[NoSkillz]

Tue. August 17, 2021

UEFA Champions League
AS Monaco FC (France - Ligue 1) vs. Dover
AS Monaco FC Stadium, Monaco, France

Betting Odds: AS Monaco FC: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 3-1
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

I've given some history on AS Monaco in past posts so no reason to go over it again. They are a big club, were runners up in the Champions League back in 2004 and have won Ligue 1 9 times, most recently in 2012. Their best player is captain Danilo, a Brazilian midfielder who is in his sixth year with the club. The pitch in Monaco is narrow and they usually play a tight game. We'll look to do the same...

I'm going to play a flat 4-4-2 with a counter attacking mentality, something I don't usually do. Claudio Contreras still has one game left to serve on his domestic suspension but he's eligible to play today and will be in the lineup. Other than that, no changes except to the bench - Samir Nasri is dressed today and may get a chance to play in his home country. Other Frenchmen include Rayane Hamon and Arsene Bamba, although Bamba has been called up twice by Ivory Coast, with whom he holds secondary citizenship.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, W. Rooney
Bench - Y. Sylla, P. Tjiuoro, Mancini, S. Nasri, C. Murray, K. Kalfas, P. Moses

Monaco comes out in a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1). I tell the team they can win despite the odds.

13' - Not much in the way of great chances either way as the teams feel each other out. The first great chance goes to us: off a throw, Cairney runs from the right sideline parallel to the edge of the box. He stops and back heels an incredible pass through to Andrea who is right on top of the keeper and his blast is turned aside. WOW. What a chance that was! Andrea could have easily rounded the keeper there and put it away.

21' - We have a few more weak shots at goal but at least we're seemingly controlling play. We win a corner and Rocca sends a ball to the near post. Rayane Hamon gets above his marker and heads it but it kind of squirts away from goal toward the far post. Claudio Contreras wins the ball and sends a kick toward goal that goes in off a defender and in. WOW!!! That's Contreras' first ever Dover goal and on the biggest stage in the game! DOVER GOAL 1-0

25' - We cause a turnover at midfield and it's Hamon making a lovely little pass up to Shanon Andrea. We have four men on the counter attack and there are only three defenders, which allows Andrea to feed a through ball to a sprinting Neil Cairney. Cairney takes the ball and sprints towards goal. With two players chasing, he sends the ball into the right corner of the goal! We're up two! HOLY CRAP! DOVER GOAL 2-0

45'+1 - We get another decent chance inside the area but Andrea left foots it just wide.

HALFTIME - WOW! What a start! Up two goals away from home! We are dominating this game - 53% possession and a 14-3 (7-0 on target) shot advantage. I tell the team I'm pleased. No tactics changes obviously, as we stay in the counter attack mentality.

47' - Off an innocent looking play, Andrea heads the ball up field from the halfway line. Monaco defender Sebastian Romagnoli kicks it to his central defence partner Fernando Franco but his first touch is horrendous and the ball squirts away from him. Wayne Rooney smells blood and beats Franco to the ball and sends an immediate shot toward goal that the diving keeper gets a piece of but not enough. It's another goal! OH MY ROONEY! DOVER GOAL 3-0

Monaco now move to a flat 4-4-2.

55' - What is going on??? We continue to dominate every aspect of this game. Rooney has it at midfield and sends a ball out to Gianluca Bolis. He absolutely skins his opposite number and immediately cuts in toward the penalty area. The central defender holds his ground to take away a pass attempt, leaving Bolis to walk in on goal and he shoots low, getting it underneath the beleaguered Josu Burguena and into the goal. FOUR BELLS! DOVER GOAL 4-0

64' - Take a bow, Wayne Rooney! He was superb tonight and he comes off for Samir Nasri, who I drop into an AMC position, meaning we are now running a 4-4-1-1 Counter.

74' - Nasri makes his presence felt with a lovely ball up the left side to Andrea. He steams up field, cuts back to his stronger right foot and rips a curling blast that is JUST wide. Andrea is struggling a bit early in the season.

76' - Monaco striker Salomon Rondon gets a great opportunity in close but Wilke turns aside the blast. They've had very few chances so far.

77' - I bring in Mancini for Andrea Rocca.

84' - Arsene Bamba is substituted out for Cameron Murray. Let's hold them off the board.

88' - Mancini gets a yellow.

90'+1 - We send a long ball up field and Andrea wins a tackle against one of their defenders and walks in on a partial breakaway. He has time but elects to use his left foot and shoots harmlessly wide. He's pressing as he looks for his first Dover goal.

UnREAL!!!!!

AS Monaco FC 0 - 4 Dover
Goals - Claudio Contreras (8.7), Neil Cairney (8.5), Wayne Rooney (8.2), Gianluca Bolis (8.2)
Assists - Wayne Rooney, Shanon Andrea (7.8)
Man of the Match - Claudio Contreras
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.4), Salim Loucif (8.0), Rayane Hamon (7.6), Renato Gaucho (7.9), Andrea Rocca (7.2), Arsene Bamba (7.4)
Attendance - 26,455

Monaco held a lot of the ball in the second half and ended up with 55% of the overall possession. However, we outshoot them 23-9 (9-1 on target) and their fans are "left stupefied" according to the press "as their team slumped to a miserable defeat at the hands of Dover"! All eleven of our starters had ratings over 7.0 - just a shocking and sensational performance in our first ever continental game. Rooney has been incredible so far but I have to protect him, as his stamina is obviously an issue at 35 years of age.

-- In other Best Placed Playoff action, Sevilla and Bursaspor draw 2-2, CSKA Moscow and AZ battle to a scoreless draw as do Olympiakos and Leverkusen. Porto beat up on Napoli 3-1.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- We play on Saturday, Tuesday, have a reserves game on Wednesday and are back to league play on Saturday. Rinse and repeat! We get humbled 4-1 by Arsenal's reserves as we go with a pretty weak lineup due to all of our games. Dennis Kunz scores our only goal. New GK signing Youssouf Sylla is really struggling and with the money he's making, I may have to make a quick decision to move him in January, as I don't know if I can rely on him much. Thankfully, Wilke should be able to play the majority of games for us.



-- I put home-grown DC Matthew Thompson on the transfer list. For whatever reason, he doesn't meet Champions League registration requirements despite being a 0-21 home grown player. Therefore, I have absolutely no use for him. I'll get rid of him for nothing if I have to. Hopefully I can find a taker. Indeed, a day later, I get an offer for £100,000 plus clauses from Inverness CT and I immediately accept.



Transfer Rumours

-- Wow, those big spenders at Sampdoria! They just spent £43.5 million on Saul Rosas (that deal obviously went through) and now there's a rumour floating around that they are going to offer me over £13 million for my 19 year old backup DC Abdallaye Kokaina - my God. He's gone if that offer comes through…

-- Everton also may take advantage of a £5,000,000 minimum release clause in Paulus Tjiuoro's contract. Tjiuoro will be my third choice DC this year and I'd prefer to keep him - 5 million isn't an awful lot so I may have to look into offering him a new deal and changing that clause.



Champions League Update

-- Our return match against AS Monaco next week will be televised, as Crabble Athletic Ground will be in homes all around Europe. I hope that means I get a bunch of Champions League TV money.



Next Up

-- The hectic schedule continues with a Premier League matchup in Liverpool.