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

NoSkillz · 12-28-2013, 10:53 PM

We're back!

Mon. December 28, 2020

Barclays Premier League
Tottenham (5-7-7, 22 points, 13th) vs. Dover (11-2-6, 35 points, 4th)
White Hart Lane, London, UK

Betting Odds: Tottenham: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Dover: 7-2
Past Meetings: 2W 2D 1L

We head into the second half of the season with a match against Tottenham, a club we've defeated twice in a row.

The Spurs are struggling mightily in the league thus far, mired in 13th place but they're coming off an impressive 3-0 win over Reading just two days ago.

Much of their focus this year is on the Europa League, where they've qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second behind Ajax in a group with Aris and Terek.

Gareth Bale continues to be the main player for their club and he looks as if he's fit enough to play in today's game. Their top goal scorers are striker Mahmoud Ashoubi and midfielder James McCarthy, who both have six goals.

Despite our winless streak, I will be going with more of a "B Team" lineup today in order to keep our main players fresh for our game in two days against a weaker side, Norwich. We have four games in an eight day stretch so our squad depth will be severely tested. We'll go with the one striker system that's won our last two games against the Spurs (4-2-3-1). First teamers playing today include Cristian Rodriguez and Andrea Rocca, both of whom are returning from suspension. Other than that, just Paulus Tjiuoro is a first team player. I'm starting weak players like Laurent Koscielny at left fullback, a position he's not really strong at and also starting Roberto for the first time this year. Hopefully we can keep this close with our starting centre backs in the game.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Counter
GK - L. Fabianski
D - L. Koscielny, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak
M - D. Pratley, A. Rocca
AM - C. Murray, Roberto, P. Kostal
S - G. Escobar
Bench - R. McLaughlin, O. Nicholas, J. Varga, Mancini, L. Craig, M. Prochazka, P. Simek

Tottenham are playing a similar formation to us, a 4-2-3-1 but with two defensive central mids and three attacking mids. Bale is playing left fullback today…I always wondered why he kept making the Best Eleven at fullback but there you go…he's actually playing there for once! Midfielder Gabriel Obertan, a notorious thorn in our side, isn't even in the lineup today. I tell the players that the pressure is off.

4' - They send a nice long ball through to their lone striker Vangelis Angos and from a poor angle, he rifles the ball over the bar from just inside the area.

11' - Other than a harmless corner that we won in the first ten minutes, it's been all Spurs. They send a nice ball through to their right midfielder Vladimir Koman and he easily eludes the stoic Koscielny and sends a shot that Fabianski turns away. I really need to find another left back while Renato Gaucho is hurt.

18' - We finally get a decent amount of possession in the Tottenham end, winning three corners in succession. On the last one, Rocca's lovely ball to the far post is headed beautifully toward goal by Paulus Tjiuoro but Spurs keeper Aaron Flynn dives to keep it out. It looks as if the ball is over the goal line but no goal is called.

We're losing the possession battle by a large margin so I send a shout to the players to retain possession.

23' - Koman makes a run down the right side, taking advantage of Koscielny's poor pace and sends a great cross into the box but Frank Cvijanovic's header is stopped beautifully by Fabianski.

28' - Tottenham win a free kick near the right touchline deep in our end and after the cross is sent in, Roberto takes down a man and the referee points to the spot. Penalty kick! Gareth Bale steps up and calmly puts the ball into the right corner of the net. Disaster for Roberto and we're down a goal. TOTTENHAM GOAL 0-1

31' - We win a free kick from just outside the area near the top left of the box. Instead of sending the ball in, Rocca feeds the ball backwards to Darren Pratley but he had no room to shoot so passes back to Rocca. He dribbles into the box and somehow eludes two defenders, reaches the byline and sends a cross to the far post to an unmarked Tjiuoro and he easily heads the ball into the open net for the quick reply! Fantastic!!! DOVER GOAL 1-1

