TFT Issue 137!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
JJK Jyvaskyla vs IFK Mariehamn – home win at evens.
Today’s featured game is the Veikkausliiga encounter between JJK Jyvaskyla and IFK Mariehamn.
Hosts JJK have been immense so far this season due to their extensive firepower, which has helpfully masked their inability to defend. JJK’s inability to defend is still there but the fact that they’re the third highest goalscorers in the Veikkausliiga right now tells you just why they’ve won six out of nine games. At home, JJK have notched up four wins from four home games whilst averaging scoring over two goals per home game so they leave themselves in good stead for this game.
So where does this power come from? Kari and Hyyrynen are decent strikers but they’re nothing special, in my view. Wusu is their best striker and he’s yet to feature this season so where are all these goals coming from? Midfield, of course! The fact is that Virtanan, Manninen, Markkula, and Gruborovics all live and breathe goals and it’s very hard to contain all of them. For example, KuPS Kuopio thought they had JJK under control until Virtanen produced a long-range lob from nowhere to open the scoring. Gruborovics has started to settle in well since his transfer from IFK Mariehamn pre-season and if you can find markets for him to score against his old club then I’d absolutely take them as he’s almost certain to do so. Either way, JJK have such a dangerous midfield that their strikers have an easier job than most in the Veikkausliiga, hence JJK scoring so many goals.
I do like IFK Mariehamn but away from home this season, they’ve simply not delivered. I feel a bit harsh on them because they huff and they puff for ninety minutes but rarely get the result due to poor play in the final third and their usual lax approach to defending. They lost 2-0 at Inter Turku in the last round and realistically, it could have easily ended 4-2 had it not been for splendid goalkeeping and poor finishing. IFK have some talented players, that’s for sure, but they still miss Gruborovics from their midfield. They’ll miss him even more now that Nigerian Okodugha has been ruled out for the vast majority of the season with injury. Kangaskolkka has to carry the attack because Lehtinen can only score tap-ins and only Forsell is consistently delivering from midfield with his set pieces and creativity but aside from that, IFK aren’t doing enough in attack, hence their results.
I’d never underestimate IFK in Aland but they’re not in Aland today; they’re in the valley of a thousand lakes and this is not walk in the park anymore. They were wasteful in Vaasa, wasted in Turku, and ineffectual in Kuopio during their last trip to this region. I can’t see that changing today, not with their attacking options limited.
For me, the home win is a bargain at evens. JJK can’t defend for shit and may well concede here but they’ve got way too much firepower for their opponents so I thoroughly expect the home win today.
Verdict: JJK Jyvaskyla to win at evens.