TFT Issue 264!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
I may not get chance to update all the team news today so if not, please post the news from your respective countries, guys – thanks a lot!
Featured game
Real Betis Balompie vs Valencia CF – away win at 7/5.
Today’s featured game is the Primera Liga encounter in Andaluscia between Betis and Valencia.
Betis started the season quite well following promotion but the chinks in their armour are really starting to show. They’ve lost nine out of their last ten games, drawing the other, and everything just looks to be going wrong for them. The fact that Santa Cruz, a proven finisher, is not scoring goals is testament to the lack of service that he’s getting. There’s too much pressure on Benat and Salva (who is absent tonight anyway) and their defence has been weak. They’re bereft of confidence and have very little composure. Their defence, midfield, and attack are all three very separate areas right now and that lack of cohesion is doing Betis so much damage. They’re lacking quality throughout their team, especially at the back, and I just can’t see them getting a positive result here.
I’m not the biggest fan of Valencia, as I’ve mentioned countless times before. However, they have an uncanny ability to win away from home in the Primera Liga and I frankly feel much more comfortable backing them on the road than I do at home as they don’t handle pressure well. For counter-attacks and frustrating play, Valencia are amongst the best sides in the Primera Liga. They don’t play particularly entertaining football on the road but they almost always manage to score and for some reason, sides find it very hard to score against their makeshift defence. Although they miss Canales and Banega tonight, I feel Valencia have more than enough firepower and experience to win this one.
For me, these two sides are polar opposites. Betis frustrate due to a lack of cohesion and confidence whereas Valencia look confident with their incisive counter-attacks and their passing game is very hard to deal with. Again, Canales’ absence will hurt them today but at 7/5, I think there’s more than enough value in this one to take the risk!
Verdict: Valencia CF to win at 7/5.
Additional games
Olympique de Marseille vs Girondins de Bordeaux – home win at 4/5.
You’ll rarely see me bet on the heavyweights in France because the gap between the good sides and the bad sides is minimal at best so when I see odds of 4/6 or 4/7 on sides like Lyon or Marseille at home, I frankly run a mile!
However, Marseille have looked good lately and they’re facing a poor Bordeaux side. Marseille have won three consecutive games, including a 3-0 annihlation of bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain, so I can take them seriously for the present time at least! I don’t like the guy but Remy finally looks good up front for Marseille although I still feel that the heartbeat(s) of the team are the two Ghanaian forwards Andre Ayew and Jordan Ayew. At times, those two are unplayable and with Lucho and Valbuena in midfield, Marseille really should have the firepower to win this one, especially with momentum behind them.
Visitors Bordeaux have been poor ever since Laurent Blanc left. We all knew that would happen, though – they’re not a good side but they had a master tactician who knew how to approach every game. In France, you don’t have to be a great side to do well – you just have to defend well and you’ll generally get at least a draw from each game as there are very few of what I would call “good strikers” in Ligue 1 to trouble them. Bordeaux capitalised on that really well but without Blanc, they even struggle to defend properly. They’ve done well lately with Gillot inspiring his team to back-to-back wins. However, it’s worth noting that both were at home and now they must face the unenviable trip to the Stade Velodrome to see how far their luck can stretch. I respect the defensive potential of this Bordeaux side but their attack is just poor. Modeste, Gouffran, Diabate – they’re not great, are they? There’s some decent players here but nothing more. I’m quite a big advocate of Czech playmaker Plasil at this level but again, there’s hardly anything alongside him to concern me. Bordeaux’s defence is their only saving grace here, in my view, and I just don’t think that they’re good enough to keep Marseille’s in-form attacking threesome out tonight.
With Marseille at 4/5, I’m happy to take them to win this one tonight. I’d leave it if the odds drop as I just don’t like taking favourites in France below those odds for the vast majority of the time. Bordeaux aren’t a great side and Marseille really should have enough to win this game.
Verdict: Olympique de Marseille to win at 4/5.
Anorthosis Famagusta vs Apollon Limassol – home win at 4/5.
