TFT Issue 338!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Sevilla CF vs Barcelona – away win with -1.5 handicap at 11/10.
Today’s featured game is the Primera Liga game in Andaluscia between Sevilla CF and Barcelona.
Sevilla have become the new Atletico Madrid with their changing of managers whenever the weather changes. As a result, their side has become rather predictable with players not always 100% sure as to why they’re playing for their current manager or where they’re playing, if you see what I mean. At Barcelona, the players play for Guardiola – you can see it in their eyes and you can hear it in their press conferences. It’s the same with Mourinho at Real Madrid and Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao. Sevilla, though – they may have a good manager in Michel but so what? They’ve had good managers for ages and they just keep getting rid. Despite Sevilla boasting some very good attacking players, I just can’t take them seriously nowadays.
Barcelona are getting back to their best now, in my view, and it’s no coincidence that Messi is peaking for this season at the right time. He can win any game for Barcelona and I’m sure he’ll be instrumental today too. Barcelona helpfully welcome back Thiago and Sanchez, which means that Guardiola’s only absentees are the long-term missing duo Afellay and Villa. Barcelona are gradually beginning to cope without having Villa as their lone front man, which is predominantly because of Messi, but they’ve adapted their style and I like the way they’re playing. Against Racing Santander last weekend, they absolutely destroyed Racing without being clinical enough. Indeed, they were perhaps too casual in front of goal because had they been motivated then they would have scored at least five. But yeah – Barcelona’s form at the moment is good and I’m keen to take a chance on them here.
Will Barcelona be motivated here? I’d expect nothing less. Their fans will accept nothing less than wins and they will not surrender the Primera Liga title without a fight. Additionally, Sevilla managed to escape Barcelona with a point earlier this season despite Barcelona absolutely annihlating them in that game. I am confident Barcelona will be seeking revenge here. For me, I think we’re in for a dominant Barceona win with the proviso that Sanchez and Tello develop some composure in the final third!
Verdict: Barcelona to beat the -1.5 handicap at 11/10.
Additional games
Tallinna Kalev vs Flora Paide – away win at 17/10.
It’s only the second game of the Meistriliiga for both sides so do approach with caution. Frankly, I’d much prefer to take this bet with draw no bet cover but I still see value in the selection, to be honest.
Newbies Tallinna Kalev are weak – too weak for the division, in my view. They were promoted because of star striker Rimo Hunt last season but unsurprisingly he’s left the club for Levadia Tallinn. Ratnikov is a good boss and he has good tactical awareness but can they really hope to avoid the drop? Only time will tell, I suppose. The return of Ratnikov’s son undoubtedly improves the quality of today’s hosts and their horrendous pitch is a nightmare to play on but they’re the only positives I see for the hosts here, hence me favouring Flora Paide here.
Flora Paide were very good at the end of the Meistriliiga last season. Boss Rooba definitely knows how to motivate his players and I like that he’s never satisfied with his squad. He’ll give credit where its due but consider that he’s recently stated that his side aren’t convering their chances well enough in their friendlies, for example. He won’t mince his words! However, his side clearly appreciate his honesty and they do play for him. I admit that Flora Paide do struggle to score goals but they’re facing one of the few sides in Estonia that they can actually beat away from home so why not take the chance here? Flora Paide are good enough to keep a clean sheet in this game with Allas in the middle of their defence and they’ve got enough spirit to cause problems.
With the above in mind, I can’t help but feel that taking Paide to win this one at 17/10 is worth a punt.
Verdict: Flora Paide to win at 17/10.
Excelsior Rotterdam vs Roda JC Kerkrade – lay Roda JC Kerkrade at 5/6.
Roda are doing well this season, which is largely thanks to Syrian marksman Malki, who simply cannot stop scoring and will probably be signed by Feyenoord in the close season, knowing the way that Eredivisie stars usually go. He doesn’t strike me as being good enough to play for Ajax or PSV but Feyenoord will need a replacement for Guidetti so I wouldn’t rule it out.
