them 14-13 (9-3 on target). Their keeper was deservedly the man of the match. I tell the team I’m disappointed in the performance - we’ve been dominated on possession two games in a row now and that’s not Dover football. -- We get a break when Dynamo Kyiv holds Palermo to a draw in other Group C action. Therefore, we maintain our two point edge on the table. -- We earn £348,000 for the draw. -- We also set a new gates receipts record, pulling in about £700,000 for the contest. Next Up -- We stay home and welcome Huddersfield to Crabble Athletic Ground in Premier League action.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-26-2014 at 11:16 PM. |
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05-27-2014, 12:53 AM
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#410 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. October 7, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (3-2-0, 11 points, 5th) vs. Huddersfield (2-1-3, 7 points, 10th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Huddersfield: 7-2 Past Meetings: 8W 1D 3L Huddersfield are coming off their worst season since being promoted to the Premier League in 2015, gaining only 40 points and a 15th place finish last year. They didn’t spend much in the July transfer window, with their most notable signing being fullback Andrea Cerri from French club Stade Rennais FC. Top players for Huddersfield include midfielder Dennis Lotters, striker Paul Lumsden and striker David Caldwell. Lumsden is hurt for today’s game. A number of changes today from our lethargic performance against Bayern Munich in Champions League play. Paul Moses is back in for the ineffective Shanon Andrea and despite his struggles, I’ll give Chiquinho another shot today. Neil Cairney and Gianluca Bolis will rest today and in their place will be Jose and Graham Allan. Rafinha and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz come in at defence for Renato Gaucho and Claudio Contreras. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, Jose, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - C. Guzman, C. Contreras, G. Fanfoni, N. Cairney, H. Cruz, G. Bolis, Z. Bardi Huddersfield are in a 4-4-2 as well, with veteran striker Nelson Oliveira up front with David Caldwell. Alex Smithies is in goal. We lost in our last game to Huddersfield and I want a better performance today. I tell the team this is a winnable game and pull aside Chiquinho to tell him I have faith in his abilities. 2’ - WOW. Huddersfield midfielder Robbie Brady annihilates Andrea Rocca, going studs up on a tackle and he’s shown the straight RED CARD after 60 seconds of play! They are down to ten men SUPER EARLY! HUDDERSFIELD DOWN TO TEN MEN I can already tell Huddersfield are going into a defensive shell, as they take their time over a couple of goal kicks. 7’ - Graham Allan with the first shot on goal but it’s stopped by Smithies. 21’ - I’m grinding my teeth as Huddersfield seem to have a lot of the ball despite being down to ten men but Jose gets possession and sends a pass up to Moses. He’s 25 yards out and decides to shoot and it shockingly is in the far corner of the net! Moses is incredible. DOVER GOAL 1-0 25’ - Rooca with a free kick and Smithies makes the lovely diving stop. 37’ - Dennis Lotters takes down Andrea Rocca in the area and it’s a PENALTY! Neil Cairney is on the bench so up steps the struggling Chiquinho. I already know what’s going to happen and indeed, Chiquinho goes left and the goalie is there to make the spectacular diving save. My God - our big striker is in a HUGE SLUMP again. The play continues and we gain possession again. Rocca delivers a long ball up to Allan and when he reaches the area, he passes back to Rocca. Our midfielder has time and shoots and the ball DEFLECTS OFF CHIQUINHO and goes INTO THE NET! HAHA! What a NUTTY sequence but Chiquinho gets his slump buster and we have a two goal lead! DOVER GOAL 2-0 HALFTIME - Well, it took awhile but we’re in complete control now. 64% of possession and a 14-4 (7-1 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team I’m pleased but pull aside Graham Allan, who is showing signs of over confidence and tell him I’m disappointed in his attitude. 50’ - We head a ball into Huddersfield territory and their defender Antonio Guzzetti has it but his touch back to the keeper is too soft and Paul Moses jumps on it. Smithies makes the point blank save on Moses but there is Chiquinho to gobble up the rebound and he POUNDS it into the back of the net! Two for Chiquinho and we have three! DOVER GOAL 3-0 61’ - With the game well in hand, I take out Andrea Rocca and captain Salim Loucif and bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni and Carlos Guzman. 67’ - Rafinha sends a little touch pass to Gian Marco Fanfoni and his rocket blast is stopped by Smithies but there is CHIQUINHO gobbling up the rebound and he scores AGAIN! A hat trick for Chiquinho!!! DOVER GOAL 4-0 With the huge lead, we go ahead and make our last substitution, bringing in Helder Cruz for Arsene Bamba. 90’+1 - Jose with a corner kick and the cross is to the far post and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz heads it into the back of the net for his first career goal for Dover!!! Great moment for the young central defender! DOVER GOAL 5-0 That’s a professional win and I’m relieved that Chiquinho broke his slump. Dover 5 - 0 Huddersfield Goals - Chiquinho 3 (9.5), Paul Moses (8.4), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (8.9) Assists - Jose 2 (8.8), Andrea Rocca (7.2), Paul Moses, Gian Marco Fanfoni (7.0) Man of the Match - Chiquinho Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.5), Saber Nasri (8.2), Rafinha (8.0), Graham Allan (7.6) Attendance - 21,314 We hold 62% of possession and a 27-8 (13-1 on target) shot advantage. Great win with a number of key players on the sidelines today! -- Liverpool knock off Reading 1-0 and United also win over Fulham. Middlesbrough can only manage a draw against Wolves and Chelsea finally get back on the winning track, knocking off Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light. Man City and Arsenal draw 1-1 in a big Sunday matchup. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 7 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Manchester City - 17 points 2. Liverpool - 16 points 3. Middlesbrough - 16 points 4. Dover - 14 points (after 6 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester United - 13 points (after 6 games) 6. Reading - 13 points 7. Tottenham - 11 points ---------------------------------------------------- Dover U18 Update -- The kids win by the same scoreline as the senior team, taking a 5-0 decision over Portsmouth U18s. Gary Archer bagged a brace while Norberto Vazquez, Steven Miller and Sean Woolley notched singles. Archer also had two assists in a splendid performance. International Duty -- We have twenty players called up for international duty next weekend. We’ll report back with caps after the games take place. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- We place three players on the team of the week, with Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, Jose and Chiquinho getting the honours. Injury Update -- Our only injury is to defender Rayane Hamon, who will still be out a couple of weeks with his fractured arm. Saber Nasri, our new DC signing, has been sensational since coming on for Hamon. Dover Reserves Team Update -- We have a reserves match only one day prior to playing Newcastle in the league so I have a squad filled with U18 players and we end up losing our first game of the year to Chelsea’s reserves 2-1, with our only score being a Chelsea own goal. Next Up -- Our third home game in a row, as we host struggling Newcastle in Premier League play.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-27-2014 at 12:54 AM. |
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05-27-2014, 11:32 PM
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#411 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. October 11, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (4-2-0, 14 points, 4th) vs. Newcastle (1-2-3, 5 points, 15th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Newcastle: 9-2 Past Meetings: 5W 1D 2L Newcastle are in the Premier League for the fourth year in a row and have only spent one single season (2019/20) out of the top flight since 2009/10. They’ve finished as high as 7th twice but usually are a mid-to-bottom of the table club. They were modest spenders in the July transfer window, paying £3.5 million for 26 year old PSG midfielder Mugahid Al-Nour, their largest purchase. They spent another £7 million on three players: Jamal Comminges from Derby, Piotr Wrobel from Bursaspor and Paul Gould from Arsenal. Gould and Al-Nour are co-leaders in goals so far with 3 apiece. We are rotating the squad a bit right now but do have a nice international break coming up. That said, I’m resting Salim Loucif for the first time this season and also will be spelling Arsene Bamba and Andrea Rocca. Paul Moses is back in the lineup at striker for Shanon Andrea and getting starts today will be Helder Cruz, Jose, Rafinha and Manuel Perez. We are big favourites today, so normal tactics and mentality. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, Rafinha M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - S. Loucif, M. Yilmaz, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, A. Bamba, G. Allan, Z. Bardi Newcastle are in a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) look with Paul Gould alone up front. Jak Alnwick is in goal - he always plays us tough. Newcastle usually play pretty tight but with this formation, perhaps they’ll try to open things up a bit. My assistant tells me that there is an air of overconfidence in the room and they think they can just show up and Newcastle will roll over. I tell them I expect a win today so perhaps that will wake them up. 7’ - Contreras has it at midfield and sends a ball up to Neil Cairney. He sends a ball into the area and Paul Moses beats the Newcastle defender to it and quickly shoots low to the far corner and it’s past Alnwick and in the net. Great start! DOVER GOAL 1-0 28’ - No shots on goal. Ugh. We’re definitely playing down to these guys right now. Gianluca Bolis with a yellow card. They have a free kick just outside our area and the cross is a beauty, right to the head of Paul Gould but Perez makes the great stop! 32’ - We have possession near midfield and it’s Rafinha moving it up the right flank to Bolis. He spots Moses in the middle and our young striker cuts between two defenders, dribbles to the top of the area and shoots and Alnwick is there but can only get a piece of it and the ball is IN. How can I take Moses out of the lineup? The dude is incredible! DOVER GOAL 2-0 41’ - A nice through ball from Gould to Vince Scala and Perez is called upon to make a stellar save! HALFTIME - It’s all Paul Moses so far. We edge them on possession, holding 52% of the ball and outshoot them 11-3 (5-1 on target). I decide to encourage the team - we want more goals. I also tell the overconfident Helder Cruz that I’m disappointed in his attitude today. 53’ - All we need to do is give it to Moses and it’s MAGIC. Cairney lays the ball off to him half way in Newcastle territory and he simply walks through four defenders and then beats Alnwick low to the right post and Moses has his hat trick. MAGNIFICENT individual effort from Moses. DOVER GOAL 3-0 Four of our guys are showing complacency right now - with Moses on the team, I guess that’s to be expected, as he’s singlehandedly winning this game for us. 64’ - With both of them showing complacency, I take out today’s captain Saber Nasri and midfielder Jose and bring in Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Emmerson Harvey. 65’ - Right after the substitution, we have a corner and it’s Paul Moses taking it. It’s cleared back to Moses by Emmerson Harvey and Moses sends it to the byline to Chiquinho. With no angle at all, Chiquinho turns and fires and it’s somehow past Alnwick and IN! Crazy! DOVER GOAL 4-0 68’ - With a big lead, we use our last sub and take out Chiquinho and bring in Zoltan Bardi. 75’ - A Moses corner is headed toward goal by Contreras but Alnwick makes the save. Emmerson Harvey follows up on the rebound but it’s booted away near the goal line by Newcastle. Harvey fouls a player right afterward and gets the yellow card. 84’ - Another corner and Moses’ cross is bobbled by Alnwick, allowing Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz to head the ball past him and into the net! Another goal from Yilmaz, his second in as many games and we hit for five once again! DOVER GOAL 5-0 We’re dominating these middle of the road teams! Dover 5 - 0 Newcastle Goals - Paul Moses 3 (9.8), Chiquinho (8.2), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.4) Assists - Neil Cairney 2 (9.1), Paul Moses 2, Gianluca Bolis (8.1), Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.5), Rafinha (7.7), Claudio Contreras (8.1), Renato Gaucho (7.8), Helder Cruz (7.4) Attendance - 18,348 We are just too much for these types of teams. We have 53% of possession and a wide 28-10 (10-2 on target) shot advantage. Moses with FIVE POINTS! On the opposite end is midfielder Jose, who has been great thus far but put up a DUD today, with a 6.1 rating. He was about to earn a permanent starting job but I can’t have him playing with complacency like he did today. -- There was only one other Premier League game, as today was a “catch up” day and it was United knocking off Sheffield Wednesday 2-1. With the win, we vault all the way into first place! BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 7 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 17 points 2. Manchester City - 17 points 3. Manchester United - 16 points 4. Liverpool - 16 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Middlesbrough - 16 points 6. Reading - 13 points 7. Tottenham - 11 points ---------------------------------------------------- Dover U18 Update -- Pete Smith and Jim Ryan score in a 2-1 win over Swindon in Under 18 Cup 3rd Round action. International Duty -- Gaining caps are Hans Briers (Belgium U21 - 2 assists), Marcel Quade (Austria U21 - 1 assist), Paul Moses (England U21 - 1 goal, 2 assists), Emmerson Harvey (England U21), Steve Reed (England U21), Andy Broomes (England U21), Steven Potter (England U20), Felix Hernandez (France U19 - 1 goal), Graham Allan (Scotland - 1 goal), Neil Cairney (Scotland), Chiquinho (Belgium - 3 goals, 2 assists in two games), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary - FIVE goals in two games), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Saber Nasri (Tunisia), Lyubomir Kunchev (Bulgaria - 1 goal), Arsene Bamba (Ivory Coast), Mwemere Mutesa (Rwanda) and Giorgos Gesios (Greece). -- The goal by Kunchev is his first international goal for Bulgaria. Congrats to Lyubomir! Injury Update -- Defender Rayane Hamon is close to returning to full training from his broken arm. Dover Reserves Team Update -- With most of our players away on international duty, we field a weaker side and draw against Fulham’s reserves 1-1. Helder Cruz scores our only goal. I’ve had Shanon Andrea with the reserves for the last two games and he hasn’t scored - if he can’t score for the reserves, he won’t be playing on the senior team. It’s been a shockingly bad start to the season for Andrea - he’s only 27 so I can’t quite understand what’s going on but it may simply be just a slump. Next Up -- We’re on the road, heading to Wolverhampton to face Wolves in Premier League play.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-28-2014, 01:37 AM
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#412 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. October 21, 2023
Barclays Premier League Wolves (0-4-3, 4 points, 16th) vs. Dover (5-2-0, 17 points, 1st) Molineux, Wolverhampton, UK Betting Odds: Wolves: 4-1 Draw: 5-2 Dover: 4-7 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 8W 3D 1L The Wanderers have been a Premier League mainstay since 2009/10, with only one year in the Championship in 2020/21, when they won that league and won immediate promotion. They have finished as high as 5th in the Premier League (back in 2017/18) and were 13th last year, finishing better than expected. That said, they are off to a terrible start this year, with no wins through their first seven games and I have to imagine their manager, Paul Jewell, is under fire. Strikers Guy Luckett and Emanuele Testardi are the men to watch out for. They did little in the July transfer window, bringing in Napoli fullback Oriol Presa on loan and Eiche midfielder Tim van der Laan for £1.9 million. After a long international break, we have some tired players and with another Champions League game coming up mid-week, we’ll rest some key players today. Taking a breather today will be Chiquinho and Neil Cairney. We’ll play a one striker formation today, with Paul Moses alone up front and Andrea Rocca will sit behind him at AMC. Gian Marco Fanfoni and Jose will start in midfield. Control mentality on the road as big favourites. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - Jose, G. Fanfoni AM - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, G. Bolis S - P. Moses Bench - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, N. Cairney, E. Harvey, G. Allan, A. Broomes, Z. Bardi Wolves are in a flat 4-4-2 today - usually they play a much more defensive formation. We could only muster a draw in our last game against these guys so we will work hard to win today. Luckett and Testardi are up front and Wayne Hennessey is in goal. Once again, there is overconfidence in our room, with Saber Nasri the culprit today. I tell the team they can win and pull aside Nasri to say I expect a performance from him today. 4’ - Rocca with a lovely little touch to Moses but his hard shot is stopped by Hennessey. 8’ - We have a free kick and Rocca’s lob into the area is headed into the net by Gianluca Bolis! But wait…the flag is up and Bolis is ruled offsides. NO GOAL. Replays confirm the decision on the pitch. 17’ - Jose with a clever pass into the area to Moses but again, his shot is saved well by Hennessey. 19’ - Gian Marco Fanfoni with a yellow card. 37’ - This half isn’t going well and our players aren’t up for it. Fanfoni with a weak effort and Hennessey is in position for the stop. HALFTIME - A brutal first half performance, as Wolves have 56% of possession and also outshoot us 9-7 (2-5 on target). I unleash the anger in the dressing room and change tactics to a flat 4-4-2. I also take out Gian Marco Fanfoni and bring in Zoltan Bardi to play striker. 63’ - We send a long ball up the right and Bolis latches onto it. He attempts a cross but it deflects out off a Wolves defender. It’s right to Andrea Rocca and he shoots hard, forcing Hennessey into a diving save but the rebound pops right to Arsene Bamba and he shoots past the fallen Hennessey and it’s IN. Finally. DOVER GOAL 1-0 65’ - Paul Moses with a yellow. 71’ - Andrea Rocca is out and in comes young Emmerson Harvey. 73’ - Jose with a free kick from distance and it’s headed toward goal by Saber Nasri but Hennessey is in good position and saves. 82’ - Wolves send in Testardi and his hard shot is saved by Wilke. HUGE save there to keep us in the lead. 87’ - Bardi collects the ball around midfield and streaks down the right. He gets a cross into the box and Paul Moses wins it from Wolves defender Sam Jones and rifles the ball past Hennessey and IN! We can breathe now, as Moses comes to the rescue again! DOVER GOAL 2-0 90’ - I bring in Andy Broomes for Paul Moses. This is Broomes’ first game for our club. Not our best but a much better second half performance. Wolves 0 - 2 Dover Goals - Arsene Bamba (7.9), Paul Moses (7.5) Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.1), Zoltan Bardi (6.9) Man of the Match - Saber Nasri (8.5) Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.5), Claudio Contreras (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.4) Attendance - 19.646 Well, peeling paint worked at half, as we dominate the second half and end up edging them on overall possession, with 51% of the ball and a 20-11 (10-3 on target) shot advantage. Nasri had a ridiculous 11 tackles and won 13 of 14 headers to win man of the match honours. -- In other action, Man United could only muster a draw against Tottenham, while Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea win. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 8 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 20 points 2. Manchester City - 20 points 3. Liverpool - 19 points 4. Manchester United - 17 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Middlesbrough - 16 points 6. Arsenal - 13 points 7. Reading - 13 points ---------------------------------------------------- Dover U18 Update -- Our 18s destroy AFC Wimbledon 5-0, with Pete Smith bagging a brace. We get singles from Terry Williams, Felix Hernandez and Sean Woolley. Injury Update -- Rayane Hamon returns to full training after missing four weeks with a fractured arm. Saber Nasri played exceptionally well in his absence. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Defender Saber Nasri makes the weekly team after his fine man of the match appearance versus Wolves. Next Up -- We head to Italy to face Palermo in Champions League action.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-28-2014 at 01:38 AM. |
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05-28-2014, 05:04 AM
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#413 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Rennes, France
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Excellent game steak !
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05-28-2014, 10:57 AM
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#414 | |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Quote:
Thanks Alf - I *hope* this is the year! We've built a pretty deep squad, with talent everywhere and great depth at all positions. Even in a big injury crisis, I should be fine at all positions. We've only lost one game all season, including friendlies and that was to Bayern Munich, a top, top club. I'm a bit worried about Shanon Andrea's slump but other than that, we're in great shape. Should be an exciting season for Dover fans!
