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

NoSkillz · 12-14-2013, 04:32 PM

Sat. December 26, 2020

Barclays Premier League
Manchester City (13-3-1, 42 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (11-2-5, 35 points, 4th)
Man City Stadium, Manchester, UK

Betting Odds: Manchester City: 1-3 (Favourites) Draw: 3-1 Dover: 7-1
Past Meetings: 0W 1D 4L

Man City are likely the most powerful club in the league right now, sitting on 42 points after only 17 games, which puts them 4 points back of United with two games in hand.

City are the defending European Champions, knocking off United last year both in that competition and the FA Cup. They'd also win the league last year to complete the treble and they are in similarly good form this year. Earlier this week, they defeated Argentinian club River to win the FIFA Club World Championship, adding to their impressive list of accomplishments.

They have stars galore but none brighter than explosive central midfielder/striker Enrique. His list of accomplishments is staggering since his purchase from Real Madrid in 2016 for £35,000,000. In five years with Man City, he's scored an astonishing 148 goals in 149 league games. Already this year, he has 20 goals in 23 games across all competitions and he's basically won every award in domestic and international football. He's likely the best player alive right now. Making it even crazier is the fact they have a striker in waiting in young Jelle Hoegee - the 22 year old has 14 goals in only 12 league appearances this year and has scored 27 goals in 28 international appearances for Holland. City usually plays only one man up front so it's quite incredible that both of these players find the goal so often. City have ELEVEN players valued at more than £10,000,000. They are loaded everywhere.

This is a Boxing Day matchup and we are just about to start an incredibly exhausting stretch of football. City today away, Tottenham away in two days, Norwich at home two days after that and then Bristol City on New Years Day - that's four matches in the span of seven days. We'll need to rotate our squad to keep players fresh.

We will be without two key players in today's matchup, as both Andrea Rocca and Cristian Rodriguez will be serving one game suspensions for yellow card accumulation. We will a more defensive mindset so I decide to give young Brazilian midfielder Mancini his first start of the year in place of Rocca. Thomas Andersen is in for Rodriguez. We're still missing DL Renato Gaucho and ML Arsene Bamba but other than that, this will be as good a side as I can field. We'll play a flat 4-4-2 and sit back in a counter attacking mode.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - J. Varga, T. Andersen, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - C. Murray, Mancini, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi
Bench - J. Kuciak, L. Koscielny, D. Pratley, L. Craig, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek

City start in their 4-5-1, with Enrique playing in the central midfield and Hoegee up front. I'll be marking Enrique very tightly with Mancini and hope to neutralize him as much as possible. It's a landmark game for him: 275th league appearance and 150th league appearance for City. He also is two goals shy of 150 for his career so we hope he scores it against someone else! In my pre-game pep talk, I tell the team that there is no pressure.

5' - It's all City to start and Enrique gets a good chance from inside the area but Wilke is there to make the nice save in traffic.

8' - These guys are sensational - Hoegee is like a hot knife through butter, splitting through the middle of our defence with great speed and rifles a shot just wide. Lucky not to have conceded there.

16' - They win a free kick from a long way out and their fine right midfielder Bruno sends a lovely ball into the box that meets the head of left winger Gylfi Sigurosson and he puts it home with authority. MANCHESTER CITY GOAL 0-1

28 - Still all City. They get another free kick and Enrique lays a little touch pass to Sigurosson and his low shot from outside the area is JUST wide. We seemingly can't keep the ball.

45' - We have the slightest bit of momentum on our side, as Hoegee gets tackled hard and needs some medical attention. WIth City at 10 men for a bit, we work the ball up field and have a numbers advantage but Gesios decides to take a shot from well outside the box and it's harmlessly over the net. Poor choice by our top goal scorer.

HALFTIME - Umm, can this be right??? We are DESTROYING them in possession by a 59% to 41% margin! That said, they have a huge 11-3 (5-0 on target) shot advantage so they are taking better advantage of their opportunities. Still, it's great that we're holding the ball so well in hostile territory. I remind the players that the pressure is off and that they have nothing to lose.

48' - We're very tenacious in defence as City controls the ball in our end, with our players winning multiple tackles. Zoltan Bardi gets a bit carried away and draws a yellow card on one of them.

56' - Some of our players are starting to show some nerves, as Cameron Murray gives up possession and the ball is worked up to Hoegee. He takes a hard shot that is nicely pushed aside by Wilke. We've done a very good job so far on both Hoegee and Enrique - Mancini is shadowing him across the pitch and it's working out quite well so far.

61' - Hoegee again shows his considerable skill and flair to penetrate right through the heart of our defence. Wilke again is up to the task and makes the difficult save.