Aside from Malki, Roda have been pretty ordinary this season. Even Danish striker Junker hasn’t found his feet. Roda can play some good football when it suits them but they’re such a temperamental side. I’ve seldom seen a Dutch side so ineffectual and disinterested on the road. Roda tend to crumble under pressure away from home and they don’t have enough at the back to keep their opponents out, which is what you need to win tough games.
Forget their league placing; Excelsior are not an easy side to face in Rotterdam. They play on artificial turf, which is a nightmare to begin with. They’ve been strong in recent home games, claiming potentially invaluable wins in their battle against relegation. That confidence is showing and should show in this game too. Roda are entering the lion’s den here, to be honest. Excelsior are fighting for their lives and Roda just don’t have the players to deal with fighters, in my view – they lack leadership and defensive composure and they need both to overcome an inspired Excelsior side on artificial turf.
For me, Roda are way too short here. Yes, they’re the better side on paper but they’re weak on the road and they’re playing a decent home side with a lot of confidence. Therefore, laying Roda at 5/6 really appeals to me here.
Verdict: Lay Roda JC Kerkrade at 5/6.
Rayo Vallecano de Madrid vs Real Betis – over 2.5 goals at 5/6.
What a fascinating game this could potentially be! Two attacking sides that both need the points and both have demonstrated that desire lately too. Both are effective in front of goal and lax at the back. Betis are more hot-headed than Rayo and arguably boast a better calibre of player but Rayo have better cohesion and also possess the wonderful Michu, who is dragging them to survival in the Primera Liga against the odds. Betis are not a side to sit back on the road, though. It may be to their ultimate demise but they attack and tend to score goals. Rayo have to attack here and I think they will. I expect plenty of counter-attacks in an open game and thus I expect plenty of goals. Therefore, my call is to take over 2.5 goals at 5/6.
Verdict: Over 2.5 goals at 5/6.
KuPS Kuopio vs VPS Vaasa – home win at evens.
KuPS are finding their groove a little now and there’s simply no denying their superiority against sides like VPS Vaasa. VPS are a solid side at home but travelling to the valley of a thousand lakes has seldom been an easy trip and VPS are not the best of travellers. They don’t have Tanska nowadays to help them as they attempt to sit back, contain their opponents, and potentially counter-attack so a change in tactics was required. It worked when they attacked JJK and their surprise approach won them the game. It surprised everyone, really – VPS’ weakest area is up front as they struggle to take chances. They’ve not been able to repeat that feat since then, though, and have actually lost two consecutive Liiga Cup games against central Finland sides. VPS will not lie down here but KuPS are simply better than they are and they should make it count here. On their own turf with momentum behind them and frankly superior attacking players (e.g. Ilo, Venalainen), KuPS should have more than enough to win this one at evens.
Verdict: KuPS Kuopio to win at evens.
Team news
Australian A-League:
Central Coast Mariners – No absentees.
Adelaide United – van Dijk and Galekovic return. Barbiero and Dilevski are absent.
Newcastle Jets – Culina is absent. Zadkovich returns.
Brisbane Roar – Nichols, Murdocca, Brattan, and Visconte are doubts. Henrique returns.
Melbourne Heart – Taseski, Ibrahim, and Zahra are absent. Sarkies and Fred are doubts.
Sydney FC – No absentees.
Bulgarian A PFG:
Minior Pernik – Bibishkov is absent. Brahimi and Vasilev return.
Cherno More Varna – No absentees.
Litex Lovech – Pirgov returns.
Slavia Sofia – Yourukov and Zlatinov are absent.
Chernomorets Burgas – Tsonkov and Dyankov are absent. Terziev and Ualembo are doubts.
Beroe – Andonov is absent.
Cypriot Division 1:
Anorthosis Famagusta – Angelov, Marangos, and Konstantinou are absent. Rongato is a doubt.
Olympiakos Nicosia – Mersio and Polykarpou are absent.
Omonia Nicosia – Cherfa, Freddy, and Giorgallides are absent.
