TFT Issue 364!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Manchester Unitedvs Queens Park Rangers – home win with -2 Asian Handicap at 10/11.
Today’s featured game is the English Premier League game between reigning champions Manchester United and newly-promoted Queens Park Rangers.
I don’t think that any of you need me to tell you that United are better than QPR. I think the league table alone confirms that!
However, it does have to be explained why I think United will win so heavily against a side that is frankly desperate for the points due to their battle against relegation. Well, firstly, United have demonstrated excellent composure as the season draws to a close. They’ve played some very efficient football and have rarely looked out of control of their games. The budding partnership between Ferdinand and Evans in the centre of defence is making it hard for sides to score against United and the growing stature of the superb David de Gea in goal makes United very, very difficult to score against indeed. United are still short of options in the centre of midfield due to absent players but the timeless Scholes and composed Carrick are doing more than enough right now so it’s not something to be too concerned with here. Up front, Rooney is in good form and Welbeck is having a terrific season. Hernandez is a bit hit-and-miss right now but Fergie has options. Valencia on the right-wing is just unplayable right now. If he starts, QPR have big, big problems. Fergie’s side has bags of experience and he has a lot of options at his disposal to counter almost anything that QPR can come up with. United score goals for fun at home but haven’t conceded in four out of their last five games. This is the time of season where United are at their best because they’ve done it before and they know that a further three points in this game heaps the pressure on rivals Manchester City, who play after this game at Arsenal. Everything is the way United want it right now and when things go as they want it to, they do tend to win!
Mark Hughes has instilled a fighting spirit in QPR since joining them and that has led to them scoring more goals when the odds are against them. Subsequently, they’ve claimed unlikely points against both Arsenal and Liverpool respectively during his reign despite falling behind in both games. QPR deserve tremendous credit for that although without wanting to be too harsh on the Londoners, it has to be observed that a lot of those goals stemmed from defensive errors from their opponents. Additionally, we have Cisse suspended for this game despite having only been with the club a short time. Cisse gives QPR an additional dimension up front with his pace and finesse and his absence is a blow. They still have the powerful Bobby Zamora in their ranks, who could cause United problems with his physical strength. I just don’t see what else QPR bring to the table, though, with the fat Taarabt looking less and less mobile in each game. He scored last match but he’s not even been in the season for them en mass. Barton plays well but he’s fighting a losing battle in midfield with little support from elsewhere. QPR’s defence is largely Championship level and because of that, they may well end up there, especially if they play as badly today as they did during their heavy defeat at Sunderland.
Realistically, I don’t see QPR scoring here. Football can always surprise but United have been solid at the back of late and QPR are not a great side. Hughes has done well with what he has but there’s plenty of work to do there. QPR’s defence is one of the worst in the Premier League when playing away from home and that combination should mean that United can at least activate the insurance policy of the -2 Asian Handicap here and hopefully beat it too, especially with Fergie still keen on winning the goal difference battle instead of just the points battle.
Verdict: Manchester United to beat the -2 Asian Handicap at 10/11.
Additional game
Djurgarden vs GIF Sundsvall – home win at 4/5.
I’m hoping I’m not letting my bias affect me here but I do think that Djurgarden will win this one. I was really impressed with their display on the artificial turf at the Boras Arena last week despite them losing the game. It highlighted that Djurgarden’s problem area is still managing to put the ball in the net and the retirement of Mathias Jonson pre-season hasn’t helped their situation. Their midfield is genuinely is one of the best in the Allsvenskan, however, and I rate them rather highly as a result. Happily, they got rid of lunatic goalkeeper Touray pre-season and replaced him with someone more reliable – Kasper Jensen. Add a solid goalkeeper to a solid defence and an excellent midfield and you have most of what you need to be a good side. Again, Djurgarden need a lot of chances to score goals but they’re good enough to create them and to dominate play. Who knows – maybe Ricardo Santos will provide what has been missing from this Djurgarden side. Either way, Hamalainen is as lethal as ever on the flanks and new midfielder Chibsah looks set to cause a stir this season so let’s not rule out a surprisingly good season for Djurgarden if they continue to play as well as they did at the Boras Arena.
