TFT Issue 3272!

Ceske Budejovice vs Bohemians 1905

KO: 16:00 (UK time)

Fair play to Ceske Budejovice – they really went the extra mile at weekend, which resulted in a heroic 4-2 victory against Sparta Prague in the capital. Given the pre-season changes that were made at the club, that wasn’t the kind of result I expected them to produce. Still, when you’ve had a manager in charge for as long as Horejs has been there, I suppose it’s fair to say that things like that can happen because he knows his squad inside out. He knows what they’re capable of, how to motivate each one, and they caught Sparta Prague at a good time, given the absentees their hosts had to deal with.

The proof in the pudding has to come today though. I’m not sure I agree with them being favourites to beat a wholly impressive Bohemians 1905 side, but I do recognise that they’re capable of causing problems, especially as they’re buoyed after their weekend win. Bohemians 1905 should bring more mettle and a more familiar starting line-up to this game, although they don’t always produce their best football on the road. They’re not easily scared or anything, Bohemians 1905, but without their fanatical fans behind them, they do tend to make life hard for themselves.

Ceske Budejovice can capitalise upon that here. Much like Bohemians 1905, they do not fear their opponents, and that tends to lead to very open, old-fashioned exchanges between the two outfits of which the winner is usually decided more by coin toss than anything else. I still maintain that this is the best Bohemians 1905 side I’ve seen, but I recognise that it could be some time before they showcase their full potential, given the Covid-19 interruption, and thus the lack of integration that has ensued since. I think it’s a bad time for them to face Ceske Budejovice, but at the same time, you could argue that it’s a bad time for the hosts to face Bohemians 1905, given how good they are, and they also enter this match with a win under their belts, having beaten Teplice 2-0 at weekend.

There may be no Rabusic, Schranz, or Taborsky this season, but Brandner is back amongst the goals for Ceske Budejovice, Meszaros has naturally impressed, Bassey has proven to be a real handful, and let’s not overlook that van Buren has joined, who knows this division inside out by now. They’ve got some good things going on at the moment, Ceske Budejovice, albeit a lot sooner than I personally thought it may happen. I still don’t really agree with them being favourites here but I guess you could argue that they’re bit of an ‘unknown’ at the present time as they’re performing well above what they should be capable of right now.

With Necid and Pulkrab now on their books, I still believe that Bohemians 1905 now have the firepower to decide this game in their favour. There have been a number of ding-dong affairs between these two outfits over the years because neither team has really been better than the other, although Bohemians 1905 sure do have the edge when it comes to avoiding relegation! However, the work done behind the scenes at Bohemians 1905 in 2020 has been outrageously good, and they’re now capable of making their typically workmanlike displays into attacking displays that decide games in their favour. Again, it’ll take time for them to pique, but they’re in a very good place right now, and I would not underestimate them.

The 1×2 market is off-limits to me right now, as I want to see how consistent Ceske Budejovice are capable of being, and I also want to see if Bohemians 1905 build on their weekend win or not. In the meantime though, backing over 2.5 goals in what should be the traditional open, end-to-end encounter that is usually witnessed in this fixture, seems like a good call to me at 19/20.

Verdict: Over 2.5 goals at 19/20.

Internazionale vs Real Madrid

KO: 20:00 (UK time)

When these two teams last met, it was a case of all guns blazing. Both teams had lots of chances, and with the offensive quality on display, I can’t see any reason to doubt it happening again tonight.

With Real Madrid, I understand it more. They’re in the middle of a transitional phase because the team that won them three UEFA Champions Leagues is basically in need of being replaced, or at least will be in the very near future. Subsequently, they’ve had to make new signings, and the way Los Galacticos have opted to do so is to sign younger players for the future. It makes sense, but it takes time for younger players to adapt, especially those that have come from South America. Their learning won’t be complete until they’ve felt the completely unnecessary wrath of the Real Madrid ‘faithful’ either – this really is a tough club to play at. The quality is there, and I agree with most of what they’ve done, but they’re in transition so strange results are to be expected.

With Internazionale, though, I am surprised. I have the utmost respect for Conte because he’s a brilliant tactician. I think he’s assembled a brilliant and experienced squad with options for just about every scenario available to him. I appreciate some of those options are still quite new so there’s a bit of integrating to do, but Internazionale this season have looked really sluggish at the back; far more than usual. I don’t understand that. I’m sure Conte will sort it out, given time, but will Internazionale give him time? I 100% believe that they should, given the impressive changes he has already made at the sleeping giants of Italian football, but Internazionale are not a very patient club. After all, they were the ones to sack Pioli after a lot of very good displays and wins, who is now bossing things for the other big Milanese club, so nothing is impossible.