Enosis Neon Paralimni – Petkov, Markofski, Faria, Semedo, Burchill, Mampuya, and Yakubu are absent.
Anagennisi Deryneia – Shialis is absent.
APOEL Nicosia – No news.
Aris Limassol – Kerkez, Ioannou, Charalambous, Markou, Komboyo, and Grouich are absent.
Ethnikos Achnas – Ignatov is absent. Vuksevic, Elia, and Nouredinoski return.
Czech Republic Gambrinus Liga:
Jablonec – Kocourek, Vukovic, and Novak are absent. Pavlik is a doubt.
Viktoria Plzen – Prochazka and Wagner are absent. Cisovsky is a doubt.
Sigma Olomouc – Skerle, Veprek, Petr, and Horava are absent. Ordos is a doubt.
Slovan Liberec – Krystan is absent.
Teplice – Ljevakovic is absent.
Viktoria Zizkov – Bodecek, Kalod, Cermak, and Folwarczny are absent.
English Championship:
Barnsley – Preece, Hassell, Butterfield, Perkins, Edwards, and O’Brien are absent.
Reading – Griffin and Connolly are absent.
Portsmouth – Mullins and Henderson have left. Kanu and Benjani are absent.
Bristol City – Nyatanga, Davis, Elliott, Clarkson, Skuse, and Wilson are absent.
Millwall – Trotter and Lowry are doubts. Recon and Mkandwire are absent.
Southampton – No absentees.
Leeds United – Bromby and Bruce are absent.
West Ham United – Vaz Te, Reid, Faubert, Demel, and Diop are absent.
Ipswich Town – Bullard is absent.
Peterborough United – No absentees.
Crystal Palace – Dikgacoi, Williams, and Zaha are absent.
Hull City – No absentees.
Doncaster Rovers – Friend, Stock, Woods, and Bamogo are absent.
Derby County – O’Brien, Barker, Brayford, and Ward are absent.
Blackpool – No absentees.
Brighton & Hove Albion – Elphick is absent.
Birmingham City – Spector, Carr, and Mutch are absent.
Middlesbrough – Robson, Thomson, and Haroun are doubts. Coyne and McDonald are absent.
Watford – Bennett, McGinn are absent. Massey and Jenkins are doubts.
Coventry City – McSheffrey, McDonald, Bell, Barker, Hreidarsson, and Wood are absent.
Cardiff City – Gestede and McPhail are absent.
Burnley – Rodriguez is a doubt.
Finnish Liiga Cup:
KuPS Kuopio – Hynynen, Joenmaki, Nissinen, and Hoivala are absent. Rasanen, Paananen return.
VPS Vaasa – Koskimaa, Bjork, Henriksson, Heini, and Koskela are absent. Engstrom returns.
German Bundesliga:
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund – Koch and Gotze are absent.
Werder Bremen – Naldo, Borowski, Hunt, Stevanovic, Arnautovic, Wiese, Bargfrede, Marin, and Pizarro are absent.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – Adler, Sam, Barnetta, Ballack, Corluka, and Bender are absent.
Borussia Moenchengladbach – Hermann and Jantschke are absent.
Hamburger SV – Castelen, Mickel, Tavarez, Aogo, Guerrero, Westermann, Jansen, Lam, and Sala are absent.
SC Freiburg – Krmas, Barth, Brandstetter, Hohn, and Putsila are absent.
Nurnberg – Klement, Nilsson, Frantz, and Rakovsky are absent.
VfL Wolfsburg – Dejagah and Ochs are absent.
Augsburg – de Jong, Bah, Gogia, Moravek, and Backer are absent.
Mainz 05 – Bell, Risse, Gopko, Svensson, Pospech, Szalai, and Ujah are absent.
Hertha BSC Berlin – Franz, Lustenberger, and Kobiashvili are absent.
Bayern Munich – van Buyten, Breno, Olic, and Schweinsteiger are absent.
Greek Super League:
Aris Salonika – Michel, Triantafylakos, and Papastergianos are absent. Velidis returns.
