AS Roma
FreeI don’t know about you lot, but I just have to feel sorry for AS Roma. I think it’s every year for the past 4 now that they’ve crashed out of the Champions League to English opposition. I suspect they may throw the towel in soon! The look on Francesco Totti’s face when he saw his side eliminated again was one of real regret and despair. He’s an AS Roma boy through and through, but it’s easy to see how much he wants to win the Champions League. Will he move to win it? Unlikely. However, his younger compatriots in midfield from the same AS Roma academy may consider moving. Daniele De Rossi and Alberto Aquilani are two great prospects in my opinion, but De Rossi has yet to control his temper and Aquilani is still overshadowed by the gifted players around him.
Incidentally, rumour has it that Sepp Blatter has decided that in the near future, the 2nd round of the Champions League should allow teams from the same country to face each other as opposed to waiting until the quarter-finals. Due to English dominance in recent years, I can see his point of view on that matter, but will that really solve anything? You’ll still get an English side in the final due to the league’s superiority over the other leagues, as sad as it may be to say. The problem needs to be tackled in the domestic leagues – either there needs to be a financial spending limit/wage limit or there needs to be more money invested in other leagues. Honestly, in a few years time, I seriously believe the Russian Premier League will surpass the Italian Serie A due to the massive financial backing for that league. That is the power of money in today’s game so it either needs to be embraced and spread around or it needs to be wiped out. Leaving it alone and tiptoeing around the issue won’t resolve shit!
Friday’s Picks
My tips:
My favourite treble of the day for value and likelihood has to be Legia Warsaw, Lens and Rhyl. Following close at its heels, I do fancy Cambuur Leeuwarden, Groningen and Bohemians.
If you fancy an accumulator, I’d recommend the below sides to use in whatever-sized accumulator you’d like. I’d personally seperate them into 6 & 7 team accumulators and put Polonia Warsaw in the larger bet due to the odds being about 2/5. The sides below are in no particular order btw!
Sturm Graz, Anderlecht, TPS Turku
Galway United, Drogheda United, RKC Waalwijk
MVV Maastricht, VVV Venlo, Polonia Warsaw
Leixoes, CFR Cluj, Unirea Urziecni, Vorskla
My riskiest tip of the day goes to VFL Wolfsburg, Lokomotiv Sofia, and Ujpest in a crafty treble! All these sides are capable of winning their respective games against tough opposition.
For the rest of the picks, see below!
Austrian Bundesliga:
Sturm Graz vs SV Ried (7) 2-1
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Mechelen vs Anderlecht (7) 1-3
Bulgarian A PFG:
PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad vs Lokomotiv Sofia (6) 1-2
Finnish Liiga Cup:
TPS Turku vs RoPS Rovaniemi (7) 2-1
French Ligue 2:
Bastia vs Montpellier HSC (6)
Brest vs Tours (5)
Chateauroux vs Boulogne (4)
Clermont Foot vs Guingamp (6)
Dijon FCO vs Stade de Reims (6)
Vannes OC vs Amiens (5)
Lens vs AC Ajaccio (9)
Sedan-Ardennes vs Metz (4)
Troyes vs Angers (6)
German Bundesliga:
VFL Wolfsburg vs Schalke 04 (5) 2-1
Hungarian Soproni Liga:
Haladas vs Ujpest (6) 1-2
Irish Premier League:
Bohemians vs Derry City (8) 2-0
Cork City vs St Patrick’s Athletic (4) 1-1
Drogheda United vs Bray Wanderers (8) 3-1
Galway United vs Dundalk (7) 2-0
Shamrock Rovers vs Sligo Rovers (3) 1-1
Italian Serie B:
Ascoli vs Piacenza (6)
Empoli vs Parma (6)
Dutch Eredivisie:
Groningen vs Roda JC (8) 2-0
Dutch Eerste Divisie:
AGOVV Appeldoorn vs Fortuna Sittard (5)
FC Den Bosch vs Go Ahead Eagles (5)
Dordrecht ’90 vs Excelsior (6)
FC Eindhoven vs RKC Waalwijk (8)
MVV Maastricht vs FC Haarlem (7)
RBC Roosendaal vs Top Oss (4)
Stormvogels Telstar vs Cambuur Leeuwarden (8)
VVV Venlo vs Helmond Sport (7)
FC Zwolle vs Omniworld (9)
Polish Ekstraklasa:
Polonia Warsaw vs LKS Lodz (8) 2-1
Jagiellonia Bialystok vs Legia Warsaw (8) 0-2
Portuguese Liga:
Pacos de Ferreira vs Leixoes (7) 0-1
Romanian Liga:
Unirea Urziceni vs Pandurii (8) 2-0
CFR Cluj vs Rapid Bucharest (7) 2-1
Turkish Super Lig:
Fenerbahce vs Kocaelispor (9) 3-1
Ukrainian Premier League:
Vorskla vs Lviv (9) 2-0
Welsh Premier League:
Rhyl vs Bangor (8)
Welshpool vs Connah’s Quay Nomads (6)
Enjoy your free betting tips!