Serbian Super League Predictions > 2019/20

[StevieDay1983]

Hi @DrO,

I've set this up. There's currently not enough interest in a specific section for the Serbian Super League but if it gains enough activity in here then we can expand it at a later date. Feel free to post any predictions in here though. If you have any mates that are keen to chat about it or bet on matches in the league then get them involved.

I know the last time we had a thread dedicated to the league we had @balkan-pro leading the talk. Hopefully, he's keen to get involved again! 

On a separate note, I once managed Hajduk Lion on Football Manager once in the second tier of the Serbian league so I have a very basic knowledge of the league... from about 10 years ago! 

[DrO]

Before i start with the actual previews i want to share with you something about Serbian Football League which i found very important to know.
 

Those who follow my activity here may remember a couple of my long posts about Serbian football written before the World Cup in Russia last year. These were posts that tried to show the connection between football, crime, football agents and politics. Everything I wrote back then also applies to club football. Things are even worse here. Many club officials are in conflict of interest,many are members of the ruling party and cooperate 'off the pitch',trade points, etc. Because of all this, there is a reasonable doubt about the match fixing and the regularity of the competition itself.

How is it even worth it to bet on a league like this, you wonder? Well, because of the knowledge of these things, it is possible to predict the outcomes of matches.

Of course, not all matches are fixed in the conventional sense, but rather who has a better position in the Sebian football, who is closer to football or even political authorities.

Despite all the above, it is possible to make a profit by betting on the Serbian League.
I have already made a nice profit since the start of the season so i hope that this positive trend can continue.

Edited September 27, 2019 by DrO

[DrO]

I have three picks for this round

Radnicki Nis - Partizan

Undoubtedly the derby of this round.

Radnicki is club from the south of the country, a club of great tradition and success in the past. Their peak was in the 1980's when they played European Cups.
Radnicki has been on the rise in recent years. This is mostly due to the fact that the ruling party stood behind the club and channeled money into it. Last season they ended as runners up in domestic league. However, their coach Nenad Lalatovic has left the club, as have several players. This was reflected in bad results in the opening of the new season,so coach Simo Krunic was sacked. The experienced Milorad Kosanovic was brought in his place,but their game didn't improve a lot. Also,the absence of certain players due to injuries will be a problem to home side. 

Partizan is the second largest club in Serbia just behind Red Star. After a disappointing last season, they got a lot better in this one. Their coach,a former Serbian international,Savo Milosevic has build a team which is a mix of experience and young players. Last week they beat Red Star in so-called 'eternal derby' and they're just one point behind biggest rivals on the table. Also,they managed to qualify for the Europa League group stage. So they're coming in this match full of confidence. 

Partizan's style of play is very attacking-minded. They'v got good offense and pretty poor defense. Like i said - Radnicki's coach Kosanovic is very experienced coach,a coach with 'guts' so he wont be impressed or scared of Partizan. Open game is on the card,but i feel that away team have momentum on their side and i see them taking 3 points in Nis. Probably 1-2 win. 

Partizan to win @2.05  2pt
BTTS @1.77                2.5 pt

Mladost Lucani - Vojvodina

Nothing much to say about hosts. They are a team from a small town in Serbia without any particular tradition or success in the past. Also,a club without big supporters. 
Vojvodina,on the other hand,is a big club for Serbian standards. Club of great tradition founded in 1914. They gave a lot of great coaches and players to Yogoslavian/Serbian football. The most famous coach certainly was Vujadin Boskov and most popular players were Sinisa Mihajlovic and these days Dusan Tadic. Vojvodina is a club from Novi Sad which is a capitol city of Serbian province Vojvodina. Some of you may know Novi Sad as a place where the famous EXIT music festival is hold for many years now. 

Now..what is more important..after a period of very poor results this summer Vojvodina got a new board. With the new management, money has come into the club. Several state and public companies have become sponsors of the club. You guessed it - all the changes came directly from politics. The new management has also hired a new coach - Nenad Lalatovic. Yes, the one who coached Radnički Nis. To Serbian standards, he's a solid coach. He is a great motivator and a coach who makes good chemistry on the team. We in Serbia know that he is also a coach who goes where there is money and where he knows that the club has the "help" of certain structures. And this is exactly the help Vojvodina has this season. They started well in the league and I think they will win in Lucani.
The stakes would be even higher, but coach Lalatovic was penalized for misconduct and would not be with the team. 