OFI Crete – Tavlaridis and Vezyridhs are absent. Mantzios returns.
Ergotelis – Romano, Darlas, Saris, Dermitzakis, Athanasiou, Kandilakis, and Bouxxalakis are absent.
Kerkyra – Ionannou and Agritis are absent.
Asteras Tripolis – Pipinhs is absent.
AEK Athens – Dellas, Vargas, and Lagos are absent. Huge financial problems – AEK have actually asked their fans to donate money lately!
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Be’er Sheva – Gabai is absent. Soares returns. Possible additional motivation given the missiles that have bombarded the town for the past ten days.
Hapoel Rishon Lezion – Cohen is absent. Obasnykov returns.
Maccabi Netanya – Kalibat is absent.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv – Yitzhaki, Dabur, Yeini, Pavicevic, Zizov, and Medunjanin are absent. Atar is a doubt.
MS Ashdod – El-Hamid is absent. Another town that has been attacked lately and motivation may be higher than normal as a result.
Bnei Sakhnin – Gawu is absent.
Hapoel Petah Tikva – Vasi, Stoler, and Zarfati are absent.
Ironi Ramat Hasharon – Abutbul is absent.
Hapoel Acre – Capiloto is absent.
Maccabi Petah Tikva – Elbaz, Damari, and Sansoni are absent. Strauber returns.
Hapoel Haifa – Arel and Hermon are absent. Avidor returns. Shared stadium.
Maccabi Haifa – Degani, Tawatha, Boccoli, and Vered are absent. Golasa, Seido, and Amasha are doubts. Shared stadium.
Italian Serie A:
Parma – Gobbi and Palladino are doubts.
AC Milan – Pato, Boateng, Merkel, Strasser, Cassano, Nesta, Abate, Robinho, Van Bommel, and Lopez are absent. Gattuso returns. Seedorf is a doubt.
Fiorentina – Kroldrup and Felipe are absent. Behrami and Jovetic are doubts.
Juventus – Barzagli is absent. Chiellini are doubts.
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Tauras Taurage – Freigeim is absent.
Suduva Marijampole – Chevdukas is absent. Thompson is a doubt. Ledesma will partially feature.
Vilnius – Grigalevicius is absent.
Ekranas Panevezys – Kavaliauskas is absent.
Zalgiris Vilnius – Vaskela is absent.
Atlantas – Threat of demotion due to issue between sponsors and president.
Dutch Eredivisie:
RKC Waalwijk – Castillion, Ramos, and Ten Voorde are absent.
De Graafschap – Gyasi, Sreckovic, and Van der Pavert are absent.
Excelsior Rotterdam – Nuytinck, Steensel, de Vries, and Eekman are absent.
Roda JC Kerkrade – Wielaert and Pluim are absent.
VVV Venlo – Timisela, Verbeek, Molhoek, Yoshida, and Mei are absent.
NEC Nijmegen – Goossens is absent.
Polish Ekstraklasa:
Gornik Zabrze – Kwiek, L.Skorupski, and M.Skorupski are absent.
LKS Lodz – Velimirovic, Adamski, Szczot, and Smolinski are absent.
GKS Belchatow – Nowak returns. Nowosielski is absent.
Wisla Krakow – New boss Probierz has revealed that there are absent players but refuses to divulge who is absent as to not give their rivals an advantage.
Jagiellonia Bialystok – Plizga and Seratlic are absent. Rasiak and Dzalamidze are doubts.
Lech Poznan – Arboleda, Wolakiewicz, Tonev, and Mozdzen are absent.
Romanian Liga:
Vointa Sibiu – Majer and Dalbea are absent.
Gaz Metan Medias – Bud, Trtovac, Raul del Campo, C.Gheorghe, Litu, and Zaharia are absent.
CFR Cluj – Piccolo is absent.
Pandurii Targu Jiu – Ad.Rusu, Pleasca, Bacila, Brata, R.Dumitru, and Voiculet are absent.
Petrolul Ploiesti – Zimmerman, Voican, and Buleica are absent.
Universitatea Cluj – No absentees. Coach has left.