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-28-2014, 11:15 PM
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#415 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. October 25, 2023
UEFA Champions League - Group C Palermo (0-2-0, 2 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (1-1-0, 4 points, 1st) Renzo Barbera, La Favorita, Palermo, Italy Betting Odds: Palermo: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 11-5 Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L Citta di Palermo are the defending Europa League champions, having defeated HSV 4-2 in extra time in the finals. I’m hoping we can help them on their way to defending that title by knocking them out of the Champions League! They have won the Italian Serie A once back in 2016 and finished in third last year. They are three time Europa League Champions, with wins in 2011 and 2012 added to their win last year. They have a dangerous striker named Sergio Araujo, who has 8 goals in 12 appearances thus far in 2023. They were incredibly busy in the July transfer window, spending over £67 million on players, including £18.5 million on Dortmund striker Robin Franz and £15.75 million on 27 year old midfielder Carlos Luna. Both are struggling to settle in thus far. Palermo are a slightly bigger club than we are (£150,000,000 estimated value versus £137 million) and need to be treated with respect. I contemplate playing our normal style but ultimately, being on the road, I’m going to start in a counter attacking mode. Rayane Hamon needs to regain his match fitness so he’ll only be on the bench today, with Saber Nasri starting. Paul Moses stays in at striker alongside Chiquinho Dover: 4-4-2 Counter GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, R. Hamon, G. Fanfoni, Jose, G. Allan, H. Cruz, Z. Bardi Palermo come out in a flat 4-4-2 as well but top scorer Araujo is on the bench in favour of Robin Franz and Rodrigo Bovo. Luna is at MR and 20 year old Pierpaolo Bartoli is in goal, a guy I’ve looked at many times in the past as a possible transfer target. He played at Newcastle last year on loan and I remember beating him severely one game - hopefully we can do it again! I tell the team they can win tonight in the pre-game team talk. Big game - lets play well lads! 6’ - Chiquinho with a through ball to Moses and he’s off to the races. He’s got a man on his tail so he shoots from the outer edge of the area and Bartoli makes a good stop. 8’ - Moses again showing his incredible speed to burst through the middle but Bartoli is up to the task again. 21’ - Palermo looks like they have more of the possession but we are getting the better chances. Rocca with a free kick from just outside the area and he curls it around the wall but Bartoli is in great position and holds on. 29’ - Palermo with a free kick and they put it into our area. It’s right on and Wilke makes the save but there is a rebound and there is Robin Franz, putting it past our keeper and in the net. Damn. PALERMO GOAL 0-1 31’ - Right off the ensuing kick off, Moses gets the ball and storms in but Bartoli makes another save. 40’ - Some nice passing up field and it’s Rocca moving it forward to Chiquinho. He is in on goal but his shot is weak and Bartoli makes the stop. HALFTIME - We’re not playing that badly but we are down. Possession is 50/50 and they outshoot us 11-9 (5-5 on target). I tell the team that I want to see more of an effort in the second half and I switch to a control mentality. 47’ - Wilke makes a save, forcing a corner and he makes yet another save off a header. We’re holding on right now… 55’ - Boy, Franz with another great chance in close and Wilke makes a brilliant stop. We’re not playing well here. 57’ - A great three way pass play sees Moses spring Chiquinho but his low blast is saved by Bartoli, who is playing great today. 67’ - Moses takes a knock and his fitness takes a hit. We need a change here and I bring in Graham Allan to take his place and also pull out Andrea Rocca and bring in Jose. We switch to an attacking mentality. 69’ - Bolis and Chiquinho play a delightful give and go but Bolis’ shot is stopped by the splendid Bartoli. 71’ - We have a corner and Jose takes it. The ball is cleared out and Salim Loucif sends it back up to Claudio Contreras. Showing great poise, our central defender sends a WONDERFUL ball through the box and Chiquinho gets there first and BLASTS it past Bartoli and into the top corner. I look for the offsides call, as do Palermo’s defenders but the ref waives them off. It’s a goal! DOVER GOAL 1-1 88’ - Cairney with a yellow card. 89’ - Gianluca Bolis is banged up so I move Graham Allan to right midfield and bring in Zoltan Bardi to play striker. A better second half performance and we’ll take the draw. Palermo 1 - 1 Dover Goals - Chiquinho (7.9) Assists - Claudio Contreras (7.8) Man of the Match - Chiquinho Other Dover Notables - Saber Nasri (7.1), Andrea Rocca (7.0) Attendance - 35.622 We end up with 55% of possession and a 21-19 (11-10 on target) shot advantage, so a much better second half for us there. Paul Moses only got a 6.3 rating - a bit rough on the kid, as he had to come out early due to injury but he’s fine. -- We earn £348,000 for the draw. -- In other Group C action, as expected, FC Bayern SMOKE Dynamo Kyiv 6-0 and tie us on points but take over first place in the group on goal differential. Next Up -- We host relegation candidates Birmingham City in Premier League play.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-29-2014, 12:20 AM
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#416 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. October 28, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (6-2-0, 20 points, 1st) vs. Birmingham (1-1-6, 4 points, 18th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Birmingham: 10-1 Past Meetings: 4W 0D 1L We are MONSTER favourites against relegation candidates Birmingham City, who surprised in their first year back up in the top flight last year, finishing 17th and surviving. They were decent spenders in July, spending £5 million on midfielder/fullback John Broome from Manchester United and £4.6 million on 27 year old Everton midfielder Pierre Anton. Neither player looks like a difference maker so perhaps some poor decisions there. This isn’t a great club and we humbled them both times we faced them last year. Games are coming fast and furious and with another game in three days against Derby, we’ll be playing a lot of backups today, with Manuel Perez, Rafinha, Helder Cruz, Jose, Gian Marco Fanfoni, Graham Allan and Zoltan Bardi all playing. I’m also giving a start to unfit Rayane Hamon, as we don’t have a reserves game coming up for another week and a half and I need to get him some playing time. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - Rafinha, R. Hamon, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - H. Cruz, Jose, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi Bench - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, N. Cairney, E. Harvey, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes, S. Andrea Ugh. Birmingham are coming out in a very defensive looking 4-2-1-2-1 formation, with two DMCs and only young Joe Mason up front. Edwin Leferink is in goal. They are going to play close to the vest tonight and I will hope to score early in order to break them out of their shell. We’ll be ready to switch to an attacking mentality if we’re slow to get on the board. Only Graham Allan shows overconfidence but I tell the team I expect a win today. 2’ - We have a free kick around midfield and Fanfoni touches it to Jose, who then immediately sends a through ball into the area. Helder Cruz latches onto it and shoots from an awkward angle and the ball is off Leferink and IN THE NET! There is the fast start I wanted!!! DOVER GOAL 1-0 19’ - No real chances since our goal, as Birmingham is still content to sit back and look for the counter. Cruz gets a ball into Moses and he left foots it on goal but it’s an easy stop for Leferink. 40’ - We earn a corner and Jose’s kick is headed toward goal by Rayane Hamon. The ball bounces off a Birmingham defender and pops out to Graham Allan and his quick shot is off another Birmingham defender protecting the post and goes IN. Allan’s first of the season! DOVER GOAL 2-0 HALFTIME - Birmingham didn’t even TRY to go on offence as we hold 52% of possession and an 8-0 (4-0 on target) shot advantage. I am guessing they will try to open it up a bit in the second half…or maybe that’s just what I’m hoping for! I tell the team i’m pleased thus far - not much else to say when Birmingham is giving us nothing and keeping all of their men behind the ball. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a formation change on their part. 52’ - Birmingham continue to sit back but we get a great chance, with Moses touching a ball into Allan and he misses WIDE on a complete sitter. Great opportunity wasted there! 64’ - Helder Cruz with a yellow card, as we continue to struggle breaking them down. Zoltan Bardi is a bit banged up so I take him out and bring in Shanon Andrea, hoping he can break his season-long slump. 77’ - Allan streaks down the right wing and sends a great, low cross into the area to Andrea. He’s got the net at his mercy…and shoots right at the Birmingham keeper. UGH. Come on Shanon!! 80’ - Emmerson Harvey comes in for Jose, who was great today. Man, Birmingham BLOW. Even down two goals, they were only sending three men up field when they had the ball. Enjoy the Championship next year guys. Dover 2 - 0 Birmingham Goals - Helder Cruz (7.5), Graham Allan (7.6) Assists - Jose 2 (7.6) Man of the Match - Jose Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.0), Saber Nasri (7.4), Rayane Hamon (7.1), Rafinha (7.0) Attendance - 20,407 We dominate but only score twice due to Birmingham’s negative tactics, holding 58% of possession and a 21-2 (7-0 on target) shot advantage. Our strikers couldn’t get anything going with six guys back in the middle but we’ll take the three points. -- Other winners include Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool but Manchester City can only manage a draw against Sunderland. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 9 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 23 points 2. Liverpool - 22 points 3. Manchester City - 21 points 4. Manchester United - 20 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Arsenal - 16 points 6. Middlesbrough - 16 points 7. Tottenham - 15 points ---------------------------------------------------- Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Midfielder Helder Cruz makes the team of the week after scoring against Birmingham. Next Up -- We have a fourth round League Cup match against Championship side Derby.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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05-29-2014, 02:05 AM
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#417 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. October 31, 2023
League Cup - 4th Round Derby (4th in npower Championship) vs. Dover (1st in Barclays Premier League) Pride Park, Derby, UK Betting Odds: Derby: 3-1 Draw: N/A Dover: 4-5 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 9W 0D 2L Derby are another team that has played what I like to call “negative football” over the past few years, playing a boring style with no offensive intentions. They got relegated after an 18th place finish last year and I imagine they’ll be a promotion favourite in the Championship this year. As you might imagine, they didn’t do much in the transfer window going down a division. They are getting a huge season out of striker Joao Henriques Almeida, as he has 12 goals already in 16 appearances. Niels Hendriks is another striker worth watching. They still have Fraser Forster in goal, a former Dover player. After playing a large number of backups, we’ll be playing a reasonably full strength side today. Paul Moses will sit out today - after lighting it up in the early goings, he’s gone two straight games without a goal so we’ll give him a rest. We are starting with only one striker up front in Chiquinho and Zoltan Bardi will get his second straight start sitting behind him. Rafinha will also get his second straight start, spelling captain Salim Loucif. Saber Nasri will wear the captain’s armband today. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, Rafinha M - N. Cairney, A. Rocca AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - Chiquinho Bench - S. Reed, R. Hamon, G. Fanfoni, E. Harvey, H. Cruz, G. Allan, A. Broomes Derby come out in a narrow 4-4-2 diamond formation, with Hendriks and Almeida up front and Forster in goal. Playing the role of the overconfident guy in today’s match is Rafinha, who my assistant says is looking “cocky” - I tell the team I want a good performance for our travelling supporters. 7’ - Almost seven minutes straight of highlights, as the play is going back and forth nicely. We get the first real good chance on a Chiquinho blast but Forster makes the good stop. 16’ - Rocca with a corner kick and his cross is to the far post and Claudio Contreras. Our big centre half back heads it off the crossbar but it hits Fraser Forster on the deflection and goes into the net! It counts as an own goal but we take the lead. DOVER GOAL 1-0 33’ - Rocca dribbles down the middle and finds Arsene Bamba in the area. He quickly shoots and Forster makes a really good save to keep Derby within one. 36’ - Derby have a corner and the cross is to the near post and Almeida. His header deflects off Renato Gaucho and it dribbles IN. Umm, okay. Not what we were expecting with a full lineup but Derby pull level. DERBY GOAL 1-1 43’ - Oh great, it gets better. Gianluca Bolis goes down and signals to the bench. His game is over and I’m forced to bring in Graham Allan. DOVER INJURY: GIANLUCA BOLIS 45’+1 - We have a throw in deep down the right side and Rafinha throws it in. Allan passes back to him and Rafinha crosses into the box and there is Renato Gaucho, up from his left fullback position, heading it past Forster and IN! He doesn’t score much so what a great moment for Renato Gaucho!!! DOVER GOAL 2-1 HALFTIME - We’re fortunate to be ahead at this point. The game is much more even than I was expecting and we only edge them on possession, with 51% of the ball and a 6-4 (5-2 on target) shot advantage. I try to encourage the team in the dressing room - I want to see more chances in the second half and may soon change tactics. For now, we’ll stay with this one. 50’ - Niels Hendriks, quiet to this point, with a BULLET from outside the area and WIlke makes a GREAT save. Come on men! 53’ - Zoltan Bardi has the ball inside Derby territory and feeds Arsene Bamba. He cuts in to the middle, avoids a tackle from the Derby right fullback and that allows him to break in on goal. His shot is low to the far corner and IN! Great effort from Bamba and we’re comfortably ahead! DOVER GOAL 3-1 61’ - Neil Cairney comes out and we bring in Emmerson Harvey. We switch to a flat 4-4-2. 69’ - Miles Addison, a midfielder, takes down Renato Gaucho on an ugly challenge and gets the straight RED CARD! DERBY RED CARD 76’ - Out comes Zoltan Bardi and in comes deep backup Andy Broomes. 77’ - Right away, the kid Broomes makes an impact, getting a pass up to Chiquinho and his rocket blast is turned aside by Forster. We earn a corner out of it and Rocca’s cross is headed toward goal by Renato Gaucho. It hits a defender on the way and goes IN! AGAIN it’s counted as an own goal, as Renato Gaucho gets robbed of a two goal game. Still, we’ll take it. DOVER GOAL 4-1 90’ - It’s Almeida again, turning and firing from WAY OUT and Ingo Wilke, woefully out of position and too far forward, watches it go over his head and into the net. Derby scores with ten men - UGLY but credit to Almeida on a world-class shot and he has two now. DERBY GOAL 4-2 We move on in the competition. Derby 2 - 4 Dover Goals - Fraser Forster OG, Renato Gaucho (8.4), Arsene Bamba (7.9), Stefan Holm OG Assists - Rafinha (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.2), Renato Gaucho, Zoltan Bardi (6.9) Man of the Match - Joao Henriques Almeida (Derby ST - 8.8) Other Dover Notables - Andrea Rocca (7.2), Neil Cairney (7.0) Attendance - 26,668 Possession ends up dead even but we outshoot Derby 16-9 (10-4 on target). I tell the team it was a good result but a poor performance. I’m sure some guys won’t be happy with that but I’m telling it like it is. We shouldn’t be giving up two goals to a Championship side with almost a full strength squad. -- The news isn’t good on Gianluca Bolis. He dislocated his shoulder in the game and will miss about two months of action. Crap. Bolis was playing well this season after a bit of a disappointing campaign last year. This means Graham Allan will get most of the starts and he is a great player in his own right. However, we have only 19 year old Lyubomir Kunchev as depth behind him - Kunchev will likely get a few opportunities to play over the next couple of months. He’s a Bulgarian international so I think he should be able to handle it. DOVER INJURY - GIANLUCA BOLIS (TWO MONTHS) November Update -- Another busy month upcoming and the difficulty will ramp up considerably after a very soft Premier League schedule in October, which saw us win all of our league games. In November, we face a daunting schedule with Liverpool (away), Chelsea (home), Arsenal (away) and Manchester City (home). YIKES! That’s going to be tough. We also have two Champions League games, both of which are at home against Palermo and Dynamo Kyiv. So six games, all of them very difficult. -- We get positive training notices for Graham Allan, Rafael Ramirez and Andy Broomes, along with U18 players Felix Hernandez, Anthony Gardiner and Ben Patterson. THREE negative training notices come in for Saber Nasri, Andrea Rocca and Neil Cairney. Yikes again. I have chats with Rocca and Nasri but I don’t confront Cairney about it just yet. Premier League Monthly Awards -- Tottenham’s Junior scored four goals in three games to win the Premier League player of the month award. -- Our very own Paul Moses wins Young Player of the Month and we sweep the top three, with Rafinha coming in second and Gian Marco Fanfoni coming in third. Cool! -- A Paul Moses goal from our Newcastle game comes in second in the Premier League Goal of the Month honours. -- We went a perfect 4-0-0 last month and that’s enough to earn me Manager of the Month honours! November Board Confidence Update -- The board remain very pleased with my overall leadership of the club. Our 4-0 Champions League win over Dynamo Kyiv is the highlight and our signing of reserves GK Mathis Imbert is the slight negative. Imbert won’t play for us this year so I can see why the board are disappointed but it was a free transfer so it’s not like it was a waste of money. That said, he’s now got a higher valuation than our main starter Ingo Wilke so I can understand their disappointment that we don’t play him. Simply put, he’s not as good as Wilke and he’s certainly not as good as our other keeper Manuel Perez either. Perez will be playing more and more this year, as he’s pitching shutouts almost every time he plays. -- We lost a paltry £280,000 last month. League Cup - Quarter Final Draw -- Four of the eight clubs remaining are Championship sides but we draw Sheffield Wednesday on the road. Tough matchup for us - the game won’t be played until early December. Next Up -- A very difficult November begins with a game against 2nd place Liverpool in an away Premier League matchup.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-29-2014 at 02:08 AM. |
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06-01-2014, 07:52 PM
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#418 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. November 4, 2023
Barclays Premier League Liverpool (7-1-1, 22 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (7-2-0, 23 points, 1st) Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, UK Betting Odds: Liverpool: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 13-8 Past Meetings: 5W 3D 8L We are the slightest of underdogs in an early season 1 vs 2 matchup against Liverpool in their stadium. The Reds have started the season well but are coming off their second worst season in over 20 years, a seventh place finish with only 58 points. We played them at the end of September and beat them in the 3rd round of the League Cup on penalties. Young striker Cheikh Bocande is leading the club with a modest total of four goals in 8 games. I have to be mindful of a Tuesday night Champions League game at home versus Palermo but we’ll go with a pretty full strength side today. Paul Moses will be back in and start alongside Chiquinho. Graham Allan starts for the now-injured Gianluca Bolis and will play a ton over the next couple of months. Saber Nasri stays in at centre half back, as Rayane Hamon continues to work himself back into full fitness. We’ll counter attack on the road today to start. Dover: 4-4-2 Counter GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, R. Hamon, G. Fanfoni, Jose, H. Cruz, L. Kunchev, S. Andrea Liverpool come out in the same formation as they did during the League Cup game, a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) with Bocande alone up front and Jonjo Shelvey, always dangerous, sitting behind him. Chris Dunn is in goal. We’ll also have to watch midfielder Adam Hill, a really solid player. In the pre-game dressing room talk, I give the team belief that they can win tonight. 4’ - Liverpool have possession half way in our territory down the right side and play some give and go's. Adam Hill hands the ball off to Shelvey and he passes into the middle to Bo Quattara. From about 8 yards outside the area, Quattara unleashes a blast that goes past a diving Manuel Perez and into the net. What a phenomenal strike from Quattara and we’re quickly behind. LIVERPOOL GOAL 0-1 9’ - Quattara has the ball at midfield and sends it up to left winger David Maclennan. He dribbles in on Salim Loucif and Loucif misses a tackle, allowing him to walk into the area and his shot is past Perez and IN! A DISASTER of as start for us and they are up two. LIVERPOOL GOAL 0-2 21’ - A couple of minutes after Andrea Rocca completely misses the net on a sitter, we are attacking again. Moses and Chiquinho play a give and go and Moses is in tight on goal. His shot is stopped by Chris Dunn but Chiquinho is there for the rebound and makes no mistake. We’re back in it! DOVER GOAL 1-2 25’ - Arsene Bamba is tackled down near midfield and is hurt. He can continue for now but has the dreaded injury cross above his name. 34’ - We have a free kick deep in their area and Rocca’s cross is headed up field to Maclennan. He dribbles down the length of the field, evades Loucif, who is having a HORRIBLE game, and crosses into the area and there is Adam Hill, charging into the box and booting it hard past Perez and Liverpool regain their two goal advantage. Horrific defending. LIVERPOOL GOAL 1-3 39’ - We have a corner and Rocca’s cross is headed out to Neil Cairney. Cairney sends the ball back to Rocca and he touches a pass to Graham Allan in the area. He pivots and crosses low into the middle and in traffic, the ball comes right to the foot of Paul Moses and he quickly kicks it into the goal. We strike back again and this game is all sorts of crazy. DOVER GOAL 2-3 45’+2 - Maclennan gets a pass at midfield and STREAKS past Salim Loucif for the upteenth time today. He runs down the sidelines and crosses into the box and there is midfielder Erik Koning, sliding at the ball and putting it past the beleaguered Manuel Perez. TERRIBLE timing to give up another goal just before half and our defending is absolutely SHOCKING today…and we’re SITTING BACK for goodness sakes!!! LIVERPOOL GOAL 2-4 HALFTIME - A shocking half of football, to say the least. Manuel Perez is having his toughest game yet, giving up four goals on as many shots on target. Liverpool are dominating, with 52% possession and a 10-7 (4-3 on target) shot advantage. I don’t go into full paint-peeling mode but tell the team I expect much more from them in the second half. Salim Loucif somehow has a 6.7 rating while both of my central defenders have a 5.7. Andrea Rocca has a 5.5 rating. I move to a control mentality to start the second half. 46’ - Liverpool get the ball to start the second half and Quattara takes a feed and walks in. Our defence is nowhere to be found and he shoots but Perez makes the stop. 61’ - Andrea Rocca was terrible and he comes out for Jose. 69’ - We play a long ball up field to Chiquinho and he finds Moses cutting through the middle. He’s in the area and shoots but Dunn makes the terrific save. There’s a rebound and Moses beats Liverpool defender Chanda Mbesuma to the ball and immediately tries the left footed shot. Dunn recovers and gets a piece of it, but not enough and it’s IN THE NET! DOVER GOAL 3-4 Down one now, we’ll attack to try to get the equalizer. 71’ - Renato Gaucho with a yellow card. 72’ - We move swiftly up field after the failed Liverpool free kick and Moses takes a pass from Bamba and cuts to the middle. He reaches the penalty area and back heels a pass to Chiquinho and his rocket launcher is off the crossbar! Ohhh… 79’ - Double substitution, as we take out Arsene Bamba and Renato Gaucho and bring in Helder Cruz and Rafinha. 82’ - We block a Liverpool free kick and a long ball is sent up to Moses. He’s on a two-on-two with Chiquinho and is allowed to dribble right into the area but his shot is saved in spectacular fashion by Dunn. We have a chance at the rebound but Allan’s shot is blocked. 83’ - We work another quick counter and passes go from Rafinha, to Cairney, to Moses, to Cruz and back to Cairney and he shoots but Dunn makes a crazy diving stop and the ball JUST trickles past the post and out of play. 84’ - We move to an overload mentality before the corner kick. The corner is cleared and Maclennan is dribbling down the left flank. He crosses into the area and the ball hits Rafinha in the back and goes past Perez and IN. Unbelievable. LIVERPOOL GOAL 3-5 What a colossal disappointment this was. Liverpool 5 - 3 Dover Goals - Paul Moses 2 (9.2), Chiquinho (7.2) Assists - Paul Moses, Graham Allan (6.9) Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Saber Nasri (5.3), Claudio Contreras (5.3), Renato Gaucho (5.8), Andrea Rocca (5.5) Attendance - 58,855 Liverpool edge us on possession with 51% of the ball but we end up outshooting them 19-13 (8-5 on target). We had only given up 5 goals through our first nine games and that’s matched by Liverpool tonight. Everything went in…lets just put this one past us and move on… -- Arsene Bamba hurt his elbow after falling on it and will miss about a week and a half. Helder Cruz and perhaps Rafinha, who is very versatile, can slot in while he’s gone. DOVER INJURY: Arsene Bamba (2 weeks - elbow) -- Elsewhere, Man United can only manage a draw against Newcastle, while Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City all win. We drop all the way down to third place after our first loss of the year. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 10 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Liverpool - 25 points 2. Manchester City - 24 points 3. Dover - 23 points 4. Manchester United - 21 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Arsenal - 19 points 6. Tottenham - 18 points 7. Middlesbrough - 16 points ---------------------------------------------------- 8. Chelsea - 15 points (9 games played) 9. Huddersfield - 15 points (9 games played) 10. Aston Villa - 14 points 11. Sunderland - 13 points 12. Reading - 13 points 13. Everton - 12 points 14. Newcastle - 9 points 15. Wolves - 7 points 16. Sheffield Wednesday - 6 points (8 games played) 17. Norwich - 6 points ---------------------------------------------------- 18. Birmingham - 5 points 19. Blackpool - 4 points 20. Fulham - 3 points Another Dover WONDERKID??? -- So, reading the Liverpool post game media report, a brief mention of Rafinha’s embarrassing own goal is prefaced with the fact that he is a “wonderkid”. WHA?!?!?! Now THAT’S a pleasant surprise, as I had no indication previously of this - he’s already a 3.0/4.0 player as a 19 year old and can play anywhere down the left side (fullback, wingback, midfield, AML) and also play right fullback. He’s blocked at all positions for now but this information will be very useful in the future once he learns the English language. Premier League Team of the Week -- Despite the big loss, Paul Moses earns Team of the Week honours for his two goal performance. Next Up -- We have a pivotal Champions League matchup against Palermo, with the contest taking place at the comfortable confines of Crabble Athletic Ground.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-01-2014 at 07:56 PM. |
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06-01-2014, 09:49 PM
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#419 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. November 7, 2023
UEFA Champions League - Group C Dover (1-2-0, 5 points, 2nd) vs. Palermo (0-3-0, 3 points, 3rd) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Palermo: 13-8 Past Meetings: 0W 1D 0L We battled Palermo to a 1-1 draw in Italy a couple of weeks ago and this is a pivotal game in Group C play - a win by our club would almost assure us our place in the Knockout stages, as we’d be five points up on Palermo and still have a game coming up against the weakest club in the group, Dynamo Kyiv here at home. Like us, Palermo are third in their league but their top scorer, Sergio Araujo, is injured today. They still have Robin Franz and Rodrigo Bovo to play up front and both are dangerous. Goalkeeper Pierpaolo Bartolli was sensational in our last matchup. We make a couple of changes today, with Rayane Hamon coming into the defence in place of Saber Nasri. Hamon still isn’t fully fit but I need his influence and leadership in there today. Helder Cruz gets the start at left midfield for the injured Arsene Bamba and Jose will play midfield for Andrea Rocca, who has been a step slow this year. Ingo Wilke is back in goal today as well. Control mentality at home today. We need this win! Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, G. Fanfoni, A. Rocca, L. Kunchev, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea Palermo are in a flat 4-4-2 today with Franz and Albert Falix up front. Rodrigo Bovo is on the bench. Midfielder Bassem Mogaadi is a good looking player and Bartoli is in goal once again. Lets do it for the supporters today! 5’ - A very nervous start for us, as Palermo have a few opportunities, including a great chance for Robin Franz but Wilke pushes the ball aside. He gets another weak shot off seconds later after a brutal Renato Gaucho giveaway but Wilke is there again. Come on men! 36’ - Yup, 36 minutes in and no real opportunities. Graham Allan gets a ball into Chiquinho, he avoids a tackle and has a clear path to goal but he elects to shoot early and his blast is over the net. He had all the time in the world to walk right in. Five of our players are noted as “playing nervously” by my assistant. Great… 38’ - Palermo with a free kick just outside our area and their player curls one around our wall but Wilke is there, diving, to make the save and hold on. Beauty. Wilke throws in to Renato Gaucho and he fires a pass up to Helder Cruz on the left sideline. He tries to send a ball up to Moses but it’s a bad pass and Moses has to fight with Santos, one of Palermo’s defenders, for it. Our young striker wins the battle and storms up field, reaching the area and shooting low, as he usually does and it’s past Bartoli and IN! The fans are chanting his name and we have the lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0 42’ - We win a corner and Jose takes the kick. His cross is to the far post and Claudio Contreras heads it over Bartoli and IN! It looked like a weak header but it was enough to get past the Palermo keeper and we’re ahead by two! DOVER GOAL 2-0 45’ - Robin Franz has a glorious chance, as he’s sent in all alone but he shoots WIDE. HALFTIME - Well, we went from having five nervous players to a two goal lead and everyone is now brimming with confidence. What a funny game this is. We held 55% of possession after a shaky start and a 9-8 (4-3 on target) shot advantage. I’m pleased and tell the players as much at half time. 49’ - We are tackling well but Salim Loucif tackles a ball away and right to the very dangerous Mogaadi and his ferocious left footed blast is thankfully right at Wilke and he hangs on. 50’ - Seconds later, Chiquinho with a horrible giveaway near midfield and Palermo move swiftly up the pitch. It comes to Carlos Luna down the right side and his shot curls past Wilke and into the net. Oh boy…we’re in for a battle here. PALERMO GOAL 2-1 Palermo fall back into a 5-2-1-2 formation. Interesting. 53’ - We are playing horrible football right now and we lose a header to Franz, who walks in and shoots past Wilke but the ball is off the crossbar and bounces away. Geez. 58’ - Wilke again with a save, this time off a free kick from the outer edge of the area. 61’ - Chiquinho has done nothing today and I pull him for Zoltan Bardi. 66’ - Jose with a clever little pass into Moses but his left footed shot is saved by Bartoli. 73’ - Falix gets off a great shot and Wilke makes the game-saving stop! 76’ - Paul Moses with a yellow card. 86’ - Neil Cairney is exhausted and I bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni. 90’+1 - With three minutes of extra time, I take out Moses and bring in Shanon Andrea. Not a very impressive second half but we’ll take the big win! Dover 2 - 1 Palermo Goals - Paul Moses (7.3), Claudio Contreras (8.2) Assists - Jose (8.0), Helder Cruz (7.0) Man of the Match - Claudio Contreras Other Dover Notables - Rayane Hamon (7.0), Renato Gaucho (7.2) Attendance - 22,208 We end up with 58% of possession and a 18-16 (5-8 on target) shot advantage. Big big win for us. -- We earn £696,000 for the win. -- It’s looking very good in our group, as Bayern Munich once again annihilate Dynamo Kyiv 5-0. We both sit with 8 points and Palermo is well back in third with only 3. Palermo would need us to lose both of our games and they’d have to win both of theirs in order to pass us. Not likely! -- Group A looks very interesting, with Galatasaray in first place with 8 points while Arsenal and Spartak Moscow both have 7. Barcelona are dominating Group B but there is a great race for second, with AZ and AS Monaco both sitting with 6 points. Group D looks similar to our group and it would be a shock if Juventus and Read Madrid didn’t move on, as Benfica is five points back of Madrid right now and six back of Juventus. In Group E, Man United has already locked up a spot in the knockout stage and Ajax also looks good to move on. Group F is up in the air, with OM sitting with 9 points, Sevilla with 7 and Celtic with 6. Group G is just as bogged up, with Chelsea in first with 9, Panathinaikos with 7 and Olympique Lyonnais with 6. Bursaspor has already locked up a knockout stage spot with a perfect 12 points in Group H and the remaining spot will be between Atletico Madrid and Sampdoria. Dover Reserves Team Update -- We have our first reserves game in a few weeks and we get goals from Shanon Andrea, Felix Hernandez and Andy Broomes in a 3-0 win over Wolves. Great to see Andrea have a good game, as he’s struggled in all competitions this year. Next Up -- We host defending Premier League champions Chelsea at Crabble Athletic Ground.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-01-2014, 11:10 PM
