[NoSkillz]

Sat. January 29, 2022

FA Cup - 4th Round
Dover vs. Manchester United
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 7-2 Draw: 9-4 Manchester United: 4-6 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 8L

We finally got our first win against United, beating them 2-1 at home earlier this season. We'll face them again in a few weeks in league play but they'll be looking for revenge today. They are coming off a shocking 2-0 loss to Everton, who played a very defensive 4-2-1-2-1 formation with 2 DMC's. Yaya Sanogo has THIRTY goals already and fellow striker Tom Bull is second with 10. I'm guessing United will field a pretty full lineup today, as I am - our board want us to get to the fifth round so we'll put a pretty good starting eleven out there today.

Wayne Rooney will get his first start since returning from his torn hamstring and Zoltan Bardi will be up front with him in our flat 4-4-2. Youssouf Sylla will be in goal, otherwise, we'll have the same lineup from last week. I'm forced to call up striker Dennis Kunz from our reserves team to be on the bench today, as I'm missing four strikers due to injury or suspension today.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - Y. Sylla
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, Mancini, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - Z. Bardi, W. Rooney
Bench - J. Varga, J. Kuciak, P. Tjiuoro, E. Harvey, C. Murray, A. Zubizarreta, D. Kunz

Sanogo and Tom Bull are up front for United. Our young friend Cristian Rodriguez is fit but on the bench and Liviu Dragomir is in goal and not Emiliano Viviano, a surprise. I tell the team to do it for the supporters.

Sanogo plays on the right side so I move Rayane Hamon into a LDC position to watch over him, as Hamon has better speed than Claudio Contreras.

1' - We get a chance off the opening kick, with Mancini shooting just wide from distance.

5' - Mancini pulls down Sanogo just outside the area and on the resulting free kick, the ball is deflected off our wall and into the cross bar before we head it away.

13' - We're doing well with possession but United have the better chances, as they work a counter and Sanogo feeds Bull but Sylla makes a brilliant save in tight.

22' - And there it is. Bull has the ball near midfield and turns and sends a great pass up field. Sanogo is through the defence, walks in on Sylla and puts a hard low shot into the net. That Sanogo is pretty good. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 0-1

25' - Rocca works the ball to the middle to Mancini and his low blast from outside the area is saved in dramatic fashion by Dragomir.

29' - Tom Bull gets a step on our defenders and Sylla again is forced to make a fine save.

30' - Claudio Contreras gets a yellow for holding a player back.

39' - Bull has another chance from a poor angle and shoots into the side netting. United is now controlling play quite clearly.

41' - Our strikers both lack something today but they finally show their class. Bolis has the ball down the right and cuts toward the middle. The ball is tackled away from him by Eduardo Padilla but goes right to Andrea Rocca. He sends a great ball through the defence and Bardi is on it but his shot from in tight is stopped by Dragomir. There's a rebound though and it pops right out to WAYNE ROONEY and he shows his great composure in potting the ball into the back of the net and we're all tied up!!! DOVER GOAL 1-1

HALFTIME - United gained momentum after their goal then we seemed to control the last five minutes or so after ours. United held 53% of possession but we outshoot them 12-9 (4-4 on target). I tell the team I'm pleased but pull aside Bardi and Contreras (6.2 rating at half) to say I have faith in them.

74' - Nothing happening, just shots from distance. We take out a tired Wayne Rooney and bring in Aitor Zubizarreta. We change to a one striker formation (4-4-2 DM) with Bardi alone up front and Zubizarreta right behind him.

77' - Sigh. Bardi gives the ball away and Sanogo flies through our defence and scores. I make the mistake of switching formations but NOT moving Rayane Hamon over to Sanogo's side and that costs us. Contreras just doesn't have the speed to match Sanogo and we're in trouble. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 1-2

I take out Mancini and bring in young Emmerson Harvey.

83' - I take out Arsene Bamba and bring in Cameron Murray, just to save Bamba for our next game. We move to overload.