Dinamo Bucharest – Rus and Matei are absent. Kone is a doubt.
Sportul Studentesc – Beta, Patriche, S.Stancu, and Farmache are absent. Curelea and Varga are doubts.
Russian Premier League:
Volga Nizhnyi Novgorod – Maximov and Pleshan are absent.
FK Krasnodar – Erokhin, Mikheev, and Joaozinho are absent.
Terek Grozny – Dzhanaev, Georgiev, Varken, Legear, and Mguni are absent.
Rostov-na-Donu – Radic and Gatskan are absent.
Serbian Super Liga:
BSK Borca – No listed absentees but sickness in camp.
Red Star Belgrade – Evandro is absent.
Vojvodina Novi Sad – Moreira and Omaru will feature. Appiah is absent.
Novi Pazar – Hadzibulic and Bulatovic are absent.
Partizan Belgrade – Lazevski is absent. Game played in empty stadium due to fan problems.
Radnicki 1923 – Lepovic and Milosevic are absent.
Rad Belgrade – Game played in empty stadium due to fan problems.
Spanish Primera Liga:
Getafe – Lopo is absent. Rafa and Masilela return.
Real Sociedad – Mikel Gonzalez is absent. Elustondo and Cadamuro return.
Granada – Henrique, Romero, Yebda, Fran Rico, Diakhate, and Roberto are absent. Jara, Benitez, and Siqueira return.
Sporting Gijon – De Las Cuevas and Gregory are absent. Ivan Hernandez returns.
Real Zaragoza – Lanzaro is absent. President has promised to pay some of the overdue wages to the players.
Osasuna – Flano, Sola, Balde, Leka, Masoud, and Lolo are absent. Echaide returns.
Sevilla CF – Fazio and Coke are absent. Negredo, Kanoute, and Medel return.
Barcelona – Afellay and Villa are absent. Sanchez and Thiago return.
Rayo Vallecano de Madrid – Lass, Michel, and Labaka are absent. Diego Costa returns.
Real Betis Balompie – Vadillo is absent. Amaya returns.
Spanish Segunda Liga:
Deportivo La Coruna – Bodipo, Pablo, Salomao, Castro, Alvarez, Vasquez, Ayoze, and Riki are absent.
Alcoyano – Martin, Jimenez, Esteban, Remon, Fabbrini, and Torro are absent.
Recreativo de Huelva – No absentees.
Sabadell – Redondo, Olmo, Simon, Fito, Eneko, and Fran Piera are absent.
Hercules Alicante – Juanra, Aganzo, and Sergio Castilla are absent.
Guadalajara – Harper and Saiz Sorio are absent.
Cartagena – Herrero is absent.
Gimnastic de Tarragona – Orbegozo, Powel, Ruz, Longas, Bargas, Arzu, and Peragon are absent.
Huesca – No absentees.
Girona – Tebar, Velez, Garcia, Richi, Saizar, Erencia, Rigo, Garmendia, Luso, and Benja are absent.
Deportivo Xerez – Capi, Mendoza, Gerard, and Mari are absent.
Real Murcia – Iturra, Garcia, Kike, Sutil, Ruben, Aguilera, and Amaya are absent.
Las Palmas – Juanpe, Suarez, Aythami, Laguardia, and Artiles are absent.
Celta de Vigo – Oubina and Yoel are absent.
Numancia – Jaio, Nieto, and Lago are absent.
Elche – Albacar, Pelegrin, Carpio, Palenca, Ruper, and Leandro are absent.
Turkish Super Lig:
Antalyaspor – Baris, Karoglu, Dagasan, Kaya, and Ndjock are absent.
Eskisehirspor – Sezgin is absent.
Sivasspor – Yerlikaya is absent.
Orduspor – Culio, Kayali, and Tekke are absent.
Bursaspor – Carson is absent. Kocak is a doubt.
Ankaragucu – Erdogan and Cogum are absent.
Fenerbahce – Erkin and Ozturk are absent.
Galatasaray – No absentees.