SC Heerenveen vs ADO Den Haag
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Today’s free tip is in the Dutch Eredivisie encounter between SC Heerenveen and ADO Den Haag.
One part of me says that there’s no way on earth that SC Heerenveen should be priced at 1/2 to win this game because they’re been horrendous at the back in 2021. However, it seldom takes more than one or two ADO Den Haag displays to remind me of how bad they are at defending too, and with a better level of cohesion in their attack, I can understand the northerners being priced as favourites here. I still think that they’re priced too short considering that the gap has considerably shrunk because of ADO Den Haag’s impressive signings of late but I’m really not brave enough to back either team here. If pushed, I’d give ADO Den Haag a goal head start.
For me though, it makes more sense to back goals tonight. I think that’s something that is always worthy of consideration in the Dutch Eredivisie anyway, given their almost complete lack of interest in defending, but it’s especially true tonight. The lion’s share of money from both teams this season has been spent on attacking players; that’s what they’re interested in. It may have been a number of years since ADO Den Haag were actually any good at it, but the players they’ve now signed makes tonight’s game a lot more interesting than it normally would be.
Earlier in the season, I would not have hesitated in backing SC Heerenveen. Acquiring Swedish wonderkid Nygren on loan from Racing Genk turned them into a very dangerous attacking team, allowing Jansen to field a more traditional SC Heerenveen trident with van Bergen on the other side and big Henk Veerman through the middle. That’s very dangerous by itself, but they’ve also added Siem de Jong in January, and more recently Lasse Schone too. The intent is to improve the distribution to their attackers because only Joey Veerman has done it well for them this season. Now they’ve got two class acts to help out, and it’s made tonight’s hosts very dangerous indeed. Again, a couple of months back, I would have backed them to win this one convincingly.
No matter how good they get in attack though, they seem to get worse and worse in defence. Absolutely any Eredivisie team can score two or three against them nowadays. It’s not a lack of work either – that’s the weird thing. No, this group simply has no clue how to defend, and it’s been that way since Botman left. Subsequently, it’s really hard for me to favour or oppose SC Heerenveen, not knowing whether their attack will shine the brightest, or whether their defensive implosions will do too much damage – and the same applies tonight.
Like I said above, ADO Den Haag have made some really interesting acquisitions this season, especially in 2021. Janmaat and Zuiverloon have arrived in defence to provide the team with greater impetus from an attacking perspective, not that either of them can stay fit. Unsurprisingly, they’re both out tonight too so their defending is just as bad as ever, which was particularly evident against Willem II – how that match stayed 1-1, I do not know!
Their attack looks a lot better though. Mokhtar has settled in now, El Khayati’s return gives them a real class with creating chances, and Adekanye’s arrival in attack has given Ruud Brood an option that isn’t a towering striker up top. That, fused with Vejinovic joining in midfield and Kishna’s return from injury after something like three years out, has suddenly given ADO Den Haag the foundation for a lethal attack. Naturally it’s going to take time for cohesion to come, if indeed it ever does, but the early signs have been encouraging.
I still think that ADO Den Haag need to face a team that will come at them in order to show what they’re capable of though. RKC Waalwijk were surprisingly cautious last time out, and that resulted in a 0-0, whereas the game against Willem II was as open as you could wish for, which is far more typical of the Eredivisie. Given SC Heerenveen’s inability to sit back at any time, I have to believe that this encounter will be open – and that should give the underrated visitors all the encouragement they could possibly desire to make this game interesting.
With that in mind, backing over 3 goals at 51/50 appeals to me greatly.
Verdict: Over 3 goals at 51/50.
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 Sydney FC
Melbourne Victory vs Melbourne City
Austrian Bundesliga:
Hartberg vs Admira Wacker
SCR Altach vs LASK
Swarovski Tirol vs Sturm Graz
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
AS Eupen vs OH Leuven
Waasland-Beveren vs Germinal Beerschot
Antwerp vs Kortrijk
Bulgarian A PFG:
Arda vs Cherno More Varna
CSKA Sofia vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Croatian Prva Liga:
Slaven Koprivnica vs Lokomotiva Zagreb
Hajduk Split vs Varazdin
Czechia Liga 1:
Marila Pribram vs Slovan Liberec
Teplice vs Opava
Zlin vs Bohemians 1905
Viktoria Plzen vs Sigma Olomouc
English Premier League:
Burnley vs Arsenal
Sheffield United vs Southampton
Aston Villa vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Leicester City
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Tammeka vs Trans Narva
Faroese Betrideildin:
EB/Streymur vs IF
Finnish Suomen Cup:
SJK-Akatemia vs SJK
French Coupe de France:
Ales vs Montpellier HSC
Red Star 93 vs Racing Club Lens
Le Puy vs Lorient
Valenciennes vs Metz
Olympique Lyonnais vs Sochaux-Montbeliard
Stade Brestois vs Paris Saint-Germain
German Bundesliga:
Borussia Moenchengladbach vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
TSG Hoffenheim vs VfL Wolfsburg
SC Freiburg vs RB Leipzig
Eintracht Frankfurt vs VfB Stuttgart
Hertha Berlin vs Augsburg
Bayern Munich vs Bv09 Borussia Dortmund
German Bundesliga 2:
Erzgebirge Aue vs Hannover 96
Greuther Furth vs VfL Bochum
Karlsruher SC vs St. Pauli
Hungarian Liga 1:
Paksi SE vs Mezokovesd-Zsory
Puskas FC vs Ujpest
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Netanya vs Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv
Maccabi Haifa vs Maccabi Petah Tikva
Italian Serie A:
Spezia vs Benevento
Udinese vs Sassuolo
Juventus vs SS Lazio
Italian Serie B:
Virtus Entella vs Ascoli
Cosenza vs Frosinone
Pisa vs Reggina
Cremonese vs Salernitana
Pescara vs SPAL
Venezia vs Brescia
Monza vs Pordenone
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Dziugas Telsiai vs Hegelmann Litauen
Dainava vs Nevezis
Dutch Eredivisie:
Feyenoord Rotterdam vs VVV Venlo
FC Twente Enschede vs Willem II
SC Heerenveen vs ADO Den Haag
RKC Waalwijk vs FC Utrecht
Portuguese Liga 1:
Portimonense vs Tondela
Gil Vicente vs FC Porto
Boavista vs Famalicao
Portuguese Liga 2:
Vizela vs Mafra
Russian Premier League:
CSKA Moscow vs Akhmat Grozny
Rotor Volgograd vs FK Khimki
FK Rostov vs PFC Sochi
Spanish Primera Liga:
Real Valladolid vs Getafe
Elche vs Sevilla
Cadiz vs Eibar
CA Osasuna vs Barcelona
Swedish Svenska Cupen:
Vasteras vs GAIS
Malmo FF vs Halmstad
Trelleborg FF vs Lodde
Orebro vs Sirius
Degerfors vs Utsikten
Elfsborg Boras vs Falkenberg
Djurgarden vs Kalmar FF
Brage vs Umea
Swiss Super League:
Young Boys Bern vs Vaduz
Servette vs FC Basel
Swiss Challenge League:
FC Thun vs SC Kriens
Turkish Super Lig:
Denizlispor vs Yeni Malatyaspor
Besiktas JK vs Gazisehir Gaziantep
Enjoy your free betting tips!