Leganes vs Valencia CF!
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Today’s featured game between Leganes and Valencia CF is likely to be on the “not to watch” list. This encounter is likely to be battle-hardened Leganes fighting Valencia CF, and their visitors adhering to Marcelino’s defensive/cautious approach, fully aware of the fact that they’re more likely to take their chances than their hosts are. Marcelino plays percentiles rather than style and it works; that’s why he’s such a good manager at this level.
There’s simply no point in engaging Leganes in an open game of football. The home team are notorious battlers. They’ve had a fabulous campaign, they’ve got nothing to lose here, and they never know when they’re beaten. Garitano’s gamble of signing a lot of Basque and Argentinian defenders (the dirtiest of the lot in Spain!) at the start of the season has paid off; most teams are too afraid to attack them now because of the kicking that they’ll get! They’ve got plenty of speed on the break and lots of belief to boot so again, attacking Leganes is a pretty fruitless approach.
Instead, the way to beat Leganes is to rival their work-rate but be smarter. Don’t take them on at their own game; make them play yours. That’s where Marcelino earns his money. He’s going to make Leganes play the Valencia CF way i.e. isolating players, setting up one-on-one situations. If he can prise apart this fierce Leganes resistance, Valencia CF will not struggle to win this game. On paper, the visitors are a lot better than Leganes and the right lock-picking kit will allow the visitors to achieve such.
With no major injury problems right now, I see no reason to doubt Marcelino and co. achieving their goal. They’re a lot more solid at the back now that Murillo and Garay are back in town, and they’re absolutely deadly in attack because of their variety. I mean, if it’s not Rodrigo’s speed then it’s Guedes’ skill, Soler’s movement, Kondogbia’s power, or Santi Mina’s class. You cannot keep this team at bay because of their variety. They’ve got a strong balance to their squad; all they lack is depth, and Marcelino has already started to work on that. Given a year or so, he’ll make Valencia CF a top four side every season – guaranteed. Whether Valencia CF’s upper echelons are patient enough for that remains to be seen but he’s the right man to lead this team and the visitors have rediscovered their steel and belief since he arrived. If they maintain such here, they shouldn’t struggle to win the game.
I’ll take my chances on the away win here.
Verdict: Valencia CF to win at 11/10.
Sunday’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 to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Argentinian Superliga:
Defensa y Justicia vs River Plate
Chacarita Juniors vs Arsenal de Sarandi
Patronato vs Rosario Central
Boca Juniors vs Talleres de Cordoba
Atletico Lanus vs San Lorenzo de Almagro
Australian A-League:
Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne City
Austrian Bundesliga:
SV Mattersburg vs Rapid Vienna
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
RSC Anderlecht vs AA Gent
Zulte-Waregem vs OH Leuven
Bulgarian A PFG:
Levski Sofia vs Beroe
Septemvri Sofia vs Etar
Lokomotiv Plovdiv vs Dunav 2010
Czech Republic HET Liga:
Slavia Prague vs Zlin
Danish Superligaen:
Hobro vs AGF Aarhus
Randers vs Lyngby
English Premier League:
Arsenal vs Stoke City
Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Flora Tallinn vs Tallinna Kalev
French Ligue 1:
En Avant Guingamp vs Girondins de Bordeaux
Stade Malherbe de Caen vs Montpellier HSC
Lille OSC vs Amiens SC
Nantes Atlantique vs AS Saint-Etienne
Racing Club Strasbourg vs Metz
Troyes vs OGC Nice
Olympique Lyonnais vs Toulouse
German Bundesliga:
Werder Bremen vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Mainz 05 vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
Israeli State Cup:
Hapoel Haifa vs Hapoel Ra’anana
Beitar Jerusalem vs Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Dutch Eredivisie:
VVV Venlo vs Twente Enschede
Heracles Almelo vs Heerenveen
Groningen vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam
Feyenoord Rotterdam vs Excelsior Rotterdam
Russian Premier League:
Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast vs Rubin Kazan’
FK Ufa vs Zenit St. Petersburg
FK Krasnodar vs Anzhi Makhachkala
FK Rostov vs CSKA Moscow
Spanish Primera Liga:
RCD Espanyol vs Deportivo Alaves
Leganes vs Valencia CF
Eibar vs Real Sociedad
Malaga CF vs Villarreal CF
Atletico Madrid vs Deportivo La Coruna
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Hammarby vs Sirius
BK Hacken Goteborg vs Kalmar FF
Ostersunds FK vs Djurgarden
Trelleborg FF vs IFK Goteborg
Turkish Super Lig:
Goztepe vs Kasimpasa
Osmanlispor vs Konyaspor
Akhisarspor vs Istanbul BB
Galatasaray vs Trabzonspor
Enjoy your free betting tips!