This one is more about the lesser of two evils, really. Neither side is in great form but the word that springs to mind with Apollon Limassol in mind is “fragile”. This side plays quite well with confidence but without it, they just look horrendous. Their losses pre-season of winger Kosowski, striker Adorno, and especially experienced Portuguese midfielder Semedo have damaged Apollon irreperably but what else could they do? They’re struggling financially and it shows. The absence of Bangura has hurt them, too – he was massive for them last season. Apollon look bereft of quality and a leader and back-to-back Limassol derby defeats against newly-promoted Aris Limassol and bitter rivals AEL Limassol have left Apollon at rock-bottom again. They’re not scoring goals and they’re conceding too easily so how will they cope with Anorthosis today? The hosts aren’t in great condition themselves but they at least bring match-winners into this game such as Marquinhos and Okkas. What helps Anorthosis massively is having two very able and experienced strikers in Jan Rezek and Michalis Konstantinou. Those two guys know how to find the net and whether Anorthosis play well or not, you know that they’re generally going to find the net at somepoint. Anorthosis have problems of their own but they’ve got better players than Apollon and they’ve got far more firepower so for me, 4/5 on the home win is a bit of a steal today – it looks priced moreso on how Apollon were last season rather than how they are this season.
Verdict: Anorthosis Famagusta to win at 4/5.
Anagennisi Deryneia vs AEK Larnaca – away win at 5/6.
Newly-promoted Anagennisi Deryneia are not going to stay in this division very long if they continue as they are. They concede goals far, far too easily and they don’t find the net enough themselves to cope with their weakness. They’ve not won a game in any competition since early September and have actually lost six out of their last seven games. Confidence is low and they’re short of someone to pull them around. What can they do? They’ve got low morale and they’ve not got the quality to survive right now so there’s precious little that Adamou can do to help them out.
Visitors AEK Larnaca are my team of the moment, really. I love how they’re still being underestimated by the bookies despite being good enough to be a top three side in Cyprus. They didn’t start as well as they could have but denying how much quality and experience there is in their ranks would just be foolish! Gonzalo Garcia and Gorka Pintado up front look strong and there’s bags of creativity and know-how in midfield, too. Their defence looks stronger now Hofland is getting back to his best and Vlemmings has got them playing quite well at the moment, despite still being new at the helm. I’m sure the time will come when AEK Larnaca do let me down because that’s inevitable in football but I’m quite serious when I say that my opinion is that only APOEL Nicosia and Omonia Nicosia are stronger than AEK Larnaca right now.
For me, there’s bags of value on the away win here. There’s a big quality gap, bigger than the league table suggests, and I think AEK Larnaca really should win this one in their typical dominant fashion.
Verdict: AEK Larnaca to win at 5/6.
Team news
Australian A-League:
Melbourne Victory – Velaphi and Vargas are absent. Kewell is a doubt.
Adelaide United – Cassio and Vidosic are absent. van Dijk is a doubt. Boogaard returns.
Wellington Phoenix – Pantelis and Downey are absent. Smith is a doubt.
Perth Glory – Sikora, Pantelidis, Coyne, Young, Neville, and Berger are absent. Dodd is a doubt.
Central Coast Mariners – Musialik is a doubt.
Newcastle Jets – Culina is absent. Kennedy is a doubt. Bridges and Jeffers return.
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
AA Gent – Bruzzese, Lepoint, Ba, Rafinha, and M’Sila are absent. El Ghanassy and Coulibaly are doubts.
Germinal Beerschot – Dayan and Stijnen are absent.
Cypriot Division 1:
Anorthosis Famagusta – Vucevic, Marangos, Ramos, and Sielis are absent, as is Rezek. Laborde and Markinios return.
Apollon Limassol – Vasilogiannis, S.Demetriou, G.Demetriou, Charalambous, and Pittaras are absent. Paolo and Sissoko return.
Anagennisi Deryneia – Tofas, Kotsonis, Gonzales, Elia, Giannakou, Demosthenous, Virak, and Felix are absent, as is Soares. Alleged match-fixing rumours for the Cup game earlier this week.
AEK Larnaca – Mrdakovic, Pavlou, Skopelitis, Rouben, Gomez, Demetriou, and Priso are absent.
AEL Limassol – Enrique is absent.
Ethnikos Achnas – Kasio, Kisi, and Filaniotis are absent. Pourie, Bambic, and Kembatze return.
French Ligue 1:
AC Ajaccio – N’Diaye and Begeorgi are absent.
Girondins de Bordeaux – Chalme and Marange are absent.
Stade Brestois – Martial and Bigne are absent. Lorenzi returns.
Stade Malherbe de Caen – Leca and Lazarevic are doubts.
Evian Thonon Gaillard – Lacour and Laquait are absent.
