TFT Issue 273!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Udinese vs Juventus – both sides to score at 4/5.
Today’s featued game is an exciting one between in-form Udinese and unbeaten Juventus.
Seven wins from seven Serie A home games says that Udinese should be taken seriously here. They’ve got a good manager and their squad has excellent cohesion. The reason that I find Udinese to be such a hard side to beat is their combative and pacey midfield, which few sides manage to get around. They do lack in front of goal from time to time but they’re a very solid and dependable side and that means that they need to be taken seriously in all of their games, in my view. Despite Barreto being a doubt, Udinese have no real troubles here and should look forward to hosting giants Juventus tonight.
Juventus enter this game without having lost a Serie A game this season, which is very impressive. Conte’s side looks very dangerous in front of goal and with innumerate attacking options at their disposal, I currently find it impossible rule Juventus out from beating any side in Italy. They welcome back Bonucci at the back and Vidal into midfield to add even more steel to a very assured Juventus side and with only Vucinic remaining out for The Old Lady, you have to fancy Juventus to cause Udinese a lot of problems here, especially given how many goals they’ve been scoring here.
As far as the 1×2 market goes, the away win with draw no bet would be my choice here. However, I don’t have any faith in Juventus’ defence dealing with Udinese’s attack. Udinese are where they are because they’re smart tactically and given that Juventus still find it impossible to deal with long balls, I realistically have to expect Juventus to concede at least once here. However, will Udinese score enough to outscore a superior Juventus side? I can’t see it happening, good as they are. Pepe is playing for Juventus against his old club so Juventus do have a bit of a “secret weapon” here. For me, all the hallmarks are there for both sides to score; I’m just amazed that the odds are as generous as they are!
Verdict: Both sides to score at 4/5.
Additional game
Chile vs Paraguay – away win with draw no bet at evens.
Fun, fun, fun! You can always rely on the South Americans to randomly schedule a meaningless friendly and this is absolutely one of those times. Each of the respective league of each of today’s opponents has just ended. Why is that relevant? Well, almost all of each squad plies their trades in their own country. To put it bluntly, you won’t find Sanchez or Valdivia in Chile’s squad and you won’t find Santa Cruz or Cardozo in Paraguay’s squad. No, this is a friendly to test local players and it’ll be interesting to see how it goes.
However, there is value in this somewhat random game, in my view. Why? Well, I like Chile’s football style – they play good attacking football at every level and pass the ball really well. Much like the first-team, however, Chile have great problems scoring goals. They’ve got one player in their squad that has more than three caps – Vidangossy – and thus I find it hard to take Chile seriously here. However, Paraguay have brought some experienced and able players to Chile for this game with Bareiro, Benitez, dos Santos, Manzur, Bonet, and Barreto all in their squad. You can find those players in the first-team from time to time so it’s more than apparent how good they are in comparison to their inexperienced hosts. Paraguay tend to play an efficient containing game and this squad is more than capable of doing that with experience throughout their squad. They have a few newbies to try themselves but I can’t see Paraguay losing this one with so much experience in their ranks. For me, there’s value on the away win with draw no bet at evens, especially as I expect the hosts to struggle to score goals.
Verdict: Paraguay to win with draw no bet at evens.
Team news
French Ligue 1:
AC Ajaccio – Ilan is absent.
Auxerre – Sanogo and Sidibe are absent. Sahar is a doubt.
Girondins de Bordeaux – N’Guemo is absent.
Stade Brestois – Martial returns.
Stade Malherbe de Caen – Niang is absent. Deroin is a doubt.
Dijon FCO – No absentees.
Evian Thonon Gaillard – Erhret is absent.
LOSC Lille – de Melo is absent.
Lorient – Coutadeur is a doubt.
Olympique Lyonnais – Gonalons and Bastos are absent. Briand and Lovren are doubts.
Montpellier HSC – Dernis is a doubt.
OGC Nice – Monzon is absent. Pejcinovic returns.
Stade Rennais – Mangane returns.
Toulouse – Tabanou, Riviere, and Pele are absent.
Italian Serie A:
Atalanta Bergamo – Tiribocchi, Doni, Capelli, and Brighi are absent. Schelotto is a doubt.
Bologna – Cruz is absent. Ramirez is a doubt.
Catania – Llama, Suazo, and Delvecchio are absent. Lopez and Biagianti are doubts.
Cesena – Colucci, Comotto, Martinez, and Martinho are absent. Rennella is a doubt.
Chievo Verona – Rigoni is absent. Drame and Cruzado are doubts.
Genoa – Antonelli, Birsa, Bovo, Kucka, Moretti, and Palacio are absent.
Internazionale – Chivu, Jonathan, Sneijder, and Viviano are absent.
Juventus – Vucinic is absent.
Lazio – Berardi, Brocchi, Del Nero, Mauri, and Marchetti are absent. Zauri, Stendardo, Sculli, Rocchi, and Konko are doubts.
Lecce – Carrozziei, Benassi, Giandonato, Julio Sergio, Ofere, and Mesbah are absent. Tomovic, Obodo, Bertolacci, and Esposito are doubts.
SSC Napoli – Donadel is absent. Britos and Gargano are doubts.
Novara – Centurioni, Dellafiore, and Lisuzzo are absent. Ludi, Marianini, and Morimoto are doubts.
Palermo – Hernandez, Pinilla, Rubinho, Tzorvas, Zahavi, and Pisano are absent. Miccoli and Mantovani are doubts.
Parma – Morrone and Paletta are absent. Valdes, Marques, Giovinci, and Blasi are doubts.
AS Roma – Borini, Burdisso, Cassetti, Gago, and Kjaer are absent. PIzarro is a doubt.
Udinese – Benatia is absent. Coda, Barreto, and Badu are doubts.