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Sun. July 9, 2023
Preseason Friendly
Ipswich (England Championship) vs. Dover
Portman Road, Ipswich, UK
Ipswich have been in the Championship since 2002/03, so over 20 years straight in the second best flight. They are a mid-table constant.
I’m a bit perplexed that my roster is A) so out of shape right now and B) completely clueless with our tactics. Last year, our guys returned from holiday with a full understanding of the tactics but this year, our match preparation screen shows that they basically don’t have a clue what’s going on. I’ve added no new coaches, haven’t changed my tactics one iota but here we are, looking like a bunch of middle schoolers. We play about half our starters today.
Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - C. Guzman, D. Traore, M. Mutesa, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi
Ipswich 1 - 3 Dover
Goals - Gianluca Bolis (7.5), Mwemere Mutesa (7.5), Rogelio Garcia (7.3)
Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.3), Helder Cruz (6.9)
Man of the Match - Mwemere Mutesa
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.2), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.0)
Attendance - 23,174
We outshot them 30-6 (11-4) with possession dead even. Paul Moses had a rough game in front of goal, only getting 3 of his 10 shot attempts on goal. He ended up with an anemic 6.0 rating. Not a good start for our £19 million man. Good to see Mutesa with the man of the match honours and also great seeing Rogelio Garcia score again.
-- Most important - no injuries!
Loan OUT
-- 19 year old midfielder Marcel Quade agrees to move to Savona in Italy for a season-long loan spell. Quade is a middling prospect so I’m glad to see him leaving to gain some experience.
-- I release a couple of other former U18 players, including Johnny Mardenborough, who came through our youth system at 15 years of age and spent four years with the U18s. He didn’t play in a senior level match, however.
NoSkillz Set for the Etihad?
-- The press speculate that Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak is targeting me to fill the vacant managerial position at the Etihad. And the press turns out to be right, as I’m approached the same day with a ridiculous offer: £54,000 per week in salary, a £49 million transfer kitty and a whopping £4.2 million per week wage budget. City are one of the great teams in this gaming world but what can I say? Sorry sir - I’m just going to stay in Dover, thank you very much!
-- City end up hiring Brazilian national coach Dunga as their new boss.
Transfer Talk
-- I’m still aggressively going after a couple of players and I may be close to landing a potential stud central midfielder. Ideally, I’d also like an upgrade at central defence for depth reasons - I’d like to specifically upgrade over Daniel Traore but DC’s are VERY expensive.
Next Up
-- We head home to face powerhouse FC Bayern Munich at Crabble Athletic Ground in a preseason friendly.
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