87' - We have control and it's Rocca sending the ball to Bolis. He's near the right edge of the area and he sends a low pass into the box and it's CAMERON MURRAY, just on for Bamba, beating two defenders for the ball and putting it into the net for the SHOCKING equalizer!!! That's Murray's first goal of the season. Wow!!! DOVER GOAL 2-2

We revert back to a control mentality.

We get some possession but no chances. Good result!

Dover 2 - 2 Manchester United
Goals - Wayne Rooney (7.2), Cameron Murray (7.4)
Assists - Gianluca Bolis (7.2), Andrea Rocca (6.8)
Man of the Match - Yaya Sanogo (Manchester United ST - 8.8)
Other Dover Notables - Zoltan Bardi (5.5)
Attendance - 17,162

Anytime we can get a positive result against United, how can I be upset? We edge them in possession, holding it 51% of the game and we also outshoot them 18-14 (5-5 on target). Bardi takes blame for Sanogo's second goal and gets penalized with a brutal rating.

-- We now have a replay to look forward to and funny enough, it's on Wednesday February 9th at Old Trafford, only three days before we play a league game against United, again at their stadium. That won't be a pleasant stretch of games: two in a row on the road at Old Trafford then a home match against Anderlecht in a Champions League 1st knockout stage game.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- Our U18s destroy Brighton 6-0 behind four goals from Gregoire Lambert. Matt Hewitt and Eddie Robinson notch singles.



Gesios Suspension

-- We get word that the suspension of Giorgos Gesios for his flagrant elbow in our Aston Villa match is extended for another two games. He'll miss matches against Fulham and Tottenham. Wonderful.



Transfer Deadline Fun

-- FC Bayern comes calling for 18 year old defender Carlos Guzman from my U18 team, offering £2.1 million, the same amount I paid for him. No thanks. The deadline is now come and gone so we should be good for awhile now.



FA Cup - 5th Round Draw

-- If we do the impossible and get by Man United at Old Trafford in our 4th round replay, we face Fulham at Craven Cottage.



Injury Update

-- Neil Cairney returns to full training after missing three weeks with a twisted ankle. Couldn't come soon enough!



February Update

-- It's a busy month, as usual, with four Premier League games (at Fulham, vs. Tottenham, at Manchester United, vs. Sunderland), an FA Cup 4th Round replay at Old Trafford vs. United and a Champions League 1st Knockout Round home tie versus Anderlecht. If we advance past United in the FA Cup, we'll also face Fulham later this month in the 5th round so that's seven possible games.

-- We get positive training reports for Claudio Contreras, Dennis Kunz, Carlo Cerbone and on the U18 club, Eddie Robinson and Pete Smith. We get negative reports for Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Agbo, Mancini and Matt Hewitt from the U18 team. Nasri has been pretty poor for us and I can't trust him in senior level games due to his lack of speed but I'm disappointed in Mancini, as he's been getting a lot of playing time lately. We'll have words...



Premier League - Monthly Awards

-- Liverpool's Piotr Parzyszek wins Premier League Player of the Month honours.

-- Our own Renato Gaucho has been knocking on the door all year in the Young Player of the Month voting and finally breaks through after a terrific January, winning the award.

-- Arsenal manager Ertugrul Saglam wins Manager of the Month honours for his four wins in five games during January.



February Board Confidence Update

-- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. The main positive is still our big 6-0 win over Arsenal in December but they are slightly disappointed in the departure of Gareth Mace? HAHAHAHA!!! That might be the funniest thing I've ever seen! Mace played three years for Dover, never playing a senior team game and he's now playing for Shrewsbury in League 1 and sucks there too. Pretty funny stuff!

-- We lost £2.09 million last month, mostly on signing bonuses on contract renewals.



Premier League Update

-- We have a Wednesday game against Fulham but there are three Tuesday night games and in the most important to us, Man City beats Liverpool 1-0 so City continue to roll but now we can pass Liverpool on the table with a win tomorrow night.



Next Up

-- We head to Craven Cottage to face Fulham, the worst team in the Premier League standings.