TFT Issue 2323!

Dinamo Zagreb produced a lovely lazy display at weekend and thus failed to beat a team that they’re a lot better than. The word “tossers” comes to mind. Anyway, they’ve really no excuses for failing to beat bankrupt Istra 1961 in tonight’s Croatian Cup affair at Maksimir. The visitors have players leaving daily, no future, and nobody has been paid in ages. Dinamo Zagreb are at home and are ten times better. This should be a home win.

Salzburg are looking just a bit too good for the rest of Austria at the moment. They’re winning games in a really efficient and confident way, even against other top Bundesliga sides. I doubt SV Mattersburg are going to have enough to prevent the reigning champions from claiming three points here.

Rotation is expected but Barcelona CF should not struggle to overcome a Real Murcia side that have to attack them at Nou Camp to stand any chance of going through. If the visitors are especially bold then it could be a massacre but we’ll have to judge that in-play. Either way, I expect a home win.

Luzern have plummeted too much this season for my liking. They’re seldom far away from scoring the odd goal but their defence is weaker than ever and it’s getting exposed regularly because their attacking isn’t as effective as it was when they had quality and depth galore. They’re not going to be in the relegation battle, I’m sure, but they’re not really capable of stopping FC Basel, as they adequately proved at weekend. I can still nit-pick with FC Basel for reasons mentioned in the not-too-distant past but I expect the home side to win this one.

Sevilla CF should have too much quality for Cartagena at home, even if they rotate their squad – they’ve got a lot of options to choose from and the atmosphere at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan is intimidating to say the least. I expect a home win.

Things aren’t going well for Clement at the moment. Swansea City have had injury problems and thus bad results, hence increased pressure on him. Now Welsh boss Pulis is out of work, somebody that is proven to keep teams in the Premier League, and Clement is managing…a Welsh team. Hmm. Food for thought! Anyway, as much as I do like some of Swansea City’s footballers, they’re not working well as a unit. I suspect that’s going to shepherd them to defeat at Stamford Bridge tonight too. The reigning champions always look tactically astute under Conte and with the wealth of talent at his disposal, I expect them to claim three points here.

The fact that Southampton scored over 25% of their Premier League goals this season against Everton tells you that all is not well at Pellegrino’s team. They’ve still got a good squad but things just aren’t clicking yet. Unfortunately for the south coast outfit, they’re up against high-flying Manchester City, who basically look unstoppable. No matter what obstacle is placed before them, they’re finding ways around them. They’re very impressive indeed. I do think that they’ll slow down in the next month or two but I can’t see a reason to doubt them beating Southampton.

My understanding is that there will be few fans allowed today. I believe PSG’s fans are being punished for letting off flares against OGC Nice lately. It shouldn’t really affect the outcome but I’d rather you had all the facts before making your selections. Personally, I think that PSG are far too good for Troyes. In fact, I know they are. They should prove it too. On paper, their 2-1 win at AS Monaco looks sketchy. In reality, it was an absolute massacre and if Mbappe could actually finish and Cavani wasn’t missing free headers from six yards out then PSG would have embarrassed AS Monaco. I’m expecting another strong display here and Troyes are going to be powerless to stop them.