Rangers vs Malmo FF
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Today’s secondary featured game is the UEFA Champions League game between Rangers and Malmo FF.
Rangers are very experienced in European football having competed in it for many, many years. They’re notorious for their fanatical support – albeit too fanatical at times, hence not being allowed any fans in Sweden next week for the return leg – but it really does count in their home games. It’s become essential for Rangers, really, given the declining state of the Scottish Premier League! That’s not to say Rangers don’t have good players, though. They’ve got some good players in their squad – good finisher Jelavic, promising Wylde on the left flank, a couple of battlers in the middle with Davis and McCulloch, and all in all, there’s plenty of experience in the team. There are question marks over the managerial ability of Ally McCoist and that does concern me, to be honest – they weren’t great against Hearts. Nonetheless, European football is the bread and butter of a big club like Rangers and I expect a much better display from them tonight.
I have to admit that a lot of my confidence on Rangers tonight stems from Malmo FF, however. This side is not in a good place right now. The sale of Molins a few weeks ago deprived Malmo FF of some creativity in midfield – that’s done damage. The introduction of ex-Assyriska Sodertalje boss Norling as manager hasn’t gone to plan yet as he’s still yet to find the right formation and Malmo are showing it too, with unconvincing display after unconvincing display. They’re not creating chances, they don’t look confident in their manager’s decisions, and they’re not threatening the goal anywhere near enough. They were damn lucky to go through against HB Torshavn of the Faroe Islands in the last round, all in all. They did nothing in the first-half of the first leg and managed to eventually score a couple of goals in the second-half whereas they could have and should have lost 2-0 in the Faroe Islands – only an easy chance being missed and a counter-attack against a side throwing all their men forward earned them a 1-1 draw in a game that they were very poor in. Malmo have looked particularly poor in breaking sides down and as dangerous as young Larsson and Rexhepi can be, I just don’t see a consistent attacking threat in this Malmo side. Read into their 2-3 win at Helsingborg last match what you will; I attribute that to it being a bitter derby, to Helsingborg’s awarded win at Malmo earlier this season due to crowd trouble, and due to Helsingborg selling two of their best players to FC Utrecht. I think Malmo are out of their depth here, basically, and I thoroughly expect it to show.
I don’t like relying on Scottish sides in Europe because they’re not as good as they were. However, I’ve rarely seen Malmo in as poor a state as they are right now and although there’s a chance that they’ll motivate themselves especially against a big European side, I still don’t think they’ve got the quality nor the manager to do anything here. If Rangers show up here then the -1 Asian Handicap at 3/4 will look very good indeed.
Verdict: Rangers to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 3/4.
Tuesday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:
Zestafoni vs Sturm Graz – over 2.5 goals at 11/10.
Two sides with weak defences and strong attacks makes me think this game will go over 2.5 goals. Zestafoni are playing in Tbilisi rather than at home, which will go against them a little, but they’re still a good attacking side and they demonstrated that at home to Dacia Chisinau in the last round. Dacia are a solid defensive unit but Zestafoni ripped through them easily at the start, just as they do in most European encounters against sides within their quality range. I expect them to do the same here against a Sturm Graz defence that is yet to convince in any of their games against either Fehervar or SV Mattersburg. Sturm Graz are fairly experienced in Europe too, however – they were in Tbilisi last year to face Dinamo Tbilisi so this is not a strange place to them. I don’t rate Austrian sides as highly at the moment as I did a couple of years ago because their firepower isn’t what it was but Graz have looked good in front of goal so far this season, if nowhere else, especially with veteran Bosnia-Herzegovina attacker Muratovic in their ranks.
Therefore, I think we’re going over 2.5 goals here. Football isn’t always as logical as it should be but neither side has the capacity to sit deep and defend a lead here so I expect a bit of a “gung-ho” game here. Additionally, Zestafoni miss defender Gongadze through suspension and Sturm Graz miss key defender Standfest and regular midfielder Holzl so we’re unlikely to see a polished display from them here. With the above in mind, over 2.5 goals takes my fancy today.
Team news – Zestafoni miss Gongadze whereas Sturm Graz miss Standfest and Holzl.
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 to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
UEFA Champions League:
Zestafoni vs Sturm Graz (4) 2-1
Ekranas Panevezys vs BATE Borisov (5) 0-0
APOEL Nicosia vs Slovan Bratislava (7) 2-0
Litex Lovech vs Wisla Krakow (6) 0-0
Dynamo Kiev vs Rubin Kazan’ (7) 1-0
Racing Genk vs Partizan Belgrade (7) over 2.5 goals
Twente Enschede vs Vaslui (7) 1-0
Rangers vs Malmo FF (7) 2-0
UEFA Europa League:
Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv vs Helsingborg (5) 1-0
Faroese Meistaradeildin:
IF Fuglafjordur vs B68 Toftir (7) 2-1
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Tauras Taurage vs Zalgiris Vilnius (5) 0-1
Enjoy your free betting tips!