[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 29, 2022

Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa (4-1-4, 13 points, 10th) vs. Dover (7-1-1, 22 points, 3rd)
Villa Park, Birmingham, UK

Betting Odds: Aston Villa: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2/1 Dover: 13-8
Past Meetings: 4W 1D 5L

We don't have an awful lot of success against Aston Villa and their tight formation with 3 AMCs always gives us difficulties. We'll have to prevail somehow! Villa are a mid-table constant in the Premier League and have been at the top level since the 1988 season. They've finished 10th three of the last four years and sit in the same position right now. They were huge sellers at the transfer deadline, moving such notable players as DC Kevin Renton to Man City (for £18.75 million) and midfielder Anderson to Tottenham for £7.75 million. They only spent £2 million on players and £1.625 million of it were on loan fees. One of the players they brought in on a free is English international Reece Butcher and he leads the team with 3 goals in 9 games. Striker Mohamed Messaoudi and 29 year old Will Keane are their usual danger men up front.

I've gone back and forth about which formation and mentality to use but being underdogs on the road, I'll start with a counter attacking mentality and stick with our flat 4-4-2 in order to get both Shanon Andrea and Chiquinho on the pitch. Gian Marco Fanfoni will start his first ever league game for us today in place of injured Andrea Rocca. Daniel Traore will start in the middle of defence for injured Rayane Hamon.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, D. Traore, C. Contreras, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, G. Fanfoni, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho
Bench - K. Zagos, S. Reed, S. Spall, G. Allan, S. Henni, Z. Bardi, P. Moses

Villa are in that 4-2-3-1 formation with 3 AMCs. Will Keane is alone up front and Antonio Kraljevic is in goal. I tell the team this is a winnable game and pull aside Bamba, Fanfoni and Traore to tell them I have faith in their abilities.

1' - We get a chance right off the opening kick, as Gianluca Bolis storms in and shoots for the far corner but Kraljevic makes the spectacular diving save. It may have been going wide but still a fine effort.

10' - So far we are doing alright but no great chances. Bamba with a shot from the outer edge and Kraljevic again with the nice stop.

12' - We work the ball up field, with Wilke throwing in to Renato Gaucho and then he sends it up to Bamba. Bamba lays it off to Shanon Andrea and then he immediately spots Chiquinho breaking through the defence. It's an excellent pass and Chiquinho is in all alone and deposits the ball low and hard past Kraljevic and it's in the net! What great movement on that goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0

16' - Keane gets through our defence and shoots but Wilke makes the fine stop.

21' - Cairney with a corner kick and it's headed toward goal by Traore but Kraljevic makes the brilliant diving stop!

27' - Villa is starting to make some nice moves and this formation with three attacking mids is causing issues. One of those attackers, Scott Lewis, gets past our defence and is in on Wilke but our keeper has the angle covered and makes the point blank save.

HALFTIME - Villa is starting to take over a bit but overall, it was a good half, with us holding 53% of possession and a 10-7 (4-3 on target) shot advantage. I encourage the players in the room and hope we can get one more goal here.

46' - Lewis gets a good chance again but Wilke is there in great position to stop it.

49' - Villa with a free kick and the ball is in the penalty area and headed past Wilke by Scott Lewis and Villa pull level. Crap. ASTON VILLA GOAL 1-1

51' - Off the ensuing kick, Andrea storms down field and shoots for the near side but Kraljevic makes the nice save. I've seen Andrea score from that angle so many times and I almost expect him to put it in the net every time these days!

Villa are currently in a flat 4-4-2 now.

54' - Holy crap. Villa send the ball long over Renato Gaucho and there is Man City loanee Scott Lewis again, barring on goal and shooting past Wilke and IN. Two for Lewis and we are coming completely undone. ASTON VILLA GOAL 1-2

Villa now are in a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1 with two wide attacking mids).

56' - We get another great chance off the kickoff, this time with Chiquinho being sent in alone. It's similar to his goal today but this time, Kraljevic is there for the stop.

58' - WOW. Bamba takes a corner and he delivers it to Cairney in the box but he's taken down by Marouane Fellaini. That's a PENALTY! Cairney steps up to take it and it's IN!!! That's Cairney's fourth penalty goal already this year!! DOVER GOAL 2-2

And Villa switch formations AGAIN, this time back to the flat 4-4-2. I'm sticking with a control mentality in hopes of getting that third goal now.

60' - Our defence is terrible today, as we let Reece Butcher dribble through the middle and he gets off a hard low shot that Wilke gets a piece of but we clear before they can gobble up the rebound.

61' - We work back up field and Bolis sends a great ball through to Bamba. He's in all alone and shoots WIDE! Ugh!