41' - Jozef Kuciak is taken down on a run down the right centre of the pitch and we win a free kick from about 10 yards outside the area. I'm secretly hoping Rocca attempts his devastating curling drive into the corner of the net but instead he sends a lob pass to the right side of the area. Winger Petr Kostal gets there and sends the ball to the touchline to Kuciak and almost immediately, he sends a pass back to the top of the box to Rocca. He takes one step forward and sends a shot that the diving Tottenham goaltender gets a piece of but not enough, as the ball squirts into the side of the net for the shocking goal. Wow! DOVER GOAL 2-1

HALFTIME - A shocking last 15 minutes give us the lead. Tottenham is dominating possession to the tune of 58% to 42% and shots are also in their favour 8-6 (4-4 on target). I tell the players I'm pleased thus far and decide to revert to a counter attacking philosophy to start the second half.

47' - Pretty much off the opening kickoff, we lose possession and Angos is able to direct a long shot from well outside the area that Fabianski is forced to turn behind the net. On the ensuing corner, Koman's ball is headed by their central defender and it deflects off two of our players near the goal line. In the scramble that follows, it's Angos who is there to deposit the ball into the net. VERY sloppy defending and they pull level right away. Ugh. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-2

I notice that Tottenham have moved Bale up to attacking left midfielder from left fullback.

63' - I bring on Mancini for Roberto. I move Pratley up to AMC and Mancini plays in the middle of the park alongside Rocca.

72' - I take out major liability Laurent Koscielny and bring in Jozef Varga in his place.

78' - We have possession at midfield and Pratley sends a great long ball ahead to Kostal. He's being chased from behind and gets away a weak shot that is easily saved by Flynn. A pretty good chance.

80' - I'd love to find a goal here so I bring in the speedy striker Petr Simek and take out Gerardo Escobar, who has frankly done nothing in this match.

90' - You've got to be KIDDING! We have a throw in down the right side deep in their territory and Kuciak sends it in to Kostal. He turns toward the byline and sends a curling cross into the area that somehow makes its way through to Mancini at the top of the box. He runs into the ball and sends the first touch RIGHT INTO THE BACK OF THE NET! Holy SHIT! That's Mancini's first senior goal for Dover and we take the last minute lead! DOVER GOAL 3-2

They change to a 4-2-4 but we hold them off without incident for the three minutes of extra time. GREAT WIN!

Tottenham 2 - 3 Dover
Goals - Paulus Tjiuoro (8.1), Andrea Rocca (8.2), Mancini (7.4)
Assists - Jozef Kuciak (7.1), Andrea Rocca, Petr Kostal (7.0)
Man of the Match - Andrea Rocca
Other Dover Notables - Darren Pratley (7.3)
Attendance - 36,310

We obviously edged them in possession in the second half, as their overall advantage dropped to 51% after full-time. Shots favoured the Spurs 14-10 (8-6 on target). Just a fantastic result as we finally break our losing streak and start the second half of the season in style, with a very weak side I might add!

-- Basically everyone around us on the table wins except for Man City, who draw 1-1 at home against Aston Villa in a bit of a shocker. We hold onto 4th place, four points ahead of Everton and six ahead of Arsenal.

-- Andrea Rocca is named to the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week for his great performance against Tottenham. I give Rocca and our two central defenders, Paulus Tjiuoro and Cristian Rodriguez the day off from training, hoping they can recover enough to take part in our game against Norwich on Wednesday.

Dover Injury Update

-- Arsene Bamba is back to light training and close to full fitness after his long-term hernia issue. Left fullback Renato Gaucho is a few weeks away from full fitness, otherwise we're pretty healthy right now.

