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footballeye

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Posts posted by footballeye

    Champions League > Dec 6th & 7th

    in Champions League Predictions

    Posted

    On Mon Dec 5 00:48:18, skyblues88 said:

    PSV (4/6 - Skybet) to beat Rostov to secure a place in the Europa Cup. Only a win will do, draw or loss would mean Rostov qualify for Europa Cup. 

     

    Well, Berdyev is de-facto the coach of Rostov. His teams are always very organized and extremely hard to break when they really need the result, like in this case. In the past he also managed some surprising wins against giants like Barca (with Rubin) or most recently Bayern. The Europa league spot is very important for Rostov and they only need a draw to get it. I'm not sure PSV is any better than Rostov and don't see PSV as a favourite in this clash. More like a 50-50 game for me so I go for Rostov DC without much thinking.

    Russian Premier League 2016/17

    in Other European Leagues Football Predictions

    Posted

    18 hours ago, chris666 said:

    I've always liked Zenit, and thought that they are a decent side, although due to lack of knowledge, not sure if they are title contenders.

    Sure they are! Zenit plays very good football this season with a new coach and I rate them title contender #1 and I don't think I'm biased in this case. I think the squad is still the strongest in the league in terms of quality of players. Combined with the good coach, this yields results. I have a short review of Zenit's season so far here: http://zenit-football.com/zenit-soccer-blog/2016/10/zenit-season-2016-17-so-far-so-good/

    The team has had some less convincing results in the last 5 games, still mostly wins but narrow wins; a little slump in form is probably due to the dense schedule with not much rotation and the players may be tired. Zenit has a difficult away fixture away at Terek this weekend, other remaining matches on the road before the winter break should be easier, even at Rostov or Krasnodar.

    Russian Premier League 2016/17

    in Other European Leagues Football Predictions

    Posted

    4 hours ago, StevieDay1983 said:

    Slutsky's biggest mistake was doing the CSKA and Russia jobs at the same time. It worked in the short term but in the long term it's going to cost him both. As a matter of interest, what's the background of the Spartak coach? Has he had success elsewhere?

    Not only he didn't have success, he never worked as a head coach before. He's an Italian and he had worked as assistan coach at Juve before. He was an assistant coach at Spartak too, then was assigned a caretaker role after the departure of Alenichev last summer, then he signed a permanent deal. We've been often making jokes here in St.Petersburg about Spartak's inability to win anything, but this season they suddenly started to look dangerous which is a bit of a surprise.

    Russian Premier League 2016/17

    in Other European Leagues Football Predictions

    Posted

    5 hours ago, StevieDay1983 said:

    This season looks a bit more competitive. It will be interesting to see if CSKA Moscow can claw themselves back into title contention after falling 7 points adrift of Spartak Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg but we shall see. Glad you've expressed an interest in it @chris666!

    CSKA with lots of problems currently and the fans want the coach (Slutsky) out. I think it's going to be between Zenit and Spartak this season. Spartak seem to have a decent coach for the first time in many years and they do look competitive.

    Russian Premier League 2016/17

    in Other European Leagues Football Predictions

    Posted

    On Mon Oct 31 16:11:22, Sir Puntalot said:

    @chris666 - It's not a league that I've looked at much, mostly due to how much can you trust the results? Not going to go into a big political debate, but I would imagine there's plenty going on we don't see. Would loved to be proved wrong though. :ok 

    The league is nothing special, I mean it's probably as corrupt as any Eastern European league more or less but nothing outrageous I think.  Although some cases do stand out ;) I don't follow the Russian league very closely but I do watch all Zenit games (almost all of them) and follow the team on a daily basis.

    Brazil Serie A > Oct 16th & 17th

    in Brazilian Football Predictions

    Posted

    I'm not sure why the game was moved to a neutral venue but I did read that the Coritiba supporters won't be allowed, only the home fans will be present. As for the derby status, I think it's an important factor particularly in Brasil where the distances are huge, so when the visitors don't have to travel it reduces the home advantage significantly.

    Brazil Serie A > Oct 16th & 17th

    in Brazilian Football Predictions

    Posted

    On Fri Oct 14 23:54:56, Paul Ross said:

    Atletico PR out to 2.80? WTF? :loon:loon 

    The odds on that match are up and down like a yoyo. Anyway, Coritiba don't come out well at all on the ratings, their away form is poor with 3 losses in last 4 aways. Just to compound that, they're playing the team with the best home record in the league with 12 home wins and only 1 loss and won their last 5 homes.

    Atletico PR @ 2.80 Ladbrokes 

    Yes please. :ok:ok More here https://www.punterslounge.com/betting-tips/football :ok 

     

    Basing a pick on the home/away record may not be a good idea for a derby game, the Curitiba derby in this case.

    Champions League 2016/17 Play-Off Round

    in Champions League Predictions

    Posted

    1 hour ago, StevieDay1983 said:

    Porto vs Roma is the big game here. I think this could be a good draw to throw into the mix. Score draw perhaps?

    Roma has excellent roster but I've seen Spalletti failing so many times in away fixtures in Europe because of his cowa...I mean, because of his cautious tactics that I tend to back Porto here. The odds on home win are going down though.

