TFT Issue 95!
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Featured game
Targu Mures vs Pandurii Targu Jiu – home win at 27/20.
Today’s featured game is the Romanian Liga encounter between newly-promoted Targu Mures and Pandurii Targu Jiu. Both sides have impressed in the latter stages of this campaign and we should see a good game today as a result.
However, my decision is to side with hosts Targu Mures here. Not to sound ridiculous but I think that there’s a possibility that Targu Mures have been the revelation of the second-half of the season. They’ve lost just three times in twelve Liga games since returning from the winter break and considering that two of those defeats were against title challengers Dinamo Bucharest and Vaslui respectively, I think we can draw a great deal from the recent form of today’s hosts, particularly as they’ve they’ve kept no less than eight clean sheets in those twelve games, hence their success. Indeed, Targu Mures have won six of those games, which may not appear all that impressive on paper but considering that they were supposedly dead and buried earlier this season, it means rather a lot, in my view. They’re a mere point away from securing survival in this division at their first attempt and on the back of three wins from their past four games, I fully expect them to be highly-motivated to do well here. They’ve become solid at the back in recent months, Targu Mures, and they’ve started scoring goals too, which is a dangerous combination. Having already won eight out of fifteen at home this season, I see no reason that their winning run can’t be continued here.
Grigoras’ Pandurii have become somewhat infamous for their attacking style as it tends to lead to fairly exciting games with goals. This is especially true away from home where all five of their away games since the winter break have had a minimum of two goals in. Slovenian striker Stromajer has started getting into form since the change of manager and with Voiculet and Vranjes supporting him, Pandurii actually do have a pretty dangerous attack that importantly believes in themselves. Pandurii aren’t the defensive moguls that they used to be, to be frank – they’re a lot more dangerous nowadays. However, they’ve gone a bit downhill of late with no wins in three games, losing twice along the way. They’ve faced two Bucharest clubs lately, admittedly, but the 2-1 defeat at Sportul Studentesc was poor. Pandurii need to be careful, however – they’re nowhere near as safe as they could or should be, unlike their hosts, and therefore they must try to get points here. Four games remain and this is one of the “easier” ones in which they can obtain points, in my view. However, there’s a gigantic stumbling block with the above in mind and I can summarised it in one word; “defence”. Pandurii were notoriously good at it in the past; that’s all they tried to do. Under Grigoras, that regime has changed and they’re now a lot more suspect at the back due to attacking a lot more. However, it’s gotten even worse ahead of today’s game against Targu Mures with not one, not two, but three integral defenders all absent today. Brazilian Cardoso is still injured whereas Ivorian defender Viera and Romanian youngster Chiriches are both suspended, which are huge blows for the visitors. They also miss midfield regular Bacila so I don’t see how Pandurii will pick themselves up out of their mini-slump today.
In some ways, this game is interesting as it is effectively one of the best defences in the Liga at the moment facing one of the more potent sides, surprisingly. If you’d said to me at the start of the season that either Targu Mures would be the best defensively or that Pandurii would be good in attack in the latter stages of this campaign then I’d have laughed at you. However, football is a funny old game and here we are with that exact scenario. I fear for Pandurii here though – Targu Mures have kept out better sides than them and especially after a poor run of form latley, I don’t fancy their chances here. Pandurii’s problem is regularly conceding goals, something which should be very prominent today. I therefore feel that no matter what Pandurii produce, Targu Mures should secure survival with a win here. Therefore, my call is the home win at 27/20.
Team news – Pandurii Targu Jiu miss Chiriches, Cardoso, Bacila, and Viera.
Verdict: Targu Mures to win at 27/20.