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#420 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. November 11, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (7-2-1, 23 points, 3rd) vs. Chelsea (4-3-2, 15 points, 8th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Chelsea: 13-8 Past Meetings: 3W 2D 7L Chelsea really struggled out of the gates this year as they attempt to defend their Premier League title. At one point, they were winless in six straight games but they have battled back and now have strung together five straight wins in all competitions. As usual, they spent freely in the July transfer window, spending £65 million on 8 players, with the biggest signing being our very own Kostas Zagos for £21.5 million. For all that money, Chelsea have only given Zagos 2 league starts and five overall. They also spent £14.5 million on 28 year old Juventus DC Igor Hlavac. Chelsea traditionally play with only one man up front and Romelu Lukaku, at 30 years young, still leads the club in goals with 8. Winger Miguel Sousa is a former huge signing and will need to be watched closely. Luis Carballo is also super dangerous at AMC. We only make one change from our Palermo squad, with Rafinha coming in for Renato Gaucho. We have another big game on Tuesday against Arsenal and we’ll need to rotate the squad a bit over the coming few games. Control mentality at home and as favourites. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - C. Guzman, S. Nasri, G. Fanfoni, A. Rocca, L. Kunchev, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea No surprises for Chelsea, as they come out in their 4-2-3-1 formation with Lukaku up front, Carballo playing AML and Sousa playing AMR. Barosz Salamon is playing AMC and Kostas Zagos is in the lineup today at right fullback. Rafael Romo is in goal. Lets play attractive football for the fans today! 11’ - Helder Cruz burns past Zagos and dribbles down the left. His cross is excellent and right to Moses but his shot from in close is saved beautifully by Romo! Great chance. 14’ - Moses is feeling it today, as he takes a pass at the midfield line and just STORMS through the Chelsea defence but his hard blast is saved well by Romo, who always plays well against us. 16’ - And a sight we simply didn’t need to see, as Graham Allan comes up limping on a challenge and he has the cross of death above his name. He can stay on for now but with Gianluca Bolis on the shelf with a long-term injury, our only other right midfielder is 19 year old Lyubomir Kunchev, an untested youngster. Oh boy… 30’ - Allan is still in the game and his corner kick is headed toward goal by Claudio Contreras but a Chelsea defender, protecting the post, clears just as it’s about to cross the goal line! Soo close! 31’ - Chelsea have possession but an ill-advised pass is stolen by Jose and he quickly passes up field to Chiquinho. He’s behind the defence, cuts into the area and rips a shot past Romo and into the net! Classic goal by Chiquinho! DOVER GOAL 1-0 35’ - Moses and Chiquinho are on a two-on-two and Moses bares down on goal but his shot is weak and right at Romo. He should have passed there… HALFTIME - Chelsea are beating us at the possession game, holding 53% of the ball but we outshoot them 10-8 (5-1 on target). Moses with a 6.0 rating in the first half…rough rating. Allan likely won’t make it through this whole game but he’s okay for now. I tell Moses I have faith in him and encourage the team in the dressing room. 51’ - Moses gets through and is stopped by Romo then Helder Cruz gets off a shot destined for the top corner and Romo is there again. This guy always plays well against us… 54’ - Chelsea earn a corner and Carballo’s kick is headed by Salamon and it’s into the net. Crap. CHELSEA GOAL 1-1 56’ - We are pressing after giving up the goal and pass it around nicely, with Cairney springing Cruz into the area and Romo again with a SENSATIONAL stop. Wow. 60’ - Off a throw in, we pass it around and it’s Neil Cairney, silent for too many games, with a great pass through into the area and it’s MOSES, hitting it off the goalpost and IN! Great pass and great finish and we’re ahead again! DOVER GOAL 2-1 70’ - Lukaku finds Carballo at the outer edge of the area and his shot is just deflected aside by Wilke. 74’ - Unbelievable. Carballo with a corner and it’s headed in again, this time by substitute striker Ben Khalifa and Chelsea pull level. Two goals off corners for the Blues. CHELSEA GOAL 2-2 I take out Graham Allan and Jose and bring in Lyubomir Kunchev and Gian Marco Fanfoni. Chelsea are now in a flat 4-4-2 as they must smell blood. 82’ - It’s all Chelsea right now and a Sousa cross is headed toward goal by Carballo but Wilke is there for the fine save! 84’ - Shanon Andrea comes in for Chiquinho, as we hope to utilize his fresh legs in the last ten minutes. 90’+2 - Chelsea have a throw in and a cross ends up hitting the head of Miguel Sousa and it’s IN THE NET. But WAIT! OFFSIDES?! There is no replay as Wilke kicks up field and Moses gets it. He sends a pass up and it’s SHANON ANDREA on a breakaway. He’s in on goal and ROMO MAKES THE SAVE! You have to be kidding me!!! The whistle blows immediately. Oh god. We blew this game and should have won it. Dover 2 - 2 Chelsea Goals - Chiquinho (7.6), Paul Moses (7.6) Assists - Jose (6.8), Neil Cairney (7.4) Man of the Match - Luis Carballo (Chelsea AML - 8.1) Other Dover Notables - Helder Cruz (7.2) Attendance - 20,987 It’s a dead heat in possession and we outshoot Chelsea 23-15 (10-5 on target). Romo was sensational, as usual, against us. -- Terrible news, as Graham Allan strains his groin and will miss at least two weeks. With both Allan and Gianluca Bolis injured, we will now have to rely on 19 year old Lyubomir Kunchev, a scary proposition. DOVER INJURY: Graham Allan (Groin - 2 weeks) -- We get a bit of help in the standings, as Liverpool drop a 1-0 decision to Aston Villa and Middlesbrough shock Arsenal 3-2. United win to pull level on points with us, Spurs get past Huddersfield and City beat Sheffield Wednesday to move into first place. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 11 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Manchester City - 27 points 2. Liverpool - 25 points 3. Dover - 24 points 4. Manchester United - 24 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Tottenham - 21 points 6. Arsenal - 19 points 7. Middlesbrough - 19 points ---------------------------------------------------- Dover U18 Update -- The U18s destroy Eastleigh 5-0, with Jim Ryan bagging a brace and we get singles from Adam Betts, Damian Thorne and an Eastleigh own goal. Felix Hernandez bagged two helpers and won man of the match honours. International Update -- We have 18 players called up by their national teams, with two guys being called up for the first time in my recollection. U18 player Adam Betts gets the call from England for their U20 club while Helder Cruz gets his first ever call up from Portugal. Hopefully they get him in a game! Injury Update -- We have three injuries and all of them are to our key wide midfielders. Gianluca Bolis is out for at least another month and a half with a dislocated shoulder while Arsene Bamba (elbow) and Graham Allan (groin) will miss about a week or so. Next Up -- The tough games keep coming, as we face Arsenal at Emirates Stadium.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-01-2014 at 11:19 PM. |
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06-03-2014, 01:39 PM
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#421 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. November 14, 2023
Barclays Premier League Arsenal (5-4-2, 19 points, 6th) vs. Dover (7-3-1, 24 points, 3rd) Emirates Stadium, London, UK Betting Odds: Arsenal: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 11-5 Past Meetings: 4W 2D 9L Arsenal are a club that traditionally give us trouble and last year was no exception, with us dropping both league games but we did win against them in the League Cup Finals at Wembley. The Gunners are doing just fine so far but did just lose to Middlesbrough in a bit of a shocker on the weekend. They spent very little in the transfer market, with their big purchase being Rangers winger Emanuel Surdu, a 29 year old Romanian. Boakye is their goal scoring leader with 8 and DC/ST Nchimunya Munyao is second with 6. I expect to see Munyao on defence to start but they could surprise. We are coming up on an international break so I’ll push our starters for one more game. Lyubomir Kunchev gets his first career senior team start today - the 19 year old will take the place of injured right midfielders Gianluca Bolis and Graham Allan. Jose, who is already up to nine assists in the young season, will stay in the lineup at midfield. Counter mentality to start on the road. Dover: 4-4-2 Counter GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, Jose, L. Kunchev S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - C. Guzman, S. Nasri, G. Fanfoni, A. Rocca, Rafinha, R. Ramirez, S. Andrea Arsenal line up in 4-5-1 with Boakye up front and Munyao at DC, like expected. Sergio Asenjo is in goal. We have a good number of travelling supporters joining us in London today so lets play well for them! 1’ - After some nice passing off the opening kick off, Arsenal forward Boakye gets off a shot and Wilke dives to make the stop. 26’ - Not much in the way of highlights but we win a corner and it’s Jose making the cross to the near post. Going up after it is Rayane Hamon and his header goes into the net! Hamon’s first goal of the year and we’re ahead on the road! DOVER GOAL 1-0 29’ - Chiquinho with a yellow card. 37’ - We’re giving them too much space and they work a bunch of passes that culminates in yet another great chance for Boakye but Wilke again saves the day. 40’ - Geez. Chiquinho takes a man down again and the referee requests a chat. Chiquinho is given a warning and he already has a yellow. I may have to take him out soon. 42’ - Kunchev with a pass to Chiquinho and our Belgian striker turns and rips a shot destined for the far corner but Asenjo makes a great diving stop. We get a corner that is cleared but in the followup, Jose gets off a piledriver of a shot that Asenjo does very well to stop. That was definitely Jose’s best chance for his first ever Dover goal. HALFTIME - We’re doing fine and had some decent late half chances. Possession is dead even and Arsenal have a 9-7 (4-3 on target) shot advantage. We’re not getting much from Moses yet but we’ll maintain our counter mentality for now. Arsenal come out in a flat 4-4-2 to start the second half. 49’ - Our passing is shocking thus far and Arsenal spring Boakye yet again but Wilke continues to be up to the task. We’re holding on by a thread right now. 53’ - Well, you could sense it coming and we are powerless to stop it. A Jack Wilshere cross gets past Salim Loucif and Wilke has to dive across to stop it. He’s out of position on the rebound and Carl Cousins knocks it in for his first ever Arsenal goal and they pull level. ARSENAL GOAL 1-1 55’ - Lyubomir Kunchev with a great tackle and it springs Chiquinho in the area but his shot is saved by Asenjo. Great chance there. 58’ - Boy, we’re getting outplayed big time. Arsenal hit the goal post twice off a failed corner and we’re lucky to still be level. 59’ - Just trying to change momentum, we move to a control mentality to try to keep a bit more of the ball. 60’ - Neil Cairney with a yellow card. 67’ - We have a throw in deep in their end down the left side and Renato Gaucho sends it in to Helder Cruz. He sends a low cross into the area and there is Chiquinho, firing a one-time left footed volley past a stunned Asenjo and into the net! Out of nowhere, we strike! DOVER GOAL 2-1 Back to a counter mentality and we knock tempo, width and depth to the safest, slowest and deepest settings. 69’ - We’re committing well to defence and even Chiquinho is behind the ball as he tackles it back to Munyao, the sensational Arsenal DC/ST, who is still playing defence right now. Paul Moses closes him down and tackles the ball away and he’s able to recover quicker than Munyao and grabs the ball. Munyao is chasing Moses the whole way but our young striker makes some space, gets to the area and blasts the ball past Asenjo and it’s IN THE NET! WOWOW!!! Three minute double salvo and we’re ahead by two!!! DOVER GOAL 3-1 72’ - After Salim Loucif misses an interception, Arsenal have a corner and Wilshere’s cross is headed at the near post by Cousins and it’s past Wilke and IN! This isn’t going to be easy! ARSENAL GOAL 2-3 76’ - We take out Neil Cairney and bring in Andrea Rocca. 81’ - We’re trying to burn time, as we take out Paul Moses and bring in Shanon Andrea. Arsenal are now in a 4-2-4 as they look for the tying goal. 89’ - Gian Marco Fanfoni comes in for Chiquinho and we now are in a 4-1-4-1. 90’+3 - We’re in the last minute of scheduled injury time and Rocca feeds a nice through ball to Shanon Andrea but his shot is weak and right at Asenjo. And that’s it! Great win! Arsenal 2 - 3 Dover Goals - Rayane Hamon (7.6), Chiquinho (7.3), Paul Moses (7.2) Assists - Jose (7.5), Helder Cruz (7.3) Man of the Match - Carl Cousins (Arsenal AML - 8.8) Other Dover Notables - Lyubomir Kunchev (7.0), Salim Loucif (5.4) Attendance - 60,361 Arsenal edge us in possession with 51% of the ball and also outshoot us 20-13 (7-8 on target) but the only numbers that matter to us are on the scoreboard! Nice game from Kunchev in his first start and I continue to be perplexed with the game of our captain Salim Loucif - he’s *really* struggling right now. -- Wow. Middlesbrough continue to surprise and shock, as they walk into Manchester City’s stadium and beat them 2-0!!! Aston Villa also shocked Chelsea 3-0 (!!) and Liverpool knocked off Everton to move back into first place. United win to keep pace with us. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 12 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Liverpool - 28 points 2. Dover - 27 points 3. Manchester United - 27 points 4. Manchester City - 27 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Tottenham - 24 points 6. Middlesbrough - 22 points 7. Aston Villa - 20 points ---------------------------------------------------- Dover Reserves Team Update -- We get two goals from Zoltan Bardi and singles from Saber Nasri and Pete Smith in a 4-0 win over Arsenal’s reserves. International Update -- An additional five players are called up to their national team, making it 23 of our guys now away on international duty. Gaining caps are Emmerson Harvey and Andy Broomes (England U21), Steven Potter and Adam Betts (England U20), Hans Briers (Belgium U21 - one assist), Marcel Quade (Austria), Mwemere Mutesa (Rwanda), Giorgos Gesios (Greece - one goal), Paul Moses (England), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Neil Cairney (Scotland), Chiquinho (Belgium - one goal), Lyubomir Kunchev (Bulgaria - one assist), Arsene Bamba (Ivory Coast - one assist) and Zoltan Bardi (Hungary - one goal). We also see young midfielder Helder Cruz pick up his first ever senior cap for Portugal. Congratulations to Helder! So 16 of our guys pick up additional caps. Injury Update -- NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Chiquinho strains his back during a weight lifting session and will miss about a MONTH. Oh that’s not good. Incredibly, this is only the THIRD injury of Chiquinho’s entire career - he’s been remarkably healthy throughout his career, which started in 2015. DOVER INJURY: Chiquinho - One Month (Back Strain) -- Gian Marco Fanfoni twists his ankle severely in an international game against Denmark’s U21s and will miss about 3 weeks. We have ridiculous depth at central midfield so this won’t be a major loss - Fanfoni hasn’t impressed so far this year after his return from serious injury last year. DOVER INJURY: Gian Marco Fanfoni - 3 Weeks (Twisted Ankle) -- NOOOOOOOOOOOO - PART TWO!!! Now it’s Paul Moses getting hurt in an international game against Mexico, suffering a bruised thigh. Thankfully, he’ll only miss about a week but man, what is going on all of a sudden? DOVER INJURY: Paul Moses - One Week (Bruised Thigh) -- Arsene Bamba has resumed full training and was one of the players added to his national team earlier in the week. Dover U18 Update -- With many of our top youngsters away on international duty, the kids still knock off Crawley’s U18s 3-1 behind a brace from Eddie Robinson and a single from Pete Smith. Dover Reserves Team Update -- We have a second reserves league game with the international break upon us and Andrea Rocca scores our only goal in a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa’s reserve team. Carlos Guzman was the man of the match in a fine display at left fullback. Coach Poaching -- In a definite first for our club, we see Osasuna, a club in the second level of the Spanish pyramid come calling for one of our coaches. I don’t know why he’d take a job with a much lesser club but I offer him a new contract just in case, giving him exactly what he asks for. We’ll see if he stays. Next Up -- Manchester City visits Crabble Athletic Ground, perhaps with revenge on their minds after we knocked them out of the Champions League for this year after beating them in their own stadium in the last game of the 2022/23 season.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-03-2014 at 02:21 PM. |
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06-04-2014, 11:15 PM
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#422 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. November 25, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (8-3-1, 27 points, 2nd) vs. Manchester City (8-3-1, 27 points, 4th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 Manchester City: 6-4 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 2W 2D 7L What can we say about Man City? They were four time consecutive Champions League winners up until last year and three time consecutive Premier League Champions as well but a last day of the season loss to us at Man City Stadium knocked them down to fifth place and the indignity of Europa League football. They are currently in the group stages of that competition and have already guaranteed their spot in knockout stage play. They have an identical record as us right now but we are ahead on goal differential. This is a very different team than the “Enrique years”, where they routinely went out and scored at will. Now, they are very much a defensive minded team first and have allowed only 6 goals in 12 games, scoring only 19 themselves. By contrast, we have scored 36 (!) and allowed 14 so far. Like us, City have some major injury issues right now. Regular leading scorer Jelle Hoegee, a Dover killer, is out for up to five months with a broken leg and huge signing from last year, Mario Brito, is out for a month after damaging knee cartilage in training this week. Solid DC Kevin Renton will also likely miss the game today. City continue to spend at will, dishing out £91 million in transfer fees in July, with the most notable signing being 24 year old Real Madrid fullback Capitao, who cost them a ludicrous £44 million. That much for a fullback is beyond ridiculous. They also spent £18.5 million on Sampdoria DC Maikel Jungbluth and £14.25 million on another fullback, Gustavo Mercado from Fiorentina. With Hoegee out, their danger man will be French forward Ryan Bonin, who has 11 goals in 17 games across all competitions so far this year. He only played in two games last year after coming over from Rangers in Scotland in a £16 million deal but with Hoegee hurt, Bonin is now the main man. We have injury concerns of our own, with Chiquinho and Paul Moses both out for today’s game. Moses should be back in about a week but Chiquinho will miss at least a month of action. Gianluca Bolis, Graham Allan and Gian Marco Fanfoni are also injured at the moment. We’ll go with Shanon Andrea and Zoltan Bardi up front today and 19 year old Lyubomir Kunchev will get his second consecutive start at MR with Bolis and Allan on the shelf. Arsene Bamba returns from injury today to play ML. Jose will play at midfield, as he’s starting to earn more playing time over Andrea Rocca. I contemplated benching our struggling captain Salim Loucif but I want his influence in there today against top competition. We have a Champions League match against Dynamo Kyiv in a few days and perhaps I’ll sit him out in that contest. We are slight dogs but this is a vulnerable City team today - we’ll go with a control mentality at home. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, L. Kunchev S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, H. Cruz, R. Ramirez, A. Broomes Holy crap! City are in a 4-2-2-2 formation, something I’ve NEVER seen from them, with 2 DMCs! WOW. Talk about a defensive tactic! Bonin and Vaclav Kadlec are up front - I’ve never heard of Kadlec before. Capitao, Mercado and Jungbluth are all playing on defence today. This is a completely different City team than we’ve ever seen before. Even Joe Hart is on the bench in favour of GK Antonio, a really great keeper who City bought off Reading in July. This could be a tight game but we’ll try to play positive football for the fans today. I also pull aside young Kunchev to tell him I have faith in his ability. 13’ - On a play that looks blatantly offsides, Ryan Bonin is behind our defence and shoots but Wilke is there to make the stop. We’re looking a bit nervous for some reason and I’ve seen two brutal giveaways so far. 17’ - We have a free kick deep in City territory, almost on the left byline. Bamba takes it and it’s to the far post - Claudio Contreras is there and heads it past Antonio and into the net! The keeper should have had that one but we’ll take it! DOVER GOAL 1-0 24’ - We have a corner and Jose takes it. The cross is headed out by City captain Salah Abbes but Neil Cairney strikes it with fury back toward goal. It hits a City defender and ricochets right to Zoltan Bardi on the near post and he calmly heads it into the open net! What a start! DOVER GOAL 2-0 32’ - Bardi pulls a Chiquinho and blatantly dives in the City area. That’s a yellow card. 38’ - Jose with a takedown near midfield and he also gets a yellow card. 45’ - Neil Cairney with a glorious shot from outside the area. It’s headed for the far corner and Antonio sprawls headlong to make a spectacular stop. What a great save! 45’+2 - We force a turnover and Andrea feeds Bardi cutting through the middle. His low shot is just turned beside the outside of the post by Antonio. We earn a corner but the ref blows for halftime before we get the chance to take it, a strange occurrence to be sure. HALFTIME - This is almost shocking to see a Manchester City team play like this. We are dominating in every way, with 54% of possession and a 11-2 (6-1 on target) shot advantage. I have to imagine they’ll move to a more offensive formation at some point but we’ll see. I tell the lads I’m pleased! 47’ - Well, City are still in the same defensive look but they get a GLORIOUS chance, when Kadlec slips behind Contreras and is alone with Wilke but our keeper makes a breathtaking stop! 59’ - We’ve generated little in this half so far but earn a corner. Again, it’s Jose taking it and it’s to the near post this time and there is Zoltan Bardi heading it into the net for his second goal of the game!!! Wow! DOVER GOAL 3-0 68’ - Jose was brilliant today but I decide to bring him out since he has a yellow card and is tiring. In comes Andrea Rocca. 81’ - I can’t believe I’m able to do this against Man City, of all teams, but I take out young Lyubomir Kunchev and bring in Rafael Ramirez for his first ever Dover game. He goes in at right midfield, a position he’s not even trained for! Remember, we don’t have any other healthy right midfielders on the team right now. 86’ - Substitute striker Alex Saunders gets a great chance on a header but Wilke makes a brilliant stop to keep the shutout going! 87’ - Emmerson Harvey comes in for Neil Cairney. 90’+3 - City midfielder Thiago has a free kick from outside the area and curls one off the crossbar. Wow. A stunning win against a perennial powerhouse! Dover 3 - 0 Manchester City Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.8), Claudio Contreras (8.6) Assists - Jose (7.9), Arsene Bamba (7.9) Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.4), Salim Loucif (7.9), Rayane Hamon (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Lyubomir Kunchev (7.0) Attendance - 22,515 City really controlled the ball in the second half and ended up with 53% of overall possession but we outshot them 17-8 (7-4 on target). Bardi was terrific, as was our entire defence and it’s great to see a bounce back game from Salim Loucif. Shanon Andrea did nothing once again and his regression from major star to non-factor has been quite shocking. Still, a wonderful win without three key players in Bolis, Chiquinho and Moses. -- Liverpool win over Fulham, United squeak by Wolves, Spurs upend Birmingham, Chelsea beat Everton, Middlesbrough continued their fine play with a 6-0 destruction of Sunderland and Aston Villa shock Arsenal 4-0. Arsenal fire their manager Michael Laudrup after the match and I’m named as the most likely successor. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 13 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Liverpool - 31 points 2. Dover - 30 points 3. Manchester United - 30 points 4. Tottenham - 27 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 27 points 6. Middlesbrough - 25 points 7. Aston Villa - 23 points ---------------------------------------------------- Coach Poached! -- Diego Camacho rejects my contract offer and signs with Osasuna in Spain, his home country. Camacho was a really good coach but looking at our training screen, his loss doesn’t really affect us much, as we are no worse than 4.5 stars in any category. I will just stay with what I have for now and look for a new coach in the offseason. Injury Update -- Graham Allan returns to full training after missing two weeks with a groin injury. Young Lyubomir Kunchev did fine in his place but Allan is unquestionably a more cultured player and brings much more offence to the table. He’ll be welcomed back with open arms, as we continue to wait for our main starter at right midfield, Gianluca Bolis, to return from his injury. Premier League Team of the Week -- Ingo Wilke and Zoltan Bardi are named to the team of the week. Champions League Update -- Ajax shock United 2-1 and that allows them to join United in the knockout stage with one game left in Group Play. OM has guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage out of Group F, with Celtic and Sevilla battling it out for the second spot. Group G is wide open, with Chelsea, Olympique Lyonnais and Panathinaikos all still in the running to move on. Group H is settled already, with Bersaspor and Atletico Madrid stamping their passports for the next round while Sampdoria will be heading home after their last Group play game. Dover U18 Update -- In a rare midweek game, our U18 squad defeat Carlisle 4-0 in 4th Round U18 Cup action. Pete Smith bags a brace and singles come from Felix Hernandez and a Carlisle own goal. Next Up -- We host Group C weak link Dynamo Kyiv at Crabble Athletic Ground. A win or a tie will guarantee us passage into the Knockout stages.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-04-2014 at 11:25 PM. |
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06-05-2014, 01:10 AM
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#423 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. November 29, 2023
UEFA Champions League - Group C Dover (2-2-0, 8 points, 2nd) vs. Dynamo Kyiv (0-1-3, 1 point, 4th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dynamo Kyiv: 11-5 Past Meetings: 1W 0D 0L Kyiv is by far the weakest link in our group and they’ve scored only twice and allowed 17 in four games in this stage. We walloped them 4-0 in their stadium earlier this year. They do have a couple of prolific scorers in strikers Antonio Santos and Goran Brajkovic and the club is in second place in the Ukrainian Premier League but we should still be able to dominate them. That said, I’m giving some backups a chance to play today. Paul Moses and Graham Allan will both play after returning from injuries, with Moses only missing one game and Allan missed a couple. Emmerson Harvey will get his first start of the year in midfield alongside Andrea Rocca. Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Saber Nasri will play in central defence and Rafinha will start at right fullback for Salim Loucif. Nasri will captain the team today. Manuel Perez is in goal. I’ll have a few key players available on the bench, namely Neil Cairney and Rayane Hamon. Loucif, Jose and Claudio Contreras will all get the night off completely. Control mentality at home. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, M. Yilmaz, S. Nasri, Rafinha M - A. Bamba, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi Bench - S. Reed, R. Hamon, N. Cairney, R. Ramirez, H. Cruz, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes Dynamo Kyiv are in a flat 4-4-2 as well with Brajkovic and Santos up front and Jose is in goal. I’m tempted to tell the team I expect a win but instead, I tell them to perform for the fans - there is no word of overconfidence according to my assistant so I go with the less direct approach in the team talk. A win or draw and we move on to the Knockout stages. 4’ - Bardi lays a pass off to Andrea Rocca and his piledriver from distance is saved by Jose. We get a corner out of it and Rocca’s cross is to Saber Nasri at the near post. He takes it off his chest and just when I think he’s sending it back out to Rocca, he turns and fires on goal instead. Jose makes the save but Paul Moses is there for the rebound and he pumps it in! Great start boys! DOVER GOAL 1-0 8’ - We’re all over them, as Emmerson Harvey sends in a great cross to Graham Allan and it’s headed home. However, the referee deems Allan offsides. NO GOAL. 10’ - Renato Gaucho allows a man in behind him then takes him down on the chase. Easy yellow card for our fullback there. 13’ - Kyiv with the goal kick and it’s headed back up the pitch and over the defence by Saber Nasri. Zoltan Bardi gets to it first and shoots from the edge of the area and it’s past Jose and into the top corner. Great strike Bardi! DOVER GOAL 2-0 28’ - We have a corner and Rocca crosses to the far post. There is young Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and he heads it forcefully into the far corner of the net! Our spares are doing GREAT! DOVER GOAL 3-0 35’ - Graham Allan runs down the right and attempts a cross but it’s booted out by a Kyiv defender. Arsene Bamba runs out of the area to chase it down then just turns and hits a prayer back toward the goal. Somehow…someway…it’s over the head of Jose and into the top corner of the net! HOLY CRAP! “He didn’t mean it but the ball went in!” bellows the announcer! We can do no wrong today! DOVER GOAL 4-0 36’ - We steal the ball away on the ensuing kick off and move up the pitch. Moses lays it off to Bamba and he speeds into the area. With no angle whatsoever, he blasts it at goal and it’s off Jose’s hands and INTO THE NET. My God…this is embarrassing for our opponents! DOVER GOAL 5-0 HALFTIME - Craziness. We only edge them in possession with 51% but outshoot them 14-3 (9-1 on target). We’re just in complete control. I tell the team I’m pleased but with the game already well in hand, I pull Paul Moses and Renato Gaucho from the game and put in Andy Broomes and Steve Reed. No need for Moses to get hurt! 61’ - Not much happening but Kyiv get their best chance, as Santos eludes a Nasri tackle and is in on goal but Perez makes a wonderful stop on him. We take a bit of a risk, using our last substitute with a half hour left, bringing in Lyubomir Kunchev for Graham Allan, who is a bit gassed after just returning from injury. 67’ - We send a long ball over the defence and Bardi is there first. He’s at the byline and crosses into the box and there is young Andy Broomes, sliding at the ball and sending it past Jose and in! Broomes strikes for his first ever Dover goal! DOVER GOAL 6-0 69’ - Again, we steal the ball and move it around to Steve Reed down the right. He delivers a pass into the middle to Broomes, who eludes a tackle and dribbles in on goal. His shot is low and past Jose and in again! Two in three minutes for Andy Broomes. We have our SEVENTH! DOVER GOAL 7-0 88’ - We work a free kick and Rocca ends up sending a delicious ball into the area to young Kunchev. He’s at the byline and sends in a little cross and there is ANDY BROOMES, putting it into the open net and the young striker has a HALF GAME HAT TRICK! DOVER GOAL 8-0 Incredible performance and with one game left against FC Bayern Munich, we’re guaranteed our place in the knockout stages for the third year in a row! Dover 8 - 0 Dynamo Kyiv Goals - Andy Broomes 3 (9.5), Arsene Bamba 2 (9.4), Paul Moses (8.1), Zoltan Bardi (9.2), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (9.2) Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (9.2), Saber Nasri (8.9), Paul Moses, Steve Reed (7.5), Lyubomir Kunchev (7.0) Man of the Match - Andy Broomes Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.4), Rafinha (8.6), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Graham Allan (7.5), Emmerson Harvey (8.5) Attendance - 21,558 We hold 53% of possession and outshoot them 24-5 (13-2 on target) in a dominating display of football. For the first time that I can ever remember, not only do all of our starters earn ratings over 7.0 but so do our three substitutions! What a game and it shows off our incredible depth here at the club this year! -- We earn £696,000 for the win, as usual. -- Palermo shocked Bayern Munich 4-1 and they still have a chance to move on into the knockout stages out of our group. In fact, they have a very good chance but they’ll need us to win in Germany…a very tall task! In Group A, Galatasaray are through but the second spot will be between Arsenal and Spartak Moscow. Barca are through in Group B and AZ and AS Monaco will fight it out for the second spot. Finally, in Group D, things are finalized with one game remaining, as Juventus and Real Madrid are both through. Record Win! -- After the headlines say “Dover Simply Gr-Eight!” (haha - so awesome!), we get another notice that our 8-0 win is the largest in team history, beating our old record by two goals. The former record of 6-0 was set against Torquay in a League Cup match a number of years ago. December Update -- As usual, a busy month is upcoming. We have five Premier League games: Reading (home), Middlesbrough (home), Sunderland (away), Blackpool (away) and Aston Villa (away). We also have our League Cup quarterfinal coming up next week against Sheffield Wednesday at their stadium and a Champions League Group Stage game in Germany against Bayern Munich. So seven games this month, with five of them away from home. -- We get positive training reports for Rafinha, Lyubomir Kunchev and U18 players Joshua Stokes and Adam Hyde. A negative report comes in for the molten hot Zoltan Bardi. I’ll chat with him… Premier League Monthly Awards -- Young Middlesbrough striker Roland Hoxha wins player of the month honours after scoring seven goals in four games! -- Our very own Claudio Contreras wins Young Player of the Month!! Interestingly enough, Carlo Cerbone, a former Dover U18 player, comes in third. -- Spurs boss Robert Kelly wins Premier League Manager of the Month for November after winning all four games in the month. December Board Confidence Update -- The board are delighted with the leadership qualities I’m demonstrating. Our 8-0 Champions League whitewash of Dynamo Kyiv is the main highlight and the signing of third string keeper Mathis Imbert continues to be the only negative. -- We made a profit of £2.45 million last month…nice! Transfer Bonus Clauses -- We’re offered buyouts on a couple of clauses put into the sale of spare part fullback Sebastien Kraft to AJ Auxerre in France. We get £78,750 for a league appearance clause and £200,000 to cancel a sell-on fee clause. Kraft isn’t even playing for their main squad so it was highly unlikely that we were going to get the full allotment of bonus money. This was an easy deal to accept…money, money, money, MONEY! Dover U18 Update -- The kids destroy Brighton’s U18 club 5-0. Ben Lee, Felix Hernandez, Norberto Vazquez, Joshua Stokes and a Brighton own goal account for our scores. Premier League Update -- We are idle this weekend, as we have a quarterfinal League Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday on Monday night. Man United, Man City, Middlesbrough and Chelsea all win while Arsenal and Liverpool draw. Liverpool drops down to second and United moves up into the lead. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 14 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Manchester United - 33 points 2. Liverpool - 32 points 3. Dover - 30 points (after 13 games) 4. Manchester City - 30 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Tottenham - 28 points 6. Middlesbrough - 28 points 7. Aston Villa - 23 points ---------------------------------------------------- FA Cup - 3rd Round Draw -- We get a home game against Championship side Ipswich Town in our first FA Cup action of the season. Not a bad draw! The game will be played in mid-January. Next Up -- We face fellow Premier League club Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup quarterfinals.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-05-2014, 03:52 AM
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#424 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Rennes, France
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That was gr-eight !!!!!