Group B is still incredibly open; all the teams in it can go through, finish in the UEFA Europa League spot, or go out. It’s been a very random group thus far with Borussia Moenchengladbach, surprisingly enough, the more consistent team in it. They were gifted a positive result at Borussia Park by Real Madrid, and what happened to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine I don’t know, but fair play to the Germans – they’ve looked really intelligent, motivated, and effective. I’m curious to see how they’ll fare tonight, given that, for the first time in this group, they’re going to be playing on the front foot. Still, it’s been made abundantly clear that Internazionale and Real Madrid simply cannot afford to write such a capable team off.

Subsequently, tonight’s match in Milan becomes very important, especially for the hosts, who are now without a win after three games. A win here is an absolute must for Internazionale. Real Madrid are not a very complicated team to score against right now either, so they really don’t have any excuses for failing to do so. I mean, the visitors are without Benzema and Ramos here, two of their four best players, of which there simply are not any like-for-like replacements in this squad. Internazionale must win the game – and they really, really should.

However, the Internazionale defence does nothing for me, and their desperation will ultimately afford the Spanish juggernauts the capacity to break at speed, and they’re not short of options on that front. Indeed, whilst they’re in this transitional phase, I actually prefer them when they can play like that; they’ve struggled to break teams down a lot this season. Real Madrid need the points too; losing this game is not really a viable option for them. However, a draw would not be the end of the world for them, so Zidane’s boys can sit and wait to see what Internazionale have to throw at them before making their move, and like I said above, that does suit Real Madrid right now.

Ultimately, whichever way this game goes, backing over 3 goals at 19/20 suits me just fine here.

Verdict: Over 3 goals at 19/20.

Liverpool vs Atalanta Bergamo

KO: 20:00 (UK time)

If I had an actual hat, I would tip it to Klopp. There’s not a club out there that I despise more than Liverpool, but you can only admire the work he’s done at that club. People can go on and on about how good player “X” or player “Y” is. Honestly, I think very few of their current squad is world class – but their manager is. He’s the one that galvanises them, and he’s the one that plans things as meticulously as he does. Mentally, I doubt there’s a better manager out there right now because even when in dire circumstances, Liverpool come up fighting. Whether you want to cite the Barcelona CF turnaround, or any number of Premier League matches that they’ve not taken the lead in until the last ten minutes of the game, the bottom line is that Liverpool now play like winners. It’s completely and utterly depressing for me to see it, but they approach each game with the right respect for their opponents fused with the winning mentality so they almost always get what they want from matches.

They’re missing a lot of players at the moment, as has been well-documented by the media, and they’ve coped admirably with them. Their display against a very in-form Leicester City at weekend was simply superb. They just seem to have the measure of every team they come up against, and bearing in mind that they’re currently missing most of their defence, that’s even more impressive. I knew the potential was there for them to tear my beloved Atalanta Bergamo to pieces in Italy the last time the two teams met, given how adventurously the Italian side plays, but I hoped Atalanta Bergamo would cause them more problems than they were caused. Silly me! Liverpool played them off the park with tactical precision and staggering execution, and I would not be surprised to see more of the same tonight. Klopp will have a plan, I am sure, and Atalanta Bergamo, despite being very good, are very predictable in the way they’ll setup.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy to play against Atalanta Bergamo, but the right team can prepare for them, and thus deal with them accordingly. Liverpool have enough speed, stamina, work-rate, and intelligence to do it again, but I still think this will be a hard game for them. Atalanta Bergamo possess boatloads of options in attack whether it’s the silky quality of Gomez and Ilicic, the power of Zapata, the dribbling or Muriel, or the powerful shots of Malinovskiy. Containing them is tough. Scoring against them isn’t, which surprises me, as I thought Caldara’s return would sort them out more there. Still, they do play ridiculously adventurous football nowadays so it’s not a fair indictment of their defence, really. I still find it somewhat amusing that a team with a pretty average/slow defence insists on playing such a high defensive line though, and that should be even more comical with Caldara actually out tonight too.

I think it’s fair to say that Atalanta Bergamo need to go for the win at Anfield tonight, given that AFC Ajax Amsterdam are likely to beat FC Midtjylland, putting a three point gap between themselves and the Italians with the two still to meet in the Netherlands. I also don’t think they’ll get a better opportunity to do so than this, given that Liverpool are missing almost all of their defence, not to mention two of their best midfield engines, both excellent at shutting down attacks with their athleticism and work-rate. I still can’t escape the feeling that Klopp will pull another rabbit out of the hat, but I am sure that Atalanta Bergamo will give a better account of themselves in England tonight than they did in the reversal of this fixture, whether that translates to a more positive result or not.

For me, backing over 3.5 goals at 51/50, as is almost always the case in Atalanta Bergamo games, should be a steal.

Verdict: Over 3.5 goals at 51/50.