TFT Issue 251!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Bayern Munich vs Bv09 Borussia Dortmund – home win with -1 Asian Handicap at 11/10.
Today’s featured game is the Bundesliga encounter between heavyweights Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
The hosts have impressed me a lot this season, to be fair. How on earth they’ve kept so many clean sheets with such a samba defence baffled me until I saw just how much confidence having a good solid ‘keeper like Neuer behind them has actually done for the team. They look much more composed at the back nowadays and you all know how good Neuer is at shot stopping etc. For me, he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world and Bayern did well to poach him off Schalke 04, whether it was by foul or fair means.
I still believe Bayern to not have a good enough striker for a club of their stature but hey, Gomez is scoring the goals this season. I don’t like the guy – I think he’s generally very predictable and somewhat awkward but he’s scoring goals and you cannot ask for anything more than that from a striker. Subsequently, his confidence is through the roof and with an array of attacking talent behind him with the likes of Muller, Ribery, and Robben lending a hand, you have to fancy Bayern as a potent attacking threat at any given moment. Robben’s injury has meant that the responsibility has spread moreso over the other players but Bayern have a wealth of talent in midfield that compliments them greatly. Barring their unexpected – and frankly undeserved – 0-1 loss against Borussia Moenchengladbach at the start of the current campaign, Bayern haven’t conceded in a home game in the Bundesliga. In fact, they’ve not only kept five consecutive clean sheets but they’ve bagged twenty-three goals along the way, beating the -1 Asian Handicap in each of their last five home games. The Allianz Arena is fast becoming a fortress again and I expect that to be the case again today.
I do like Dortmund, as I’ve said before, but they have their limitations and I can’t help but feel that they’ll show today. After all, Dortmund are very young at the core and as talented as they unquestionably are, especially in midfield, I just feel that they’re too inexperienced to get a result in Munich today. Lewandowski, Kagawa, Gotze etc. are all great attacking prospects and they are not players to idly ignore as a result. That said, Dortmund just haven’t clicked away from home this season, failing to regularly convert their chances. Indeed, Dortmund’s defence is not convincing when it matters and today is one of the days where it really matters for obvious reasons so to say I don’t fancy Dortmund’s chances here would be something of an understatement.
I appreciate that this game is a derby and that can affect things, of course. However, for me, this is men versus boys. Bayern should have more than enough to control the game and win this one, exposing Dortmund’s weakness at the back. I especially have faith in this because Dortmund’s tactics in all their big games this season have quite simply been wrong. Therefore, taking Bayern to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 11/10 really appeals to me today.
Verdict: Bayern Munich to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 11/10.
Additional game
Olympiakos Piraeus vs Panathinaikos – home win at evens.
You know, I sort of promised myself years ago not to get involved with Athens derbies anymore – well, not from a 1×2 perspective, at least – but I feel that I have no choice today.
I’d like to explain why too but to be honest, it quite simply comes down to the fact that Olympiakos are a lot better than Panathinaikos nowadays. Olympiakos are everything that their green-and-white rivals simply are not – cohesive, tenacious, strong, confident, and potent. Valverde has Olympiakos playing very good offensive football whereas Panathinaikos are scraping result wherever they play. Olympiakos have lots of quality players, especially in midfield, not to mention experience. Panathinaikos have some experienced players but not many talented players nowadays, in my view. For me, there’s a bigger gulf between these two sides than the odds suggest and if this game goes as it should then the home win is a bargain at evens.
Verdict: Olympiakos Piraeus to win at evens.
Team news
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Westerlo – Arbeitman, Ngolok, Corstjens, and Vanaudenaerde are absent.
Racing Genk – Anele, Masuero, Joneleit, Grimi, and Simaeys are absent.
Mechelen – Wilmet and Zhairi are absent.
Zulte-Waregem – Habibou is absent.
Lokeren – Finnbogason and Trompet are absent.
Germinal Beerschot – Stijnen is absent.
Mons – No absentees.
Lierse SK – Ayew, Cavens, Thompson, Vets, Frans, Sonck, and Janssens are absent.
Kortrijk – Wijns and Mulemo are absent.
AA Gent – El Ghanassy, Lepoint, M’Sila, Smolders, N’Diaye, and Baric are absent.
Bulgarian A PFG:
Ludogorets – Genchev is absent.
Kaliakra – Phillipov, Sabev, Minkov, Chavdarov, Hronets, and Zafitov are absent.
Cherno More Varna – Yotov, Atanasov, Kamazola, and S.Alexandrov are absent. Yanev and Kolev are doubts.
Svetkavitsa – Venkov is absent. New boss – Spasov.
Montana – No news.
Slavia Sofia – No news.
Levski Sofia – Risp, Stanchev, Raikov, and Ognyanov are absent. Toni Calvo returns.
Rakovski – No news.
Cypriot Division 1:
Anagennisi Deryneia – No absentees.
Anorthosis Famagusta – Ramos and Marangos are absent.
Apollon Limassol – Bagoura and Paolo are absent. New coach – Stoica.
Alki – Cherniak and Panagi are absent.
APOEL Nicosia – Ailton, Boaventura, Constantinou, and Kissas are absent. Yahia is a doubt.
AEK Larnaca – Van Dijk and Linsen are absent. Pavlou is a doubt.
AEL Limassol – Airosa is absent.
Italian Serie A:
Fiorentina – Cassani, Kroldrup, Jovetic, and Natali are absent. Behrami and De Silvestri are doubts.
AC Milan – Flamini, Boateng, and Cassano are absent. Gattuso, Mexes, Pato, and Amelia are doubts.