    UEFA Europa League > Thursday April 23rd

    in Europa League Predictions

    Posted

    Re: UEFA Europa League > Thursday April 23rd Zenit - Sevilla (first leg 1-2) Zenit will be without suspended central defender Garay and midfielder Ryazantsev. Garay is a very significant missing, suffice it to say that he's the best CD that has ever played for this club. The pair of central defenders Neto-Lombaets is less reliable, particularly Luis Neto is error-prone especially when Garay isn't there to back him up. Star players Hulk and Danny return from suspensions and so in attack Zenit will be at full strength. Even at full strength, Zenit did not convince me in the latest home fixture in this tournament despite winning 2-0 against 10-man Torino. Sevilla is probably stronger than the Italians, and it won't be easy for Zenit to break them. With the individual skill of its players I think the hosts will manage to score a goal, but will they be able to do it more than once? I have doubts. I consider individually skilled Danny and especially Hulk the destroyers of Zenit team play, and what they create with their moments of individual brilliance does not compensate for all the attacks they botch. As a result Zenit scores less than they could have with a more balanced team play. (A characteristic example was the last league game at Kuban where the team didn't score despite the presence of both stars, while away at Sevilla Zenit did score playing without them.) There's always a chance that something clicks and Zenit produces very inspiring football like they did against PSV earlier this year (3-0) but this is unlikely given that the team is tired due to the dense schedule and lack of depth in the squad. And Sevilla is way better than PSV anyway. The visitors need at least a draw to progress to the semifinals (or they can lose with some unusual score like 3-2, 4-3, etc.). Sevilla didn't start with thier strongest lineup in the first Ieg, but is Emeri going to take a more serious approach here and field the strongest 11? Maybe yes, because their next fixture is at home to Rayo and can be considered a relatively easy one. They have no important missings, only Carrico is injured. Looking at Sevilla's previous results I can see they aren't shy in their away games and score almost always, even against the likes of Real and Barca. I think they have enough attacking power to find the net in St.Petersburg as well, especially taking into account the important missing in Zenit's center of defense. If Zenit scores first, Sevilla will have to go forward looking for the equalizer and I think they have enough quality to score one, especially if Zenit players get tired towards the end of the game, as they did in Sevilla and last Sunday in Krasnodar. My expectaion of this match is Sevilla to go through and both teams to score. I'll also take a draw myself.

    UEFA Europa League > Thursday April 16th

    in Europa League Predictions

    Posted

    Re: UEFA Europa League > Thursday April 16th Sevilla-Zenit I’m pessimistic about Zenit’s prospects in this fixture, here’s why: 1. The team is tired. Midfielder Shatov conceded that in an interview a week ago after the Terek game and it’s an obvious fact. Between April 5 and 26 Zenit are scheduled to play 7 matches in 22 days. Coach Villas-Boas is using only about 14-15 players who are getting tired and there’s no replacement for them because the bench players aren’t getting any time on the pitch and for that reason are most likely out of form. 2. More importantly, Zenit will miss 4 regulars for this away leg: right back Smolnikov, left back Criscito, also creative midfielder Danny, and best scorer Hulk. All four are suspended. Smolnikov can be replaced by Anyukov and that’s OK, Anyukov is good enough even though he’s only the second choice right back (can also play on the left). There’s no suitable replacement for the left back position though. Another left back Rodic has only played maybe 2 or 3 competitive matches in a year and probably can’t play at this level anyway. Left-footed central defender Lombaerts could play but he’s big and slow. I hear Sevilla has fast guy named Aleix Vidal on the right wing of the attack and he can cause Zenit trouble in that part of the pitch. 3. Sevilla coach Unai Emeri is probably aware of Zenit because he briefly worked in the Russian league back in 2012 managing Spartak Moscow. With Spartak, he suffered a heavy 0-5 defeat in St.Petersburg in August 2012. That was of course back in those wonderful times when Zenit played great team football and was winning titles, before the arrival of Hulk after which the team play was sacrificed in favor of the Brazilian’s ego and the club stopped winning anything. (Zenit has won nothing at all, zero anything, in the 2.5 years that Hulk has been on the team.) Anyway, Emery is aware of Zenit and may be planning some kind of revenge for that 0-5 defeat. I would expect Sevilla to win by a couple of goals here but there are also factors which I think might work in Zenit’s favor. First, the abscence of Hulk may be a blessing in disguise. The team plays better football when he’s not present. Probably not going to be enough to get the result at Sevilla, but still an improvement. Second, Zenit’s legendary striker Kerzhakov had played for Sevilla in the past. Currently back with Zenit, Kerzhakov had a conflict with the coach and hasn’t played for 5 months before finally appearing as a sub in the last league game against Rubin. Playing against former club always gives a player additional motivation and there’s a chance Villas-Boas will allow Kerzhakov some playing time on Thursday. Kerzhakov is not as good as the first-choice striker Rondon but he’s faster and is doing more running, and may be better suited for the counter attacking play than the big Venezuelan. The current Zenit team isn’t scoring many goals in the away fixtures in Europe this season but I think with Kerzhakov they might have a chance to hit the target here. Overall, with Emery’s awareness of the rival and the weaknesses in the Zenit defense I would expect Sevilla to be able to score a couple of goals. Zenit too has a chance of scoring, assuming an improved team play and Kerzhakov’s motivation, if he plays. My expectation is anything in the range of 2-0, 2-1, or 3-1. Sevilla (-1) at 2.02 (marathonbet) looks like a rather safe choice of a bet.

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