VfL Osnabruck vs St. Pauli
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Today’s free tip is in the German Bundesliga 2 encounter between VfL Osnabruck and St. Pauli.
St. Pauli have started to drop off a tad now that relegation is all but impossible but they’re still a long way ahead of Osnabruck. Besides, let’s be fair – St. Pauli’s recent ‘dip’ has come against Karlsruher SC and Paderborn 07, two teams that are hoping to be involved in the promotion race. Paderborn 07 remain one of the better teams in this division, not that they’ve shown it often enough this season, and Karlsruher SC have had a blinding season. Let’s just say that it’s acceptable for St. Pauli to fail in both matches.
You know what’s funny? It’s a crazy long shot, but St. Pauli could still theoretically be promoted. That’s how close the Bundesliga 2 is this season, and it’s why it’s one of the best leagues in Europe to actually watch. If the teams above them were flying then I’d laugh that statement off – but they’re not. Barely any Bundesliga 2 teams can string two wins together at the moment but St. Pauli, prior to their little dip, won seven out of their last eight. When you fuse a naturally spirited team with a potent goal threat, that’s what you get – and I daresay there was a sprinkling of desperation to avoid the relegation battle too.
The trigger for St. Pauli’s resurgence was getting Burgstaller back from injury, and bringing in Marmoush on loan. Those two have revitalised a stale St. Pauli attack, which only had inconsistent Kyereh and big Makienok in it before that, and they weren’t even serviced properly with Miyaichi still out. Now, though? They have a genuine runner in behind defenders that times his runs well, and they have an experienced hitman that knows how to find the net at this level. He’s never been good enough for the Bundesliga, Burgstaller, but he’s a beast at this level, and St. Pauli are making the most of it.
With Zalazar and Dittgen finding it easier to get forward because of the quality now ahead of them, particular pertaining to link-up play, St. Pauli are flourishing. They’re still not a top team but they’re incredibly motivated, and they’ve mostly looked focused over the past couple of months. It’s amazing what scoring goals and winning games does for confidence, isn’t it? I really don’t think that a couple of unfortunate results against superior teams is going to derail St. Pauli today against inferior Osnabruck either.
It’s more than Osnabruck being inferior, too. They piqued way too early this season, the home team, and have struggled more than any other in 2021. Even Wurzburger Kickers and Eintracht Braunschweig have put themselves out there, trying to get better results, and trying to bring in better players to help. Osnabruck have seen their impending doom and done absolutely nothing. They loaned injury-prone Dutch forward Grot from Leeds United back in January, for example, and he’s still yet to debutise due to injury! Shocker, I know(!). Muller joined in February too; he’s still yet to score for his new team. When I see Braunschweig bringing in Ji, and Kickers bringing in Feltscher, I cannot accept that Osnabruck don’t have enough pulling power for better players than those two. It’s as if they don’t think they’ll be relegated, you know?
They really do need a reality check, Osnabruck, which is presumably what the board hope new boss Feldhoff will bring for the rest of the season. He had two weeks to prepare his team for a trip to lazy Nurnberg, who are also in the relegation battle, and still only scored a 1-1 draw then, which bodes ominously for Osnabruck. They’ve still got big injury problems, particularly in attack where towering Ihorst and Amenyido are both still out, and Santos hasn’t scored in ages. They are not good enough to cope without their forwards scoring, hence their panic buys in 2021, and thus their relative demise cannot be considered a surprise.
Osnabruck cannot defend, cannot score goals, and have an inexperienced manager shepherding a very average group at the business end of the season. Suffice to say that things are not looking good for Osnabruck, who are very demoralised at the moment. They don’t look like they believe that they can get out of this mire, Osnabruck, and playing against St. Pauli without belief is absolutely fatal. Osnabruck need to win this game, but I genuinely can’t see where their next win is coming from. They’ve got a massive Cup Final-esque game against Eintracht Braunschweig coming soon though, and if they don’t win that, I really do think we can write them off in the relegation battle.