62' - I take out Daniel Traore and bring in Kostas Zagos. Salim Loucif moves into the middle and Zagos takes over at right fullback.

70' - Wilke has to make a brilliant stop on a deflected free kick.

I bring out Gian Marco Fanfoni and bring in Shaun Spall.

77' - Spall with a free kick and his cross into the box is headed toward goal by Andrea but Kraljevic makes the save.

85' - Villa spring one of their strikers and he's on a partial break. He's fouled by Claudio Contreras and I know what's coming. RED CARD for Contreras. Damn. I am forced to take out Shanon Andrea and bring in defender Steve Reed. We move to a 4-4-1 counter mentality.

87' - On the free kick that follows, Arinze Issah takes a brilliant shot that no keeper in the world would stop and Villa take the lead. Crazy shot! ASTON VILLA GOAL 2-3

We move to an overload mentality and put Bolis and Bamba up at forward in a 4-2-3 formation.

89' - Spall with a free kick and we have a header chance but Kraljevic with a spectacular game-saving stop!

Fun game…lousy result.

Aston Villa 3 - 2 Dover
Goals - Chiquinho (7.3), Neil Cairney PENALTY (7.2)
Assists - Shanon Andrea (7.6)
Man of the Match - Arinze Issah (ASTON VILLA MC - 8.8)
Other Dover Notables - Gianluca Bolis (7.0), Salim Loucif (5.8), Claudio Contreras (5.9)
Attendance - 35,485

I was worried about this being a trap game and I was right. Possession was dead even and we outshot them 18-16 (9-9 on target). We continue to struggle against Villa at Villa Park especially. A really rough game for our defence especially.

-- Claudio Contreras gets an automatic one game Premier League ban for the red card and it could be more, I'm assuming, pending FA review. I also get warned by the FA for questioning the refs in my post-game press conference and my board isn't pleased either, saying they don't like the attention.

-- In other action, Chelsea and Man City battle to a draw in a big 1 vs. 2 game and Manchester United throttle Stoke 6-2. Arsenal win 2-0 over Middlesbrough while Sheffield Wednesday DESTROY Tottenham 5-0! We stay in third spot even with the loss. Lets look at the full standings for the first time this year:


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 10 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester City - 26 points
2. Chelsea - 25 points
3. Dover - 22 points
4. Arsenal - 20 points
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5. Tottenham - 19 points
6. Manchester United - 18 points
7. Sheffield Wednesday - 18 points
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8. Reading - 16 points
9. Sunderland - 16 points
10. Aston Villa - 16 points
11. Newcastle - 15 points
12. Liverpool - 14 points
13. Huddersfield - 11 points
14. Middlesbrough - 11 points
15. Everton - 8 points
16. Burnley - 8 points
17. Derby - 6 points
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18. Birmingham - 4 points
19. Stoke - 4 points
20. Wolves - 1 point



November Update

-- We have a ridiculous month coming up. FIVE Premier League games and some toughies (AT Liverpool, vs. Arsenal, AT Newcastle, vs. Middlesbrough, AT Derby), two Champions League games (AT Sevilla and AT Porto) and our League Cup quarterfinal versus West Ham. So eight games for sure, basically two each week. Ugh. We're decimated at central midfield and also at central defence right now but hopefully we'll start getting some of our injured players back soon.

-- We get positive training reports for Gian Marco Fanfoni and Arsene Bamba, along with ST Tomas Liska from the U18 club. Poor reports come back for three youth players: Jay Doyle, Shane Holmes and solid prospect Mwemere Mutesa.



Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Darijo Jukic from Sheffield Wednesday scored four goals in as many games to claim the Player of the Month award.

-- 19 year old Man City defensive midfielder Stephen Johnston wins Young Player of the Month honours. Renato Gaucho comes second and Claudio Contreras comes in third.

-- Man City's Carlo Ancelotti adds to his huge trophy closet by winning yet another Manager of the Month award.



November Board Confidence Update

-- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership. The 6-0 win over Burnley is the highlight and the sale of Youssouf Sylla is still the negative.

-- We lost £345,000 last month



Buyout Clauses

-- The board negotiate a number of buyouts for clauses we included in the sale of Aitor Zubizarreta, Cameron Murray, Ryan Bodin and Jonathan Adam. In the end, I accept them all and pocket close to £1.8 million. Not bad.



Injury Update

-- Rayane Hamon returns to full training. He won't be fit enough to play against Sevilla but perhaps he'll be ready for Liverpool this weekend. He missed a couple of weeks with a twisted knee.



Next Up

-- We head to Spain to face Sevilla in Champions League group play.