TFT Issue 202!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Porto vs Shakhtar Donetsk – both sides to score at 5/6.
Today’s featured game is the UEFA Champions League game between Portuguese giants Porto and Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk.
My opinions are a little outspoken sometimes but as you may have noticed, I don’t really care! My opinion for this game is that there’s very little between the two sides and certainly not enough on Porto’s side to merit such short odds.
I like watching Porto; I do it quite regularly because you make a lot of money in-play, basically. However, unsurprisingly, this side is a lot more unreliable in front of goal since the sale of Falcao and is it any wonder? They’ve brought no experience in up front and now are relying on a partially injured Hulk to do the work. I like Hulk an awful lot; I think he’s a fantastic player. However, barring him, there’s a lot of strikers in this team that are promising but not really there yet. The theme of the game against Vitoria Setubal lately was Porto dominating the ball (as they’ve got some fantastic playmakers in their team) and squandering chance after chance. Well, with Chygrynskyi back in the Shakhtar defence now, I doubt they’ll get as many chances here and I certainly don’t see them scoring too many without a splendid display so subsequently, I can’t see why they’re so short here.
Will Porto score? I think so. There are very few games where Porto don’t score at the electric Estadio do Dragao, one of the finest stadiums in Europe for my money. They play the ball around beautifully and the passing and movement of Moutinho, Rodriguez, Defour, and Hulk should be too much for Shakhtar at somepoint. However, again, I won’t go over the top with Porto – they’re not as adept at beating men as they once were; they prefer to pass the ball around a lot now.
The bad news is that Porto’s defence is going to have a huge hole in it now because Rolando is suspended. Otamendi is decent enough but Maicon terrifies me due to how error-prone the Brazilian defender is. Alvaro Pereira misses out too, which is yet another big blow for Porto. Lastly, even deep-lying midfielder Guarin is suspended so Porto’s defensive game here should be very sloppy.
Can Shakhtar capitalise on that? I think so. They play a similar type of football to Porto although they have more options in the final third with Dentinho, Luiz Adriano, and Eduardo vying for places, not to mention Moreno. They’ve got some fantastic passers in their midfield too with Fernandinho and Jadson controlling the game from the middle of the park and Douglas Costa wreaking mayhem on the left-hand side. Shakhtar’s weak spot has been the holding midfield area, which it has been for years. In the space of something stupid like twelve months, Shakhtar waved farewell to Tymoschuk (still one of the best holding midfielders in Europe for me, despite Bayern playing him at centre-back), Lewandowski, and Duljaj, which was just suicide. They tend to sit Hubschman or Kucher in behind the midfield but nobody really stands out in this role. In the Ukrainian Premier League, that’s rarely exploited as they’re currently the best side in it but against a side like Porto whose speciality is attacking through the middle of the park, I expect there to be problems.
All in all, I’m expecting a few goals here. I can’t see this game ending without both sides scoring. The 1×2 market is a huge “no go” for me here. However, Shakhtar +1 AH looks generous and may be worth a stab. Either way, taking both sides to score is definitely my main call here.
Verdict: Both sides to score at 5/6.
Team news
UEFA European Champions League:
Barcelona – Sanchez is absent.
AC Milan – Robinho, Ibrahimovic, Flamini, Menez, and Gattuso are absent.
Olympiakos Piraeus – No news.
Olympique de Marseille – Ayew, M’Bia, N’Koulou, and Valbuena are absent.
Porto – Pereira, Sandro, Guarin, Sapunaru, and Rolando are absent.
Shakhtar Donetsk – Kucher is a doubt.
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund – Barrios is absent.
Arsenal – Ramsey, Wilshere, Diaby, Rosicky, and Vermaelen are absent.
Viktoria Plzen – No absentees.
BATE Borisov – Likhtorovich is a doubt.
Chelsea – Ramires, Bertrand, Essien, Drogba, and Lukaku are absent.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – Adler and Barnetta are absent.
Racing Genk – De Bruyne and Benteke are absent. Grimi, Masuera, and Sarr are doubts.
Valencia CF – No absentees.
APOEL Nicosia – No news.
Zenit St.Petersburg – No news.
Estonian Meistriliiga:
No news other than that Anier and Alliku are absent for Flora Tallinn and that Kalmaa returns for Flora Paide.
Lithuanian A Lyga:
No news.