Vojvodina DNB @1.80    5pt
(if you don't have this option or if odds dropped then take AH0 on Vojvodina)

THC - Rad

THC is newly promoted team from a small town also in Vojvodina,but it's a very ambitious project behind which Hungarian capital stands. These are the same investors who invest in NK Osijek - a club in neighboring Croatia. Rumors say that these investors are actually people close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. I don't know if these rumors are true or not,but the fact is that there's a serious money behind this club from Backa Topola. They even build a brand new stadium which is why the home team is playing in nearby Senta. So far this has not proven to be a handicap for THC as the team is sitting on the top of the table after nine rounds, but with a game more than Red Star.
Opponent,Rad,is from Belgrade and it's one of the worst teams in the league and one of the biggest relegation contenders. In the midweek they were knocked out from the National Cup competition by a lower league team of OFK Beograd. 
I expect nothing more but a routine win for the home side.


THC to win @1.67  4pt
(by the time i write this preview odds dropped so i advise to take THC AH-1)

GL to all who follows 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by DrO

[DrO]

All picks won Nice profit of +10,70 units made. 
Waiting for the next round. 
 

[DrO]

Once again i'll go with three picks.

Vojvodina - Spartak

Both clubs are from Vojvodina province so this is a small derby. I already wrote about Vojvodina FC,so i wont repeat myself.
Spartak is a club from Subotica,in the far north of the country. The club has a long tradition but not a trophy history.

Vojvodina has a perfect score on the road, but this is not the case at home. Therefore, they will try to change this already against the Spartak. Everyone in the club saying that the match has to be won, coach Lalatovic returns to the bench,Vojvodina has a better team so I think the home team will win tomorrow.
Vojvodina AH(-1) @ 1.75  4pt

Radnik Surdulica - TSC

Although Radnik was founded in 1926, it is a small club that was never significant in Serbian or Yugoslavian football. On the contrary - the club played only local leagues and was almost at the amateur level. However, things started to change in the middle of the decade when a local politician from one of the ruling political parties came to the head of the club. In just a few years,Radnik has risen to elite rank of Serbian football.
Despite this,the team is very averige in terms of quality and without great ambition in the league. They have a score of just two wins in nine rounds.

TSC,on the other hand,is very ambitious project like i said and there's no doubt they are a better side. Still..i'm not that sure they will claime a victory so i'll go with a safer bet.
TSC DNB @2.02  2.5pt

Napredak - Crvena Zvezda

Napredak is a club from central Serbia, from the city of Krusevac. It is one of the traditional centers of Serbian football,altough Napredak never actually been a successful club. It is never easy to play in Krusevac because the atmosphere is a bit hostile.
However, as the biggest and most successful Serbian club, Red Star has a lot of fans in this part of Serbia. They will also have great support from the stands.

Napredak's home record this season is 1-1-2 so far. They're able to hold Partizan in 2-2 draw,but lost to Vojvodina 0-2. One of their problems is short roster and because of this they can't really hold their form. Their best striker Ivanovic is injured and therefore doubtful for Sunday clash.

After a big UCL victory against Olympiacos the morale in Crvena Zvezda is really high. Atmosphere is great,team is playing better after a lost against Partizan. Although coach Milojevic will make some changes to the team and rotate players, I expect a strong Red Star lineup and a routine three points for the team from Belgrade. Handicap victory is on the card.
Crvena Zvezda AH2(-2) @2.02  2pt

GL to all who follows

Edited October 3, 2019 by DrO

[DrO]

Keep in mind that the odds on Serbian League matches are dropping very fast, so you need to react quickly and place your bets as soon as possible. 

[DrO]

Actually,i'm going with one more pick

Partizan - Vozdovac

Both clubs are from Belgrade,but beside this they have nothing in common. Partizan is a famous club and was a part of "Big 4" of Yugoslavian football along with Crvena Zvezda,Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split. Vozdovac is local club with no big influence in Serbian league.
Partizan is doing really fine this season. They have only one defeat in all competitions (against Malatyaspor during Europa League qualifications) and they're playing nice football. Savo Milosevic's philosophy is attacking and attractive football and so far it brought good results for them. In the midweek Partizan won against Astana in Kazakhstan by 2-1,but to be honest they've should won by even bigger margin how good they've played.

Vozdovac is also playing attractive football and they are scoring lot of goals which is something that's not so usual for this Serbian "lower" teams. They coach already said that they wont defend against big favorite so i think that open game is on the cards and goals should flow even though Partizan is maybe little tired after a Thursday's match and long trip to Nur-Sultan.

