[NoSkillz]

Wed. September 23, 2020

League Cup - 3rd Round
Arsenal vs. Dover
Emirates Stadium, London, UK

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

We have a very tough matchup, heading to London to face Arsenal. They have one Premier League championship in this dynasty, winning the league in 2014-15 and they've never finished worse than 6th going all the way back to the mid-90s. They've struggled somewhat to start the year, drawing against lowly Bolton and Stoke at home but they have wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland as well as a loss to Chelsea. They are loaded with star players, with 29 year old DC Leonel Galeano their highest valued player. They also have noted stars Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal usually play a flat 4-4-2 and Emirates favours a direct passing game. I have a lot of former Arsenal players and I decide to give them all a chance to shine tonight. Giorgos Gesios, Arsene Bamba, Zoltan Bardi, Andrea Rocca, Laurent Koscielny and Lukasz Fabianski will all hope to defeat their former club tonight. Other than that, we'll rotate a lot of our veterans into the lineup. We'll stick with our 4-4-2 DM formation but I may move to a counter philosophy if the going gets tough. I'm hoping they start a weaker side, as they have Champions League games to deal with in addition to the league.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - L. Fabianski
D - J. Varga, L. Koscielny, P. Tjiuoro, R. McLaughlin
M - A. Rocca, D. Pratley
AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal
S - G. Gesios
Bench - O. Nicholas, T. Andersen, L. Craig, Mancini, M. Prochazka, G. Escobar, P. Simek

As expected, they start with a flat 4-4-2. I tell the players that the pressure is off and they have nothing to lose.

5' - Darren Pratley feeds a gorgeous through ball into Gesios and his close range blast is stopped by Ustari, the Arsenal keeper. Great chance!

14' - We've had some great back and forth action. We counter up the field and there's a great three way passing play from Gesios, to Bamba and finally to Kostal right in front but his redirection is stopped again by their keeper. Nice movement there. Arsenal is pressing all over the field so we're trying to move it as quickly as possible.

16' - We send everyone into the box but one player for a throw in from Varga, our LD who can throw long. The ball is grabbed by Arsenal and immediately cleared up field. Ross McLaughlin whiffs on a tackle and that sends striker Teddy Gallo in all alone. He rounds the keeper and has the open net. Easy finish…horrific defending. ARSENAL GOAL 0-1

23' - We work on a counter attack up the field and Kostal gets the ball up to Gesios in the middle of the field. He's taken down from behind and the defender gets a yellow card. Andrea Rocca lines up the free kick from the edge of the area, curls one around the wall and into the corner of the net. Trademark curling strike from Rocca! We pull level! DOVER GOAL 1-1

25' - Wow, they build up a slow attack and it's Aaron Ramsey with the big bomb but it strikes the goalpost. Lucky.

28' - Ridiculous action, with both teams getting great chances.

31' - This is definitely not for the faint of heart. Their winger Bulot races down the left side and throws a low cross into the box. Teddy Gallo outbattles veteran defender Laurent Koscielny and with his back to the goal, turns quickly around and right foots the ball past Fabianski. Gallo's second of the half. ARSENAL GOAL 1-2

Our defence is playing horribly.

43' - It's Ramsey again with a brilliant little touch through our defence and Fabianski does incredibly well to make a point blank save.

45' - The awful defending continues as Gallo is unmarked in the box yet again but he somehow misses the sitter. We're lucky to still be in this game.

HALFTIME - Arsenal leads in possession 54% to 46% and in shots 11-7 (7-3). It's great entertainment for the fans, as both teams are going all out but I think I need to play a different style to start the half. We'll move to a counter attack and play our struggling defence a bit deeper. I'll also try a more direct passing game. I tell the players they can still win this game.

46' - What an awful game from Koscielny. It's obvious he doesn't have the talent to play against teams of this calibre. He mistimes a jump and the ball gets over his head. Fabianski is called upon to make another big stop.

49' - Another turnover by McLaughlin and Gallo is sprung again but Fabianski is up to the task yet again. He's trying to rally the troops but I think I need to make some substitutions. What a waste to use them on defence at this stage of the game though.

50' - We have no answer for them and I can only chalk it up to poor squad selection. They win a corner and Fabregas' kick meets the head of Jukic. Fabianski makes another great save but defender Jan Lems is there for the rebound and we're down two. ARSENAL GOAL 1-3

51' - The awful Koscielny is pulled for Oliver Nicholas and we revert back to our Control game down two goals.

58' - Bardi makes a great tackle near midfield and goes in on a two-on-one with Gesios. Bardi elects to shoot and misses by a mile. Not a great decision.

64' - We give a mercy pull to Andrea Rocca and bring in Liam Craig. Maybe I can save Rocca so he can play against Chelsea on the weekend.

69' - A nice sequence of ball movement sees Bamba feed a great through ball to Gesios. He runs in all alone and fires WAY wide. It's not our night.

70' - Simek is brought in for an ineffective Gesios.

82' - Simek's speed buys us a corner and Bamba's nicely delivered ball causes havoc in the box but Bardi's vicious strike is ultimately blocked and cleared.

87' - Bamba streaks down the left side and feed a low cross into the box. Simek slides for it and knocks it home! Too little too late? DOVER GOAL 2-3

89' - Oh my!!! We grab the ball again at midfield and everyone is going forward. Bardi makes a glorious feed inside the area to a streaking Bamba but his blast slams into the post and bounces out of play. What a glorious chance wasted!

90' - Varga gets a yellow card.

We can't really get the ball back and that's it. Hell of a game.

Arsenal 3 - 2 Dover
Goals - Andrea Rocca (7.3), Petr Simek (7.4)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9), Giorgos Gesios (6.8)
Man of the Match - Oscar Ustari (Arsenal GK - 9.2)
Other Dover Notables - Zoltan Bardi (7.1), Ross McLaughlin (5.3), Laurent Koscielny (5.9)
Attendance - 51761

If anything, this may prove that we aren't quite ready to play an offensive style on the road against elite teams. But that said, we started a very poor defensive unit and it came back to haunt us. McLaughlin and Koscielny were especially brutal. We lost possession by a whopping 59% to 41% and Arsenal outshot us 24-13 (13-5 on target). Fabianski was pretty damn good. Overall, the board were hoping for us to reach the fourth round so this is a disappointment, for sure.



Next Up

-- Back to Premier League play and an away match at Chelsea