62' - We make a double substitution, taking out Bardi for Petr Simek and veteran Liam Craig comes on for young Cameron Murray at left midfield.

67' - Can't say I've seen this type of thing in awhile. Wilke has the ball and throws it up to DL Jozef Varga. He's hesitant upon receiving the ball and somehow loses possession to Bruno, who closed him down tenaciously. Thomas Andersen tries to help but completely misses the tackle, allowing Bruno to take a wicked shot at goal. Wilke makes the point blank save and there is Hoegee snatching the rebound. He finishes with precision and there's the dagger. Varga shows his inexperience and it's amazing the difference in ability between Varga and our injured 19 year old starter Renato Gaucho. MANCHESTER CITY GOAL 0-2

72 - I pull out Gesios in hopes of saving him for Monday night's game and bring in Darren Pratley in his place. We switch to one man up front but a more attacking formation.

78' - City win a free kick and they somehow are able to put a direct ball through to Hoegee but Wilke again is up to the task. He's been brilliant again tonight for us.

85' - City is just too strong for us, with too much attacking talent. It's Hoegee again and he is at the right edge of the box before delivering a beautiful arching ball to the far post. Sigurosson outjumps both Loucif and Tjiuoro and it hits the woodwork before deflecting in off a diving Wilke. Thankfully it's not called an own-goal and Sigurosson has two. MANCHESTER CITY GOAL 0-3

They hold the ball the rest of the way.

Manchester City 3 - 0 Dover
Goals - None
Assists - None
Man of the Match - Gylfi Sigurosson (Manchester City AML)
Other Dover Notables - Thomas Andersen (5.9)
Attendance - 62,003

The second half was all City - despite holding the ball for 59% of the time in the first half, we get edged overall 51% to 49%. They outshoot us by a margin of 31-4 (13-0 on target). We were outclassed in every area. Sigh - it's amazing how good the ELITE teams are in this game. We're simply not there yet. The one positive out of the match was holding Enrique off the scoreboard and to a very average 6.9 rating - that's abysmal for him! Young Mancini did an admirable job.

-- Speaking of Mancini, just before the game we learned that he accepted a 2 year contract extension with our club on £10,750 per week, a modest raise of about £500 per cheque. He is labelled as the "next Gilberto Silva" so that can't be too bad - he hasn't really been in our plans much but perhaps we'll give him more playing time at some point. With the formations we play, which utilize only two central midfielders, it's hard to justify playing him over Andrea Rocca or Neil Cairney.

Dover U18 Update

-- Carlo Cerbone continues to dominate at the U18 level, scoring our only goal in a 1-1 draw versus Portsmouth.

Premier League Update

-- Well, despite four games without a win in league play, even the most ardent of critics has to respect what we've accomplished through 19 games. We hold onto the last Champions League place with 35 points, four ahead of Everton at the moment.

-- We are 2nd in goals with 41, albeit 17 behind league leaders City. Our defence is 4th best with only 22 conceded in 19 matches.

He's a look at some of the Premier League's individual stat leaders:

GOALS -
1. Yaya Sanogo, Man United, 18
2. Jelle Hoegee, Man City, 15
3. Enrique, Man City, 13
4. Ekow Mumuni, Everton, 12
5. Giorgos Gesios, Dover, 11
6. Ben Sahar, Sunderland, 11
7. Gylfi Sigurosson, Man City, 10
8. Zoltan Bardi, Dover, 10

Gerardo Escobar is 22nd with 5 goals and Arsene Bamba is 47th with 3 goals.

ASSISTS -
1. Bruno, Man City, 10
2. Miralem Pjanic, Man City, 9
3. David Maclennan, Newcastle, 8
4. Paul Herd, Sheffield Wednesday, 7
5. Jonjo Shelvey, Liverpool, 7
6. Andrea Rocca, Dover, 7
7. Ryad Boudebouz, Aston Villa, 7
8. Gylfi Sigurosson, Man City, 7
9. Danny Wilson, Man City, 7

Gianluca Bolis is 19th with 5 and Neil Cairney is right behind him with 4.

AVERAGE RATING -
1. Jelle Hoegee, Man City, 8.18
2. Enrique, Man City, 8.03
3. Bruno, Man City, 7.74
4. Yaya Sanogo, Man United, 7.73
5. Gylfi Sigurosson, Man City, 7.69

Cristian Rodriguez leads the way for us with a 7.30 mark and Giorgos Gesios and Neil Cairney are tied for 20th with a 7.23 average.

