TFT Issue 270!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Santos vs Barcelona – over 3.5 goals at evens.
Today’s featured game is the FIFA World Club Cup Final between Brazilian giants Santos and European giants Barcelona.
Both sides have impressed in their only games of the tournament, scoring at will and comfortably easing past their respective opponents.
I think this is going to be a great game. Neither side sits back as both prefer to attack and score goals and I’ll be astounded if we don’t see that in this game. Barcelona are obviously the better side but with talented players such as Elano, Ganso, and especially Neymar in Santos ranks, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see them score a goal or two here. Defence has been a sore point of Barcelona’s this season and I think it still is now. The absence of David Villa due to his broken leg does concern me a little because as good as Barcelona are unquestionably are, he remains their only poacher and sometimes a poacher is what you need. I’m taking the risk on his absences because Santos really cannot defend for shit and Barcelona not scoring at least three times here is going to surprise me a lot.
Will Barcelona win? Probably – they’re more than good enough to. I don’t know, though – Spain’s national team has strange games with hispanic opponents and that’s mostly Barcelona’s team so maybe this will be a surprising game too. Either way, I think going over 3.5 goals is well worth it at evens as this game should ooze goals.
Verdict: Over 3.5 goals at evens.
Additional games
Cesena vs Internazionale – away win at 10/11.
Hosts Cesena aren’t a bad side but they’re far from a good side too. They’re hard to break down and will fight for every ball but are very short on quality. Kudos to them, though – they’ve won four out of their last five games and didn’t concede in any of those four wins, even winning in Sicily against Palermo. That means they do bring some confidence and momentum into this game and they’ll be more than motivated for it, especially against a big side like Internazionale. However, they don’t score enough goals due to the onus always being on Mutu to do the damage with Eder too poor at this level and Bogdani too immobile. They do have pace on the flanks and a good box-to-box midfieder in Candreva but aside from that, this Cesena side has little more than good cohesion. They’re capable of stopping most sides from winning here this season but are Internazionale one of them?
I don’t think so, personally. Maybe a few weeks ago but Ranieri has started to get his feet under the table in Milan and we all know how good a manager he is when given time to demonstrate it. They’re not exactly on-fire right now but four wins from five games in Serie A is pretty damn good if we compare that to their horrendous early season form. They’ve still got some big absentees but they’ve also got players back and more than enough depth to cover for them. Milito is supposedly unhappy but so what? Forlan is back and there’s Pazzini, Zarate, and Castaignos to play up front so I’m not concerned. Internazionale aren’t great to watch yet and probably won’t be until Sneijder returns but they are rapidly becoming an efficient unit. They dominate games and win by narrow margins but it works. That is the Italian way, after all.
Therefore, 10/11 on the Inter win really appeals to me today. I think it’ll be a scrappy and uninteresting game but Inter should have more than enough firepower to take a much-needed three points from this game.
Verdict: Internazionale to win at 10/11.
Valencia CF vs Malaga – home win at 4/5.
Give it another couple of years and Malaga may be able to win games like this but as it currently stands, they just don’t have the composure. You could make a case for saying that Malaga have better individuals than Valencia CF and the only area that could realistically be argued would be midfield. However, when it comes to producing a galvanised display, Valencia win this one hands-down each time. Unai Emery makes his sides work hard and they have a good understanding when attacking and thus I’ll take them seriously in games like these. Malaga have the individuals to trouble Valencia but they’ve not convinced me once away from home this season, shipping goals far too easily and being sloppy with passes, not to mention not creating chances either. Malaga could score against Valencia’s dubious defence but the hosts should be able to score at least one or two goals in this game as Malaga don’t convince at the back. For me, Valencia at the Mestalla are always worth consideration at 4/5.
Verdict: Valencia CF to win at 4/5.
Fenerbahce vs Trabzonspor – home win at 10/11.