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06-05-2014, 09:27 AM
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#425 | |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Quote:
FM is awesome on so many levels and the little puns they fit in add so much character to an already incredible gaming experience.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-05-2014, 11:26 PM
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#426 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Mon. December 4, 2023
League Cup - Quarterfinal Sheffield Wednesday (18th in Premier League) vs. Dover (3rd in Premier League) Hillsborough, Sheffield, UK Betting Odds: Sheffield Wednesday: 9-2 Draw: N/A Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 7W 3D 4L Sheffield are coming off two fine seasons in a row in the Premier League, finishing 8th in 2021/22 and last year they finished 6th, earning a Europa League spot. They have made it to the Group Stage and are looking good to move onto the knockout rounds. However, they are struggling immensely in the league, with only one win so far and they are in the drop zone in the early stages of the year. A major part of the problem is the fact that their top player, striker Steve Pates, is injured and will miss another month of action with torn ankle ligaments. His strike partner, Darijo Jukic, is picking up the slack, with 8 goals in 20 appearances to lead the team. They tried to bolster their club in the July window, spending £29 million, with a cool £10 million on Sunderland DC Kanda Nantoume. He’s been ever-present but has struggled like the rest of the club thus far. One of their big off-season moves was to sell us Saber Nasri for £13 million and he’s been worth the outlay so far. Nasri won’t be starting today but I’ll look to get him in at some point. We’ll go with a pretty full lineup today, with only Arsene Bamba and Renato Gaucho getting the night off. Helder Cruz and Rafinha will start in their place. We’re huge favourites on the road today so we’ll stick with our flat 4-4-2 and our control mentality. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi Bench - C. Guzman, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, L. Kunchev, S. Andrea, A. Broomes Sheffield come out in a flat 4-4-2 as well, with Sandi Labrovic and Ricardo Silva up front. I’ve never heard of either player. Robert Kucera is in goal. Eugenio Balestra is a right midfielder that will be dangerous but this is an eminently beatable team and I tell the team as much in the dressing room before the game. 19’ - After a decent first few minutes, we’re looking very average here. Neil Cairney with a yellow card. 28’ - We are playing down to their level and finally get our first shot on goal, a weak effort from Helder Cruz that’s turned aside by Kucera. 33’ - Zoltan Bardi with a prayer from distance and it’s over Kucera’s head and off the crossbar! 37’ - Now Bardi is hurt and has the cross of doom above his name. He needs to come off - I bring in Andy Broomes to play alongside Moses, who has been very quiet so far. DOVER INJURY - ZOLTAN BARDI 40’ - There is Moses, taking a Rafinha pass, bursting in and shooting but his weak left footed effort is turned aside by Kucera. 41’ - Off a failed corner, Cairney sends the ball back out wide to Jose and his curling blast handcuffs Kucera but the Sheffield keeper is able to punch the ball to safety. HALFTIME - The stat sheet says it’s all Dover, as we hold 65% of possession and a huge 14-1 (4-0 on target) shot advantage but there is something missing right now. There is no urgency to our game. I tell the team they are outplaying them all over the pitch now start scoring! I also pull aside Moses, who had a rough half, and tell him he can be the difference maker here. 71’ - Wow. It’s amazing how you can go from playing incredible games against top competition like Man City to putting in a dud like this against a relegation candidate. I pull out Claudio Contreras and bring in Saber Nasri. Hopefully, the former Wednesday defender can bring a spark to the club. 74’ - We send a pass up to Moses and he streaks in down the left side. He shows good vision in getting back to his right foot and crossing a pass in and Graham Allan is there. His shot is pathetically weak and right at Kucera but the Sheffield keeper has butterfingers and the ball squirts off his hands and just over the goal line. Sheesh. Ugly goal but one we needed. DOVER GOAL 1-0 76’ - Sheffield finally get a shot on goal, as midfielder Alfonso Martinez sends a free kick at the net but Wilke is in good position for the save. 81’ - Hamon wins a headwall at midfield but goes down and he’s unable to continue. Great. We bring in Carlos Guzman to take his place. DOVER INJURY - RAYANE HAMON 89’ - Yellow card for Jose. 90’+4 - Now a yellow card for Paul Moses as well. 90’+5 - We give them a corner and Martinez crosses to the far post and former Dover loanee Simon Woodman. His header is OFF THE POST! There are two possible fouls as both teams fight for the ball in our penalty area and the referee is waving off both of them! The ball squirts loose and he blows the whistle! We escape. Poor game. Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 1 Dover Goals - Graham Allan (7.5) Assists - Paul Moses (6.8) Man of the Match - Graham Allan Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.4), Rayane Hamon (7.2), Rafinha (7.1), Neil Cairney (7.4) Attendance - 23,578 Sheffield did a better job that half but in the end, we still held 57% of possession and a 21-3 (5-1 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team the result was good but it was a poor performance. -- The news isn’t good on the injury front. Zoltan Bardi tears ankle ligaments in the collision with Sheffield midfielder Alfonso Martinez and will miss about six weeks of action. Ugh. All of a sudden, we’re getting thin at striker and we’ll be needing Shanon Andrea to break out of his season-long slump! DOVER INJURY: ZOLTAN BARDI (6 WEEKS - TORN ANKLE LIGAMENTS) -- Meanwhile, Rayane Hamon is hurt again, straining his groin. He’ll miss about two or three weeks. DOVER INJURY: RAYANE HAMON (3 WEEKS - GROIN STRAIN) Injury Update -- What better time is there to give you an injury update. In addition to the two new injures to Bardi and Hamon, we are still missing Chiquinho, Gian Marco Fanfoni and Gianluca Bolis. Bolis is the furthest away of those three. Dover Reserves Team Update -- We field a less talented side but still destroy Reading’s Reserves 5-0 after they go down to ten men. Rafael Ramirez scored twice and we got singles from Norberto Vazquez, Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Damian Thorne. Lyubomir Kunchev notched four assists in the game! League Cup - Semi Final Draw -- Alright, we’re down to the final four teams and we’re still in the running to defend our title from last year. There are two Championship sides still left in Burnley and Southampton, along with ourselves and Manchester United from the Premier League. We’re drawn first out of the hat and we get Southampton, with the first leg taking place at Crabble on January 16th. Next Up -- After facing their reserves team, we play Reading for real in a Premier League matchup at home.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-06-2014, 12:59 AM
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#427 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. December 9, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (9-3-1, 30 points, 3rd) vs. Reading (7-1-6, 22 points, 9th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Reading: 11-5 Past Meetings: 7W 2D 3L Reading always play us tough and the mid-table constant is right there again through 14 games, sitting in ninth place right now. They spent very little in the transfer market, with their top pickup being Ricardo Bartoli from Liverpool in a modest £1.3 million deal. Their danger man continues to be striker Hani Megahed but they also have dangerous players like midfielder James Hunter and Cees Duarte. Hunter tore us apart in our last game against Reading, one in which we lost. We usually play them well here at home though. We have a Champions League game coming up against Bayern Munich and despite it being meaningless in the grand scheme of things, I’ll still be mindful of that contest today. Saber Nasri and Shanon Andrea start today in place of injured Rayane Hamon and Zoltan Bardi. Renato Gaucho and Arsene Bamba are back in the lineup today as well after getting a rest against Sheffield Wednesday. Control mentality at home as favourites. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan S - P. Moses, S. Andrea Bench - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, L. Kunchev, H. Cruz, A. Broomes Reading are playing a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) with Megahed alone up front and Hunter in behind him. Former Dover loanee Martin Prochazka is at right midfield and Dan Shaw is the keeper. I pull aside Shanon Andrea to tell him I have faith in his ability and tell the team to perform well for their supporters. 5’ - A nice start, as Jose feeds Arsene Bamba and our winger streaks in. His shot is hard and low but Shaw is alert and makes the fine stop. 16’ - Moses tackles a Reading player at midfield and their player is hurt. Moses, killer instinct that he has, just keeps going and cuts through the defence and in but his low shot is turned aside by Shaw. 21’ - Moses looks sharp today and he delivers a rocket from distance that scorches the crossbar! 23’ - Renato Gaucho with an ugly challenge just outside our area and he’s lucky to only get a yellow card. 34’ - After missing on a few shot attempts over the last ten minutes, Paul Moses passes this time to Shanon Andrea and his left footed shot is just turned aside by Shaw. 39’ - We work a counter attack and it’s Moses storming in one on two. He drags both defenders his way as he reaches the byline left of goal and cuts back and crosses into the middle. Shanon Andrea is all alone and makes no mistake, popping it into the net and he’s got his second goal of the season! Great vision by Moses there! DOVER GOAL 1-0 HALFTIME - We deserved that goal and likely more, as we dominated that half. 56% possession and a 17-4 (6-0 on target) shot advantage. Pretty solid play. I tell the lads I’m pleased. Hopefully we can strike for one more to put this one to bed. 70’ - I take out Shanon Andrea and bring in Andy Broomes. Not much happening here. 76’ - Broomes almost comes through right away, getting two great chances at goal but Shaw makes a couple of brilliant stops to keep his team in the game. We earn a corner and Graham Allan’s cross is to the near post and Saber Nasri and our central defender heads the ball into the net and we have our cushion! DOVER GOAL 2-0 79’ - Rafinha comes in for Renato Gaucho. Dull half but a good win. Dover 2 - 0 Reading Goals - Shanon Andrea (7.2), Saber Nasri (8.3) Assists - Paul Moses (7.0), Graham Allan (7.7) Man of the Match - Saber Nasri Other Dover Notables - Claudio Contreras (7.4), Jose (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.2) Attendance - 21,312 The stat sheet looks great, as we hold 57% of overall possession and a 27-11 (10-0 on target) shot advantage. Their keeper was excellent today and kept the game from getting out of hand. Nasri has been sensational for us this year. -- In other action, Man United and Liverpool battle to a 1-1 draw, Tottenham knock off Chelsea 4-1 and Arsenal win over Fulham. Middlesbrough, Aston Villa and Man City also win. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 15 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Manchester United - 34 points 2. Dover - 33 points (after 14 games) 3. Liverpool - 33 points 4. Manchester City - 33 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Tottenham - 31 points 6. Middlesbrough - 31 points 7. Aston Villa - 26 points ---------------------------------------------------- 8. Arsenal - 23 points 9. Chelsea - 22 points (after 14 games) 10. Reading - 22 points 11. Huddersfield - 19 points 12. Newcastle - 19 points 13. Sunderland - 16 points (after 14 games) 14. Everton - 14 points 15. Wolves - 12 points 16. Norwich - 10 points 17. Blackpool - 8 points (after 14 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 18. Sheffield Wednesday - 7 points (after 13 games) 19. Birmingham - 7 points 20. Fulham - 5 points Dover U18 Update -- The U18s win 4-0 over Wycombe, with striker Norberto Vazquez scoring on an injury time penalty to notch a hat trick! Adam Hyde scored the other goal. -- A couple of days later, they play again in the 5th round of the U18 Cup and throttle Brighton 6-0. Norberto Vazquez continues to roll, scoring twice. Felix Hernandez also scored two and singles come from Pete Smith and a Brighton own goal. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Graham Allan and Saber Nasri are named to the Premier League Team of the Week. Next Up -- We’re already through to the knockout stages but we have one group game left and it’s against the very desperate Bayern Munich, who need a result today to move on in the competition.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-07-2014, 04:18 PM
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#428 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. December 12, 2023
UEFA Champions League - Group C Bayern Munich (2-2-1, 8 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (3-2-0, 11 points, 1st) Allianz-Arena, Munich, Germany Betting Odds: Bayern Munich: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 3-1 Past Meetings: 0W 1D 0L Barring a monster loss today, we will win our group on goal differential at worst, as we have a five goal advantage right now over today’s opponents. Munich likely need a win today against us to move on to the Knockout Stage, as Palermo faces the weak Dynamo Kyiv and should get all three points in that game. Munich have two great strikers in Capixaba and Alejandro Villarreal, who have 15 and 12 goals respectively. It’s an elite club and as usual, they are leading the German Bundesliga once again. In a bit of good news, their dangerous right midfielder Parana will miss today’s game with a heel injury. We still have some major injury troubles and will go with a one striker formation today. Paul Moses will be alone up front today and Andrea Rocca will sit behind him in the attacking midfield spot. Manuel Perez is in goal today. We are already through to the next round so this isn’t a must win game but we want to try to knock FC Bayern out of the competition, if possible. Despite being big underdogs, we’re going with a control mentality - we’re already through so we might as well play a positive game! Plus, we know through our advanced scout that FC Bayern play well against flat 4-4-2 so we go with something different… Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif M - N. Cairney, Jose AM - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses Bench - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, E. Harvey, R. Ramirez, L. Kunchev, H. Cruz, S. Andrea Capixaba and Villarreal are up front in their flat 4-4-2 today. Emiliano Pighin, a tough name to type, is in net. 8’ - We have possession and it’s Contreras feeding Jose in our end. He’s tackled by Carlos Alberto of Bayern and the ball comes to Capixaba. Saber Nasri misses a tackle and the big Bayern striker walks in on Perez and shoots past him and into the net. Ugh. Bad start. FC BAYERN GOAL 1-0 12’ - Jose wins a header in their end to Andrea Rocca. He sends a little touch pass into the area and there is Paul Moses, taking two steps and FIRING A ROCKET past Pighin and IN! Instant reply!!! DOVER GOAL 1-1 17’ - We have possession and a ball is sent through to Neil Cairney. He’s in the area and taken down. Bayern clear as Cairney gets up and finally a whistle blows. I’m thinking Cairney is going to get a diving penalty but the ref points to the spot! PENALTY!!! Cairney steps up to take it and his shot is left but the goaltender guesses correctly and MAKES THE SAVE. NOOOOOOO!!!! 21’ - We have these guys on their heels for some reason and we dribble the ball out of our end with Jose leading the way. A defender challenges him but that just opens up ACRES OF SPACE for Paul Moses and Jose smartly sends the ball up to him. Moses runs in on goal, Pighin is out to challenge but the shot is low and curls into the net for his second of the game! Woo! DOVER GOAL 2-1 34’ - We have a goal kick and Perez’s boot is headed back our way. Contreras mis-times his jump and the ball is over his head and Villarreal is on it. He’s in all alone but Perez makes the great save! 45’+1 - Munich move up the left side and a cross comes into the box to Villarreal. His shot is saved in spectacular fashion by Perez but three of our defenders miss the rebound and it’s Capixaba on the doorstep, knocking it in for his second for the late half dagger. FC BAYERN GOAL 2-2 HALFTIME - The score is tied but these guys are beating us bad on the stat sheet, as they hold 59% of possession and a 7-4 (4-3 on target) shot advantage. We’ll change tactics soon, likely moving to a flat 4-4-2 with a counter attacking mentality but not quite yet. I tell the team that one goal will get us the win! 49’ - I’m screaming at Salim Loucif, as he completely gets out of position and it allows Villarreal to have a clear cut breakaway. Somehow, Perez makes a SPECTACULAR stop to keep the game tied. 52’ - This is almost laughable, as Villarreal gets loose again and has a partial break with Saber Nasri chasing. Nasri catches up but MISSES the tackle, allowing Villarreal to shoot but Perez makes the stop. The rebound is loose and Nasri MISSES AGAIN and the Bayern striker shoots again but Perez is up and MAKES ANOTHER SAVE! Boy, he’s saving us today but the rest of the team is AWOL. 59’ - After fifteen minutes of straight pressure, we finally get a change, taking out a tired Andrea Rocca and a terribly ineffective Arsene Bamba and bringing in Shanon Andrea and Helder Cruz. We move to a flat 4-4-2 and to a counter attacking mentality. 61’ - I’m at a complete loss with our team right now. We kick it up and they head it back over our defence and ALL FOUR GUYS ARE STANDING THERE as Villarreal darts past them for the ball. He’s got about his fourth breakaway of the game and for the fourth time, Perez bails out the rest of our team. This defence is APPALLING today. I have no clue what’s going on. I just want to say that with the score 2-2, I don’t see ANY WAY we’re getting out of here without a loss right now. I haven’t seen our team play like this in years. It’s amazing that Perez has kept us in it this far into the game. 73’ - Moses gets a weak shot on net and Pighin makes the save. A better ten minutes there but it’s INCREDIBLE how FAST Bayern Munich are playing and how SLOW we are playing. 81’ - Perez with another save off a shot from distance. He’s been sensational today. 82’ - Perez AGAIN with a spectacular save, this time on Capixaba! My goodness! 84’ - Jose is exhausted and I bring in Emmerson Harvey for him. We pull back to a crawl on our tactics - slow everything down, play deep, narrow, etc. 85’ - Right after the change, we have a corner and it’s Graham Allan taking it. The cross is to the far post and there is Claudio Contreras, having a poor game but making up for it with a vicious header and it’s off a Bayern defender and IN! Wow! DOVER GOAL 3-2 Bayern are now in a 4-2-4 formation! 87’ - We steal the ball, courtesy of Emmerson Harvey and Cruz then moves it up to Moses. He’s on a two-on-one with Andrea but shoots and Pighin makes the great diving save! WE HOLD ON against all odds! FC Bayern 2 - 3 Dover Goals - Paul Moses 2 (8.8), Claudio Contreras (7.7) Assists - Jose (7.4), Graham Allan (6.9), Andrea Rocca (6.9) Man of the Match - Capixaba (FC BAYERN ST - 8.9) Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (8.1), Salim Loucif (7.2), Renato Gaucho (7.2) Attendance - 54,020 They held 55% of possession and a crazy 25-11 (13-7 on target) shot advantage in a game where we were outplayed more than any other game I can remember in the last few years. But we somehow get the set piece goal and knock FC Bayern OUT OF THE COMPETITION! -- That’s because Palermo beat Dynamo Kyiv and end up with one more point than Bayern and it’s Palermo joining us in the knockout stage! A notable game sees AS Monaco ANNIHILATE Croatian club Hajduk 11-0, easily the largest scoreline I’ve ever seen. Despite that, Monaco finishes third in Group B behind Barcelona and AZ. Group A sees Galatasaray and Arsenal move on and in Group D, as previously mentioned, Real Madrid and Juventus prevail. In Group E, it’s Man United and Ajax moving on while Group F sees OM and in a bit of a shock, Celtic, moving on, with favoured Sevilla going home. In Group G, Chelsea and Olympique Lyonnais move on and finally, in Group H, it’s Atletico Madrid and Bursaspor getting through. -- As usual, we earn £696,000 for the victory. Contract Extension -- It happens very quickly but we are happy to announce that GK Ingo Wilke has signed a two-year contract extension and gets a bump in wages to £18,500/week, still a bargain for the long-time White! Wilke will start giving way to Manuel Perez eventually but he continues to perform at a high level and deserves the raise. Injury Update -- Both Chiquinho and Gian Marco Fanfoni return to full training. I doubt either will be ready to go by Saturday’s game against Middlesbrough but we’ll see if they can make an immediate impact. Next Up -- We host surprising Middlesbrough, who have been “giant killers” in the early goings of the Premier League season.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-09-2014, 08:57 PM
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#429 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. December 16, 2023
Barclays Premier League Dover (10-3-1, 33 points, 2nd) vs. Middlesbrough (10–1-4, 31 points, 6th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Middlesbrough: 13-8 Past Meetings: 7W 1D 4L Middlesbrough are playing exceptional football this season and could pass us on the very tightly packed table with a win today. They have wins against Manchester City and Tottenham already this season and they play a very aggressive offensive style, with 3 attacking central midfielders in behind leading scorer Roland Hoxha. Like many of our games this year, we get lucky today, as Hoxha is battling a broken wrist and will miss about a week of action. The guy is the Premier League’s LEADING SCORER with 14 goals in only 11 games! In his place today will most likely be Tomas Pavlik, who has 5 goals in 11 appearances. They’ve also got a good midfielder in Taksiarxis Fountas…quite a mouthful there! Their two big July signings were Victor Camara from Panathinaikos in Greece for £3.5 million and Watford’s Maarten Geerts for £3.6 million. Camara has only played two games and Geerts hasn’t played any! Curious… Chiquinho and Gian Marco Fanfoni are both available today but will not dress, as they are still trying to regain fitness after their injury spells. A few changes today from our win over Bayern Munich - Shanon Andrea will get the start alongside Paul Moses, who is already up to 20 goals by the way! Newly extended Ingo Wilke is back in goal and I’m also giving a start to young DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz - the kid has scored 3 goals in only four games so far and deserves a league start. He’ll play in place of Saber Nasri today. Flat 4-4-2 with a control mentality today at home. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, M. Yilmaz, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan S - P. Moses, S. Andrea Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, L. Kunchev, H. Cruz, A. Broomes Middlesbrough are in their 4-2-3-1 with 3 AMC’s, as usual. It’s a formation that always gives us trouble but we’ve played decently against them in the last few years as we’ve improved. Pavlik is alone up front and Thorgan Hazard and Abdullah Demir will need to be watched at AMC. Sinan Bolat is in goal - I notice in the Match Analysis screen that Sinan Bolat has FOUR SHUTOUTS IN A ROW and hasn’t given up a goal in 372 consecutive minutes. Well…we’re the team to hopefully end that run! 1’ - Right off the opening kick, Middlesbrough work quick passes with all of those tight midfielders and they spring AMC Sean Murray. He’s in all alone and WILKE makes the save! That formation gives us FITS and it shows right in the first minute. We can NOT step up and challenge them, as there are always guys moving forward in this formation. 3’ - Middlesbrough continue to apply pressure in our stadium, with a cross to the foot of Abdullah Demir and Wilke again is in the right position and makes the stop. 9’ - Possession is being DOMINATED by Middlesbrough and now Fountas with a rocket destined for the top corner but Wilke sprawls head-long to make the save. 12’ - Middlesbrough have possession again and Murray gets the ball to Abdullah Demir in midfield. From maybe 15 yards inside the half way line, he sends a shot at goal and it hits the crossbar, bounces off Wilke’s back and goes into the net. Holy crap. This is a disaster of a start and Wilke gets credit for an own goal. MIDDLESBROUGH GOAL 1-0 25’ - We’ve started to get some possession the last ten minutes and finally strike for a shot on goal but Moses’ shot is stopped easily by Sinan Bolat. 28’ - Moses is running down the field with the ball and just as he’s about to enter the penalty area, a Middlesbrough defender tackles the ball away. Jose picks up the loose ball and immediately spots Shanon Andrea running unmarked. He sends a quick pass to him and our much-maligned striker blasts the ball past Sinan Bolat and into the net! We pull level! DOVER GOAL 1-1 30’ - Boy, Middlesbrough’s passing is something else when they have possession. They strike with a long shot again but Wilke dives and holds on nicely. 44’ - Pavlik runs down the right sideline and crosses in and Murray is there with the quick shot but Wilke dives and keeps it out. They get a corner out of it and the header is off the crossbar. Boy, it’s once again all Middlesbrough after our goal. 45’+1 - We have a free kick and we eventually send a GREAT through ball into Graham Allan and his shot is past Sinan Bolat and IN! But wait…OFFSIDES? The replay confirms he was just inside the back shoulder of the last defender. NO GOAL. HALFTIME - We’re getting schooled in our own stadium. They hold 55% of possession and a 13-7 (4-3 on target) shot advantage. I go against my assistant, who would prefer to use the fans as motivation but I’m full of piss and vinegar and tell them I’m ANGRY. We need to be better than this. 49’ - In something I don’t think I’ve seen before, we get four consecutive corners, with the first three having our crosses cleared behind the byline by Middlesbrough defenders. On the fourth, Graham Allan goes to Claudio Contreras at the far post and he heads the ball past Sinan Bolat and into the net! Contreras has four goals already this year and we come storming out of the dressing room at half and have the lead now! DOVER GOAL 2-1 For some reason, Middlesbrough move to a flat 4-4-2. 51’ - Then again, maybe they know what they’re doing. Right away, they move up field and Pavlik eludes a Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz tackle and is in all alone. His shot is stopped but the rebound is right to Tom Cairney. He has an open net but Contreras blocks the shot and the ball is cleared to safety! Whew! 54’ - Middlesbrough with the corner and Tom Cairney’s cross is headed by Sebastian Coates, their captain, and past Wilke and IN. My gosh. MIDDLESBROUGH GOAL 2-2 64’ - I’m pissed at Neil Cairney, who has done nothing for weeks and is shown as “playing nervously”. I also pull out a struggling Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. In come Andrea Rocca and Saber Nasri. 65’ - Right after coming on, Jose passes to Andrea Rocca and his shot is off the crossbar! 78’ - We pull out Shanon Andrea and bring in Andy Broomes, hoping his speed and fresh legs late in the game make a difference. 80’ - Rocca to Moses and his piledriver is punched to safety by Sinan Bolat. Middlesbrough go into tank mode for the last ten minutes and there’s nothing else worth noting. Dover 2 - 2 Middlesbrough Goals - Shanon Andrea (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.9) Assists - Graham Allan (7.2), Jose (6.9) Man of the Match - Ingo Wilke (9.0) Other Dover Notables - Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (5.9) Attendance - 20,709 We fight back in the second half but they still edge us in possession with 52% of the ball. We end up outshooting them 21-19 (7-6 on target). Wilke wins man of the match honours in his first game with the new contract. Yilmaz and Salim Loucif (6.0) were brutal. I tell the players the effort wasn’t good enough. -- In other Premier League action, Tottenham hold Man City to a scoreless draw, Sunderland, our next opponents, annihilate Fulham 6-0 and Chelsea edge Newcastle 2-1. Man United win 2-1 over Arsenal and Liverpool beat Norwich to knock us down to 3rd place, albeit still with a game in hand on all of the clubs. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 16 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Manchester United - 37 points 2. Liverpool - 36 points 3. Dover - 34 points (after 15 games) 4. Manchester City - 34 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 32 points 6. Middlesbrough - 32 points 7. Aston Villa - 26 points ---------------------------------------------------- Premier League Team of the Week -- GK Ingo Wilke deservedly makes the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week for his great performance against Middlesbrough. Injury Update -- We still have a few injuries on the squad. Rayane Hamon (groin strain) is coming back soon and Gianluca Bolis (dislocated shoulder) is a couple weeks away from returning to full training. Zoltan Bardi (torn ankle ligaments) is on the long-term injury list. Next Up -- We head to the Stadium of Light to face mid-table Sunderland in midweek Premier League action.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-09-2014 at 08:58 PM. |
