[NoSkillz]

Sat. March 12, 2022

FA Cup - Quarterfinals
Dover (5th in Premier League) vs. Arsenal (4th in Premier League)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Arsenal: 4-5 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 3W 2D 5L

Arsenal will be looking for revenge after our 6-0 win over their club in late December but we're in the comfy confines of Crabble Athletic Ground where that destruction took place! Their top striker Teddy Gallo is out with a broken foot today but they have more than enough guys to step into that role, including DC/ST Nchimunya Munyao, who is tied with fellow striker Boakye with 14 goals to lead the team.

We have a week off after this so I can go with a pretty full strength side - up front I'm starting Giorgos Gesios and Zoltan Bardi - I considered starting Paul Moses but decided against it when I noticed that Gesios took well to my press conference comments so we'll give him a shot and see if it pays off. Youssouf Sylla has been better lately for us in goal and we'll start him today and give Ingo Wilke a breather. Our flat 4-4-2 worked well with a control mentality against them in December so we'll go with that again.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - Y. Sylla
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi
Bench - J. Kuciak, P. Tjiuoro, Mancini, K. Kalfas, C. Murray, W. Rooney, P. Moses

Arsenal are in a flat 4-4-2 as well but have Lee Ross and Darijo Jukic up front and Munyao is back on defence, at least for now! Like last time, I tell the team to go out there and perform for the supporters and pull aside Gesios and Bardi to tell them I have faith in their abilities.

1' - Yikes. Right off the opening kick off, the ball comes up to Lee Ross. He runs in on Contreras and evades a tackle, walking in on goal but he shoots wide.

6' - Bolis has a couple of great dribbles down the right but we can't do anything with his crosses. Now, Arsenal come back up field and Sylla makes a great save on a partial break from Jukic. We move back up field and after some nice passing, Bardi gets it over to Bolis at the edge of the area and he shoots hard into the far corner past Oscar Ustari and it's in! Bolis has us on the board! DOVER GOAL 1-0

15' - Cairney with a lovely ball up to Gesios. The striker has men chasing him down and they force him to his weaker foot. The shot is stopped awkwardly by Ustari but his defenders clear the ball to safety.

25' - Arsenal have possession and Jack Wilshere, the Gunners captain, makes a delicious pass into the area to Jukic and he beats Sylla with a low shot and we're tied. Poor defending by Contreras and Hamon there as they got crossed up in coverage. ARSENAL GOAL 1-1

30' - Gesios is back to being snake bitten again, as Cairney sends him in all alone and Ustari makes the great point blank save.

31' - Rocca from distance blasts one off the crossbar.

38' - We send the ball up to Gesios and he gets in the corner of the area and is making his way to the byline when he's fouled by Aaron Ramsey. It looked like a dive but the referee points to the spot! PENALTY! Neil Cairney steps up for the second game in a row…or maybe it's the third game in a row…and SCORES! DOVER GOAL 2-1

41' - Lee Ross with a PILEDRIVER from distance that almost knocks the net over but it's the crossbar and we clear to safety.

HALFTIME - A good game so far and the neutrals will be happy. We hold 51% of possession and outshoot them 13-10 (5-3 on target). I tell the team I'm pleased with their performance so far.

48' - Lee Ross gets through the defence but his shot is stopped by Sylla.

56' - Rayane Hamon with a yellow card. Arsenal are taking it to us so far this half.

62' - Now it's Gianluca Bolis with a yellow.

63' - Bolis is banged up and I bring in Kostas Kalfas for him.

67' - Giorgos Gesios and Arsene Bamba work a give and go and Gesios gets a shot away that's saved nicely by Ustari.

74' - I bring in Paul Moses for Zoltan Bardi and move to a counter attacking mentality.

75' - Arsenal continue to push and Jukic gets loose for a shot that Sylla just gets his fingertips on! They get a corner out of it and Wilshere sends it in and there is Munyao, Arsenal's talented dual threat heading it in and the game is tied. Shit. ARSENAL GOAL 2-2

Back to a control mentality.

80' - Wow. Arsenal go with a direct ball over our defence and Lee Ross is way behind and in all alone. He makes a brilliant decision to hold off for just enough time and lays it off to an oncoming teammate in substitute Tiago Alves and he has a gaping net to shoot at and easily puts it home. Two goals in four minutes and suddenly we're behind. ARSENAL GOAL 3-2

We Overload.

85' - Gesios with a yellow card for a take down.

They hold on. Disappointing loss as Arsenal comeback with two in the second half to beat us.

Dover 2 - 3 Arsenal
Goals - Gianluca Bolis (7.6), Neil Cairney PENALTY (7.4)
Assists - Zoltan Bardi (6.9), Giorgos Gesios (6.8)
Man of the Match - Jack Wilshere (Arsenal MC - 7.6)
Other Dover Notables - Claudio Contreras (5.8), Andrea Rocca (5.9)
Attendance - 16,484

Arsenal DOMINATED that second half - we went from 51% possession in the first half to only 45% overall so they really controlled things in the last 45. We were also outshot 23-17 (8-6 on target) so that means they outshot us 13-4 (5-1 on target) in the second half. They deserved that win and we put up a stinker at home, a rarity for us. Another rarity is such a poor rating for Andrea Rocca. At least we don't have a replay! That would have been death with all the games we've played this year.

-- Despite the assists, I continue to feel let down by Gesios and Bardi after such great seasons last year - they just aren't performing well enough this year and their timing couldn't be worse, as Shanon Andrea soon will be returning from his injury. It will be tough to get him in game shape but at this point, Gesios and Bardi are falling behind Rooney and Moses on our depth chart too.



Dover U18 Update

-- We get a pair of goals from Pete Smith and one from Matt Hewitt, along with an own goal in a 4-0 win over Kingstonian.



Champions League Update

-- Atletico Madrid ease past Besiktas and Manchester City need to go to penalties after losing at home to Porto but get through to the quarterfinals as well. Man United, as expected, win again over Leverkusen and OM comes back from a one goal first game deficit to win 2-0 and win on aggregate by a single goal.



Champions League Quarter Finals Draw

-- There are eight teams left in the competition: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, FC Bayern, Manchester City, Manchester United, OM, Olympique Lyonnais and ourselves. At this point, we're unquestionably the weakest and smallest club left in the competition so it really doesn't matter who we get, as it's unlikely we'll go any further. I guess I hope I'll get one of the French teams. Let's see how the draw goes, in order:

Barcelona vs. Dover
Atletico Madrid vs. FC Bayern
Manchester United vs. Manchester City
Olympique Lyonnais vs. OM

So, we get a couple of HUGE rivalries in the Manchester derby and Ligue 1 and we draw Barcelona, a team we faced in the Group stage and went undefeated in two games against them, with a win at home and a draw in Spain. At the very least, it should be a good gate for both games but I expect that Barca will be in fine form for this two game set. Barcelona will host the first game at Camp Nou on March 30th.



Tottenham Get Their Own Sugar Daddy

-- In news that will likely mean something going forward, Kuwaiti businessman Hamad Al-Shammari takes over the Spurs and says he "will stop at nothing to ensure Tottenham become one of the greatest forces in domestic and continental football." More competition! Great…



Dover Reserves Team Update

-- Carlo Cerbone scores twice and Aitor Zubizarreta notches a single in a 3-2 win over Fulham's reserves.



Next Up

-- We are back to Premier League play as we host League Cup champions Huddersfield Town.