Sivasspor vs Ankaragucu  

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Today’s free tip is in the Turkish Super Lig encounter between Sivasspor and Ankaragucu.

Sivas is a notoriously hard place to play football in Turkey. The absence of fans may lessen such, but this is still a challenging away game, and not just because the home team had a particularly good campaign last season. In general, Sivasspor play with a great deal of fire in their bellies, and they are quite content to throw caution to the wind with their attacking displays. Last season it was more a case of controlling games because they had Kilinc and Yandas running the show. Needless to say that both of those players were poached pre-season by Galatasaray and Fenerbahce respectively to have their careers ruined so it’s logical enough to expect Sivasspor to return to their more chaotic style of football, which had been seen for many years prior. Based on their first two games of the present Super Lig campaign, that’s perfectly true.

Now, I have been warned against trusting Sivasspor today by our Turkish correspondent but I’m going to bullishly proceed because I like what they’ve done recently. At the start of the season, I thought they were lacking, and I would not have backed them. Indeed, I’m still kicking myself for not backing Alanyaspor in the season opener here. I mean, I’m a bit of a fan of Chad forward Ninga, who is as fast as hell, but let’s face it – he sure as hell does spend a lot of time in the physio room! Max Gradel is a class act to bring in now, though – he’s a natural creator and goal-scorer if you can keep him fit too. Good signings, but not enough considered it involved a switch in styles.

Of late though, they’ve added Moroccan playmaker Fajr and rapid Nigerian forward Kayode. In conjunction with the fact that they still have a remarkably fit Kone up front, Sivasspor have suddenly developed into an incredibly fast and dangerous attacking team. True enough, they’re not as blessed with brains behind the front men as they should be, which is why Fajr’s arrival is particularly poignant. When he and/or Gradel are out, I’ll be more concerned with regard to backing this team. With both available though, and a lethal attack that will score a lot of goals this season, especially on the break, I’m struggling to doubt Sivasspor here.

I’m pleased that Claudemir joined earlier in 2020 because he’ll at least provide some semblance of what Yandas and Kilinc used to provide. Sivasspor won’t be able to control games as easily, but he’ll give them some capacity to hold teams off, which is particularly important because Sivasspor are not great defensively. Like a lot of Super Lig clubs, they’ve opted for brawn and bravery over brains and consistency. That’ll fend off a certain amount of attacks, but it won’t contain too many. That attack of theirs is very, very good though, and that’s what should see them through most games this season.

Fortunately for us, they’re hosting Ankaragucu today, easily the weakest team in the division. They made some comical decisions last season, deciding to give up on avoiding relegation mid-season, letting their best players go without replacing them. After a month, they then changed their minds, and panic bought everybody that was available to them. Most of what arrived was dross but they at least had classy Luxembourgian attacker Rodrigues on their books for a while, and he was a God-send for them. They played well during that period but it wasn’t enough. The season was a disaster, and they were deservedly relegated. Well, they were until the Turkish FA decided to bail them (and Kayserispor and Yeni Malatyaspor) out so here they are, still in the Super Lig – somehow.

Have they learned from their ways, and brought in loads of class acts to help them contend with the newly-promoted teams that have all spent big bucks? Of course not! They’re Ankaragucu and they’ll do what the hell they want. They lost more players pre-season, and did sign some, few of which do anything for me. It’s mostly a case of taking chances on unproven players from lower leagues, players that have been out on loan, and misfits from other leagues. There are just three newbies that I like at this club – Senegalese battler Diousse in midfield, rapid Ghanaian winger Paintsil (once the scourge of Hungary), and big Congo DR forward Boligni. They are all here for different reasons though, not because this is a logical step in their respective careers. The former two hadn’t played enough at thei respective clubs, and Boligni was unwanted after Boloni’s departure so here they are.

Most of the Ankaragucu newbies arrived in the past couple of weeks, though. I’m not sure what they think someone like Adzic can do in that time; he’s barely kicked a ball in two years now, and the same can be said of Potuk. As I said, they’ve signed a lot of misfits/unwanted players; not a single one has joined them because he was courted properly, or because he wanted to. It’s a case of Ankaragucu taking chances on players that might be available to them, and they got lucky on a few occasions. Most of these fellas will achieve nothing here though.

Bluntly put, what I interpret as soon-to-be key squad members have only been together for a fortnight. This is not a good team anyway, but that lack of familiarity should seriously damage them in Sivas today. They already lost at home against BB Erzurumspor, and today’s game is far harder for Ankaragucu. Their hosts may have only just signed two key players, but the rest have been there for a while now. Sivasspor humped Ankaragucu twice last season, and although this game won’t be quite as measured and controlled as either meeting last season was, it’s still an encounter that Sivasspor should be able to handicap Ankaragucu in, hence the tip.

Verdict: Sivasspor to beat the –1 Asian Handicap at 93/100.

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. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.

