UEFA Cup - 6 March

[Charlie Wong]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March Tottenham VS PSV PSV have more recent European experience than Spurs, often reaching the knockout stages of the CL and are six points clear in their domestic league and so warrant some respect however they were soundly beaten 3-1 away at Utrecht recently and Spurs, with their talented forwards should cause them plenty of problems in the final third, Woodgate and Kings return will sure up the backline, making overs slightly risky, so instead am backing a straight spurs win on the night. Home WIN 4/7

[allthethings]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March Okay, I'm gonna play this after all: UEFA Cup Soccer - Werder Bremen - spread pk (+100) for the regulation time held on Mar 6 at 3:00pm [pending] Even money for Werder at Glasgow Rangers seems too good not to take. Both teams play their best at home, but I don't think that Rangers would have a 14-1 record at home playing Bundesliga teams...How seriously can we take huge home wins against Gretna and St. Mirren? I will not be surprised if, given the typical tactics of a first leg match, this game ends over or under, or if it ends a draw and my money is refunded. I will be surprised if Rangers can finish off a team with Werder's attacking power.

[allthethings]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March

Very interesting regarding the draws, not far off 40%, and the odds generally reflect a much lower percentage possibility. If you remove the games that look very strong home chances (imho Marseilles and arguably Spurs, depending on their team sheet) then you are left with some interesting games. I may remove Bayern as well, even with my Anderlecht allegiances (my dad lives there now), as I think they should be good enough to beat Anderlecht and will more than likely be better focused than they were for the Aberdeen game, where I suspect they thought they could just rock up and win. 5 games, reckon I might put them in doubles and an acca and see how the chips fall.

I for one believe both of those two you mentioned could easily end in a draw...my book is only offering spreads today, so I'll watch with interest...

[WHUPUNTER]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March

Tottenham VS PSV PSV have more recent European experience than Spurs, often reaching the knockout stages of the CL and are six points clear in their domestic league and so warrant some respect however they were soundly beaten 3-1 away at Utrecht recently and Spurs, with their talented forwards should cause them plenty of problems in the final third, Woodgate and Kings return will sure up the backline, making overs slightly risky, so instead am backing a straight spurs win on the night. Home WIN 4/7

Im also on Spurs for similar reasons and Ramos has an unbelievable record in this competition. Im worried for a lot of the people backing Marseille as a few weeks ago everyone was saying what a banker Bayern were at Aberdeen (me included) and look what happened there. Hope they do the business for you but be wary.

[Punto Banco]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March

Im also on Spurs for similar reasons and Ramos has an unbelievable record in this competition. Im worried for a lot of the people backing Marseille as a few weeks ago everyone was saying what a banker Bayern were at Aberdeen (me included) and look what happened there. Hope they do the business for you but be wary.

there is a difference a team like bayern know they can rely on home second leg to come up with the goods no matter what... however when ol marseille travel to russia the same could not be said, after loosing 2-0 to spartack over there they will know the job must be done tonight... they being said of course does not mean that they will do it... either way some respected people i know fancy Zenit +1 AH so i am a little worried but the decision has been made so time to sit back and :eyes....

[Crazy North]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March

Sport	Football (Euro Cups)
Event	Benfica-Getafe
Selection	Under 2.5
Strength	10/10
Date	06/03/2008
Bookmaker/Price	>Betfair @ 1.62 (Back)
Reasoning	Here i dont see a clear winner so i decide to go on under goals as it seems rather possible in this one.benfica is team who plays better on road and today they will try to save their goal and to make one or two chances to win.Getafe is very good team but results in Primera doesnt reflect that as they are fighting for relegation.They have lot of injured players for today match and the newest is Uche very influential midfielder.On the other side Benfica is without Petit and Nuno Gomes also two very important players for hosts.Also Getafe plays more solid defense on road and will concentrate on defending here and try to keep clean sheet.This should a boring match with few chances to score as both teams will enter a game with a cautios as this is still first leg of the tie,but i will give a slight adventage to the hosts who maybe just maybe can salvage a win but my bet is under.