Dover Contract Updates

-- I have nine players with contracts expiring in the next six months:

- GK Lukasz Fabianski: Fabianski is our backup keeper and has done quite well for us but he's 35 and I don't see the need to offer him a new deal right now. I may look into a better keeper in the summer and move current starter Ingo Wilke into a backup role next year.
- DC Laurent Koscielny: The 35 year old has been a big liability every game he's played. No chance of returning next year.
- MR Petr Kostal: I may keep Kostal around as a backup but he's not really cut out for this level of football. I may offer him a deal later in the year before his contract expires.
- DC Oliver Nicholas: A true stalwart for almost this entire dynasty, Nicholas is the fourth man at DC this year and soon will be the fifth man with the new Argentine coming in when the transfer window opens in a couple days. He's played sparingly this season - I may offer him a token contract extension but his days as a Dover player are likely ending in June.
- ST Roberto: Roberto's skills have diminished despite being only 22 years old and my scouts don't feel he's cut out for this level any longer. His terrible tackle in our area against Tottenham was a killer and we were lucky to escape with a victory. He won't be renewed.
- ML Liam Craig: Another fine Dover veteran who is in the twilight of his career. Craig is 34 and declining quickly. He won't be back.
- MC Darren Pratley: Our long time captain is 35 and is somehow maintaining most of his skills - I doubt I'll keep him around but we'll see what happens near the end of the year.

Two of our reserve players are also on expiring contracts: ML Steve Ingram, on loan at Brentford and DC Andy Brown, who is at AFC Wimbledon, are certainly not good enough to play for our club but I may offer them token contracts if I qualify for Continental play, as I'll need a few "home grown" players for our roster.

I also have 15 (!) staff members with expiring deals so I'll start making contract extension offers soon there as well.

-- I have my main scout looking at potential left backs to add when the window opens. I don't have any money to spend right now so that could be an issue. I'm not sure if my board will give me the chance to add to our transfer kitty due to our impressive early season performance but if I can free up some cash, I'd like to add to our depth there.

-- We get another weak offer for right midfielder Gianluca Bolis, this time from Russian club Rubin Kazan. It's swiftly rejected.

Next Up

-- The rush of games continues, as we play our third game in five days, welcoming Norwich to Crabble Athletic Ground, where another sellout crowd of over 15,000 supporters is expected!