GIF Sundsvall have just been promoted from the Superettan. For me, they’re still one of those sides that should have their own division in between the Allsvenskan and the Superettan because they’re not good enough for the Allsvenskan but are too good for the Superettan. They had some “stars” last season like Holster and Skulason, both of which aren’t really good enough for this level. One of their few players that was capable of playing amongst Sweden’s elite was old Jonas Wallerstedt but he’s left the club for Umea so won’t be playing this season. Their two main strikers were youngsters Forsberg and Engblom. Neither of them really convince me, to be honest. Forsberg has had his shot at the Allsvenskan before but has never made it. He didn’t cut the mustard for GIF the last time they were in the Allsvenskan but is always on hand to bail them out of the Superettan so why it’ll suddenly work now is beyond me. Additionally, his strike partner Engblom has gone back to AIK Solna. AIK have farmed him out a few times and have finally seen some progress. Whether he was ready or not is unclear; the fact is that AIK need strikers so his return was never in doubt. This leaves GIF with a new partnership in attack and given that they weren’t especially inspiring to begin with, it’s hard to see them doing much this season. They had potentially an ideal start by hosting Kalmar, who are always crap on the road and have lost some big players pre-season. It wasn’t an easy game for GIF but it was one I felt they had a chance in. However, they were outplayed and lost the game. It’s not a good start and I don’t think it’ll get any better here.
I’m not going to rule out a possible 0-0 here as two losses from two games would be a bad start to the Allsvenskan for GIF and they know where that ends up. However, Djurgarden are a better side and they should create enough chances to grind out a 1-0 or 2-0 win. Unfortunately, a lot of bookies have cottoned on to Djurgarden and the odds are nose-diving but I’ve still seen 4/5 at some bookies so I’m all over the home win there.
Verdict: Djurgarden to win at 4/5.
Team news
Australian A-League:
Central Coast Mariners – No absentees.
Brisbane Roar – No absentees.
Bulgarian A PFG:
Chernomorets Burgas – Fo-Pore, Dyankov, and Melkonian are absent. Asis returns.
Cherno More Varna – Palominho is absent.
Lokomotiv Sofia – Koev, Manchev, and Dobrev are absent. Bornosuzov may debutise. Atanasov and Bogdanovic are doubts. Game played at neutral Sofia venue.
Levski Sofia – Mitrev, Calvo, Pinto, Gadzhev, Yovov, and Starokin are absent.
Beroe – Dzaferovic, Owona, Bozhanov, and Tenev are absent.
Montana – No absentees.
Czech Republic Gambrinus Liga:
Viktoria Plzen – Petrzela is absent.
Slovacko – Kuban, Dosek, Fujerik, and Kordula are absent.
Hradec Kralove – Malinsky, Klapka, and Fischer are absent. Rezek is a doubt.
Banik Ostrava – Sverkos, Lukes, and Smejkal are absent.
Danish Superligaen:
Midtylland – Albrechtsen is absent. Collins and Salami return.
Nordsjaelland – Bjelland and Bechmann are absent.
Aalborg BK – L.Nielsen, Due, Rolfe, and P.Nielsen are absent. E.Petersen returns.
Silkeborg – No absentees.
German Bundesliga:
Schalke 04 – Faehrmann, Hildebrand, Jones, and Matip are absent.
Hannover 96 – Stindl is absent.
Hamburger SV – Mickel, Diekmeier, Kacar, Rincon, Sala, and Guerrero are absent.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – Corluka, Da Costa, Schwaab, Bender, and Sam are absent. New manager – Hyypia.