Trabzonspor might have managed to avoid defeat in all their Super Lig away games this season but it’s not through being a good side, I can assure you. They’ve looked a shadow of the side that they were last year, lacking in confidence and not scoring goals. They’ve failed to win in five consecutive games now and have lost three of those games so it’s fair to say that times aren’t great in Trabzon. They’ve been battered 0-3 by Galatasaray and 0-1 by Besiktas JK during that run so why not add Fenerbahce to that list? Trabzonspor aren’t solid enough at the back to keep Fenerbahce out but they’re not good enough to win here either, in my view. It’s going to take something special to prevent Fenerbahce from winning this game, in my view, especially considering that only Sivasspor and bitter rivals Galatasaray have beaten them this season. We all know that Fenerbahce have better players than Trabzonspor and with Alex and Cristian Baroni pulling the strings, I can’t help but feel that Fenerbahce will win this one at surprisingly generous odds of 10/11.
Verdict: Fenerbahce to win at 10/11.
Paris Saint-Germain vs LOSC Lille – both sides to score at 5/6.
Try as I might, I just can’t take PSG seriously. I tipped them to beat Athletic Bilbao mid-week because they have good players at their disposal and because Athletic Bilbao were either going to field tired youngsters or rotate players and as they didn’t need to win, everything was there for PSG to do the business. However, despite PSG winning the game 4-2, I’ve actually no idea how they managed it with Athletic Bilbao outplaying them for large periods of the game due to PSG’s defence looking horrendous and there being no link-up play in the final third worth mentioning.
Can PSG win this northern France derby playing like that? No, is my answer. They’ve got the players to damage Lille, of course – that’s not a secret. However, the game mid-week was a huge reminder that this PSG side is still a bunch of individuals rather than a galvanised force. With boss Kombouare under even more pressure now that his side isn’t competing in European competition this season and given that his players aren’t putting 100% into their games, I really have to doubt PSG against a good side like Lille.
I mean Lille don’t have the depth nor the quality that PSG have but what they do have is a terrific work ethic, good cohesion, and lots of tenacity. They have a midfield that PSG will hate playing against and they’ve got players like Hazard, Cole, and Sow that could and should tear this PSG defence to shreds. Lille are no superstars themselves when it comes to defending but they’ll at least form a presentable back four and their midfield will try and help them out defensively, hence me respecting Lille a lot more than PSG right now.
Lille have only failed to score twice away from home in Ligue 1 this season and PSG haven’t kept a clean sheet at home in Ligue 1 since October. For me, taking both sides to score is the only way to approach this game although I must confess that the x2 market does appeal too!
Verdict: Both sides to score at 5/6.
Team news
FIFA World Club Cup:
Kashiwa Reysol – Leandro Domingues is absent.
Al Sadd – No absentees.
Australian A-League:
Melbourne Victory – Velaphi is absent. Vargas returns.
Wellington Phoenix – Pantelis is absent. Downey and Lochhead are doubts. Pavlovic returns.
Austrian Bundesliga:
Salzburg – Alan is absent.
Austria Vienna – Margreitter, Arnberger, Leovac, Rogulj, Ortlechner, Kaja, and Grunwald are absent.
Italian Serie A:
Bologna – Cruz and Perez are absent. Pulzetti and Antonsson are doubts.
Catania – Biagianti, Spolli, and Suazo are absent. Izco is a doubt.
Cesena – Colucci, Martinez, Martinho, and Rossi are absent. Rennella and Comotto are doubts.
Genoa – Palacio, Kucka, Bovo, Antonelli, and Birsa are absent. Constant and Frey are doubts.
Internazionale – Jonathan, Sneijder, and Viviano are absent. Stankovic, Ranocchia, and Chivu are doubts.
Juventus – Bonucci, Vidal, and Vucinic are absent.
Lazio – Del Nero, Berardi, Marchetti, Mauri, Matuzalem, and Zauri are absent. Stankevicius, Radu, Stendardo, Konko, Cana, and Brocchi are doubts.
