Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - FM – From Semi-Pro Minnows to Champions League Glory: Dover Athletic FC

NoSkillz · 11-24-2013, 11:43 PM

Sat. August 15, 2020

Barclays Premier League
Dover vs. Tottenham
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover 7-4; Draw 2-1; Tottenham 5-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 1W 2D 1L

We open our season against Tottenham, a team we beat for the first time in our season-ending game last year. They are slight favourites in this one but we have the distinct advantage in that they are sitting some key players, including 31 year old Gareth Bale, presumably due to Euro Cup qualifying in four days. Bale isn't even on the bench for this one despite being fully fit. Our scouts only say that they struggle against teams with reputations similar to ours, which I gather to mean that they play down to our level of competition

They start with a 4-2-3-1 formation (3 central attacking midfielders) in a tight formation, the same look they showed us last year. Therefore, I'll counter with the same formation I beat them with last year, our 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1 with the attacking midfielders spread out) and utilize a control philosophy with no further tweaks. We basically have a full-strength team with one notable exception, that being MR Gianluca Bolis, who is still participating in the Olympics. Petr Kostal will be slotted in his place after a solid preseason. My pre-game team talk is "you can win today"!

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal
S - G. Gesios

5' - We get fouled just outside the area and Rocca's free kick is cleared. He gets the ball back and crosses over to a wide open Bamba but his blast strikes the woodwork and bounces away.

15' - Tottenham's Stanley Hermsen gets the ball into the box to an open Vladimir Koman and he puts the ball into the net. However, the goal is ruled offsides. Whew!

23' - Arsene Bamba takes a knock but he should be able to shake it off.

28' - Their dynamic attacking midfielder Gabriel Obertan splits our defence and is in all alone but our new signing Cristian Rodgriguez comes out of nowhere to make the successful challenge, kicking the ball back to GK Wilke in the process. On the ensuing throw by Wilke, the ball is played up the left wing to Bamba, who ends up crossing a ball in from the byline to a streaking Bardi and he calmly deposits the ball into the net! DOVER GOAL 1-0

30' - Hermsen again, this time with a rocket just over the bar.

34' - Gesios takes a lovely feed from Rocca but is forced to use his weaker foot and just misses wide from in close.

36' - Wilke comes up huge with a big save from in close and the rebound is fired off the top of the crossbar. Our D looks a bit confused…

45' - Rocca with another brilliant little pass into the box to Gesios. Tottenham defenders think Gesios is offside but the flag is down. Gesios is stopped on a great save by Matthieu Dreyer but the big rebound goes right to that man Bardi and he kicks it home for his second of the half! DOVER GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME - We're losing the possession battle 47 to 53% but we're up in shots 7-5 (4-1 on target). I use the "encourage" team talk and make no tactical changes.

47' - Tottenham come out motivated but Bardi gets away again, only to be turned away by Dreyer

50' - A sloppy clearance by Wilke leads to a partial break from halftime substitute Seydou Doumbia but he just misses high.

51' - Seconds later, Koman leads them down field and after some lovely passing, it's Doumbia again all alone and he makes the clinical finish to cut the lead in half. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-1

57' - Tottenham continue to pile on the pressure and we revert to a counter attacking mode

65' - They win a corner and the cross meets the head of super-sub Doumbia, who heads it home and Tottenham has pulled level from two down. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-2

We change back to a control philosophy.

71' - Gesios runs down the middle and shoots wide from long distance. Wasteful.

74' - Paulus Tjiuoro with the yellow card. I bring in Laurent Koscielny for a tired Renato Gaucho.

84' - I make two more substitutions for fresh legs, bringing Petr Simek in at striker for Gesios and bring in captain Darren Pratley for Andrea Rocca.

86' - Yellow card for Neil Cairney.

88' - Cairney exchanges a one-two with Petr Kostal and cuts into the right side of the box. He tries to curl one in but hits the side netting.

90' - We keep the pressure on. Simek takes a clearance at midfield and makes a great long feed down the right wing to Kostal. He streaks down the touchline and sends in a long cross that meets the foot of a sliding Simek and goes into the net. Dramatic goal!!! DOVER GOAL 3-2

We go to a 4-1-4-1 and narrow it up for the last three minutes of extra time.

92' - Unbelievable. On the ensuing kickoff, our defence lets them walk right in but thankfully Mohamed Messaoudi shoots wide.