Next Up

-- A rare Monday night game versus Tottenham

12-14-2013, 04:32 PM	#104
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	Sat. December 26, 2020 Barclays Premier League Manchester City (13-3-1, 42 points, 2nd) vs. Dover (11-2-5, 35 points, 4th) Man City Stadium, Manchester, UK Betting Odds: Manchester City: 1-3 (Favourites) Draw: 3-1 Dover: 7-1 Past Meetings: 0W 1D 4L Man City are likely the most powerful club in the league right now, sitting on 42 points after only 17 games, which puts them 4 points back of United with two games in hand. City are the defending European Champions, knocking off United last year both in that competition and the FA Cup. They'd also win the league last year to complete the treble and they are in similarly good form this year. Earlier this week, they defeated Argentinian club River to win the FIFA Club World Championship, adding to their impressive list of accomplishments. They have stars galore but none brighter than explosive central midfielder/striker Enrique. His list of accomplishments is staggering since his purchase from Real Madrid in 2016 for £35,000,000. In five years with Man City, he's scored an astonishing 148 goals in 149 league games. Already this year, he has 20 goals in 23 games across all competitions and he's basically won every award in domestic and international football. He's likely the best player alive right now. Making it even crazier is the fact they have a striker in waiting in young Jelle Hoegee - the 22 year old has 14 goals in only 12 league appearances this year and has scored 27 goals in 28 international appearances for Holland. City usually plays only one man up front so it's quite incredible that both of these players find the goal so often. City have ELEVEN players valued at more than £10,000,000. They are loaded everywhere. This is a Boxing Day matchup and we are just about to start an incredibly exhausting stretch of football. City today away, Tottenham away in two days, Norwich at home two days after that and then Bristol City on New Years Day - that's four matches in the span of seven days. We'll need to rotate our squad to keep players fresh. We will be without two key players in today's matchup, as both Andrea Rocca and Cristian Rodriguez will be serving one game suspensions for yellow card accumulation. We will a more defensive mindset so I decide to give young Brazilian midfielder Mancini his first start of the year in place of Rocca. Thomas Andersen is in for Rodriguez. We're still missing DL Renato Gaucho and ML Arsene Bamba but other than that, this will be as good a side as I can field. We'll play a flat 4-4-2 and sit back in a counter attacking mode. Dover: 4-4-2 Counter GK - I. Wilke D - J. Varga, T. Andersen, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - C. Murray, Mancini, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi Bench - J. Kuciak, L. Koscielny, D. Pratley, L. Craig, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek City start in their 4-5-1, with Enrique playing in the central midfield and Hoegee up front. I'll be marking Enrique very tightly with Mancini and hope to neutralize him as much as possible. It's a landmark game for him: 275th league appearance and 150th league appearance for City. He also is two goals shy of 150 for his career so we hope he scores it against someone else! In my pre-game pep talk, I tell the team that there is no pressure. 5' - It's all City to start and Enrique gets a good chance from inside the area but Wilke is there to make the nice save in traffic. 8' - These guys are sensational - Hoegee is like a hot knife through butter, splitting through the middle of our defence with great speed and rifles a shot just wide. Lucky not to have conceded there. 16' - They win a free kick from a long way out and their fine right midfielder Bruno sends a lovely ball into the box that meets the head of left winger Gylfi Sigurosson and he puts it home with authority. MANCHESTER CITY GOAL 0-1 28 - Still all City. They get another free kick and Enrique lays a little touch pass to Sigurosson and his low shot from outside the area is JUST wide. We seemingly can't keep the ball. 45' - We have the slightest bit of momentum on our side, as Hoegee gets tackled hard and needs some medical attention. WIth City at 10 men for a bit, we work the ball up field and have a numbers advantage but Gesios decides to take a shot from well outside the box and it's harmlessly over the net. Poor choice by our top goal scorer. HALFTIME - Umm, can this be right??? We are DESTROYING them in possession by a 59% to 41% margin! That said, they have a huge 11-3 (5-0 on target) shot advantage so they are taking better advantage of their opportunities. Still, it's great that we're holding the ball so well in hostile territory. I remind the players that the pressure is off and that they have nothing to lose. 48' - We're very tenacious in defence as City controls the ball in our end, with our players winning multiple tackles. Zoltan Bardi gets a bit carried away and draws a yellow card on one of them. 56' - Some of our players are starting to show some nerves, as Cameron Murray gives up possession and the ball is worked up to Hoegee. He takes a hard shot that is nicely pushed aside by Wilke. We've done a very good job so far on both Hoegee and Enrique - Mancini is shadowing him across the pitch and it's working out quite well so far. 61' - Hoegee again shows his considerable skill and flair to penetrate right through the heart of our defence. Wilke again is up to the task and makes the difficult save. 62' - We make a double substitution, taking out Bardi for Petr Simek and veteran Liam Craig comes on for young Cameron Murray at left midfield. 