[NoSkillz]

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.