93' - On the ensuing goal kick, they regain possession and have another chance, only to see it swept aside by a diving Wilke. They have a corner kick but the referee blows the whistle! GREAT WIN!

Dover 3 - 2 Tottenham
Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.8), Petr Simek (7.4)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9), Giorgos Gesios (6.8), Petr Kostal (7.3)
Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Cristian Rodriguez (7.1)
Attendance - 9135 (Sellout)

A sensational result in our first game! Possession didn't change at full time (Tottenham 53% to 47%) but we outshot them 14-11 (7-4 on target).

Post-Game Injury Report

-- Arsene Bamba suffered a twisted ankle and will miss about three weeks.

U18 Update

-- Our kids destroyed Readings U18 team 8-0. Carlo Cerbone and star DC prospect Abdallaye Kokaina both bagged braces. Striker Gregoire Lambert also got on the board.

International Update - Olympic Games

-- Gianluca Bolis' run at the Olympics ends with a 2-0 loss to England. He evidently didn't have the best of games and was substituted. Still, it's great to get that Olympic experience.

Season Ticket Sales

-- We end up selling 3930 season tickets for the year, less than the projected 4200 but still up from last year. We'll look to add more subscribers next year as we'll be looking for ways to fill our soon-to-be 15,000+ capacity stadium.

Barclays Premier League Team of the Week

-- Zoltan Bardi was selected to the Premier League team of the week after his two goal performance.

-- I receive five new bids for transfer listed DC Luke McCullough - again, most of them are around £5,500,000 or so, much less than my asking price but close to double his estimated value. I decide to accept all of the deals but one - I reject the offer from division rival Aston Villa and want McCullough as far away as possible.

-- Sunderland come calling again for Gianluca Bolis, offering me £8,500,000, which I quickly reject, saying he's "indispensable to the club".

Reserve Team Update

-- Despite being "underdogs", our reserve team embarrass Blackpool's reserves 9-0. We get two goals from both Liam Craig and young Gregoire Lambert and singles from Mancini, Gerardo Escobar, Jonathan Adam, Roberto along with an own goal.

-- Mancini gets injured in the match and will miss four weeks after fracturing his ribs in an accidental collision.