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06-09-2014, 11:07 PM
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#430 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. December 20, 2023
Barclays Premier League Sunderland (5-4-6, 19 points, 11th) vs. Dover (10-4-1, 34 points, 3rd) The Stadium of Light, Sunderland, UK Betting Odds: Sunderland: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 4W 1D 4L Sunderland have always played us tough and are one of the few teams left that we don’t have more wins than losses against. We hope to rectify that tonight! Craig Flett is once again their top scorer, with 11 goals from 14 games and fine midfielder Matt Barber is second with 5 goals. Barber will miss tonight’s game due to suspension, a nice bonus! Sunderland spent £26 million in the July transfer window, with £12.25 million on Napoli’s 28 year old DC/MC Geslin Diallo, a DR Congo international. He’s been a constant in the lineup thus far and has a goal and two assists but he is ALSO suspended for tonight’s match. George MacKenzie, another midfielder and a former Dover loanee, is also dangerous. We’ll make some changes from our disappointing draw against Middlesbrough. Chiquinho is back in the starting lineup today alongside Paul Moses. I’m benching captain Salim Loucif and star midfielder Neil Cairney, who both have struggled in recent weeks. In their place will be Rafinha and Andrea Rocca. Saber Nasri is also back in for young Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, who played poorly against Middlesbrough. This is a makeup game for us and the only Premier League match on the night - a win will see us move into first place in the league. Control mentality on the road as pretty big favourites. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, Rafinha M - A. Bamba, Jose, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - S. Loucif, M. Yilmaz, G. Fanfoni, N. Cairney, L. Kunchev, H. Cruz, S. Andrea Sunderland are also in a flat 4-4-2 with Flett and Lucas Alba up front. MacKenzie is starting at MC and Sam Cowler is in goal. 2’ - We send a long ball upfield and Moses heads it up to a charging Jose. He’s in on goal but he’s denied his first Dover goal by Cowler, who makes a great save. 5’ - Arsene Bamba with a pass to Moses and our young stud striker takes the ball, crosses over with Chiquinho and gets into the area. His blast goes off Sunderland defender Jamie Holt and deflects past Cowler and into the net. Great start! DOVER GOAL 1-0 22’ - A goal kick is sent up field and Moses wins the ball. He sees Chiquinho breaking through the middle and feeds him a delightful ball. Chiquinho is being chased as he enters the area but the Belgian striker switches to his weaker left foot to set up a good angle and delivers a precise shot into the corner of the goal. Beauty goal by now healthy striker!! DOVER GOAL 2-0 24’ - Sunderland are playing very sloppy and we steal the ball and work up field. We get it to Bamba and he cuts through two defenders on his way to goal but Cowler makes the big save. 29’ - Sunderland continue their appalling play at home as Contreras heads a ball over their defence and Chiquinho wins the race to the ball. Cowler is out to challenge and Chiquinho smartly lays a pass off to an unmarked Moses and he has all day to put the ball into the empty net! Moses has two and we’re throttling these guys. DOVER GOAL 3-0 37’ - Another wonderful passing display sees Moses moving the ball to Chiquinho then another pass to Jose and his rocket blast from just outside the area is right at Cowler and he holds on. 41’ - Sunderland with their first good chance, as Alba gets loose in space and shoots low to the far post but Wilke makes the diving stop. 44’ - Now it’s the dangerous Flett weaving through the middle of our defence and getting off a shot but it’s at Wilke and he makes the reflex save. HALFTIME - We’re cruising here. We have 55% of the possession and a 16-7 (6-2 on target) shot advantage. I’m pleased. No changes to start the second half. 47’ - Moses with a beautiful through ball to Chiquinho and he’s in all alone but is robbed by Cowler! 52’ - Two substitutes strike for Sunderland, as midfielder Zezinho storms up the pitch and passes to Connor Wickham. He shoots from outside the area and Wilke, too far from the byline, gets a piece of it but not enough and it’s in the top corner of the net. Sunderland is still in this. SUNDERLAND GOAL 3-1 59’ - Sunderland are starting to exert some pressure here and Arsene Bamba is given a yellow on a foul. 61’ - Now it’s Graham Allan with the yellow, as Sunderland continue to show more burst this half. 64’ - I take out Andrea Rocca and bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni to bring some energy to the lineup. 77’ - We have possession deep in their end off a throw in and Graham Allan shoots on goal. It’s deflected to Chiquinho and he immediately shoots and SCORES. But wait…OFFSIDES is the call. NO GOAL. We bring in Helder Cruz for a tiring Arsene Bamba. 82’ - Fanfoni with a shot from distance but Cowler is in good position. 83’ - Sunderland counter off a failed free kick but Flett can only get a weak shot off and it’s right at Wilke. 84’ - More possession for us deep in their end as Chiquinho feeds a little ball to Moses at the edge of the area. He immediately shoots his trademark low blast on goal and Cowler makes a great diving stop. There is a big rebound and Chiquinho beats a Sunderland defender to it. Just as Cowler recovers, Chiquinho rips a rocket into the top corner of the net and he’s got his second! DOVER GOAL 4-1 87’ - Allan is exhausted so I take him out and bring in Lyubomir Kunchev. 90’ - I guess Rafinha makes an error somewhere, as Connor Wickham spots Nuno Santos streaking past Renato Gaucho and Santos makes no mistake in putting the ball past Wilke. Ugh. Don’t like giving up those late ones, even when we are comfortably ahead. SUNDERLAND GOAL 4-2 Solid win. Sunderland 2 - 4 Dover Goals - Paul Moses 2 (9.4), Chiquinho 2 (9.3) Assists - Paul Moses 2, Chiquinho, Arsene Bamba (7.1) Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.0), Saber Nasri (7.0), Renato Gaucho (7.0), Andrea Rocca (7.1), Jose (7.2), Rafinha (5.3) Attendance - 32,866 Sunderland outplayed us quite a bit in the second half but we edge them in possession with 51% of the ball and a 26-14 (12-6 on target) shot advantage. Solid road game there. Rafinha with a horrific rating in a win - the wonderkid needs a bit more time I guess! -- As indicated, we are in the only match of the night and that win propels us into first place on the table. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 16 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 37 points 2. Manchester United - 37 points 3. Liverpool - 36 points 4. Manchester City - 34 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 32 points 6. Middlesbrough - 32 points 7. Aston Villa - 26 points ---------------------------------------------------- Champions League - First Knockout Round Draw -- With sixteen teams left, we get a pretty good draw and will play Dutch side AZ Alkmaar (AZ). They are currently in second place in the Eredivisie behind Ajax, who are also still playing in this competition. AZ have an estimated value of only £71 million so they are one of the few clubs remaining with a smaller value than us. Good matchup! The first leg will be played at DSB Stadium in Holland on February 27th. The rest of the match ups are as follows: Arsenal vs. Barcelona Bursaspor vs. Real Madrid Olympique Lyonnais vs. Manchester United Palermo vs. OM Ajax vs. Chelsea Juventus vs. Galatasaray Celtic vs. Atletico Madrid Dover U18 Update -- We battle to a 2-2 draw versus Southampton. Ben Patterson scored both goals, including an extra time penalty shot that dramatically levelled the match. Premier League Update -- We don’t play on a weekend with seven Premier League matches. Key winners include Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Tottenham while Aston Villa get smoked 4-0 by Reading. Liverpool move back into first place on the table but we have a game in hand now. Dover Injury Update -- Gianluca Bolis returns to full training after missing eight weeks with a dislocated shoulder. He’ll likely need some time before getting back into match shape but we don’t have any reserve league games for awhile so I’ll have to find him some playing time somehow. Striker Zoltan Bardi (torn ankle ligaments) is still a couple weeks away from returning to full training. Premier League Update -- We play on Wednesday the 27th but there are four traditional Boxing Day matches, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday winning while the Manchester derby sees a 1-1 draw. Next Up -- We are huge favourites on the road as we face relegation candidates Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-10-2014, 12:40 AM
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#431 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. December 27, 2023
Barclays Premier League Blackpool (1-5-11, 8 points, 19th) vs. Dover (11-4-1, 37 points, 3rd) Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, UK Betting Odds: Blackpool: 13-2 Draw: 11-4 Dover: 2-5 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 2W 0D 0L Blackpool finished second in the Championship last year to earn automatic promotion to the Premier League, returning for the first time since 2017/18. They’ve spent only three years in the top flight of English football in the last 50 years and all three of those trips saw them drop back right away the next season. It’s looking like it’s going to happen again, as they have only a single win from their first 17 games. Their top two scorers, strikers Lazaros Sentementes (5 goals) and Vladimir Balaz (4 goals) are both injured for today’s match. These guys are completely outclassed in this division and even with us being on the road, we should win by at least three or four goals in my estimation. We’ve got an ABSURD stretch of games coming up and I’m stunned to see that we have games coming up in SUCCESSIVE DAYS and three days out of four! Is that even POSSIBLE?? We play Aston Villa on Saturday, Everton on Monday and Fulham on Tuesday. That’s ludicrous! That said, we’re going with pretty much a full strength side today. Neil Cairney and Salim Loucif are both back in as is Rayane Hamon, who just returned from injury. I will sit Jose for one of the few times this year and give Andrea Rocca another start. Graham Allan is still in at right midfield but Gianluca Bolis will play at least 30 minutes today in an attempt to get back to full fitness. Manuel Perez starts in goal. We are MONSTER favourites on the road today. Control mentality, as usual. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, G. Fanfoni, E. Harvey, G. Bolis, H. Cruz, S. Andrea Blackpool are setting up the barricades, playing a 3-5-2 that will almost certainly turn into a 5-3-2 at some point. The only player I recognize on this roster is wide midfielder Stuart Cousins, who is a loanee from Chelsea and part of England’s U21 squad. Liam Smith and Greig Spence are the forwards today and Ian Burr is in goal. We should annihilate these guys and I tell the players I expect a win. 5’ - Moses uses his speed to burst through the defence but his low shot is saved by Burr. 21’ - We aren’t generating much in the rain here in Blackpool. Arsene Bamba with a cross and Chiquinho with a rare header but it’s at Burr and safely held. 43’ - I’m thinking of ways to tear into the team at half but Chiquinho shows his incredible skill by running the length of the field with the ball, cutting into the area and chipping the ball over Burr into the far corner of the net. A sensational individual effort by Chiquinho and we finally break through the Blackpool fortress. DOVER GOAL 1-0 HALFTIME - That goal saved the lads from a windstorm in the dressing room. We have 57% of possession and a 13-2 (3-0 on target) shot advantage. I encourage the players to keep pressing in the second half and pull aside a struggling Neil Cairney and tell him to go out there and prove a point. He’s not the same player so far this year and I want to see more from him. 46’ - A long ball up field by Blackpool is mis-played by Salim Loucif and Liam Smith pounces on it. His shot is off the crossbar! Geez. As expected, Blackpool have dropped back into a 5-3-2 formation. Yawn. 50’ - Bamba wins a tackle up to Moses and he’s off to the races. He’s in on goal but Burr makes another great save and Blackpool clear the rebound to safety. 58’ - Off a cleared corner, Cairney curls a shot from distance off the top of the crossbar. 60’ - We keep getting chances but just can’t score. Bamba with a clever feed to Moses but he’s forced to shoot with his weaker left foot and it’s easily stopped by Burr. 63’ - Cairney with another shot from distance and it’s punched over the bar by Burr. We make a change as we prepare for the corner, with Rocca coming off and Gian Marco Fanfoni coming in. 66’ - Burr has been sensational for Blackpool and he makes another ridiculous save, as Moses feeds a ball through to Bamba and his rocket launcher is punched aside by the diving keeper. 71’ - Gianluca Bolis makes his return from injury, coming in for Graham Allan. 78’ - We win a corner and Bamba sends a cross to the near post. Rayane Hamon, in his first game coming back from injury, heads it off two Blackpool defenders and the ball just crosses the goal line! DOVER GOAL 2-0 Blackpool must only want to lose by two, as they switch to a 4-1-4-1 formation. Crazy. 81’ - Arsene Bamba is out and Helder Cruz is in. 86’ - Moses has been quiet today and I regret starting him, as the opposing coach “called him out” in his press conference, stating that he was our key man and the guy they needed to stop to get a result today. It seems 100% of the time that it results in my player playing poorly and he’s currently got a 6.2 rating today. That said, he shows his wicked skill by turning on a defender and blasting a ball off the crossbar. 87’ - Burr with a goal kick and Contreras heads it back up the pitch and over the Blackpool defence. Who gets there first? Of course, it’s PAUL MOSES and he curls a ball past Burr and it’s BARELY inside the post but it’s IN! Haha! There goes that 6.2 rating for Moses! DOVER GOAL 3-0 The scoreline doesn’t show it but that was a dominating performance. Blackpool 0 - 3 Dover Goals - Chiquinho (8.3), Rayane Hamon (8.3), Paul Moses (8.1) Assists - Claudio Contreras 2 (9.0), Arsene Bamba (8.1) Man of the Match - Claudio Contreras Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.0), Salim Loucif (7.8), Renato Gaucho (7.6), Neil Cairney (7.1) Attendance - 13,107 The stats tell the story, as we held 61% of overall possession and a ridiculous 38-5 (16-0 on target) shot advantage. Holy smokes - their keeper was spectacular but the game only gives him a 6.4 rating. Nuts. -- In other Premier League action, Tottenham continue to roll with a 2-0 win over Sunderland, Aston Villa surprise Middlesbrough 2-0 and Liverpool can only manage a 1-1 draw against Huddersfield. We move ahead of Liverpool and back into first place. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 17 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 40 points 2. Liverpool - 40 points (after 18 games) 3. Manchester United - 38 points 4. Tottenham - 38 points (after 18 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 35 points 6. Middlesbrough - 35 points (after 18 games) 7. Aston Villa - 29 points (after 18 games) ---------------------------------------------------- Transfer Talk -- The January window is about to open and the media is swarming me about Chiquinho and whether I can keep him from leaving. He has a minimum release clause of £31,500,000, a significant amount of money but not enough to hold off teams like Arsenal, Man City, Man United or Barcelona, all of whom are interested. I have a chat with his agent and I can’t afford the salary they are looking for despite being way under budget. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that the vultures find other prey… Next Up -- We continue our hectic road schedule with an away date against Aston Villa, a team that always give us trouble.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-10-2014, 02:38 AM
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#432 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. December 30, 2023
Barclays Premier League Aston Villa (9-2-7, 29 points, 7th) vs. Dover (12-4-1, 40 points, 1st) Villa Park, Birmingham, UK Betting Odds: Aston Villa: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 4W 2D 6L Villa has been a VERY tough opponent for us, likely the most difficult outside of the top clubs like United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. We haven’t beaten them in two years so we’re due! Villa have been in the Premier League since 1987, a 36 year stretch. They usually finish in the mid-table so they are slightly exceeding expectations this year. Striker Antonio leads the team with 8 goals in 14 matches but again, in a season that has seen us avoid many great players due to injury or suspension, Antonio is injured today and won’t play. Mohamed Messaoudi will likely be their danger man up front and AMC Bebe and his five goals will also need to be watched. Their big offseason signing was 23 year old attacking midfielder Nassim Bailleul and he has 4 goals and 7 assists in 21 games. He was picked up for £2.9 million from Atalanta in Italy’s Serie A. Today’s match begins a stretch of three games in four days, a ludicrous stretch but one that most of the teams in our league will have to deal with upon a glance at the schedule. So at least we all have to deal with it! We play today (Saturday) then have matches on Monday AND Tuesday. Needless to say, squad rotation will be in place for these three games and thankfully, I’m almost completely healthy now, with only Zoltan Bardi on the injury list. We make only two changes from the Blackpool game - Ingo Wilke is back in net and Jose will be in the midfield for Andrea Rocca. We’re decent sized favourites on the road so we’ll go with our control mentality. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, G. Bolis, H. Cruz, S. Andrea Crap. Villa play a 4-2-3-1 with three attacking central mids, the same formation Middlesbrough play and one that gives us fits. Igor Dobes, a guy I’ve never heard of, is alone up front. Bailleul is at AMC along with Reece Butcher, a long-time transfer target of mine, and Teco. Antonio Kraljevic is in goal and he always does well against us. I tell the team they can win today and tell Salim Loucif to pick up where he left off last game. 3’ - Jose with a GLORIOUS ball into the area to Chiquinho and he blasts it right at Kraljevic! Damn! As a side note, the Villa manager spoke out about Chiquinho in his pre-game presser as the man they need to stop. Again, this usually means poor performances by our guys but we’ll see if Chiquinho can break through today like Moses did last game under the same pressure. 10’ - Loucif with an early yellow card. 15’ - We certainly have the majority of possession early and Chiquinho with a nice pass to spring Paul Moses but his shot is saved well by the Villa keeper. 20’ - We have a free kick just outside the area and it’s Jose taking it. His blast is off Reece Butcher, who is in the Villa wall, and it deflects past Kraljevic and IN! It counts as an own goal so Jose is still looking for his first in a Dover kit but we lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0 27’ - We’re gifting them a lot of possession the last ten minutes but we steal and work a counter attack with Chiquinho racing down the right sideline. He crosses and it’s right on the foot of Paul Moses but his one-time blast is saved in spectacular fashion by Kraljevic! WOW. Even his defence is clapping at that one! 31’ - Another great Jose pass finds Chiquinho and Kraljevic again is giving us nightmares, sprawling full out to make the stop! 44’ - We earn a corner and Graham Allan crosses to the near post. For the first game I can remember, I decide to switch things up a bit and move Neil Cairney from his traditional spot outside the area to the near post and he rewards me by heading the ball past Kraljevic and IN! DOVER GOAL 2-0 HALFTIME - That was a good half of football! We edge them on possession with 52% of the ball but outshoot them by a wide margin: 14-5 (5-0 on target). I tell the team I’m pleased thus far! Villa change tactics to a 4-3-1-2. 46’ - Right away, Villa strike on a counter. A cross is into the box to substitute striker Messaoudi and his header is stopped by a diving Ingo Wilkei 49’ - Messaoudi takes down Rayane Hamon and Hamon, always injury prone and just back from a few weeks on the shelf, has the dreaded cross of death above his name again. Geez. He can stay in for now but I expect him to be on the sidelines again. 50’ - Off a throw in, a Renato Gaucho cross is headed by Salim Loucif, of all people, but Kraljevic is in good position and makes the stop. 65’ - Graham Allan is off and Gianluca Bolis is on. 73’ - Neil Cairney comes out and in comes Emmerson Harvey. 80’ - Villa play a long ball over our defence and Messaoudi wins the race. With Hamon and Contreras in close pursuit, Messaoudi places the ball past Wilke, off the inside of the right post and IN. We’re in a fight to the finish here. ASTON VILLA GOAL 2-1 83’ - We win a corner and Jose takes it. The cross is to the near post and Emmerson Harvey and his header deflects off a Villa defender but Kraljevic still makes the save. There’s a rebound though and it’s right on Paul Moses’ foot and it’s just a simple tap in putt from there and we have our two goal cushion back! DOVER GOAL 3-1 87’ - Arsene Bamba is out and Helder Cruz is in. Another fine road win! Aston Villa 1 - 3 Dover Goals - Neil Cairney (7.6), Paul Moses (7.7), Reece Butcher OG Assists - Jose 2 (9.0), Graham Allan (7.0) Man of the Match - Jose Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.5), Rayane Hamon (7.0), Claudio Contreras (7.0), Renato Gaucho (7.1), Arsene Bamba (7.4), Chiquinho (7.0) Attendance - 35,749 Another workmanlike performance, as we hold 55% of possession and a 25-8 (8-2 on target) shot advantage. Jose was simply brilliant today and he’s proving to be a GREAT acquisition already. And what can you say about Paul Moses? The guy just scores in almost every game. -- I rarely see this but despite having the dreaded “cross of doom” above his head, Rayane Hamon escapes without a significant injury and won’t miss any time. Whew! -- In other Premier League action, United beat Sunderland 4-0, Middlesbrough draw 1-1 against Everton, Chelsea beat up on Huddersfield 4-1, Newcastle SHOCK Manchester City 4-2, Liverpool eke past Wolves 3-2 and Spurs continue to roll with a 3-1 win over Reading. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 18 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 43 points 2. Liverpool - 43 points (after 19 games) 3. Manchester United - 41 points 4. Tottenham - 41 points (after 19 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Middlesbrough - 36 points (after 19 games) 6. Manchester City - 35 points 7. Chelsea - 31 points (after 17 games) ---------------------------------------------------- Dover U18 Update -- The kids continue to win, beating Aldershot 3-0 behind another brace from Ben Patterson and a single from Jay Doyle. Transfer Window Opens -- The transfer window opens and there is speculation all over the place about our players. Deep breath… -- Oh, and for the first time since I’ve taken over this team, I can’t think of ANY positions of need right now. I truly think we can win the league with this roster and I’m ready to give it our best shot! That’s assuming that I can keep all of our current players… Change Season Expectations -- I’m offered the chance by my board to change our season expectations but I will get no additional money even if I say I’m going for the title…which I am by the way! So I just keep the expectations as given at the season’s beginning, which was my guarantee of continental qualification. January Update -- January starts with a bang, as we have two games in two nights starting tonight against Everton (away) then we host Fulham tomorrow at Crabble Athletic Ground. We have four other Premier League games this month: Tottenham (away), Manchester United (home), Norwich (home) and Newcastle (away). We also have our first FA Cup match of the year at home against Ipswich Town and both of our League Cup semi-final matches. That’s NINE MATCHES this month. Holy crap! It could be TEN if we draw against Ipswich. -- It was a good month for training, with Renato Gaucho, Helder Cruz and Andy Broomes getting positive notices for the senior team and Felix Hernandez, James Campbell and Ben Patterson get notices for the U18s. Only one negative comment comes in for Gianluca Bolis but he was injured for two months so that isn’t a surprise. I’m lenient with him. 2023 Year-End Awards -- Paul Moses gets named to England’s Best Eleven for the 2023 season, as was former Dover fullback Kostas Zagos. -- Atletico Madrid’s Thabo Mbambo wins European striker of the year and World Player of the Year in a bit of a shocker over our old friend Enrique. -- Emiliano Pighin wins European Goalkeeper of the Year for Bayern Munich, a player we’re familiar with after facing him in Champions League group play. Pighin’s teammate Evandro wins defender of the year honours. -- Nikolay Dubinin from OM wins European midfielder of the year. -- Enrique wins the Ballon d’Or after another fantastic year, as he now plays for Barcelona. December Awards -- Spurs striker and former Dover player Gerardo Escobar wins Player of the Month honours after scoring six times in six games. Paul Moses comes in third. -- Paul Moses wins Young Player of the Month after scoring four goals in five matches. Claudio Contreras comes in second. -- After winning four of five matches in December, along with a draw, I’m named as the Premier League Manager of the Month for the second time in three months. Transfer Talk -- The first offers come in for Neil Cairney from Tottenham (£15,500,000) and Rafinha from Stuttgart (£4,500,000). Both are quickly rejected. January Board Confidence Update -- The board are “absolutely delighted” with the way I’m leading the team. Our 8-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in Champions League play is the main highlight and the Mathis Imbert signing is the only slight negative. -- We had very few home games last month and therefore lost £1.13 million in December. Next Up -- We have the last of four consecutive road games, this time heading to Liverpool to play Everton.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-10-2014 at 02:42 AM. |
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06-10-2014, 06:29 AM
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#433 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Australia
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Tough competition but I'm confident you've got this!
