Nurnberg vs Karlsruher SC
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Today’s free tip is in the German Bundesliga 2 encounter between Nurnberg and Karlsruher SC.
I have to take my hat off to Eichner, you know. Karlsruher SC may be a big club but they’ve not had a good team for a long time now. However, despite that fact, and despite their limited budget, he always manages to solve problems that come up. Even when it looks like they’re in danger, he’ll pull a rabbit out of the hat to sort things out. They struggled for a long time this season without target man Hofmann, who left in the summer, but despite none of his deputies having truly stepped up, they’ve found another way to score goals. It’s resourceful, and I admire that. It’s difficult not to trust a team like that.
True enough, they’ve not won their last two matches but Heidenheim away is always a tough game, and they really should have beaten Eintracht Braunschweig at home. In other words, I am not worried. They’ve had different challenges in the Bundesliga 2 of late, whether having to break down Jahn Regensburg or deal with the quality of Hamburger SV, and they’ve found ways to deal with both. Again, this is a very resourceful and industrious group.
I do lack a little trust for them defensively but they’re still better than most in the Bundesliga 2 on that front. I’m more taken by their experience and togetherness than anything though. They know how to wear opponents down. They know how to control games. They now take their chances when they come, and they make it as hard as possible for their opponents to function. It’s difficult for me to not trust a team like that to at least draw against Nurnberg.
I’d fancy it less if Nurnberg hadn’t been in action midweek. Luckily for us though, they were. They put up a good fight, but still lost against VfB Stuttgart in the DFB Pokal. Nurnberg have done ok lately but there’s still this lack of cohesion and consistency that bothers me a lot. Looking at their squad, there’s absolutely no reason for them to not be pushing for promotion. Instead, they’re battling against relegation – and not for the first time in recent years. Their team seems to forget how much they bottled the relegation play-off a few years ago; it was little more than sheer luck that kept them up. Mentally, this team is not very strong.
They’ve got a good manager in Hecking though; he should be coaching in the division above. They’ve got some excellent players to call upon, particularly in midfield – Daehli, Geis, Nurnberger, and Tempelmann is as good a midfield as you’d find at this level. They’re quite handy defensively but lack a bit of leadership nowadays. They’re still not all that easy to score against, but their limited attacking offerings encourages opponents to do it more than it discourages them.
That’s the crux of the matter, really – Nurnberg’s attack doesn’t work. I’m not going to blame Duah for it, though. They signed him because of his record in the Swiss Super League without acknowledging how he scored the goals that he did. They either need to overload teams with him, or play on the break – and Nurnberg do neither, instead using him as a lone frontman in a possession style, which makes him somewhat redundant, really. They under-utilise Shuranov, and still leave Daferner to his own devices too much. If they played a 3-4-3 with that trio up top, they’d score a lot more goals but they just won’t do it.
Nurnberg’s nervousness both on and off the pitch makes them easy to anticipate. That, fused with fatigue from their midweek fixture, makes me fancy Karlsruher SC with draw no bet here.
Verdict: Karlsruher SC to win with draw no bet at 4/5.
Saturday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Australian A-League:
Brisbane Roar vs Newcastle Jets
Macarthur FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers
Austrian Bundesliga:
SV Ried vs Hartberg
Austria Lustenau vs SCR Altach
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
OH Leuven vs KV Mechelen
Kortrijk vs AS Eupen
Sporting Charleroi vs Zulte-Waregem
AA Gent vs Union Saint-Gilloise
Bulgarian A PFG:
Ludogorets Razgrad vs Botev Vratsa
Levski Sofia vs Lokomotiv Sofia 1929
Croatian Prva Liga:
Gorica vs NK Osijek
Lokomotiva Zagreb vs Dinamo Zagreb
Rijeka vs Sibenik
Czechia Liga 1:
Slovan Liberec vs Zlin
Slovacko vs Banik Ostrava (
Zbrojovka Brno vs Hradec Kralove
Viktoria Plzen vs Baumit Jablonec
English Premier League:
Manchester United vs Everton
Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest
Brentford vs Newcastle United
Fulham vs West Ham United
Leicester City vs Bournemouth
Tottenham Hotspur vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Chelsea
Southampton vs Manchester City
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Laagri vs Trans Narva
Kuressaare vs Flora Tallinn
Vaprus Parnu vs Tammeka
Faroese Betrideildin:
IF vs Vikingur Gota
EB/Streymur vs TB
HB Torshavn vs AB
B36 Torshavn vs B68 Toftir
07 Vestur Sorvagur vs KI
French Ligue 1:
Angers SCO vs Lille OSC
OGC Nice vs Paris Saint-Germain
German Bundesliga:
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund vs Union Berlin
Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs Eintracht Frankfurt
SC Freiburg vs Bayern Munich
Mainz 05 vs Werder Bremen
Augsburg vs Koln
Hertha Berlin vs RB Leipzig
German Bundesliga 2:
Hamburger SV vs Hannover 96
Nurnberg vs Karlsruher SC
Eintracht Braunschweig vs Kaiserslautern
Heidenheim vs St. Pauli
Hungarian Liga 1:
Puskas FC vs Kecskemeti TE
Fehervar vs Ujpest
Paksi SE vs Ferencvaros
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
MS Ashdod vs Hapoel Jerusalem
Maccabi Haifa vs Maccabi Netanya
Italian Serie A:
Udinese vs Monza
ACF Fiorentina vs Spezia
Atalanta Bergamo vs Bologna
Sampdoria vs Cremonese
Hellas Verona vs Sassuolo
Torino vs AS Roma
SS Lazio vs Juventus
Lithuanian A Lyga:
FK Panevezys vs Zalgiris Vilnius
Dainava vs FA Siauliai
Dutch Eredivisie:
Vitesse Arnhem vs Go Ahead Eagles
AZ vs Sparta Rotterdam
PSV Eindhoven vs Excelsior Rotterdam
SC Heerenveen vs FC Volendam
Portuguese Liga 1:
Arouca vs Maritimo Funchal
Portimonense vs Rio Ave
Pacos de Ferreira vs Famalicao
Sporting Braga vs Estoril
Spanish Primera Liga:
CA Osasuna vs Elche
RCD Espanyol vs Athletic Club
Real Sociedad vs Getafe
Real Madrid vs Villarreal
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Brommapojkarna vs Malmo FF
Degerfors vs Halmstad
Swiss Super League:
FC Zurich vs FC Basel
FC Sion vs Servette
Swiss Challenge League:
Stade Lausanne-Ouchy vs Aarau
FC Wil vs FC Thun
Turkish Super Lig:
Ankaragucu vs Istanbulspor
Kasimpasa vs Trabzonspor
Enjoy your free betting tips!