11-24-2013, 11:43 PM	#80
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	Sat. August 15, 2020 Barclays Premier League Dover vs. Tottenham Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover 7-4; Draw 2-1; Tottenham 5-4 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 1W 2D 1L We open our season against Tottenham, a team we beat for the first time in our season-ending game last year. They are slight favourites in this one but we have the distinct advantage in that they are sitting some key players, including 31 year old Gareth Bale, presumably due to Euro Cup qualifying in four days. Bale isn't even on the bench for this one despite being fully fit. Our scouts only say that they struggle against teams with reputations similar to ours, which I gather to mean that they play down to our level of competition They start with a 4-2-3-1 formation (3 central attacking midfielders) in a tight formation, the same look they showed us last year. Therefore, I'll counter with the same formation I beat them with last year, our 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1 with the attacking midfielders spread out) and utilize a control philosophy with no further tweaks. We basically have a full-strength team with one notable exception, that being MR Gianluca Bolis, who is still participating in the Olympics. Petr Kostal will be slotted in his place after a solid preseason. My pre-game team talk is "you can win today"! Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal S - G. Gesios 5' - We get fouled just outside the area and Rocca's free kick is cleared. He gets the ball back and crosses over to a wide open Bamba but his blast strikes the woodwork and bounces away. 15' - Tottenham's Stanley Hermsen gets the ball into the box to an open Vladimir Koman and he puts the ball into the net. However, the goal is ruled offsides. Whew! 23' - Arsene Bamba takes a knock but he should be able to shake it off. 28' - Their dynamic attacking midfielder Gabriel Obertan splits our defence and is in all alone but our new signing Cristian Rodgriguez comes out of nowhere to make the successful challenge, kicking the ball back to GK Wilke in the process. On the ensuing throw by Wilke, the ball is played up the left wing to Bamba, who ends up crossing a ball in from the byline to a streaking Bardi and he calmly deposits the ball into the net! DOVER GOAL 1-0 30' - Hermsen again, this time with a rocket just over the bar. 34' - Gesios takes a lovely feed from Rocca but is forced to use his weaker foot and just misses wide from in close. 36' - Wilke comes up huge with a big save from in close and the rebound is fired off the top of the crossbar. Our D looks a bit confused… 45' - Rocca with another brilliant little pass into the box to Gesios. Tottenham defenders think Gesios is offside but the flag is down. Gesios is stopped on a great save by Matthieu Dreyer but the big rebound goes right to that man Bardi and he kicks it home for his second of the half! DOVER GOAL 2-0 HALFTIME - We're losing the possession battle 47 to 53% but we're up in shots 7-5 (4-1 on target). I use the "encourage" team talk and make no tactical changes. 47' - Tottenham come out motivated but Bardi gets away again, only to be turned away by Dreyer 50' - A sloppy clearance by Wilke leads to a partial break from halftime substitute Seydou Doumbia but he just misses high. 51' - Seconds later, Koman leads them down field and after some lovely passing, it's Doumbia again all alone and he makes the clinical finish to cut the lead in half. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-1 57' - Tottenham continue to pile on the pressure and we revert to a counter attacking mode 65' - They win a corner and the cross meets the head of super-sub Doumbia, who heads it home and Tottenham has pulled level from two down. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-2 We change back to a control philosophy. 71' - Gesios runs down the middle and shoots wide from long distance. Wasteful. 74' - Paulus Tjiuoro with the yellow card. I bring in Laurent Koscielny for a tired Renato Gaucho. 84' - I make two more substitutions for fresh legs, bringing Petr Simek in at striker for Gesios and bring in captain Darren Pratley for Andrea Rocca. 86' - Yellow card for Neil Cairney. 88' - Cairney exchanges a one-two with Petr Kostal and cuts into the right side of the box. He tries to curl one in but hits the side netting. 90' - We keep the pressure on. Simek takes a clearance at midfield and makes a great long feed down the right wing to Kostal. He streaks down the touchline and sends in a long cross that meets the foot of a sliding Simek and goes into the net. Dramatic goal!!! DOVER GOAL 3-2 We go to a 4-1-4-1 and narrow it up for the last three minutes of extra time. 92' - Unbelievable. On the ensuing kickoff, our defence lets them walk right in but thankfully Mohamed Messaoudi shoots wide. 93' - On the ensuing goal kick, they regain possession and have another chance, only to see it swept aside by a diving Wilke. They have a corner kick but the referee blows the whistle! GREAT WIN! Dover 3 - 2 Tottenham Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.8), Petr Simek (7.4) Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9), Giorgos Gesios (6.8), Petr Kostal (7.3) Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Cristian Rodriguez (7.1) Attendance - 9135 (Sellout) A sensational result in our first game! Possession didn't change at full time (Tottenham 53% to 47%) but we outshot them 14-11 (7-4 on target). Post-Game Injury Report -- Arsene Bamba suffered a twisted ankle and will miss about three weeks. U18 Update -- Our kids destroyed Readings U18 team 8-0. Carlo Cerbone and star DC prospect Abdallaye Kokaina both bagged braces. Striker Gregoire Lambert also got on the board. International Update - Olympic Games -- Gianluca Bolis' run at the Olympics ends with a 2-0 loss to England. He evidently didn't have the best of games and was substituted. Still, it's great to get that Olympic experience. Season Ticket Sales -- We end up selling 3930 season tickets for the year, less than the projected 4200 but still up from last year. We'll look to add more subscribers next year as we'll be looking for ways to fill our soon-to-be 15,000+ capacity stadium. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Zoltan Bardi was selected to the Premier League team of the week after his two goal performance. -- I receive five new bids for transfer listed DC Luke McCullough - again, most of them are around £5,500,000 or so, much less than my asking price but close to double his estimated value. I decide to accept all of the deals but one - I reject the offer from division rival Aston Villa and want McCullough as far away as possible. -- Sunderland come calling again for Gianluca Bolis, offering me £8,500,000, which I quickly reject, saying he's "indispensable to the club". Reserve Team Update -- Despite being "underdogs", our reserve team embarrass Blackpool's reserves 9-0. We get two goals from both Liam Craig and young Gregoire Lambert and singles from Mancini, Gerardo Escobar, Jonathan Adam, Roberto along with an own goal. -- Mancini gets injured in the match and will miss four weeks after fracturing his ribs in an accidental collision. __________________ 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 : 11-24-2013 at 11:47 PM.