Internazionale – Muntari, Forlan, Viviano, Chivu, Maicon, Lucio, and Nagatomo are absent. Julio Cesar and Coutinho are doubts.
Cagliari – Cossu, El-Kabir, Astori, and Eriksson are absent.
SSC Napoli – Donadel and Santana are absent. Britos is a doubt.
Lazio – Mauri, Garrido, Bizarri, Klose, Dias, and Kozak are absent. Rocchi is a doubt.
Dutch Eredivisie:
De Graafschap – Nalbantoglu is absent.
PSV Eindhoven – Pieters, Hutchinson, Tamata, Strootman, Tyton, Manolev, and Wuytens are absent.
Heracles Almelo – Maertens, Looms, and Vejinovic are absent.
Twente Enschede – Janko, Kuiper, and Boschker are absent.
NEC Nijmegen – Stadhouders, Nuytinck, Zeefuik, Amieux, and Wellenburg are absent.
Roda JC Kerkrade – Lebedynski, Hempte, and Staelens are absent.
Heerenveen – Roorda is absent.
RKC Waalwijk – No absentees.
AFC Ajax Amsterdam – Ozbiliz, Aissati, Silva, El Hamdaoui, Sigthorsson, Boilesen, de Jong, and Janssen are absent.
NAC Breda – Zonneveld is absent.
Polish Ekstraklasa:
GKS Belchatow – Kosowski is absent. Derby game.
LKS Lodz – Klepczarek and Papikyan are absent. New boss – Tarasiewicz. Derby game.
Ruch Chorzow – Straka, Josl, and Lewczuk are absent.
Cracovia Krakow – Radomski and Suart are absent. Niedzielan, Ntibazonkiza, and Nykiel are doubts.
Legia Warsaw – Kielbowicz, Manu, Hubnik, and Efir are absent.
Lechia Gdansk – Machaj, Bajic, Sazankov, and Lukjanovs are absent. New boss – Ulatowski.
Polish Liga 1:
Flota Swinoujscie – Tomasik, Opalacz, Misan, and Spiaczka are absent.
Kolejarz Stroze – Waleciak (captain) and Gruca are absent. Paknys has left the club.
Ruch Radzionkow – No news.
Bogdanka Leczna – Pielorz, Oziemczuk, and Zukowski are absent. Pesir is a doubt. Luczak returns.
Olimpia Elblag – Buskiewicz has left the club.
Zawisza Bydgoszcz – Kanik, Klofik, Jackiewicz, Skowronski, and Slifirczyk are absent.
Gornik Polkowice – No news.
Dolcan Zabki – No absentees.
Katowice – No news.
Olimpia Grudziadz – Ruszkul is absent.
Arka Gdynia – Siebert is absent.
Sandecja Nowy Sacz – New manager – Moskal.
Romanian Liga:
FC Brasov – New coach Sumudica. Majernik is absent.
Mioveni – Neaga, Voicu, Dica, and Tanasa are absent. Margaritescu is a doubt.
Dinamo Bucharest – M.Niculae is a doubt. Stoica and Bakaj are absent.
Vointa Sibiu – Matei, Majer, Buican, Olteanu, and Tanc are absent.
CFR Cluj – Bastos is a doubt. De Zerbi, Fernandes, and Sare are absent.
Universitatea Cluj – No absentees.
Russian Premier League:
Volga Nizhnyi Novgorod – No absentees.
Amkar Perm’ – Popov, Belorukov, Topcu, Fedorov, and Burmistrov are absent.
Terek Grozny – Legear, Sadaev, Yatchenko, Utsiev, Katz, Asildarov, and Mauricio are absent.
Krylya Sovetov Samara – Rams and Mikheev are absent.
FK Krasnodar – No absentees.
Spartak Nal’chik – Pavlenko, Sadaev, Goshokov, Behramov, and Dzhudovich are absent.
Scottish Premier League:
Inverness Caledonian Thistle – Tudur Jones and Doran are absent.
Celtic – Bangura, Du-Ri, Mulgrew, Loovens, Izaguirre, and Sung-Yeung are absent.
Aberdeen – Folly, Fallon, and Jack are absent.
Motherwell – McHugh, Clancy, Hollis, and Saunders are absent.
Dundee United – Swanson and Severin are absent.
Hearts – Black, Grainger, Santana, Glen, Kyle, and Barr are absent.
Hibernian – Griffiths is absent.
Kilmarnock – Silva, Bell, and O’Leary are absent.
Rangers – Papac, Naismith, Weir, Wylde, Wallace, Bartley, and Healy are absent.
St.Johnstone – No absentees.
St.Mirren – McGregor is absent.
Dunfemline Athletic – Thomson, Phinn, Bell, Easton, Mason, and Rutkiewicz are absent. Dowie and Hardie are doubts.
Serbian Superliga:
OFK Belgrade – Simic is a doubt.
Red Star Belgrade – Kadu is absent. Lazovic is a doubt.
Borac Cacak – Alves and Nikodjevic are absent.
No known absentees for any other Serbian Superliga side playing today.
Slovenian Prva Liga:
Domzale – Grbic, Krcic, Vuk, Zec, Drevensek, and Brezovacki are absent.
Olimpija Ljubljana – Fink and Omladic are absent.
Maribor – Arghus and Viler are absent.
Koper – Struna, Posavec, and Kelenc are absent.
Triglav – Najdenov, Ovcina, and Zornik are absent.
Gorica – No news.
Rudar Velenje – Crncic, Decic, Jelecevic, Novakovic, and Jesenicnik are absent.
Nafta Lendava – No news.