12-28-2013, 10:53 PM	#105
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	We're back! Mon. December 28, 2020 Barclays Premier League Tottenham (5-7-7, 22 points, 13th) vs. Dover (11-2-6, 35 points, 4th) White Hart Lane, London, UK Betting Odds: Tottenham: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Dover: 7-2 Past Meetings: 2W 2D 1L We head into the second half of the season with a match against Tottenham, a club we've defeated twice in a row. The Spurs are struggling mightily in the league thus far, mired in 13th place but they're coming off an impressive 3-0 win over Reading just two days ago. Much of their focus this year is on the Europa League, where they've qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second behind Ajax in a group with Aris and Terek. Gareth Bale continues to be the main player for their club and he looks as if he's fit enough to play in today's game. Their top goal scorers are striker Mahmoud Ashoubi and midfielder James McCarthy, who both have six goals. Despite our winless streak, I will be going with more of a "B Team" lineup today in order to keep our main players fresh for our game in two days against a weaker side, Norwich. We have four games in an eight day stretch so our squad depth will be severely tested. We'll go with the one striker system that's won our last two games against the Spurs (4-2-3-1). First teamers playing today include Cristian Rodriguez and Andrea Rocca, both of whom are returning from suspension. Other than that, just Paulus Tjiuoro is a first team player. I'm starting weak players like Laurent Koscielny at left fullback, a position he's not really strong at and also starting Roberto for the first time this year. Hopefully we can keep this close with our starting centre backs in the game. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Counter GK - L. Fabianski D - L. Koscielny, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak M - D. Pratley, A. Rocca AM - C. Murray, Roberto, P. Kostal S - G. Escobar Bench - R. McLaughlin, O. Nicholas, J. Varga, Mancini, L. Craig, M. Prochazka, P. Simek Tottenham are playing a similar formation to us, a 4-2-3-1 but with two defensive central mids and three attacking mids. Bale is playing left fullback today…I always wondered why he kept making the Best Eleven at fullback but there you go…he's actually playing there for once! Midfielder Gabriel Obertan, a notorious thorn in our side, isn't even in the lineup today. I tell the players that the pressure is off. 4' - They send a nice long ball through to their lone striker Vangelis Angos and from a poor angle, he rifles the ball over the bar from just inside the area. 11' - Other than a harmless corner that we won in the first ten minutes, it's been all Spurs. They send a nice ball through to their right midfielder Vladimir Koman and he easily eludes the stoic Koscielny and sends a shot that Fabianski turns away. I really need to find another left back while Renato Gaucho is hurt. 18' - We finally get a decent amount of possession in the Tottenham end, winning three corners in succession. On the last one, Rocca's lovely ball to the far post is headed beautifully toward goal by Paulus Tjiuoro but Spurs keeper Aaron Flynn dives to keep it out. It looks as if the ball is over the goal line but no goal is called. We're losing the possession battle by a large margin so I send a shout to the players to retain possession. 23' - Koman makes a run down the right side, taking advantage of Koscielny's poor pace and sends a great cross into the box but Frank Cvijanovic's header is stopped beautifully by Fabianski. 28' - Tottenham win a free kick near the right touchline deep in our end and after the cross is sent in, Roberto takes down a man and the referee points to the spot. Penalty kick! Gareth Bale steps up and calmly puts the ball into the right corner of the net. Disaster for Roberto and we're down a goal. TOTTENHAM GOAL 0-1 31' - We win a free kick from just outside the area near the top left of the box. Instead of sending the ball in, Rocca feeds the ball backwards to Darren Pratley but he had no room to shoot so passes back to Rocca. He dribbles into the box and somehow eludes two defenders, reaches the byline and sends a cross to the far post to an unmarked Tjiuoro and he easily heads the ball into the open net for the quick reply! Fantastic!!! DOVER GOAL 1-1 41' - Jozef Kuciak is taken down on a run down the right centre of the pitch and we win a free kick from about 10 yards outside the area. I'm secretly hoping Rocca attempts his devastating curling drive into the corner of the net but instead he sends a lob pass to the right side of the area. Winger Petr Kostal gets there and sends the ball to the touchline to Kuciak and almost immediately, he sends a pass back to the top of the box to Rocca. He takes one step forward and sends a shot that the diving Tottenham goaltender gets a piece of but not enough, as the ball squirts into the side of the net for the shocking goal. Wow! DOVER GOAL 2-1 HALFTIME - A shocking last 15 minutes give us the lead. Tottenham is dominating possession to the tune of 58% to 42% and shots are also in their favour 8-6 (4-4 on target). I tell the players I'm pleased thus far and decide to revert to a counter attacking philosophy to start the second half. 47' - Pretty much off the opening kickoff, we lose possession and Angos is able to direct a long shot from well outside the area that Fabianski is forced to turn behind the net. On the ensuing corner, Koman's ball is headed by their central defender and it deflects off two of our players near the goal line. In the scramble that follows, it's Angos who is there to deposit the ball into the net. VERY sloppy defending and they pull level right away. Ugh. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-2 I notice that Tottenham have moved Bale up to attacking left midfielder from left fullback. 63' - I bring on Mancini for Roberto. I move Pratley up to AMC and Mancini plays in the middle of the park alongside Rocca. 72' - I take out major liability Laurent Koscielny and bring in Jozef Varga in his place. 78' - We have possession at midfield and Pratley sends a great long ball ahead to Kostal. He's being chased from behind and gets away a weak shot that is easily saved by Flynn. A pretty good chance. 80' - I'd love to find a goal here so I bring in the speedy striker Petr Simek and take out Gerardo Escobar, who has frankly done nothing in this match. 90' - You've got to be KIDDING! We have a throw in down the right side deep in their territory and Kuciak sends it in to Kostal. He turns toward the byline and sends a curling cross into the area that somehow makes its way through to Mancini at the top of the box. He runs into the ball and sends the first touch RIGHT INTO THE BACK OF THE NET! Holy SHIT! That's Mancini's first senior goal for Dover and we take the last minute lead! DOVER GOAL 3-2 They change to a 4-2-4 but we hold them off without incident for the three minutes of extra time. GREAT WIN! Tottenham 2 - 3 Dover Goals - Paulus Tjiuoro (8.1), Andrea Rocca (8.2), Mancini (7.4) Assists - Jozef Kuciak (7.1), Andrea Rocca, Petr Kostal (7.0) Man of the Match - Andrea Rocca Other Dover Notables - Darren Pratley (7.3) Attendance - 36,310 We obviously edged them in possession in the second half, as their overall advantage dropped to 51% after full-time. Shots favoured the Spurs 14-10 (8-6 on target). Just a fantastic result as we finally break our losing streak and start the second half of the season in style, with a very weak side I might add! -- Basically everyone around us on the table wins except for Man City, who draw 1-1 at home against Aston Villa in a bit of a shocker. We hold onto 4th place, four points ahead of Everton and six ahead of Arsenal. -- Andrea Rocca is named to the Barclays Premier League Team of the Week for his great performance against Tottenham. I give Rocca and our two central defenders, Paulus Tjiuoro and Cristian Rodriguez the day off from training, hoping they can recover enough to take part in our game against Norwich on Wednesday. Dover Injury Update -- Arsene Bamba is back to light training and close to full fitness after his long-term hernia issue. Left fullback Renato Gaucho is a few weeks away from full fitness, otherwise we're pretty healthy right now. Dover Contract Updates -- I have nine players with contracts expiring in the next six months: - GK Lukasz Fabianski: Fabianski is our backup keeper and has done quite well for us but he's 35 and I don't see the need to offer him a new deal right now. I may look into a better keeper in the summer and move current starter Ingo Wilke into a backup role next year. - DC Laurent Koscielny: The 35 year old has been a big liability every game he's played. No chance of returning next year. - MR Petr Kostal: I may keep Kostal around as a backup but he's not really cut out for this level of football. I may offer him a deal later in the year before his contract expires. - DC Oliver Nicholas: A true stalwart for almost this entire dynasty, Nicholas is the fourth man at DC this year and soon will be the fifth man with the new Argentine coming in when the transfer window opens in a couple days. He's played sparingly this season - I may offer him a token contract extension but his days as a Dover player are likely ending in June. - ST Roberto: Roberto's skills have diminished despite being only 22 years old and my scouts don't feel he's cut out for this level any longer. His terrible tackle in our area against Tottenham was a killer and we were lucky to escape with a victory. He won't be renewed. - ML Liam Craig: Another fine Dover veteran who is in the twilight of his career. Craig is 34 and declining quickly. He won't be back. - MC Darren Pratley: Our long time captain is 35 and is somehow maintaining most of his skills - I doubt I'll keep him around but we'll see what happens near the end of the year. Two of our reserve players are also on expiring contracts: ML Steve Ingram, on loan at Brentford and DC Andy Brown, who is at AFC Wimbledon, are certainly not good enough to play for our club but I may offer them token contracts if I qualify for Continental play, as I'll need a few "home grown" players for our roster. I also have 15 (!) staff members with expiring deals so I'll start making contract extension offers soon there as well. -- I have my main scout looking at potential left backs to add when the window opens. I don't have any money to spend right now so that could be an issue. I'm not sure if my board will give me the chance to add to our transfer kitty due to our impressive early season performance but if I can free up some cash, I'd like to add to our depth there. -- We get another weak offer for right midfielder Gianluca Bolis, this time from Russian club Rubin Kazan. It's swiftly rejected. Next Up -- The rush of games continues, as we play our third game in five days, welcoming Norwich to Crabble Athletic Ground, where another sellout crowd of over 15,000 supporters is expected! __________________ 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 : 12-28-2013 at 11:01 PM.