Udinese vs Internazionale
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Today’s free tip is in the Italian Serie A encounter between Udinese and Internazionale.
Up until yesterday, the odds on this selection were drifting out. If the game was being played pre-Conte, I could understand such because at that time, Udinese were rock-solid defensively (it was all they were good at, to be fair) and they would simply sit and try to counter teams. Furthermore, Internazionale were slow and ponderous in possession, seldom harming teams with any real consistency, so they weren’t a high-scoring team either. It was very much a low-scoring game at that time.
However, right now, I think that this game is highly likely to be a high-scoring affair – and the odds movement now tells me that people are with me, which is probably a bit of a curse! Still, I believe in it, hence the tip being given. Udinese are still a relatively defensive team. It’s fair to say that they’re more adventurous now than they used to be in the sense that they now try and intercept play on the half-way line to launch counters higher up the pitch rather than sitting back and praying. I’d like to say that they’ve done that to be more adventurous in general, but my truthful opinion is that they’ve become a bit too poor at defending to play that way any longer, and this was the next best thing.
Still, this is the best attack I’ve seen Udinese field for a while now. They’ve had to wait for Watford to be relegated in order to have The Hornets’ good players ‘reassigned’ to Udinese (Granada had no use for them at that time) but now they’ve got a class act like Pereyra or even Deulofeu, they suddenly look that bit more dangerous. I appreciate that Pussetto is out for this one, but he’s also been dangerous this season, and with his fellow countryman de Paul pulling the strings, and a rapid forward like Lasagna in the equation, Udinese are able to find holes in most defences. They’ve still retained that old work ethic of theirs, which allows them to constantly have a route to goal in games as underdogs.
I won’t deny that Udinese do struggle when having to play on the front foot, though. They don’t have a good enough striker for that situation, and they get burned every time a newly-promoted team sits back and counters them because of it. However, when able to play as underdogs, Udinese tend to thrive. They are mentally strong, and very effective in such situations. There’s no doubt in my mind that Conte’s men are going to attack them tonight, and that will afford Udinese all the space they could possibly want, and they’ve got enough quality to hurt their more illustrious opposition too. Besides, it’s not taken much to score against Internazionale this season; they’ve really been rather disappointing at the back.
I couldn’t blame anyone for backing the away win here though. Conte has done a marvellous job at this club, especially when it comes to mental strength and goal-scoring. For this team to go from the timid, disinterested bottlers that they were into this hungry, hard-working, lethal attacking team is all about him. Forget what he’s spent; every Internazionale manager spends money. It’s about who you bring in, the system you want to play, and the timing of the moves. The majority of what Conte has done in the transfer market has been superb, to be frank. Lukaku has never looked better, whether as a goal-scorer or creator, and Martinez is thriving alongside him. He’s done so much good with ex-Atalanta Bergamo academy graduate Bastoni (whether at wing-back or centre-back) that he’s set to be offered a new contract in the near future too.
There are success stories throughout this squad, really. Aside from Eriksen, who is almost certain to leave this month, you’d struggle to name any failures at this club. Everything is going swimmingly for them as they’ve rediscovered the winning mentality that has been missing ever since Mourinho left. This led them to even beating the reigning champions Juventus recently too. Internazionale are not playing perfect football this season; I tend to find that they give far too many opportunities away, to be frank. With an attack like theirs though, I’d take them to outscore most Serie A teams right now, and they can definitely do that tonight.
Will they? I’m not sure. I don’t like underestimating Udinese, especially not in their own back yard. They’re an annoying team for Italy’s elite to face. I think you’d have to go back a few years to find the last time an Italian team broke opponents down as well as this Internazionale side does though, so I do think that the Milanese outfit can win this one. Let’s just say it’ll require a lot of perseverance, stamina, and clinical finishing to achieve. For me, it makes more sense to back over 2.5 goals at 4/5 in what should develop into a reasonably end-to-end fixture.
Verdict: Over 2.5 goals 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:
Western United vs Perth Glory
Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory
Austrian Bundesliga:
Wolfsberger AC vs Hartberg
St. Polten vs Admira Wacker
SV Ried vs Austria Vienna
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
KV Mechelen vs AS Eupen
Kortrijk vs Cercle Brugge
Sint-Truiden vs Royal Excel Mouscron
Antwerp vs KV Oostende
Brazilian Serie A:
Vasco da Gama vs Atletico Mineiro
Sao Paulo vs Coritiba
Croatian Prva Liga:
Varazdin vs Rijeka
Gorica vs Dinamo Zagreb
Czechia Liga 1:
Sigma Olomouc vs Opava
Bohemians 1905 vs Slovacko
Zlin vs Banik Ostrava
Karvina vs Slavia Prague
English Premier League:
Aston Villa vs Newcastle United
English FA Cup:
Southampton vs Arsenal
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Blackpool
Sheffield United vs Plymouth Argyle
West Ham United vs Doncaster Rovers
Cheltenham Town vs Manchester City
French Ligue 1:
Racing Club Lens vs OGC Nice
AS Monaco vs Olympique de Marseille
German Bundesliga:
Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs VfL Wolfsburg
SC Freiburg vs VfB Stuttgart
Mainz 05 vs RB Leipzig
Augsburg vs Union Berlin
Arminia Bielefeld vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Hertha Berlin vs Werder Bremen
German Bundesliga 2:
Paderborn 07 vs Wurzburger Kickers
Karlsruher SC vs Heidenheim
Eintracht Braunschweig vs Hamburger SV
Hungarian Liga 1:
Varda SE vs Mezokovesd-Zsory
Puskas FC vs Ferencvaros
Ujpest vs Fehervar
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Hapoel Haifa
Maccabi Petah Tikva vs MS Ashdod
Ironi Kiryat Shmona vs Beitar Jerusalem
Maccabi Haifa vs Bnei Sakhnin
Maccabi Netanya vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Italian Serie A:
AS Roma vs Spezia
AC Milan vs Atalanta Bergamo
Udinese vs Internazionale
ACF Fiorentina vs Crotone
Italian Serie B:
Ascoli vs Chievo Verona
Cosenza vs Pordenone
Frosinone vs Reggina
Reggiana vs Vicenza
Venezia vs Cittadella
Salernitana vs Pescara
Dutch Eredivisie:
ADO Den Haag vs FC Emmen
Vitesse Arnhem vs FC Groningen
PSV Eindhoven vs RKC Waalwijk
Heracles Almelo vs SC Heerenveen
Spanish Primera Liga:
Huesca vs Villarreal
Sevilla vs Cadiz
Real Sociedad vs Real Betis Balompie
Deportivo Alaves vs Real Madrid
Swiss Super League:
Lausanne Sport vs FC Sion
FC Basel vs FC Zurich
Swiss Challenge League:
FC Thun vs FC Schaffhausen
FC Wil vs Aarau
Turkish Super Lig:
Genclerbirligi vs Trabzonspor
Istanbul BB vs Rizespor
Enjoy your free betting tips!