67' - Can't say I've seen this type of thing in awhile. Wilke has the ball and throws it up to DL Jozef Varga. He's hesitant upon receiving the ball and somehow loses possession to Bruno, who closed him down tenaciously. Thomas Andersen tries to help but completely misses the tackle, allowing Bruno to take a wicked shot at goal. Wilke makes the point blank save and there is Hoegee snatching the rebound. He finishes with precision and there's the dagger. Varga shows his inexperience and it's amazing the difference in ability between Varga and our injured 19 year old starter Renato Gaucho. MANCHESTER CITY GOAL 0-2 72 - I pull out Gesios in hopes of saving him for Monday night's game and bring in Darren Pratley in his place. We switch to one man up front but a more attacking formation. 78' - City win a free kick and they somehow are able to put a direct ball through to Hoegee but Wilke again is up to the task. He's been brilliant again tonight for us. 85' - City is just too strong for us, with too much attacking talent. It's Hoegee again and he is at the right edge of the box before delivering a beautiful arching ball to the far post. Sigurosson outjumps both Loucif and Tjiuoro and it hits the woodwork before deflecting in off a diving Wilke. Thankfully it's not called an own-goal and Sigurosson has two. MANCHESTER CITY GOAL 0-3 They hold the ball the rest of the way. Manchester City 3 - 0 Dover Goals - None Assists - None Man of the Match - Gylfi Sigurosson (Manchester City AML) Other Dover Notables - Thomas Andersen (5.9) Attendance - 62,003 The second half was all City - despite holding the ball for 59% of the time in the first half, we get edged overall 51% to 49%. They outshoot us by a margin of 31-4 (13-0 on target). We were outclassed in every area. Sigh - it's amazing how good the ELITE teams are in this game. We're simply not there yet. The one positive out of the match was holding Enrique off the scoreboard and to a very average 6.9 rating - that's abysmal for him! Young Mancini did an admirable job. -- Speaking of Mancini, just before the game we learned that he accepted a 2 year contract extension with our club on £10,750 per week, a modest raise of about £500 per cheque. He is labelled as the "next Gilberto Silva" so that can't be too bad - he hasn't really been in our plans much but perhaps we'll give him more playing time at some point. With the formations we play, which utilize only two central midfielders, it's hard to justify playing him over Andrea Rocca or Neil Cairney. Dover U18 Update -- Carlo Cerbone continues to dominate at the U18 level, scoring our only goal in a 1-1 draw versus Portsmouth. Premier League Update -- Well, despite four games without a win in league play, even the most ardent of critics has to respect what we've accomplished through 19 games. We hold onto the last Champions League place with 35 points, four ahead of Everton at the moment. -- We are 2nd in goals with 41, albeit 17 behind league leaders City. Our defence is 4th best with only 22 conceded in 19 matches. He's a look at some of the Premier League's individual stat leaders: GOALS - 1. Yaya Sanogo, Man United, 18 2. Jelle Hoegee, Man City, 15 3. Enrique, Man City, 13 4. Ekow Mumuni, Everton, 12 5. Giorgos Gesios, Dover, 11 6. Ben Sahar, Sunderland, 11 7. Gylfi Sigurosson, Man City, 10 8. Zoltan Bardi, Dover, 10 Gerardo Escobar is 22nd with 5 goals and Arsene Bamba is 47th with 3 goals. ASSISTS - 1. Bruno, Man City, 10 2. Miralem Pjanic, Man City, 9 3. David Maclennan, Newcastle, 8 4. Paul Herd, Sheffield Wednesday, 7 5. Jonjo Shelvey, Liverpool, 7 6. Andrea Rocca, Dover, 7 7. Ryad Boudebouz, Aston Villa, 7 8. Gylfi Sigurosson, Man City, 7 9. Danny Wilson, Man City, 7 Gianluca Bolis is 19th with 5 and Neil Cairney is right behind him with 4. AVERAGE RATING - 1. Jelle Hoegee, Man City, 8.18 2. Enrique, Man City, 8.03 3. Bruno, Man City, 7.74 4. Yaya Sanogo, Man United, 7.73 5. Gylfi Sigurosson, Man City, 7.69 Cristian Rodriguez leads the way for us with a 7.30 mark and Giorgos Gesios and Neil Cairney are tied for 20th with a 7.23 average. Next Up -- A rare Monday night game versus Tottenham __________________ 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 : 12-14-2013 at 04:35 PM.