Greek Super League:
Aris Salonika – Acosta, Dico, Nacho Garcia, Giakoupovic, and Papastergianos are absent. Castillo and Kapetanos return.
Asteras Tripolis – Kourbelis, Bartolini, and Perone are absent. Egon, Ladakis, and Bakasetas return.
Atromitos – Skondras, Tatos, and Karamanos are absent. Reached Greek Cup Final earlier this week so may be tired.
PAOK Salonika – Ivic, Glykos, Katsikas, Eto, and Tsoukalas are absent.
Doxa Dramas – Tripotseris, Aravidis, and Vertzos are absent.
Ergotelis – Leal, Romano, Dermitzakis, Chrysofakis, Evaggelou, Chalkiadakis, Gialousis, Bouchalakis, Jovanovic, Darlas, and Kavousakis are absent.
Levadiakos – Mendy returns.
Xanthi – Vallas and Danny are absent. Viviani and Darbion return.
Olympiakos Piraeus – Diogo, Fetfatzidis, Papazoglou, Potouridis, Daskalakis, and Ibagaza are absent. Monje returns.
Kerkyra – Barkoglou is absent. Galinovic returns.
OFI Crete – Tavlaridis is absent.
Panaitolikos – Mumin, Andy, Rocha, and Koutroumanos are absent. Kousas returns.
Panathinaikos – Vitolo, Totse, Karnezis, Leto, Biarsmir, Ioannidis, Mayrias, Fourlanos, Lagos, Tabakis, and Spyropoulos are absent.
Panionios – Rokas, Rovas, and Abdulayev are absent.
PAS Giannina – Andralas is absent. Besera, Wanderson, and Lila are doubts.
AEK Athens – Makos, Manolas, Liberopoulos, Dellas, Rikka, and Sialmas are absent.
Romanian Liga:
Steaua Bucharest – Tatarusanu, Martinovic, Dananae, G.Matei, Prepelita, and Latovlevici are absent.
Sportul Studentesc – Beta, Patriche, Dobre, and Ghinga are absent.
Astra Ploiesti – Matei, Laionel, and Spadacio are absent.
Pandurii Targu Jiu – Ad.Rusu, Pleasca, Bacila, Al.Vlad, R.Dumitru, and Pintilii are absent.
Russian Premier League:
FK Krasnodar – Mikheev, Andelkovic, and Movsisyan are absent.
Tom’ Tomsk – Sosnowski and Gatagov are absent.
Spartak Moscow – Dzyuba, Dikan, Parshvilyuk, Bilyaletdinov, Rodriguez, Welliton, and Kayumov are absent.
Kuban’ Krasnodar – No absentees.
Scottish Premier League:
Hibernian – Murray and Galbraith are absent.
Motherwell – Craigan, Jennings, and Hammell are absent.
Spanish Primera Liga:
Levante – No news.
Atletico Madrid – Koke, Antonio Lopez, and Silvio are absent.
Real Mallorca – Kevin Garcia is a doubt.
Granada – Yebda, Diakhate, and Roberto are absent. Fran Rico is a doubt. Borja Gomez, Martins, and Nyom return.
Athletic Club de Bilbao – J.Martinez, I.Martinez, Ocio, Castillo, and Gurpegi are absent.
Sevilla CF – Spahic, Perotti, Trochowski, and Coke are absent. Navarro returns.
Real Madrid – Ramos is absent. Pepe and di Maria return.
Valencia CF – Canales, Banega, and Brito are absent. Jordi Alba, Soldado, and Bruno return.
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Djurgarden – Jarl, Span, and Mantilla are absent.
GIF Sundsvall – Naurin and dos Santos are absent.
Turkish Super Lig:
Orduspor – Culio, Stancu, and Hakan Ozmert are absent.
Trabzonspor – Vittek and Olcan Adin are absent.
Manisaspor – Huseyin Tok and Ferhat Cokmus are absent.
Galatasaray – Riera, Melo, Baros are absent. Elmander returns.