A draw just doesn’t help Osnabruck today. They need to go for the win, and that’s only going to play into the hands of lethal St. Pauli. For me, the away win at 21/20 is a must here.
Verdict: St. Pauli to win at 21/20.
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.
Australian A-League:
Wellington Phoenix vs Brisbane Roar
Newcastle Jets vs Adelaide United
Austrian Bundesliga:
Hartberg vs St. Polten
Austria Vienna vs Wolfsberger AC
SCR Altach vs SV Ried
Admira Wacker vs Sturm Graz
Swarovski Tirol vs Rapid Vienna
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Club Brugge vs Antwerp
KV Mechelen vs OH Leuven
RSC Anderlecht vs Zulte-Waregem
AA Gent vs Cercle Brugge
Bulgarian A PFG:
CSKA 1948 Sofia vs Botev Vratsa
Beroe vs CSKA Sofia
Levski Sofia vs Slavia Sofia
Croatian Prva Liga:
Rijeka vs Varazdin
Dinamo Zagreb vs Gorica
Czechia Liga 1:
Slovacko vs Banik Ostrava
Teplice vs Bohemians 1905
Ceske Budejovice vs Sparta Prague
Slavia Prague vs Opava
Danish Superligaen:
Brondby vs AGF
FC Midtjylland vs Vejle
Randers vs FC Copenhagen
AC Horsens vs Lyngby
FC Nordsjaelland vs SonderjyskE
Aalborg BK vs OB
English Premier League:
West Ham United vs Arsenal
Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur
English FA Cup:
Chelsea vs Sheffield United
Leicester City vs Manchester United
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Tulevik vs Flora Paide
French Ligue 1:
Racing Club Strasbourg vs Racing Club Lens
Stade Brestois vs Angers SCO
Dijon FCO vs Stade de Reims
Montpellier HSC vs Girondins de Bordeaux
FC Nantes Atlantique vs Lorient
Lille OSC vs Nimes Olympique
Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain
German Bundesliga:
TSG Hoffenheim vs Mainz 05
Hertha Berlin vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
SC Freiburg vs Augsburg
German Bundesliga 2:
Greuther Furth vs Nurnberg
VfL Osnabruck vs St. Pauli
Wurzburger Kickers vs Jahn Regensburg
Italian Serie A:
Hellas Verona vs Atalanta Bergamo
Juventus vs Benevento
Udinese vs SS Lazio
Sampdoria vs Torino
ACF Fiorentina vs AC Milan
AS Roma vs SSC Napoli
Italian Serie B:
Reggina vs Chievo Verona
Salernitana vs Brescia
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Dainava vs Dziugas Telsiai
Dutch Eredivisie:
PEC Zwolle vs VVV Venlo
AZ Alkmaar vs PSV Eindhoven
Vitesse Arnhem vs Willem II
Heracles Almelo vs Sparta Rotterdam
AFC Ajax Amsterdam vs ADO Den Haag
Portuguese Liga 1:
Rio Ave vs Belenenses
Maritimo Funchal vs Famalicao
Boavista vs Farense
Sporting Braga vs SL Benfica
Portuguese Liga 2:
UD Oliveirense vs Academica de Coimbra
Vizela vs Arouca
FC Porto II vs Sporting Covilha
SL Benfica II vs Leixoes Matosinhos
Romanian Liga 1:
Sepsi vs Gaz Metan Medias
Spanish Primera Liga:
Getafe vs Elche
Valencia vs Granada
Villarreal vs Cadiz
Atletico Madrid vs Deportivo Alaves
Real Sociedad vs Barcelona
Swiss Super League:
Young Boys Bern vs FC Zurich
Luzern vs FC Sion
Servette vs Vaduz
Turkish Super Lig:
Antalyaspor vs BB Erzurumspor
Konyaspor vs Alanyaspor
Denizlispor vs Istanbul BB
Besiktas JK vs Fenerbahce
Enjoy your free betting tips!