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Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices, That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep, will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open and show riches ready to drop upon me, that, when I wak'd, I cried to dream again. |
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06-13-2014, 11:44 PM
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#434 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Mon. January 1, 2024
Barclays Premier League Everton (5-6-8, 21 points, 13th) vs. Dover (13-4-1, 43 points, 1st) Goodison Park, Liverpool, UK Betting Odds: Everton: 7-4 Draw: 11-5 Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 7W 2D 4L After a sixth place Premier League finish in 2020/21, Everton are back to their mid-table ways and sit in 13th spot right now. They don’t score many goals and have bulged the twine only 25 times in 19 Premier League matches thus far. 32 year old striker Chris Wood leads the club with 9 goals in 18 matches thus far - he’s still a dangerous player but he would be one of the weaker Premier League starting strikers. Everton held us to a draw at Crabble in the season opener so we hope to play a bit better today. We just played two days ago and have yet another game tomorrow night and as a result, we’ll rotate the squad heavily for these two games. Andy Broomes will get his first ever Dover start today alongside Paul Moses. Manuel Perez, Rafinha, Saber Nasri, Andrea Rocca and Helder Cruz will all start today. A number of key players won’t even suit up today, as I’ll look to protect them for tomorrow’s home match against Blackpool. Sitting in the stands today are Arsene Bamba, Salim Loucif, Rayane Hamon, Chiquinho, Gianluca Bolis and Jose. Control mentality as slight road favourites today. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, Rafinha M - H. Cruz, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses, A. Broomes Bench - C. Guzman, S. Reed, M. Yilmaz, E. Harvey, G. Fanfoni, L. Kunchev, S. Andrea Everton are just as tired as we are and it’s Wood and Mike Hall up front in their flat 4-4-2 Franco Di Capua is in goal and old friend Daniel Traore starts at DC today. I tell the team they can win this game. It’s snowing today. 8’ - We have a corner and Rocca goes short to Andy Broomes. It’s sent back to Rocca then delivered perfectly to Neil Cairney, who steps into a blast and rockets it off the crossbar! 17’ - Everton have controlled the last ten minutes and Wood gets a great chance off a Daniel Bentivoglio cross but Perez is in good position to make the stop. 35’ - We have possession at midfield and work it up to Andrea Rocca. He passes to Broomes and the youngster avoids a tackle from old friend Daniel Traore and walks right into the area, shooting low past Di Capua and in! Great goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0 41’ - We work a counter attack up the right sideline with Graham Allan. He streaks toward the byline and sends in a GREAT cross. Paul Moses is there to head it into the net but Di Capua makes an INCREDIBLE diving stop! WOW. 44’ - We send Broomes in again with a great through ball and he’s destined to score but Di Capua stops him. The rebound is right to Rocca and he shoots right away but Di Capua SAVES AGAIN! Holy crap! 45’ - Everton with a free kick and they work a pass into our area. Wood is there but Perez now steals the show with a spectacular save. HALFTIME - The weather isn’t helping but Everton are doing a great job against us and we’re fortunate to be ahead. They hold 53% of possession and a 10-7 (3-3 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team I’m pleased to be ahead. We have a very tired squad right now - I’ll likely move to a counter attacking mentality at some point soon. 46’ - We win a corner right away and Rocca takes it. His cross is to the far post and Claudio Contreras heads it off an Everton defender and IN! Great start to the half! DOVER GOAL 2-0 50’ - Rafinha with a takedown and a yellow card. 53’ - Rocca with a bullet from distance but Di Capua is in good position and makes the stop. 67’ - Andy Broomes with a yellow card now. 71’ - We have a throw in down the left side and Helder Cruz throws it to Moses just inside the area. He’s taken down and the referee points to the spot - PENALTY! Wow - that’s a weird call there and Everton are ANGRY! Neil Cairney steps up, goes low and right and it’s past Di Capua and IN! DOVER GOAL 3-0 74’ - We make a double substitution, taking out Graham Allan and Rafinha and bringing in Lyubomir Kunchev and Steve Reed. 84’ - Emmerson Harvey is in for the excellent Andrea Rocca, who probably played his best game of the year today. We hold them off the rest of the way. Good result with a less than full strength side. Everton 0 - 3 Dover Goals - Andy Broomes (7.8), Claudio Contreras (8.7), Neil Cairney PEN (7.8) Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (8.5), Paul Moses (7.2) Man of the Match - Claudio Contreras Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.2), Rafinha (7.0), Saber Nasri (7.1), Renato Gaucho (7.8), Graham Allan (7.0), Helder Cruz (7.0) Attendance - 34,625 Everton controlled 53% of possession but we ended up edging them in shots 15-13 (6-3 on target). We were strong in that second half and I’m pleased with the victory. -- In other Premier League action, Liverpool are SHOCKED by relegation candidates Birmingham 2-1! Middlesbrough, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United all win to keep pace with us, as we reach the midpoint of the season while most of the teams are already one game into the second half of the schedule. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 20 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 46 points (after 19 games) 2. Manchester United - 44 points (after 19 games) 3. Tottenham - 44 points 4. Liverpool - 43 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Middlesbrough - 39 points 6. Manchester City - 38 points (after 19 games) 7. Chelsea - 34 points (after 18 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 8. Aston Villa - 32 points 9. Arsenal - 32 points 10. Reading - 28 points 11. Newcastle - 23 points 12. Huddersfield - 23 points 13. Everton - 21 points 14. Sunderland - 20 points 15. Birmingham - 18 points 16. Wolves - 16 points 17. Sheffield Wednesday - 16 points (after 18 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 18. Norwich - 10 points 19. Blackpool - 9 points 20. Fulham - 8 points (after 19 games) -- We had 44 points at this point last year so we’re ahead of that pace. Our league-leading total of 56 goals is five more than at this time last year but with 19 goals against, we’ve given up two more than we did after 19 games last season. We are fourth in the league in goals conceded. Here's a look at some Barclays Premier League stat leaders: GOALS - 1. Paul Moses, Dover, 18 2. Yaya Sanogo, Manchester United, 16 3. Roland Hoxha, Middlesbrough, 15 4. Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea, 14 5. Jean Junior, Tottenham, 12 5. Gerardo Escobar, Tottenham, 12 7. Chiquinho, Dover, 11 7. Hani Megahed, Reading, 11 9. Craig Flett, Sunderland, 10 THREE TIED WITH 11 -- Neil Cairney is tied for 34th with 4 and both Shanon Andrea and Claudio Contreras have 3 to put them in a tie for 50th. ASSISTS - 1. Jack Wilshere, Arsenal, 14 2. Jose, Dover, 12 2. Tom Cairney, Middlesbrough, 12 4. Miguel Sousa, Chelsea, 11 5. Omar Hernandez, Manchester United, 10 5. Anderson, Tottenham, 10 7. Thorgan Hazard, Middlesbrough, 8 7. Paul Moses, Dover, 8 7. Jonjo Shelvey, Liverpool, 8 THREE TIED WITH 7 - Chiquinho, Andrea Rocca and Graham Allan are all tied for 20th with 5. Arsene Bamba and Neil Cairney are tied for 28th with 4. AVERAGE RATING - 1. Paul Moses, Dover, 7.94 2. Roland Hoxha, Middlesbrough, 7.79 3. Chiquinho, Dover, 7.72 4. Yaya Sanogo, Manchester United, 7.65 5. Omar Hernandez, Manchester United, 7.54 6. Jean Junior, Tottenham, 7.51 6. Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea, 7.51 8. Jack Wilshere, Arsenal, 7.43 [b]9. Claudio Contreras, Dover, 7.42 9. Miguel Sousa, Chelsea, 7.42 -- Neil Cairney is 12th at 7.39, Saber Nasri is 13th with 7.38, Arsene Bamba is 14th at 7.37, Jose is T19th at 7.30, Rayane Hamon is T24th at 7.28 and Graham Allan is T41st with 7.20. Premier League Team of the Week -- Claudio Contreras and Jose make the Barclays Premier League team of the week. Transfer Window Fun -- Rafinha continues to be a big target for teams and a couple offer me in excess of £6.5 million for him. Both are rejected - the wonderkid is going nowhere. Next Up -- We play in back-to-back days, finally getting back at home after four away league games in a row as we host relegation favourites Fulham.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-14-2014, 05:09 AM
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#435 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Man, what a fabulous season you guys are having. Just crazy good.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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06-14-2014, 10:35 PM
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#436 | ||
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Quote:
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Thanks guys! I think the tell-tale sign that we are real contenders is the fact that I can't see any need to look for additions in the January transfer window. Now, I'm assuming that I'll be able to keep everyone I have but at this point, there is likely only one player I run the risk of losing and that is Chiquinho, who has a semi-attainable minimum release clause. Our depth is super solid across the board and even with a recent run of injuries, we haven't lost any momentum. I hope we can keep it going!
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-16-2014, 11:56 PM
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#437 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. January 2, 2024
Barclays Premier League Dover (14-4-1, 46 points, 1st) vs. Fulham (1-5-13, 8 points, 20th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Fulham: 10-1 Past Meetings: 8W 2D 2L For the first time in my managerial career, we’re forced to play games in consecutive days but we face last placed Fulham and we’re overwhelming favourites against the newly promoted club. We beat them 5-0 early in the year at Craven Cottage and we should beat them by a similar margin again today despite starting many reserves. Fulham only have one win this season after winning the Championship playoff to get the last promotion spot in 2022/23. They struggle mightily to score goals, with only 18 from 19 Premier League matches. In fact, including cup ties, there is no one on the team with more than THREE GOALS. Wow. All eleven starters from yesterday’s Everton win will be OUT of the lineup today, as we get to showcase our exceptional depth in this contest. Getting rare starts are Shanon Andrea, Gian Marco Fanfoni, Carlos Guzman and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. Control mentality, as usual. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, Jose, G. Fanfoni, G. Bolis S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Reed, R. Ramirez, E. Harvey, H. Cruz, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes Fulham are in a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) with Milan Djuric up front and former Dover forward Robbie Benson at AMC. Joe Lewis is in goal. We should win comfortably and I’m happy to see that we’re not showing any overconfidence prior to the game. Therefore, I just tell the players to go out and express themselves for the home supporters today. Lets score some goals boys! 9’ - A slow start for us. Fulham get the first chance, as Tomasz Zielinski is sent in and his low shot is saved well by Ingo Wilke. 20’ - Not good. Our first shot on goal is from distance and Lewis easily stops Chiquinho’s long range blast. 33’ - We’re not generating any real chances in a pretty chippy contest but we win a corner. It’s Arsene Bamba taking it and his cross to the far corner is headed by young centre half back Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and it’s IN! He’s already got FOUR GOALS this year in very limited action and we finally break through! DOVER GOAL 1-0 41’ - Wilke holds onto a free kick and throws it back in to Carlos Guzman. The ball is eventually worked to midfield and to Chiquinho and he sends a little through ball to Shanon Andrea. Our out-of-form striker dribbles in and shoots past Lewis into the left hand corner for the goal! Beauty! DOVER GOAL 2-0 HALFTIME - We started to finally take control in the last fifteen minutes of the half but that first half hour was almost all Fulham and they have a 53% possession advantage. That said, we outshoot them 13-4 (7-2 on target). I encourage the players to keep pressing and make a minor tactical change, switching roles for Gian Marco Fanfoni and Jose, moving Jose into the more attacking position. Fanfoni simply isn’t the same player he was last year before his injury and he’s been invisible all season so far. 48’ - We’re pouring on pressure now, as Chiquinho is sent in alone but his rocket blast is saved by Lewis. The rebound is right to the foot of Andrea and with a gaping net to shoot at, he shoots WIDE! He leaves the area with his head in his hands! 51’ - Gianluca Bolis with a yellow card. 76’ - Nothing happening at all. Kind of disappointing. I pull out an ineffective Jose and bring in Emmerson Harvey. I also take out a tired Gianluca Bolis and bring in youngster Lyubomir Kunchev. 84’ - We have another corner and again it’s Bamba putting in a perfect cross, this time to the head of Rayane Hamon and it’s in! Two corner kick goals today! DOVER GOAL 3-0 Not a bad result. Dover 3 - 0 Fulham Goals - Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (8.1), Shanon Andrea (7.7), Rayane Hamon (8.3) Assists - Arsene Bamba 2 (9.0), Chiquinho (7.1) Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.4), Carlos Guzman (7.5), Gian Marco Fanfoni (7.0) Attendance - 21,768 We dominated possession in the second half and ended up with 54% of the ball for the game and a 28-6 (10-4 on target) shot advantage. Jose (6.4) was disappointing today but he had some great chances that just went wide and likely got penalized for the misses. -- In other Premier League action, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Man United win while Tottenham and Middlesbrough battle to a draw. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 21 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 49 points (after 20 games) 2. Manchester United - 47 points (after 20 games) 3. Liverpool - 46 points 4. Tottenham - 45 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 41 points (after 20 games) 6. Middlesbrough - 40 points 7. Chelsea - 37 points (after 19 games) ---------------------------------------------------- Dover Reserves Team Update -- We end up with back to back TO BACK games if you include the reserves game! We start a whole bunch of U18 players and still beat Bolton’s reserves 4-1. Andy Broomes bags a brace while Rafael Ramirez and U18 defender Damian Thorne notch singles. Transfer Window Fun -- Rafael Ramirez is a major loan target for European clubs and I accept a bunch of offers for his services for the rest of the year. In all deals, I’ll be given £250,000 up front and the teams will pay for 100% of his wages. I only accepted deals from teams that assured me of a first-team role. -- Teams continue to come hard after Rafinha, our young wonderkid. Valencia offers almost £10 million for him and again it’s rejected. Next Up -- We’re back on the road and face top opposition in Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-18-2014, 11:38 PM
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#438 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. January 6, 2024
Barclays Premier League Tottenham (13-6-2, 45 points, 4th) vs. Dover (15-4-1, 49 points, 1st) White Hart Lane, London, UK Betting Odds: Tottenham: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 11-5 Past Meetings: 6W 4D 2L The Spurs are sitting pretty in fourth place right now after a number of disappointing seasons and are being led by a former Dover striker in Gerardo Escobar. He’s tied for the team lead in goals with fellow striker Jean Junior with 12. They are on a SEVENTEEN game unbeaten streak right now and that was a 2-1 League Cup loss to Burnley, of all teams. Their last league loss was to us in September. Needless to say, they are HOT as a pistol right now. We’re pretty hot ourselves, riding a 14 game unbeaten streak with 12 wins and 2 ties since our 5-3 loss to Liverpool on November 4th, our only loss of the year so far. We will start pretty much a full strength side today. Graham Allan will play at MR for Gianluca Bolis, who is still regaining match fitness after a long injury break and in-form midfielder Andrea Rocca will play instead of Jose, who instead will suit up for sure against Man United in a midweek contest. Despite being underdogs, I’ll go with a control mentality today. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, Jose, E. Harvey, H. Cruz, G. Bolis, S. Andrea Tottenham come out in a flat 4-4-2 as well, with Escobar and Mahmoud Ashoubi up front. Matthieu Dreyer is in goal. A number of their players are tired so hopefully we can wear them out early. Lets play well for the travelling supporters today. 8’ - Chiquinho with an early yellow card. 9’ - Escobar eludes a Salim Loucif tackle and is in the area but his shot is stopped by Ingo Wilke. 11’ - Spurs start a counter off a failed Rocca corner kick and a cross comes in to Ashoubi and he scores. But he’s pretty blatantly offsides and the assistant has his flag up appropriately. NO GOAL. 18’ - Arsene Bamba has the ball near midfield and passes to Paul Moses. He is well marked but gets into the area. A defender is well positioned between Moses and the goal but you simply can’t deny the skill of Moses, who somehow blasts a shot past the defender and into the short side of the goal past a stunned Dreyer. Moses is sensational and he can score goals even in situations where he’s completely covered. DOVER GOAL 1-0 25’ - We have a free kick near midfield and Rocca works a ball up to Chiquinho just outside the area. He turns and sends a little touch pass into the area and Moses charges after it, as does goalkeeper Dreyer. Unfortunately for him, he can’t get there before the lightning fast Moses and our striker quickly boots the ball into the corner of the net! That’s two for Moses! DOVER GOAL 2-0 28’ - We’re in complete control at this point and we devise a ridiculously beautiful three way passing play between Moses, Chiquinho and Rocca that culminates in Rocca RIPPING a shot off the goal post! Great play and great chance! 38’ - All of the chances are going our way, as Chiquinho sends Moses on a clear cut breakaway. Moses cuts in on goal but Dreyer makes the big save! 41’ - Now we work a counter and send Graham Allan in but his shot is right at Dreyer and he turns it aside. 43’ - Renato Gaucho with a yellow card. Spurs get a free kick and we immediately head the ball to safety, starting a quick counter. Bamba feeds Moses and he eludes a tackle and is off to the races. He’s in on goal and Dreyer makes the save but a big rebound is right onto the foot of Chiquinho. He has an open net and MISSES! Ugh! HALFTIME - FANTASTIC half of football for us. Possession is relatively even, with us holding a very slight 51% edge but shots are 15-7 (7-1 on target) in our favour. They don’t have an answer at all for Moses, whose speed is simply too much for their central defence. I contemplate a tactics change to a more counter attacking mentality but I’ll keep with my control mentality for a bit and see how the start of the half goes. I tell the lads I’m pleased so far. 51’ - Spurs get a chance on a free kick from just outside the area but Escobar’s header is weak and right at Wilke. Easy save. Spurs look motivated to start this half based on a quick chat with my assistant. 53’ - Spurs are starting to charge here and a cross comes into the box to Ashoubi and Wilke makes a great save. The rebound is there and Ashoubi has an open net but Loucif blocks it and it goes behind the goal for a corner. Whew. 61’ - We move to a counter attacking mentality. 82’ - Yellow card for Neil Cairney now. We also make our first substitution, bringing in Jose for Andrea Rocca. 87’ - We continue to hold them off nicely and make another change, bringing in Shanon Andrea for Chiquinho. 88’ - One more change, as Emmerson Harvey comes on for Neil Cairney. 90’+2 - Escobar turns and fires from just outside the area and WILKE makes a fantastic diving save to keep the shutout going! Great result! Tottenham 0 - 2 Dover Goals - Paul Moses 2 (8.8) Assists - Arsene Bamba (7.6), Chiquinho (7.6) Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.8), Salim Loucif (7.4), Rayane Hamon (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.2), Andrea Rocca (7.1) Attendance - 34,855 We allowed Tottenham to control a lot of possession in that second half but we employed a nice “bend but don’t break” defence and held them off. Possession was in Tottenham’s favour with 53% of the ball but we outshot them 19-18 (9-6 on target). Great result and we end the Spurs very long unbeaten streak! -- In other Premier League action, Chelsea help us out by defeating Liverpool 1-0 and Wolves shock everyone by holding Man City to a draw! Manchester United, our next opponents, also can only manage a draw against a solid Middlesbrough team. We expand our lead to four points! BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 22 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 52 points (after 21 games) 2. Manchester United - 48 points (after 21 games) 3. Liverpool - 46 points 4. Tottenham - 45 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 42 points (after 21 games) 6. Middlesbrough - 41 points 7. Chelsea - 40 points (after 20 games) ---------------------------------------------------- Dover U18 Team Update -- The U18’s destroy QPR 6-0, with both Adam Hyde and Ben Patterson scoring a pair of goals. Pete Smith and Steven Miller notched singles in the win. New Coaches -- Not a big deal but I’ll mention that we sign three new coaches for our U18 squad, as we now have a full staff allotment for both the youth and senior squads. We gain a half star in two training categories and now are at 4.5 stars or better in 7 of 9 categories for the U18 squad. Transfer Window Fun -- Olympique Lyonnais offer £11,500,000 for in-form winger Arsene Bamba and it’s swiftly rejected. We’re not selling anyone right now - we’re going for the title! Sevilla then offer £13,750,000 for him! Wow. Rejected too but man, that’s a lot of money! Premier League Team of the Week -- Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, Arsene Bamba and Paul Moses all make the Premier League Team of the Week! Dover Injury Update -- We are almost completely healthy, with only backup striker Zoltan Bardi still nursing an injury. He’s almost ready to return to full training after recovering from torn ankle ligaments. Next Up -- We have a HUGE home game against second placed Manchester United as the two teams at the top of the Barclays Premier League go into battle!