Partizan to win & over 2.5 goals @1.70  3pt
Total goals scored over 3.5 @2.40   1pt

[DrO]

Obviously a very disappointing weekend with many upsets. Only Vojvodina delivered. 
This round was bad with result of -5.5 units. 

This makes total score of +5.2 units after two match-days. 

International break follows after which i hope to return to winning ways. 

[branskie]

Great info... I always bet on Cukaricki and they always deliver. Once I watched game Cukaricki vs Crvena zvezda and was impressed by Cukaricki. Players with nice skill, know each other well and attacking. Pls post some info about Cukaricki I'd love to know more about this club. I predict them nice future

[DrO]

As if you read my mind @branskie Because my first (and probably only) pick for this round is tie between Cukaricki and Vojvodina. This is a most attractive match of this round in LingLongTyre League (official name of the League) and the match between a team with a perfect home record and a team with a perfect record on the road.

Cukaricki is small club from Belgrade. What is most curious thing about Cukaricki? Obviously the fact that this is the only club in Serbia(!!) that has private owner. They are a club with completely private ownership. Therefore, they are a very healthy club with stable finances. The club philosophy is to give space to young coaches and young players. Today's head coach of Red Star,Vladan Milojevic,coached Cukaricki some 5 Years ago. In recent time Cukaricki was able to sell players to some of well-know clubs across Europe like FC Copenhagen and Braga. Top prospects of this team are Ibrahim N'daye (right-winger from Senegal),Miroslav Bogosavac (left full-back) and very talented forward Slobodan Tedic who is on Manchester City's radar (obviously not for the first team,but for they youth team).
Because of this private ownership,club is developing very nicely,but on the other hand - this is also a handicap of some kind in Serbian football. Local Serbian politicians and these football mobsters can't take advantage out of Cukaricki,the club almost has no big,organized supporters so their position in our F.A.is not so great.

With Vojvodina things are quite different these days. But i've written about it already.

An interesting thing is that today the coaches of Cukaricki and Vojvodina just a few seasons ago were coaching their opponents - Nenad Lalatovic was head coach of Cukaricki and Aleksandar Veselinovic was on Vojvodina's bench. So there will be no secrets between these teams. 
They both announce the open match with goals but i think that bookies got something wrong here and Vojvodina shouldn't be such a underdog. 

Vojvodina DoubleChance @1.85  3 units
BTTS  @2.02  1 unit

GL

[DrO]

Very bad match from both teams and a goaless draw. BTTS pick lost so only +1.55 units was made which make my total score of +6.75 units so far.

See ya next week

[DrO]

Very tough matches to call so i'll probably skip posting this round.

[StevieDay1983]

I saw that the Serbian Premier League is set to return at the end of this month. @DrO and @balkan-pro, can we expect to see some insightful posts from you both to mark the occasion? On a personal note, are Hajduk Lion still in existence? Last I heard, they were experiencing some financial troubles.

[DrO]

So,football is coming back this weekend in Serbian "Super" League..and funny thing is that the first match is between Vojvodina and Cukaricki,which was actually last fixture i tipped on this topic back in October.

I won't write about these two clubs again..you have all written in that post..i however fancy Vojvodina again even though there will be no audience. There are three reasons why i believe that the home side will prevail. 
First,even without home supporters.i think Vojvodina is very strong on the "Karadjordje" Stadium in Novi Sad. On the other hand..Cukaricki haven't won a single match on the road since October 2019..pretty poor record for the team this quality if you ask me..
Secondly,Cukaricki will have some absences in the squad..three very important midfielders are out due to injuries and suspensions. Vojvodina will have full squad available. 
Finally,from what i read in Serbian newspaper,i understood that Cukaricki is much more interested in the Cup competition than League..they have very big match upcoming on Wednesday against Radnicki Nis on home ground. It's a quarter-final stage of the Cup and it's seems like they got more focus on that match..of course Vojvodina will also play on Wednesday but against a weaker opponent..Vojvodina still has bigger motive in the "Super" League,trying to finish the season as runner-ups. 

So,for me Vojvodina @1.90 2pt (local bookie)

GL 

( @StevieDay1983 Hajduk Lion still exist,they are now in a lower Regional League of Belgrade..something like 4th or even 5th Division..)

[StevieDay1983]

16 hours ago, DrO said:

( @StevieDay1983 Hajduk Lion still exist,they are now in a lower Regional League of Belgrade..something like 4th or even 5th Division..)

This is the best news I've had since lockdown started! Camo Hajduk Lion!!!