Austrian Bundesliga:

Austria Vienna vs Admira Wacker
Hartberg vs Sturm Graz 
LASK vs Wolfsberger AC 

Belgian Eerste Klasse

Standard de Liege vs Zulte-Waregem
RSC Anderlecht vs AS Eupen 
Club Brugge vs Cercle Brugge 
Royal Excel Mouscron vs Sporting Charleroi

Brazilian Serie A:

Vasco da Gama vs RB Bragantino 
Palmeiras vs Flamengo 
Ceara vs Goias 
Atletico Goianiense vs Botafogo
Santos vs Fortaleza 

Bulgarian A PFG:

Cherno More Varna vs Arda 
Lokomotiv Plovdiv vs CSKA Sofia 

Croatian Prva Liga:

Hajduk Split vs Varazdin

Czech Republic Liga 1:

Viktoria Plzen vs Zbrojovka Brno 
Baumit Jablonec vs Opava 
Pardubice vs Slovan Liberec
Marila Pribram vs Sparta Prague  

Danish Superligaen:

AGF vs OB 
SonderjyskE vs Aalborg BK 
Brondby vs AC Horsens 
Vejle vs FC Copenhagen 

English Premier League:

Sheffield United vs Leeds United
Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United 
Manchester City vs Leicester City 
West Ham United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Estonian Meistriliiga:

Legion vs Tammeka
Nomme Kalju vs Trans Narva 
FCI Levadia Tallinn vs Flora Tallinn 

Faroese Betrideildin:

NSI Runavik vs Skala 
KI vs AB 
TB vs Vikingur Gota 
IF vs EB/Streymur 

Finnish Veikkausliiga:

FC Honka Espoo vs Haka Valkeakoski 
IFK Mariehamn vs KuPS 
Ilves vs TPS 

French Ligue 1:

Girondins de Bordeaux vs OGC Nice
Angers SCO vs Stade Brestois
Dijon FCO vs Montpellier HSC
AS Monaco vs Racing Club Strasbourg 
Nimes Olympique vs Racing Club Lens 
Lorient vs Olympique Lyonnais
Stade de Reims vs Paris Saint-Germain 

German Bundesliga:

TSG Hoffenheim vs Bayern Munich 
SC Freiburg vs VfL Wolfsburg  

German Bundesliga 2:

St. Pauli vs Heidenheim
Karlsruher SC vs VfL Bochum 
Nurnberg vs SV Sandhausen 

Hungarian Liga 1:

Varda SE vs Fehervar 
Budapest Honved vs Ujpest 

Icelandic Urvalsdeild:

IA vs Vikingur Reykjavik
KR vs Fylkir Reykjavik
FH vs Fjolnir Reykjavik 
Grotta vs KA 
HK vs Stjarnan Gardabaer 
Valur Reykjavik vs Breidablik Kopavogur 

Italian Serie A:

Spezia vs Sassuolo
SSC Napoli vs Genoa 
Hellas Verona vs Udinese 
Crotone vs AC Milan 
AS Roma vs Juventus 

Italian Serie B:

Cremonese vs Cittadella 
Reggiana vs Pisa 

Lithuanian A Lyga:

Banga Gargzdai vs Kauno Zalgiris 
Zalgiris Vilnius vs Panevezys
Suduva Marijampole vs Riteriai 

Dutch Eredivisie:

Feyenoord Rotterdam vs ADO Den Haag 
FC Utrecht vs RKC Waalwijk 
Heracles Almelo vs PSV Eindhoven 
FC Emmen vs Willem II 

Norwegian Eliteserien:

Haugesund vs Odd 
Mjondalen vs Viking Stavanger
Kristiansund vs Brann Bergen 
Aalesund FK vs Rosenborg BK 
Stabaek vs Start Kristiansand 
Bodo/Glimt vs Valerenga Oslo 

Portuguese Liga 1:

Farense vs CD Nacional de Madeira 
Gil Vicente vs Portimonense 
Pacos de Ferreira vs Sporting Clube de Portugal
Rio Ave vs Vitoria Guimaraes  

Portuguese Liga 2:

Mafra vs SL Benfica II
Casa Pia vs Vizela 
Arouca vs Academico Viseu 
FC Porto II vs Penafiel 
Chaves vs Cova de Piedade
Vilafranquense vs UOliveirense

Russian Premier League:

Arsenal Tula vs FK Rostov 
Akhmat Grozny vs Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast 
CSKA Moscow vs Lokomotiv Moscow 
Rotor Volgograd vs Rubin Kazan 

Spanish Primera Liga:

CA Osasuna vs Levante CF 
Atletico Madrid vs Granada CF 
Eibar vs Athletic Club
Cadiz vs Sevilla CF
Real Valladolid vs Celta de Vigo 
Barcelona CF vs Villarreal CF

Swedish Allsvenskan:

Falkenberg vs Hammarby
Helsingborg vs Ostersunds FK
Malmo FF vs BK Hacken Goteborg 
Elfsborg Boras vs IFK Goteborg 
Djurgarden vs IFK Norrkoping

Swiss Super League:

Luzern vs Lausanne Sport
Servette vs FC Basel 
Vaduz vs St. Gallen 

Swiss Challenge League:

Chiasso vs Grasshopper Zurich 

Turkish Super Lig:

Rizespor vs Alanyaspor 
Sivasspor vs Ankaragucu 
Konyaspor vs Besiktas JK 
Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce 

Enjoy your free betting tips!

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