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-18-2014 at 11:40 PM. |
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06-19-2014, 01:22 AM
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#439 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. January 9, 2024
Barclays Premier League Dover (16-4-1, 52 points, 1st) vs. Manchester United (14-6-1, 48 points, 2nd) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 Manchester United: 6-4 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 3W 3D 9L Like Tottenham, Manchester United come into a match against us on a very long unbeaten streak that has reached 12 games. Their last loss was in Champions League group play against Ajax and that was on the heels of a 17 game unbeaten streak. So United has only lost one game in their last 30!!! Holy smokes. Yet we’re four points clear so it says something about our dominance as well! United continue to be led by the ageless Yaya Sanogo, who has 21 goals in 28 matches thus far, as he continues to try to keep pace with our superstar Paul Moses. We haven’t had an awful lot of success against United and that leads to us being the slightest of underdogs at home today. That said, we can beat these guys but we’ll have to stop Sanogo. Jose, Gianluca Bolis and Rafinha will start today and that means Andrea Rocca, Graham Allan and Renato Gaucho are on the bench. Moses starts for the first time ever against his former team, as I kept him out of our starting lineup in our 1-1 draw early in the season. We have an FA Cup match coming up on the weekend against a Championship side so we can leave it all out on the field today since we’ll likely go with a lot of backups in that contest. Control mentality at home, as usual. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Renato Gaucho, S. Nasri, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, H. Cruz, G. Allan, S. Andrea United play a flat 4-4-2 and it’s Sandro, a guy I haven’t heard of before, up front with Yaya Sanogo. Sandro is a 30 year old striker just picked up in July for over £18 million and he has 8 goals in 17 matches. Former White Cristian Rodriguez starts at DC and Liviu Dragomir is in goal. I tell the team to play well for the home fans today. LETS DO THIS!!! 6’ - On an innocent looking play, Jose stubs Eden Hazard’s toe or something in our penalty area and the referee points to the spot! PENALTY! Veteran midfielder Roman Zozulya steps up and puts the ball into the top of the net and we’re down immediately. Crappy call in my opinion. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 0-1 11’ - Dragomir kicks the ball upfield and Rayane Hamon heads it back over the defence. Paul Moses runs onto the ball and looks offsides but there is no call. He’s in on goal and his trademark low blast is past Dragomir and IN! Instant reply and we pull level! DOVER GOAL 1-1 13’ - United have a corner and the cross is into Cristian Rodriguez but he sends the ball back out to Zozulya. I guess he knew what he was doing, as the midfielder strikes a low blast that hits off Rafinha and deflects past Ingo Wilke and it’s IN. That’s two for Zozulya and we’re behind again! What is going on!? MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 1-2 15’ - Paul Moses is all, “I’M GOING TO CARRY ALL OF YOU SAD SACKS ON MY BACK!” and takes the ensuing kickoff and runs right through the United defence but Dragomir makes a diving save. 17’ - This game is absolutely bonkers and I love it! We show great skill in moving up field with many short, crisp passes. Cairney gets the ball near the edge of the area and sends a great ball to the left to Arsene Bamba. Our in demand midfielder gets into the area and rips a shot that Dragomir gets a piece of but NOT ENOUGH! It’s IN the net and we pull level once again! DOVER GOAL 2-2 19’ - Wilke has to be alert, as Sanogo feeds Sandro in the area but our keeper makes the save. 28’ - United are playing well today and get another chance with Eduardo Padilla in the area and Wilke is in good position for the reflex save. 30’ - Moses with a pass off to Bamba and he eludes a tackle and walks in but his shot is right at Dragomir. Easy stop. 36’ - Chiquinho is taken down just outside the area and we have a free kick. Jose takes it and his cross to the far post is headed by Claudio Contreras and it’s OFF THE CROSSBAR! Ooooooh! 40’ - This referee is obviously on the take, as he gives Contreras a yellow for taking down Sanogo. United have already been called for three big fouls but weren’t given a yellow on any of them. Plus, the guy awarded a pretty shady penalty too. Not good. 44’ - Contreras takes a knock and has the dreaded cross of doom above his name. He can continue for now but we’ll have to see what happens after the game. 45’+1 - Bamba with a sensational feed up to Moses and he storms in on goal. His shot is stopped by Dragomir and both Chiquinho and Bolis get chances at the rebound but their shots can’t get through to the net. So close! 45’+2 - We work the ball out wide to Bamba and his last second cross is to Moses but his fine header is saved well by Dragomir as the whistle blows to end a crazy half! HALFTIME - The neutrals are pleased with this one! We edge them in possession with 51% and have a 15-8 (6-4 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team they can beat these guys and pull aside struggling Jose (5.5), Rafinha (5.9) and Chiquinho (6.4) and tell them I have faith in their abilities. I could use a Chiquinho goal right now but he’s in another one of his slumps. 59’ - A much slower start to the second half with few chances. We finally strike from distance, as a curling Jose shot is turned aside by a diving Dragomir! 64’ - Saber Nasri is brought on for the injured Claudio Contreras. 67’ - We have a free kick at midfield and Rayane Hamon passes up to Cairney who immediately feeds Chiquinho at the outer edge of the area. He turns and fires a shot with his weaker left foot and it’s into the top corner of the net for a SPECTACULAR goal! United players run to complain to the assistant about possible offsides but to no avail! We finally take the lead! DOVER GOAL 3-2 73’ - We get a GLORIOUS chance as Moses is tackled while entering the area and the ball spills right to Chiquinho but his blast is saved in spectacular fashion by Dragomir. A game saver there… 75’ - We move to a counter attacking mentality. 80’ - Bamba heads to the penalty area but loses the ball. It squirts back to Jose and he sends in a great ball to Chiquinho and his blast is off the underside of the crossbar and IN!!!!! But wait?! OFFSIDES?!!?!?! Oh man…the replay is inconclusive. Terrible call again!!! We’re getting jobbed here but we still lead… 90’ - Moses takes a throw in and makes a perfect pass into the box to Gianluca Bolis but his shot is saved in fine fashion by the United keeper! Wow. He’s been good today. There’s five minutes of extra time but United can’t get anything going! HUGE WIN!!! Dover 3 - 2 Manchester United Goals - Paul Moses (7.7), Arsene Bamba (7.7), Chiquinho (7.3) Assists - Neil Cairney 2 (7.5), Rayane Hamon (7.6) Man of the Match - Roman Zozulya (Manchester United MC - 8.8) Other Dover Notables - Jose (7.0) Attendance - 23,000 OUR FIRST SELL-OUT!!! Damn straight!!! This is a monumental win for us and we pasted them in that second half, with overall possession of 56% and an incredible 28-9 (13-4 on target) shot advantage. Yaya Sanogo was a complete non-factor and we take a big lead in the Premier League standings! Even Jose comes back to have a great second half and get a 7.0 rating. -- Claudio Contreras suffers a twisted knee and will miss about two weeks. Not bad. We have depth. DOVER INJURY: CLAUDIO CONTRERAS (Twisted Knee) -- There were two other “make-up” games today and Man City beat up on Birmingham 4-0 in the one other key matchup. On Wednesday, Middlesbrough can only manage a home draw against Newcastle, Arsenal surprise Liverpool while Chelsea and Tottenham win comfortably. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 23 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 55 points (after 22 games) 2. Manchester United - 48 points (after 22 games) 3. Tottenham - 48 points 4. Liverpool - 46 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 45 points (after 22 games) 6. Chelsea - 43 points (after 21 games) 7. Middlesbrough - 42 points ---------------------------------------------------- Record Attendance Broken -- Our first ever sell out in our 23,000 seat stadium assured us of a new attendance record at Crabble Athletic Ground, breaking the old mark of 22,947 set against Wolves in January 2023. Transfer Window Fun -- Stuttgart offer £11,500,000 for Wonderkid Rafinha and it’s rejected, of course. -- Rafael Ramirez accepts a loan deal with CS Sedan Ardennes of French Ligue 1 but the deal falls through when they can’t find any money to pay the £250,000 up front fee. Back to the drawing board… Dover Injury Update -- Zoltan Bardi returns to full training after missing five weeks with torn ankle ligaments. Incredibly, he's already match fit two days later and he is ready to go for our weekend FA Cup match if we need him! Next Up -- We have our first FA Cup match of the year, starting with a third round matchup against Championship side Ipswich Town here at Crabble Athletic Ground.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-19-2014 at 01:30 AM. |
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06-19-2014, 02:45 AM
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#440 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. January 13, 2024
FA Cup - 3rd Round Dover (1st in Barclays Premier League) vs. Ipswich Town (15th in npower Championship) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Ipswich: 9-2 Past Meetings: 3W 1D 1L Ipswich is struggling mightily in the Championship this year but they look like they’ll avoid the drop as things stand right now. Their leading scorer is striker Mohammad Basmah. I don’t recognize many names on their roster. All backups today with the exception of Renato Gaucho, who had the Man United game off. Shanon Andrea and Zoltan Bardi start up front and Manuel Perez is in goal. Emmerson Harvey gets his second start of the year at midfield. Saber Nasri will wear the captain’s armband today. Even with a full compliment of backups, I expect to cruise today but we need to be mindful of complacency being an issue. Control mentality at home as big favourites. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - Renato Gaucho, M. Yilmaz, S. Nasri, Rafinha M - H. Cruz, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi Bench - C. Guzman, S. Reed, G. Fanfoni, R. Ramirez, A. Bamba, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes Ipswich are in a flat 4-4-2 as well with Basmah and Robbie Clarke up front. Joe Day is in goal. Thankfully, there is no overconfidence among the players, a good sign. I tell the team to play well for the supporters again today. 1’ - Helder Cruz with a takedown and an immediate yellow card in the first minute. It’s raining today. 3’ - Another innocent takedown, this time by Graham Allan and we get another yellow. Yikes! 22’ - We win a corner and Rocca’s cross to the far post is headed by four goal man Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. This is off the crossbar but the ball comes back out to Saber Nasri and he heads it past Day and it’s IN! We are finally ahead. DOVER GOAL 1-0 36’ - On a loose ball at midfield, Bardi heads it toward the defence then steals it right from one of the Ipswich defenders. He runs in and shoots low past Day and IN! Bardi scores in his return from injury and we’re ahead by two. DOVER GOAL 2-0 44’ - Shanon Andrea has the ball off a throw in and feeds it to Emmerson Harvey. He cuts toward the middle and from about 25 yards away, he fires an absolute HOWITZER into the top corner of the net past a sprawling Joe Day! That’s Harvey’s FIRST EVER DOVER GOAL!!! What a STRIKE! DOVER GOAL 3-0 HALFTIME - Well, it took awhile to get going but we strike for three goals and we’re comfortably ahead. We held 54% of possession and a 11-3 (3-0 on target) shot advantage. I’m pleased! 52’ - Shanon Andrea with a curling shot from the outer edge of the box but Day makes the save. We earn a corner and Rocca’s cross is directed to goal by Allan but an Ipswich defender blocks it out. It deflects out to Emmerson Harvey and the youngster hits the ball ON THE VOLLEY and it’s another BULLET past a diving Day and IN! Holy SHIT! It’s the Emmerson Harvey Show today! “We’ll be seeing that goal for some time”, says the announcer! No doubt! DOVER GOAL 4-0 63’ - We make a double substitution, bringing in Andy Broomes and Gian Marco Fanfoni and taking out Zoltan Bardi and Andrea Rocca. 77’ - We continue to dominate as we pull out Helder Cruz and bring in little used fullback Steve Reed. We move Rafinha up to left midfield to see what the Wonderkid can do in an attacking role. 84’ - Gian Marco Fanfoni cuts unmarked into the area and rips a shot off the crossbar. We get the rebound and it’s to Emmerson Harvey but his shot is JUST HIGH! So close to the hat trick! Easy does it. Dover 4 - 0 Ipswich Town Goals - Emmerson Harvey 2 (9.3), Saber Nasri (8.6), Zoltan Bardi (8.1) Assists - Manuel Perez (7.7), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (8.3), Andrea Rocca (7.5), Shanon Andrea (7.5) Man of the Match - Emmerson Harvey Other Dover Notables - Rafinha (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.9), Graham Allan (7.3), Helder Cruz (7.2) Attendance - 18,708 A thoroughly dominating performance, as all of our starters get ratings over 7.0 and even Manuel Perez gets into the offence with a rare goalkeeper assist! We held 56% of possession and a 32-8 (12-2 on target) shot advantage. Wonderful breakout performance from Emmerson Harvey! -- We earn £69,000 for the victory. Dover U18 Team Update -- Our U18s lose for the first time this season, dropping a 4-2 decision to Reading. Adam Hyde and Steven Miller score our goals. FA Cup - 4th Round Draw -- There are still a slew of lower league teams left in the competition but we get a reasonably difficult draw, with a road match against fellow Premier League side Wolves. Next Up -- We host another Championship side, as Southampton visit Crabble Athletic Ground for the first leg of the League Cup semifinals.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-21-2014, 12:58 AM
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#441 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. January 16, 2024
League Cup - Semi Final First Leg Dover (1st in Barclays Premier League) vs. Southampton (5th in npower Championship) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Southampton: 9-2 Past Meetings: 2W 2D 1L Southampton most recently were in the Premier League two years ago but finished 18th and dropped back to the Championship the next year. They finished fourth last year but lost in the playoffs and they are in a similar position this year, currently sitting in fifth. Their top scorer is striker Shyamdew Doesburg with 15 goals in 27 games. They have a few decent players like Thomas Ince and Nathan Redmond that I recognize from their year in the Premiership. A pretty full strength side today, as I look to build a big lead at home in hopes of coasting in the return leg at Southampton later this month. We should win this game comfortably but again, playing a second consecutive Championship side could lead to some complacency today, thankfully something that we’ve avoided lately. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Renato Gaucho, S. Nasri, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, H. Cruz, G. Allan, Z. Bardi Southampton are also in a flat 4-4-2 today and have Doesburg up front with Mihalis Fjodorovs. John Ruddy is their keeper. Helder Cruz is showing signs of overconfidence according to my assistant, something that’s pretty common for him. Hopefully it doesn’t rub off on the rest of my players. I contemplate telling them I expect a win but instead go with a less intense team talk, telling a few players to pick up where they left off last time (Hamon, Cairney and Moses) and telling the team to play attractive football for the home fans. 5’ - We do some great tic-tac-toe passing in midfield, with Cairney, Jose and finally Chiquinho getting touches and it’s Chiquinho feeding a GORGEOUS ball up to Moses. Ruddy comes out to challenge but Moses gets there first and hits a THUNDEROUS drive past Ruddy and into the top of the net! Fantastic start boys! DOVER GOAL 1-0 10’ - We give Southampton a bit too much space and they pass into the area to Doesburg and his shot is saved by a diving Ingo Wilke. 17’ - Once again, it’s Chiquinho with the ball around midfield and he passes to Moses. Our talented young striker dribbles through two defenders and runs in on goal. He makes space with a little move on Ruddy and he has a completely wide open net and makes no mistake. Absolutely BRILLIANT! That’s Moses’ 50th goal for our club! Holy crap - he’s only 20 years old!!! DOVER GOAL 2-0 22’ - Jose is running through the middle of the pitch and a Southampton defender attempts to tackle him. The ball squirts to Moses and he just SPEEDS past the defence and in on goal. His angle is poor, coming in from the left side but his shot is PERFECT and into the lower left corner of the net. HAT TRICK FOR PAUL MOSES and he has THIRTY GOALS on the season now! My God…this guy is already a legend. DOVER GOAL 3-0 29’ - Gianluca Bolis takes the ball from our side of half and runs down the sidelines. He has a step on his defender and crosses into the box and of course, who is there but PAUL MOSES, winning the battle and quickly shooting past the beleaguered Southampton keeper and it’s IN. That’s FOUR GOALS for Moses. I’m at a loss for words. DOVER GOAL 4-0 39’ - Off a failed corner, we regain possession and work the ball to the outer edge of the area to Chiquinho. He has no room but notices Salim Loucif uncharacteristically bolting in down the right sidelines and feeds him out wide. Loucif takes the ball and sends in a high cross and it’s right back to Chiquinho, who heads the ball past Ruddy and it’s IN! A very rare header from Chiquinho and we strike for our fifth. DOVER GOAL 5-0 45’+3 - There’s two minutes of scheduled extra time but we have possession in their end. Bolis is dribbling through the middle and he’s tackled off the ball by Jalid, a Southampton defender. Unfortunately, he wins the ball into open space and Chiquinho races onto the ball. He sends a desperation shot towards goal and it’s over Ruddy, off the underside of the bar and bounces down JUST over the goal line! That’s a wicked strike and I am giggling like a school girl right now! DOVER GOAL 6-0 HALFTIME - The opposition is obviously weak and their goalkeeper is just completely brutal today but this is an absolute CLINIC. 54% possession and a 18-4 (9-2 on target) shot advantage. Ridiculous. I don’t want to tempt fate but I want to keep Moses in for a little while longer to see if he can strike for his fifth of the game, which would set a new Dover record. 50’ - Of course, it’s Moses running into the area and all of a sudden, he’s down in the penalty area and is hurt. No cross of doom, thankfully, but this is a sign. He’ll be coming off shortly. 55’ - Chiquinho wins the ball off a Southampton goal kick and he sends a ball up to Moses. He speeds in on goal and shoots JUST wide. That may have been his chance for the record. 60’ - We continue to dominate and win a corner. Jose crosses to the near post and there is Saber Nasri with the header. It deflects off someone and it’s IN! I wait for the announcer, hoping it went in off Moses but the goal is given to Nasri. Looking at the replay, it went off two different Southampton defenders on it’s way past Ruddy. DOVER GOAL 7-0 Standing ovation for Moses, as I pull him out and bring in Zoltan Bardi. I also take out Neil Cairney and in comes Emmerson Harvey. 65’ - Bardi gets a quick chance and Ruddy actually makes a save. Golf clap for Ruddy there! 72’ - We use our last substitution, bringing in Rafinha for Renato Gaucho. “Seventh Heaven!” Dover 7 - 0 Southampton Goals - Paul Moses 4 (9.8), Chiquinho 2 (9.6), Saber Nasri (9.1) Assists - Chiquinho 2, Salim Loucif (9.0), Gianluca Bolis (8.7), Jose (9.0) Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.4), Rayane Hamon (8.8), Renato Gaucho (8.4), Neil Cairney (8.1), Arsene Bamba (8.4) Attendance - 23,000 A second consecutive sell-out and the fans saw one hell of a performance today. 55% possession and a 30-6 (12-2 on target) shot advantage. Everyone was sensational today. Moses is ridiculous! -- In the other League Cup matchup, Manchester United squeak by Burnley 2-1 at Old Trafford and have the slim advantage heading away for the second leg. Premier League Update -- Manchester City win a midweek makeup game and have now played one more game than us but we still lead the fourth placed club by six points. Loan OUT -- After accepting a deal last week with another club that couldn’t come up with funds to pay the negotiated up front fee, Rafael Ramirez now accepts a half year loan assignment to one of our Champions League Group opponents Dynamo Kyiv. Ramirez should get a lot of starts for them to aid in his development and we pick up a cool £250,000 from the Ukrainian club. They will also pay his weekly wages for the duration of the loan. Good move for us to get him some playing time. Premier League Update -- We have a Sunday match this week so we get to watch some games in peace on Saturday. Man United beat Everton, Spurs smoke Fulham 5-1, Middlesbrough edge Huddersfield and Liverpool continue to struggle, dropping a 2-1 decision to Sunderland. Dover U18 Update -- The kids continue to roll, pasting Oxford 6-0. Steven Miller bags a brace while Josh Gimpel, Phil Whitbread, Norberto Vazquez and Matthew Neil notch singles. Next Up -- The easy stretch of games continue, as we face Premier League relegation candidates Norwich in another game at Crabble Athletic Ground.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-21-2014, 02:52 AM
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#442 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sun. January 21, 2024
Barclays Premier League Dover (17-4-1, 55 Points, 1st) vs. Norwich (3-2-18, 11 points, 19th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Norwich: 10-1 Past Meetings: 7W 1D 1L We are HEAVY favourites against an overmatched Norwich side who are currently seven points from safety, looking destined for the drop only a year after winning the Championship in 2022/23. They’ve actually spent some money in January in hopes of staying up, bringing in three players, with the biggest being Aston Villa fullback Redouane Chihab for £3.2 million. These guys really struggle to score goals and their team leader, midfielder Liam Palmer, has five goals. Their top striker, Paul Bryce, has only three. They have a current Dover player in Shaun Spall, who is ineligible to play against us and a couple of former Dover players in Carlo Cerbone (backup ST) and Louis Read, a backup keeper. We have six days off after today’s contest so we have the ability to field a full strength side again today, which isn’t good news for Norwich! I will give a start to Manuel Perez, otherwise we’ll go with the exact same outfielders. Due to his overconfidence last game, I’m not dressing wide midfielder Helder Cruz today. Claudio Contreras is still hurt but I’d say there is an excellent chance he’ll be ready to play next weekend against Newcastle. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Perez D - Renato Gaucho, S. Nasri, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, Rafinha, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, G. Allan, Z. Bardi Norwich are in a 4-4-2 diamond formation with two MCs. Paul Bryce is up front with old friend Carlo Cerbone. Tommy Devlin has the unfortunate task of trying to stop us in goal today. We are HUGE favourites today and tell the players I want to see a good performance for the fans today, while pulling aside Bolis, Cairney and Bamba for personal talks. 13’ - No real chances to this point but we’ve dominated the highlights, as expected. A free kick is booted out to safety by Norwich and Neil Cairney is back to collect the ball. He sends a long pass toward the penalty area and Arsene Bamba has the ball. He turns and quickly fires through traffic with his weaker right foot and Devlin isn’t expecting it. It goes off his hands and into the net. Weak goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0 24’ - A Tommy Devlin goal kick is sent up field then headed back over the defence by Jose. Chiquinho wins the race to the ball, touches the ball wide to the left around the Norwich keeper and easily deposits the ball into the empty net. Superb! DOVER GOAL 2-0 37’ - Moses gets his first great chance and Devlin makes a sprawling stop. 44’ - We have a free kick just outside the area on the right side and Jose passes to Cairney lurking outside the box. His rocket launcher is aimed just a hair too high and the ball is off the crossbar. HALFTIME - Despite a modest scoreline, we are dominating once again, with 61% of the possession and a ridiculous 16-2 (5-0 on target) shot advantage. Good stuff. Lets put a couple more in if possible… 73’ - We still are dominating but just can’t get any shots on target. Jose is tired and on comes Andrea Rocca. 74’ - We have a corner and it’s headed out to safety by Norwich. We recover and move the ball out wide to the left to fullback Renato Gaucho and he sends a high cross to the far post. Running in unmarked is Gianluca Bolis and he slides after the ball and knocks it past Devlin and in! Nice cross! DOVER GOAL 3-0 76’ - Cairney strikes the woodwork for the second time this game. 83’ - A double substitution as we bring in Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and Rafinha and take out Rayane Hamon and Arsene Bamba. Easy win. Dover 3 - 0 Norwich Goals - Arsene Bamba (8.1), Chiquinho (7.8), Gianluca Bolis (8.0) Assists - Renato Gaucho (8.4), Neil Cairney (7.1), Jose (7.3) Man of the Match - Renato Gaucho Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.4), Rayane Hamon (7.4), Saber Nasri (7.4) Attendance - 23,000 Well, it looks like the fans have finally gotten “Dover Fever”, as we have our third consecutive sell-out and against a poor team as well. A good omen. We held 64% of overall possession and a 28-3 (8-0 on target) shot advantage. Complete domination. Paul Moses was uncharacteristically average with only a 6.6 rating. -- The only other game on Sunday sees Chelsea continue their good form in shocking Manchester City at the Etihad 1-0. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 24 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 58 points (after 23 games) 2. Manchester United - 51 points (after 23 games) 3. Tottenham - 51 points 4. Manchester City - 48 points ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Chelsea - 46 points (after 22 games) 6. Liverpool - 46 points 7. Middlesbrough - 45 points ---------------------------------------------------- Injury Update -- Our only injured player, DC Claudio Contreras, returns to full training. Excellent. He’s been sensational this year and it’s great to get the big man back. Premier League Team of the Week -- Renato Gaucho and Arsene Bamba make the Premier League team of the week. Injury Update -- Goalkeeper Manuel Perez comes down with a virus of some sort so we send him home to ensure the other guys don’t pick up any symptoms. Perez will miss a week or so - I had him earmarked to start in the second leg of the League Cup but perhaps that spot will go to young Mathis Imbert, who is still looking for his first senior team game for our club. Dover Reserves Team Update -- Despite going down to ten men after a Carlos Guzman red card, we annihilate Blackburn’s reserves 10-2! Shanon Andrea scored a hat trick, Zoltan Bardi and substitute Andy Broomes bagged braces and Gian Marco Fanfoni, Helder Cruz and Emmerson Harvey notched singles. Premier League Update -- Chelsea play one of their make up games, defeating Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 and they move into fourth place. They are on a very good run of form right now. Transfer Window Fun -- Palermo come calling for reserve wide midfielder Helder Cruz, offering me a whopping £8 million for his services. Wow, that’s a lot of money for him. However, they offer very little money up front and while there’s no question it’s a good offer, I’m not willing to weaken my roster just for money. We want to win the league and I need my depth to stay strong. Rejected! True to form, Cruz’s agent indicates he wants a new deal and I turn it down, necessitating a private chat. Cruz is defiant and I chastise him for his unprofessionalism and luckily for him, he apologizes for his conduct. Don’t cross the boss, young man! Next Up -- We head out on the road to face Newcastle in Premier League action.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-21-2014, 04:05 PM