Lecce – Benassi, Bertolacci, Giandonato, Ofere, and Mesbah are absent. Tomovic, Obodo, and Carrozzieri are doubts.
SSC Napoli – Donadel is absent. Britos is a doubt.
Novara – Lisuzzo is absent. Morimoto and Paci are doubts.
Palermo – Acquah, Hernandez, Munoz, Pisano, Zahavi, and Tzorvas are absent.
Parma – Valdes, Marques, Giovinco, Brandao, and Blasi are doubts.
AS Roma – Borini, Burdisso, Cassetti, Gago, Pjanic, and Kjaer are absent. Pizarro is a doubt.
Udinese – Badu, Barreto, Coda, and Domizzi are doubts.
Dutch Eredivisie:
AFC Ajax Amsterdam – Silva, Boerrigter, van der Wiel, Sigthorsson, Boilesen, de Jong, Janssen, and Alderweireld are absent.
ADO Den Haag – Ammi, Radsavljevic, Horvath, Toornstra, Morec, and Verhoek are absent.
Feyenoord Rotterdam – Schenkeveld, Swerts, Fernandez, Ramsteijn, and de Vrij are absent.
Twente Enschede – Rendla, Bajrami, Fer, Kuiper, Boschker, and Cornelisse are absent.
NAC Breda – Janse, van Fessem, Luijckx, and Gudelj are absent.
AZ Alkmaar – Marcellis, Martens, and Boymans are absent. Holman, Gudmundsson, Altidore, Viergever, and Wernbloom are doubts.
Heerenveen – No absentees.
PSV Eindhoven – Tamata, Hutchinson, Pieters, Lens, and Wuytens are absent.
Portuguese Liga Sagres:
Pacos de Ferreira – Luisinho and Nuno Santos are absent. Figueiras returns.
Beira-Mar – Douglas, Andre Marques, Dias, and Pedro Moreira are absent. Jonas and Tiago Barros return.
Feirense – Freitas, Assuncao, Henrique, Melo, Serginho, William, and Rabiola are absent.
Uniao de Leiria – Edson is absent. Andre Almeida returns.
CD Nacional de Madeira – Andres Madrid, Juliano, Stojanovic, Danielson, and Luiz Alberto are absent.
Vitoria Setubal – Pitbul, Fidalgo, Graca, Zahavi, and Jose Pedro are absent. Ney and Ricardo Silva return.
Academica de Coimbra – Ricardo, Diogo Gomes, Orlando, Joao Real, Joao Dias, Diego Melo, Sitoe, and Flavio are absent. Fabio Santos, Rui Miguel, and Abdoulaye return.
Sporting Clube de Lisboa – Jeffren, Izmailov, Matias Fernandez, Rinaudo, and Rodriguez are absent.
Scottish Premier League:
St.Johnstone – Wright and Sheridan are absent. Sandaza, Wright, and Moon are doubts.
Celtic – Loovens, Matthews, Commons, and Ledley are absent.
Spanish Primera Liga:
Atletico Madrid – Silvio and Costa are absent.
Real Betis Balompie – Ezequiel, Salva, Mario, Javier Chica, and Vadilo are absent.
Getafe – Michel, Valera, Diego Castro, Pedro Leon, and Ustari are absent.
Granada – Inigo Lopez, Yebda, Mainz, and Carlos Martins are absent.
Levante – Farinos and Del Horno are absent.
Malaga – Eliseu, Maresca, and Baptista are absent.
Osasuna – Kike Sola, Marc Bertran, Ruben, Shojaei, and Echaide are absent.
Racing Santander – Alvario, Francis, and Jairo Semperio are absent.
Real Sociedad – Elustondo, Bergara, and Illarramendi are absent.
Valencia CF – Costa, Canales, and Maduro are absent.
Villarreal CF – Angel Lopez, Catala, and Rossi are absent.