Wed. August 5, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Margate vs. Dover
Hartsdown Park, Margate, UK
Margate is an old non-league rival. This could get really ugly but it's a very small pitch that may be well suited to keeping the scoreline down.
Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - L. Fabianski
D - R. Gaucho, T. Andersen, C. Rodriguez, R. McLaughlin
M - C. Murray, L. Craig, N. Cairney, M. Prochaszka
S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi
Margate 0 - 7 Dover
Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.7), Giorgos Gesios (8.0), Jordan Rose OG, Cameron Murray (9.3), Tom Haywood OG, Roberto (7.4)
Assists - Renato Gaucho 2 (9.2), Ross McLaughlin (8.8), Liam Craig (9.0), Cameron Murray
Man of the Match - Cameron Murray
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.2), Cristian Rodriguez (8.4), Thomas Andersen (8.5), Martin Prochazka (8.4), Neil Cairney (8.1)
Attendance - 1580
We had a 5-nil lead at half time and called off the dogs for the most part. We enjoyed a 62-38 possession advantage and a 31-1 shot advantage. It wasn't even close, as expected.
International Update - Olympic Games
-- DR
Salim Loucif notches an assist and plays well in a shock 2-1 Algerian win over Brazil at the Olympics.
-- MR
Gianluca Bolis also plays well but doesn't come away with any points in a 3-3 Italy draw versus South Africa.
-- Chelsea come calling again for
Zoltan Bardi, this time to the tune of £10,500,000 - boy, that's a hell of a lot of money for Bardi but I don't really want to sell him right now…in fact, I'd rather sell
Gerardo Escobar and Chelsea is interested in him too.
-- I mentioned the offer that came in from Huddersfield for DC
Luke McCullough and how I sent back a counter offer of £8,500,000. As expected, it was rejected and as usual, the player was upset and wants new contract terms. I have never buckled down to this request and I've had no issues in the past with any player but McCullough is defiant, saying he won't be happy unless he gets a new deal. He leaves in a huff and I confront him the next day - perhaps it wasn't one of my finest moments as a manager but I tell him he's handling this unprofessionally and he storms out again and I feel that we're at an impasse. I may have to transfer list him now - I do have plenty of depth but I worry again about squad unity with so many new acquisitions.
Transfer IN
-- We bring in what may be our last player of the transfer window in cultured French international
Laurent Koscielny, a versatile defender who can play pretty much all three positions on the back line. He is now 34 years old but still has great mental attributes in addition to decent technical and physical skills that should help provide some leadership for this season. It was a modest transfer deal with Arsenal at only £100,000 up front with a potential clause for another £120k should Koscielny play 20 games or more this year.