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#443 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. January 27, 2024
Barclays Premier League Newcastle (7-6-11, 27 Points, 12th) vs. Dover (18-4-1, 58 points, 1st) St. James’ Park, Newcastle, UK Betting Odds: Newcastle: 7-2 Draw: 9-4 Dover: 4-6 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 6W 1D 2L We continue to be big favourites on the road versus mid-table Newcastle, who we’ve beaten 5-0 in our last two meetings, both at Crabble Athletic Ground. I’m guessing today will be a bit more competitive. Their leading scorer is midfielder Vincenzo Scala, with 8 goals, but he is injured and won’t play today. They have three players tied with seven goals in strikers Antonello Urbinati and Stanislas Vigneau, along with wide midfielder Guillaume Mari. These guys usually play with only one man up front so we’ll see how they play at home today. Newcastle has spent almost £9 million over the past two weeks to reinforce their roster, bringing in 23 year old Aston Villa midfielder David Foster and 24 year old Stuttgart midfielder Igor Vukecevic in separate transfer deals. We play again on Tuesday in the second leg of the League Cup semifinals against Southampton but with a crazy seven goal advantage there, I can afford to start all of my backups in that game. Therefore, I’ll be starting a full strength lineup today. Claudio Contreras is back from his two week injury and will start today. Ingo Wilke is back in goal. Control mentality as usual. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, S. Reed, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, G. Allan, A. Broomes Newcastle come out in a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) as expected, with Vigneau alone up front and Mari lined up at AMR. Newcomer David Foster is in midfield and Jak Alnwick, always a tough keeper against us, is in goal. I tell the team this is a winnable game. Miserable day in Newcastle today, with sleet falling. 8’ - Arsene Bamba and Chiquinho play a little give and go and Chiquinhio is one-on-one with Newcastle captain Frederic Begue. Our striker avoids a Begue tackle and steps into a low shot that beats Alnwick and is in! Chiquinho is officially on fire and we take the early lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0 14’ - We continue to pour on pressure and Moses gets in with a shot but Alnwick dives and sends it over the bar. 23’ - Off a Newcastle throw in, Mari sends a ball into space behind our defence. Rayane Hamon should get there first but it’s as if he doesn’t think there is anyone challenging him and in races Vigneau. He beats our defender to the ball and quickly shoots past a charging Ingo Wilke and the ball is into the top corner of the net. Not a great sequence for Hamon and Wilke and Newcastle pull level. NEWCASTLE GOAL 1-1 27’ - A brilliant give and go between Moses and Chiquinho results in Moses getting loose in the area but there is Alnwick again with a wicked stop! 36’ - We send the ball out wide to Salim Loucif, who is starting to take more chances these days at joining the rush from his fullback position. He sends the ball back into Jose and our midfielder cuts toward the outer edge of the area and shoots from distance. It takes a slight deflection off a Newcastle defender and goes off the hands of a diving Alnwick and into the net! That’s Jose’s FIRST GOAL for Dover and we’re back in the lead! DOVER GOAL 2-1 HALFTIME - A bit of a sketchy half of football and the weather may be slowing us down a bit after a quick start. Possession is even and we outshoot them 15-7 (6-2 on target). Moses gets a 6.4 rating in that half. I tell the team I’m pleased with their efforts so far. Newcastle start the second half with a 4-4-2 diamond formation. 48’ - Moses with a quick left footed shot from in close and Alnwick with the reflex save. 67’ - Mari with a nice cross into substitute striker Paul Gould and his low shot is saved by a diving Wilke! So close. 69’ - Moses with some dandy dribbling, as he weaves through two players and then lays the ball off to Arsene Bamba. Our in-form winger’s shot goes underneath Alnwick and it’s in! There’s the cushion we needed! “This Dover team looks UNBEATABLE at the moment!”, bellows the announcer! DOVER GOAL 3-1 70’ - Gianluca Bolis steals the ball off the ensuing kick off and we storm back up field. Moses feeds Chiquinho in tight but he has no room and his shot is right at the Newcastle keeper. 74’ - A double substitution, with Rafinha and Andy Broomes coming in and Bamba and Moses coming out. 78’ - Broomes gets a turn-around shot off from just inside the area and Alnwick just gets to the post in time to make the save. 79’ - Boy, Jose is playing well today after getting his first ever goal for us and he delivers another curling shot from distance that looks destined to hit the back of the net but Alnwick dives and just keeps it out. 86’ - Jose with a corner kick and his cross to the far post is headed by the returning Claudio Contreras and it’s off a Newcastle defender and IN! We continue to pile it on! DOVER GOAL 4-1 We continue to roll. Newcastle 1 - 4 Dover Goals - Chiquinho (7.8), Jose (8.6), Arsene Bamba (8.2), Claudio Contreras (8.2) Assists - Salim Loucif (7.6), Jose, Arsene Bamba, Paul Moses (7.3) Man of the Match - Jak Alnwick (Newcastle GK - 9.3) Other Dover Notables - Rayane Hamon (7.8), Renato Gaucho (7.2), Gianluca Bolis (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.0) Attendance - 30,985 Newcastle edged us in possession with 51% but we outshoot them 29-11 (13-3 on target). Again, showing how good their keeper is, Jak Alnwick gets man of the match honours despite letting in four goals! He was pretty solid and likely made at least four ridiculous, goal-saving stops. Perhaps Jose’s best game in a Dover kit, as he scores his first goal for our club and adds his 18th assist already! -- Chelsea continues to roll as they look to defend their Premier League title with a convincing 3-1 win over Arsenal. Norwich shock Middlesbrough 1-0, Spurs can only manage a draw versus Everton and the biggest stunner is Aston Villa walking into Old Trafford and beating Manchester United 2-0!! Manchester City beat struggling Liverpool 3-1. Our lead is now up to NINE points!! BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 25 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 61 points (after 24 games) 2. Tottenham - 52 points 3. Chelsea - 52 points (after 24 games) 4. Manchester United - 51 points (after 24 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 51 points 6. Liverpool - 46 points 7. Middlesbrough - 45 points ---------------------------------------------------- 8. Reading - 43 points 9. Arsenal - 42 points 10. Aston Villa - 41 points 11. Sunderland - 31 points 12. Newcastle - 27 points 13. Everton - 26 points 14. Sheffield Wednesday - 25 points (after 24 games) 15. Huddersfield - 23 points 16. Wolves - 19 points 17. Birmingham - 18 points ---------------------------------------------------- 18. Norwich - 14 points 19. Blackpool - 12 points 20. Fulham - 12 points Transfer Deadline Approaches -- Palermo keep coming after reserve left midfielder Helder Cruz, offering a ludicrous £9,500,000 and I’m not even allowed to answer, as my chairman answers for me and accepts the deal. Damnit. Now I have to go looking for someone else - we do have Graham Allan who can play there in a pinch and young Wonderkid Rafinha is also capable of playing there too. Oh, I also have U18 prospect Felix Hernandez so perhaps I don’t have to go after anyone. -- Real Madrid are sniffing around our third string GK Mathis Imbert. I tell the press I’d sell him for the right price. Funny enough, Imbert, who hasn’t played at all this year for us, will likely start our League Cup second leg, as Manuel Perez is still recovering from a virus. Premier League Team of the Week -- Claudio Contreras and Jose make the Premier League team of the week. Next Up -- We have a slightly commanding SEVEN GOAL LEAD as we travel to Southampton for the second leg of the League Cup semi finals.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 06-21-2014 at 04:07 PM. |
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06-21-2014, 04:22 PM
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#444 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Whitman, MA
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Really looking good this season. Going to be an interesting off-season to see what the board will do for the club given it's success.
Maybe start trying to save some money to see if you can get a new stadium built from scratch? That'd be pretty awesome! Tell
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FOOL - Ann Arbor Winged Lingerines FOOLX - Portland Axemen Hattrick - Fizzle United (222968) |
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06-21-2014, 05:48 PM
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#445 | |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Quote:
Yeah, that would be super cool but we currently have a negative bank balance and we're WAY in the hole for the year, something that will obviously be rectified when the year-end prize money starts rolling in. That said, I'll likely ask about a new stadium or at the very least, another addition, now that we're finally selling out our 23,000 seater. This has been a magical year and while I'm focused on trying to win the league and maybe the Champions League as well, I'm almost dreading it in a way...meaning, if I do win, will I personally be motivated to continue with this dynasty? We're incredibly close to reaching the summit in my opinion and I'm looking forward to seeing if we can close out the season with multiple trophies.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-21-2014, 05:48 PM
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#446 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Tue. January 30, 2024
League Cup - Semi Finals Second Leg Southampton (0) vs. (7) Dover St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton, UK Betting Odds: Southampton: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 3W 2D 1L Not much to say here - we just destroyed these guys 7-0 at home last week. Again, the danger man will be striker Shyamdew Doesburg, who is up to 16 goals in 30 appearances. All backups today and I will give Rafinha his first ever start at left midfield so we can see what he can do, something that could be important if Helder Cruz accepts a deal with Palermo, as expected. Goalkeeper Mathis Imbert also gets his first ever Dover start and young fullback Steve Reed starts for the first time this year and only the second time in a Dover kit. It’s a weak starting lineup but we should be just fine. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - M. Imbert D - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, S. Nasri, S. Reed M - Rafinha, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi Bench - S. Loucif, R. Hamon, N. Cairney, G. Fanfoni, H. Cruz, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes The Saints are in a flat 4-4-2 as well with Dimitris Efthymiadis up front with Doesburg. John Ruddy is in goal again. A number of players, including veteran Shanon Andrea, show overconfidence so I demand a victory in the team talk to wake them up a bit. There is no excuse for complacency with a group of backups. 5’ - Shanon Andrea with a weak shot from the outer edge of the area and it’s right at Ruddy. Easy stop. 22’ - Southampton with possession deep in our end and their captain Marco Ezio Fossati with a delightful through ball to Doesburg and he makes no mistake, putting the ball past Imbert and the Saints lead. SOUTHAMPTON GOAL 0-1 HALFTIME - Complacency is a bitch. We hold 52% of possession and a 17-2 (4-1 on target) shot advantage and I tear into the team in the dressing room. I’m *this* close to taking out Shanon Andrea for his lackadaisical approach today but decide to keep him in for now. 49’ - And I’m glad I did keep him in. Zoltan Bardi wins a ball at midfield and sends in Andrea. He’s dribbling in on the left side but he is able to get his stronger right foot on the ball and put it into the short side, past Ruddy and the game is level! That’s Andrea’s 50th goal for Dover. DOVER GOAL 1-1 52’ - Doesburg gets free again and he’s got a step on Yilmaz but shoots WIDE. Ugh. Half of our team is still showing complacency. Incredible! 57’ - Steve Reed with a yellow card. 63’ - A double substitution, as Andrea Rocca and Steve Reed are out and in come Gian Marco Fanfoni and Helder Cruz. Cruz moves up to left midfield and Rafinha takes over at right fullback. I change to an attacking mentality. 77’ - Andy Broomes is brought in for Zoltan Bardi. 85’ - Andrea with a corner and it’s headed out to Gian Marco Fanfoni. He shows incredible skill by hitting the ball on the volley and his bullet is off the crossbar! 86’ - We move to an OVERLOAD mentality. 87’ - Crazy. We have a throw in down the left and Carlos Guzman, who has been terrible today, missing numerous tackles, throws in to Cruz. Cruz lays it back out to Guzman, who crosses into the box and there is Shanon Andrea, sliding after the ball and sending it into the net past Ruddy. We have a lead. DOVER GOAL 2-1 Back to a control mentality. 90’+5 - Three minutes of added time but we have possession and the ref doesn’t blow the whistle. We cross into the box and Southampton are called for a foul. That’s a PENALTY. Needing one goal for a hat trick, up steps Shanon Andrea and he confidently hits the ball into the lower left hand corner. Ruddy doesn’t move and Andrea has his hat trick. DOVER GOAL 3-1 We make it to the League Cup finals once again! Southampton 1 (1) - (10) 3 Dover Goals - Shanon Andrea 3 (9.5) Assists - Carlos Guzman (7.1), Zoltan Bardi (6.8) Man of the Match - Shanon Andrea Other Dover Notables - Steve Reed (7.1), Saber Nasri (7.2), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.1), Emmerson Harvey (7.0) Attendance - 31,823 They end up edging us in possession with 51% but we outshoot them 24-6 (7-2 on target). I congratulate the team on making it to the finals once again and we’ll defend our League Cup title against either Manchester United or Burnley. Transfer OUT -- Helder Cruz accepts a contract offer from Palermo, closing off a £9,500,000 transfer deal with the Italian club. Cruz joined us last January for £2,500,000 from Sporting CP and he played 12 games last year, notching a single assist. This year, he got 9 starts and 17 total appearances, scoring two goals and adding two assists. He’s a fine player but he never was going to be a major asset here and getting a 7 million pound profit in only one year is just good business so well played to our chairman, I guess. I’m not overly pleased with our depth right now at the position but the transfer deadline is today. League Cup Opponent -- United beat Burnley 2-0 away and win 4-1 on aggregate. We will face United in the League Cup finals, as we look for our second consecutive championship. The game will be played on March 3rd at Wembley. Dover U18 Update -- Our youngsters beat Everton 4-1 in the U18 Cup Semi Finals behind goals from Gary Archer, Norberto Vazquez, Jim Ryan and an Everton own goal. February Update -- We have four Premier League match ups in February, facing Huddersfield (away), Wolves (home), Sheffield Wednesday (away) and Birmingham (away). We also have a fourth round FA Cup tie against Wolves at their stadium and a potential fifth round match later in the month. Finally, we start off the Champions League knockout stage with an away matchup against AZ at the end of the month. So seven matches this month. -- A good month of training, with no negative reports. Rafinha and Chiquinho get positive notices from our senior team while Ben Patterson, Joshua Stokes and Matthew Neil get good reports from the U18 squad. Premier League Monthly Awards -- Chelsea winger Miguel Sousa wins Player of the Month honours. -- Man City’s DM Kris Cotton wins Young Player of the Month while our own Paul Moses comes in third. -- We won all six of our matches in January and I’m duly awarded as the Premier League Manager of the Month. February Board Confidence Update -- The board are absolutely delighted with the way I’m leading the team. Our convincing 10-1 aggregate win over Southampton in the League Cup semis is the highlight while the signing of Mathis Imbert is a slight disappointment. -- We made a profit of £2.26 million last month. Next Up -- We are once again huge favourites, as we head to Wolverhampton to face Wolves in a fourth round FA Cup match.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-22-2014, 12:27 AM
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#447 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Sat. February 3, 2024
FA Cup - 4th Round Wolves (16th in Premier League) vs. Dover (1st in Premier League) Molineux, Wolverhampton, UK Betting Odds: Wolves: 9-2 Draw: 13-5 Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 9W 3D 1L We’ve played Wolverhampton quite a bit in the last couple of years, with three cup games last year and now an FA Cup tie this year, in addition to our league matches. We’re obviously quite familiar with each other by now. Guy Luckett continues to be their top scorer, with 11 on the year in 25 matches. They are on an extended run of poor form, with only one win from their last ten matches. Meanwhile, we are undefeated in our last 21 and will set a new team record if we win or draw today. We will start a full strength lineup today. Everyone is healthy and happy here! Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, A. Rocca, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea Wolves are in a flat 4-4-2 with Luckett and Stefano Zeno up front. Wayne Hennessey is in goal. I tell the team it’s a winnable game in the pre-game talk. 1’ - We hold possession off the opening kick off and a Jose through ball is to Chiquinho, who immediately rifles the ball past Hennessey and IN! WOW! But wait…it’s OFFSIDES! The replay confirms it. NO GOAL. 9’ - Tim van der Laan plays a give and go with striker Stefano Zeno and it’s Zeno getting in on goal. His shot is past Wilke and IN! Well alrighty then! WOLVES GOAL 0-1 19’ - We’re just pouring on pressure and a brilliant Jose pass is through the box into Gianluca Bolis. He’s in on Hennessey and the Wolves keeper makes the save. There’s a rebound though and it’s right to Chiquinho and he makes no mistake putting it into the empty net for the equalizer! DOVER GOAL 1-1 33’ - We have a free kick from almost near half and Jose sends a wicked cross into the area and there is an unmarked Arsene Bamba heading it past Hennessey and into the net! That’s Bamba’s 10th of the year already! DOVER GOAL 2-1 34’ - Moses with a great through ball to Neil Cairney (!) and he is in on goal but Hennessey makes a spectacular diving stop. 35’ - Jose with a corner kick and his cross is to the near post and Rayane Hamon heads it into the net! It’s over already! DOVER GOAL 3-1 39’ - Chiquinho with a pass up to Moses and he’s dribbling toward the penalty area but the ball is tackled away by a Wolves defender. The ball is loose and Chiquinho gets there first and rifles it on the first touch past a stunned Hennessey and we are simply ROLLING! DOVER GOAL 4-1 41’ - Gianluca Bolis with a yellow card. 45’ - Jose with a shot from just outside the area and he lashes is off the crossbar! 45’+1 - You could sense another one coming and here it is, as Renato Gaucho sends a long ball up field and Moses gets there. Hennessey charges out at him and Moses curls one past the Wolves keeper and it JUST deflects in off the far post! Moses gets his first goal in three games and we continue to pour it on! DOVER GOAL 5-1 45’+2 - Neil Cairney with a yellow card. HALFTIME - 57% possession in our favour and a 18-4 (9-1 on target) shot advantage. They had one opportunity and capitalized but it truly has been all Dover today. Beautiful performance. 48’ - We have possession and it’s Jose feeding a ball into the box. Moses gets there first but has a defender and Hennessey between him and the net but just taps a left footed shot that seems to befuddle the Wolves keeper and it’s in. This is almost laughable now. DOVER GOAL 6-1 52’ - A Wolves player gives the ball away and Gianluca Bolis storms down the right wing. It’s like we’re playing a peewee team today, as Bolis crosses in and there is NO ONE marking Moses. He moves the ball to his left foot, away from Hennessey and just taps it into the empty net for his hat trick. Unbelievable. DOVER GOAL 7-1 63’ - We pull out hat trick man Moses along with the superb Jose and bring in Graham Allan and Gian Marco Fanfoni. 69’ - Wolves with a corner and the header from the near post is saved nicely by a well-positioned Ingo Wilke. 72’ - Rafinha is in for Arsene Bamba. 88’ - Cairney with a BULLET that is punched out by Hennessey and right out to Fanfoni and his volley crashes off the woodwork! Wow. Wolves 1 - 7 Dover Goals - Paul Moses 3 (9.6), Chiquinho 2 (9.4), Arsene Bamba (8.7), Rayane Hamon (9.2) Assists - Jose 3 (9.3), Gianluca Bolis 2 (9.0), Renato Gaucho (8.9) Man of the Match - Paul Moses Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.1), Salim Loucif (8.1), Claudio Contreras (8.2), Neil Cairney (8.1) Attendance - 15,470 We held 57% of possession and a 34-9 (12-3 on target) shot advantage. Our dominance is getting almost ridiculous now. Jose with three more assists and we’re just scoring at will it seems. Long may it continue! -- We earn £92,000 for the win. -- Paul Moses moves into the Dover record books, as his hat trick gives him a whopping 34 goals on the season, breaking the team record set only last year by Chiquinho. Oh yeah, we have over three months of football left! Can he hit FIFTY?!?! Moses is putting up Enrique-type numbers this year! Dover U18 Update -- The U18’s win 4-1 over Hampton & Richmond, with Matthew Neil scoring twice and Sean Woolley and Pete Smith added singles. Coach Poaching -- One of my best coaches was offered a promotion by Birmingham but he ended up staying with us after we offered him a contract extension with a nice wage increase. FA Cup - 5th Round Draw -- We nail down a home match against Sunderland in the 5th round, a decent draw. The match will take place in three weeks. Premier League Update -- We have a couple of shocking results in Tuesday action, as Arsenal defeat Manchester City 2-0 and Sunderland STUN Chelsea 2-1 to end their 13 game winning streak! Huge! Next Up -- We’re back in action in Premier League play, as we head on the road to face mid-table Huddersfield.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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06-22-2014, 06:51 AM
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#448 | |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Osaka, Japan via Honolulu, Hawaii via Birmingham, Alabama
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Quote:
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U of Hawaii | U of Alabama | Montreal Impact | Montreal Canadiens | West Ham | West Indies cricket | Portland Trail Blazers Last edited by bbgunn : 06-22-2014 at 06:51 AM. |
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06-23-2014, 07:18 AM
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#449 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Australia
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You are flat out demolishing sides. Great to see.
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Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices, That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep, will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open and show riches ready to drop upon me, that, when I wak'd, I cried to dream again. |
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06-25-2014, 08:03 PM
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#450 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
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Wed. February 7, 2024
Barclays Premier League Huddersfield (6-5-14, 23 points, 15th) vs. Dover (19-4-1, 61 points, 1st) The Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK Betting Odds: Huddersfield: 7-1 Draw: 3-1 Dover: 1-3 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 9W 1D 3L Huddersfield are on a very poor run of form in league play, having lost seven straight. They are coming off a 2-0 win over Southampton to advance to the 5th round of the FA Cup but their last league win was on December 23rd. Midfielder Dennis Lotters leads the club with only 6 goals and striker David Caldwell has 4. They’ve been in the Premier League for eight straight years and while they should be safe from the drop, they’ll need to pull up their socks a bit for the home stretch. We’ll stick with the same lineup from our 7-1 FA Cup win. We are huge favourites on the road and I expect a good performance. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis S - P. Moses, Chiquinho Bench - Rafinha, S. Nasri, A. Rocca, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea Huddersfield are in a flat 4-4-2 with Paul Lumsden and Matteo Giacomini up front. Lumsden is a threat and has played well against us in the past but only has 2 goals this year. I’m not really aware of Giacomini but he has three goals in 17 appearances so far. Alex Smithies is in goal. I reaffirm that this is a winnable game (no kidding) in the pre-game team talk. 24’ - Not a great start, as we only have one offensive highlight to this point and it’s a Chiquinho miss. Gianluca Bolis has the ball and streaks up the right. He feeds a cross into the area and there is Paul Moses, unmarked, booting it past Smithies and in. DOVER GOAL 1-0 HALFTIME - Uh, yeah, that’s it. Possession is dead even and we have a 7-2 (1-1 on target) shot advantage. DULL! I encourage the team to perform better after half. 47’ - Huddersfield have a free kick from outside the area and the ball is sent in on Wilke. It’s an easy ball but Wilke botches it and it is loose. It’s headed over Wilke and Chiquinho tries to win a battle against David Caldwell, their substitute striker but LOSES, as Caldwell is able to head it into the empty net. HORRIFIC error by Wilke and Huddersfield pull level. HUDDERSFIELD GOAL 1-1 59’ - This is just a shocking performance today, as Neil Cairney gets a yellow card. 61’ - Cairney feeds a through ball to Moses and his quick shot is saved by Smithies. 68’ - Chiquinho is having a HORRIBLE game and I pull him out and bring in Zoltan Bardi. 70’ - Wilke has to make a spectacular stop on a header off a corner kick. 74’ - We allow Caldwell to deke through three guys and he gets off a rocket that Wilke deflects off the crossbar. My goodness - our team simply hasn’t shown up today. 77’ - Andrea Rocca is in for Jose, who is playing “nervously”. 82’ - Cairney with a weak shot from distance that floats over Smithies and hits the crossbar. 83’ - We change to an overload mentality. We need a goal here. 86’ - Rocca with a curling shot from distance and Smithies makes the diving save, as we start to pour on some pressure. That’s it. Very disappointing. Huddersfield 1 - 1 Dover Goals - Paul Moses (7.2) Assists - Gianluca Bolis (7.0) Man of the Match - Rayane Hamon (7.4) Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (5.8) Attendance - 12,272 We end up with 51% of possession and a 12-7 (3-4 on target) shot advantage. Only three shots on goal - just pathetic. Chiquinho got a 6.0 rating. I tell the team the performance wasn’t good enough and storm out of the dressing room. -- In other action, the biggest shock was relegation candidates Blackpool winning 3-0 over 2nd placed Tottenham. Wolves win a barnburner against Middlesbrough in a 5-4 thriller and Man United SMOKE Fulham 6-0. BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS (ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 26 GAMES UNLESS NOTED) 1. Dover - 62 points (after 25 games) 2. Manchester United - 54 points (after 25 games) 3. Tottenham - 52 points 4. Chelsea - 52 points (after 25 games) ---------------------------------------------------- 5. Manchester City - 51 points 6. Liverpool - 49 points 7. Middlesbrough - 45 points ---------------------------------------------------- Dover Injury Update -- Just when I plan on getting Manuel Perez a game, especially after a brutal Ingo Wilke performance, he gets hurt AGAIN in training. He’ll only miss a week but that’s two games now that I was planning on playing him that get thwarted by a freak injury. It’s only a bruised shin and he’ll be fine. Premier League Update -- We have a Sunday game this weekend and get to watch some Premier League play on Saturday. Chelsea can only manage a draw against in-form Reading and Middlesbrough and Liverpool both record wins against lesser opposition. Next Up -- We head home to host Wolves, our second game in a week against the same club.
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MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo |
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