Olympique de Marseille – Gignac is absent. M’Bia is a doubt.
AS Nancy-Lorraine – Cuvilier and Haidara are doubts.
Paris Saint-Germain – Chantome, Hoarau, and Matuidi are absent.
Stade Rennais – Boukari, Mangane, and Boye are absent. Kana-Biyik returns.
Sochaux – Perquis, Carlao, Maiga, and Peybernes are absent. Anin is not in the group.
Saint-Etienne – Andreu, Alonso, and Perrin are absent.
Toulouse – Riviere and Riou are absent.
Valenciennes – Cohade is absent.
Greek Super League:
Xanthi – No news.
Levadiakos – Manager has worked with Xanthi before.
PAOK Salonika – lots of injuries but names not yet released.
Atromitos – No news.
AEK Athens – Again, lots of important absentees but no names released yet.
PAS GIannina – New boss Anastasiadis.
Italian Serie A:
Internazionale – Sneijder, Viviano, Lucio, and Zanetti are absent. Chivu, Muntari, Forlan, Maicon, and Stankovic are doubts.
Fiorentina – Montolivo, Cassani, Kroldrup, and Cerci are absent.
Lecce – Ofere, Carrozzieri, and Strasser are absent.
Lazio – Brocchi, Bizarri, Del Nero, Mauri, Garrido, Dias, Zauri, Matuzalem, and Makinwa are absent. Konko is a doubt.
Siena – Vergassola and Belmonte are absent.
Genoa – Antonelli, Kaladze, and Bovo are absent. Birsa, Dainelli, and Kucka are doubts.
Palermo – Hernandez and Migliaccio are absent. Budan, Zahavi, and Mantovani are doubts.
Cesena – Martinez, Colucci, Antonioli, Lauro, and Martinho are absent. Comotto and Rennella are doubts.
Dutch Eredivisie:
Excelsior Rotterdam – Vincken, Nuytinck, Oost, and Eekmann are absent.
Heerenveen – Rooda is absent.
AZ Alkmaar – Marcellis, Boymans, and Martens are absent.
De Graafschap – Kujala, Srekovic, Seaijs, and Nalbantoglu are absent.
Twente Enschede – Fer and Boschker are absent.
NEC Nijmegen – Wellerberg, van der Eijden, and Nijland are absent.
Polish Ekstraklasa:
Ruch Chorzow – Olszar and Josl are absent. Zienczak is a doubt.
Korona Kielce – Malarczyk is absent.
Widzew Lodz – No news.
Gornik Zabrze – Zahorski, Gierczak, Plonka, and Danch are absent.
Legia Warsaw – Vrdoljak is absent. Zyro returns.
Cracovia Krakow – Suart, Kahlon, and Hosek are absent.
Portuguese Liga Sagres:
Beira-Mar – Bura and Turan return. No absentees.
Porto – Fucile, Defour, Kleber, and Guarin are absent.
Sporting Clube de Lisboa – Jeffren, Izmailov, Schaars, Rodriguez, Rinaudo, and Fernandez are absent.
CD Nacional de Madeira – Danielson, Juliano, Madrid, and Alberto are absent.
Scottish Premier League:
Hibernian – Murray is out.
Rangers – Naismith and Weir are absent. Lafferty is a doubt.
Aberdeen – Halali is absent.
St.Mirren – Thomson and Murry are absent.
Celtic – Matthews, Ledley, Commons, and Izaguirre are absent.
Hearts – Grainger, Kyle, Barr, Santana, and Glen are absent. Webster is a doubt.
Dunfermline Athletic – Cardle, Burns, McCann, Phinn, Easton, Thomson, Rutkiewicz, Bell, and McDougall are absent. Boyle is a doubt.
Kilmarnock – Silva and Bujis are absent. Shiels and Heffernan are doubts.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle – Meekings, Proctor, Chippendale, Doran, and Tudur-Jones are absent.
Dundee United – Swanson and Severin are absent.
St.Johnstone – Sheridan, Morris, and Wright are absent. Sandaza is a doubt.
Motherwell – Saunders is absent.
Spanish Primera Liga:
Barcelona – Adriano and Afellay are absent.
Real Betis Balompie – Salva, Montero, and Vadillo are absent.
Levante – Del Horno, Aranda, and Nano are absent.
Real Madrid – Carvalho is absent.
Sevilla CF – No absentees.
Valencia CF – Banega, Canales, and Maduro are absent.