[alexmac]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March Daniel Cousin, what a strike. Rangers 1-0 up at half time. Get in!

[stuart]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March

I don't think anybody is writing Rangers off (or at least I'm not anyway, Im backing Bremen draw no bet), but this is a huge step up in class to anything they've faced so far, as the Bundesliga still produces some pretty damn good teams at the top end. Bremen are ranked 22nd in Europe according to the 2007 UEFA standings, while Rangers are 45th. Panathinaikos, who Rangers never actually beat over 90 minutes remember, are ranked 32. The suspension issue you mention is Diego - I'd say that missing one game isn't going to make him rusty, more likely it will make him fresh! He is the main danger man too, and will know he can put everything into this game without having to worry about turning out at the weekend. Obviously, Rangers did do well in the group stage of the CL, but a huge part of that was that frankly bizarre game at Lyon; an amazing result, but not reflective of the performance at all. A very tight game, and all 3 results are possible, but I fancy the evens on Bremen -0 AH.

I had thought it was longer than a one game ban, my mistake. All in all a good night for rangers but im still not 100% confident about the second leg.

[JCtips]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March

My bets for today in the UEFA Cup: Fiorentina-Everton Fiorentina is having a great season (in the Italian league they're currently in 4th place and are the best team at the moment when considering the "current form table" of the last 10 league games) and has a very good team IMO. Everton is also having a great season (in the EPL they're currently in 4th place and are the 2nd best team at the moment when considering the "current form table" of the last 10 league games). I expect a tight game with neither team risking much as Fiorentina knows that if Everton scores things will be hard for them and as Everton knows that a draw will leave them in a good situation. My pick: draw; lost Marseille-Zenit P. Marseille is indeed in good form as of late with a 7-2-1 record overall in their last 10 games and are usually a hard team to beat at home. But I think Zenit is being underrated here. They have a team which is hard to beat and that they just kicked Villarreal (a very good Spanish side, better than Marseille IMO) out of the UEFA Cup last month. My pick: away +1 AH (Asian Handicap);lost Bolton-Sporting Bolton is in very poor form as of late and I'm sure their main priority will be to avoid relegation in the EPL but of course every team wants to go as far as possible in European competitions. Sporting is having a mediocre season in the League (currently 4th with the same points as 5th placed Setúbal) and will turn to the other competitions (UEFA Cup, Portuguese Cup and the Final of the Portuguese League Cup) trying to do something good this season. IMO their weakest point is the right and left backs and the crosses to the box (either from plays from the opposing team's wingers or out of corner and free kicks). Tonight they'll be, again, without their main striker Liedson (injured) and I'm sure they'll be glad to pull a draw here (just like Braga did a few months ago) which would leave them in a good position to get things done in the return leg. My pick: draw; won Benfica-Getafe The key to this duel is IMO Camacho (Benfica's coach). Camacho is Spanish (and a Spanish glory), knows all there is to know about Spanish football and is good friends with many people at Getafe including the club President (that is shown by the fact that Camacho's dad passed away yesterday and Getafe's President attended the funeral this morning and will fly to Portugal in the private jet Benfica rented to transport Camacho, Benfica's President and club Captains Nuno Gomes and Petit). Benfica will be without many players for tonight (some injured some suspended: Nuno Gomes, Petit, David Luiz, Binya and Freddy Adu are all out) and a few more are questionable (Makukula, Nuno Assis and Maxi Pereira). Still, the team will surely be looking at winning and dedicating the victory to the coach in this hard moment in his personal life. Getafe is not used to play every 3 days like they've been doing lately and are not as experienced as Benfica. Getafe plays very much in a Italian style when away from home, they give opponents space in order to hit them hard with "their poison" in the counter attack. Camacho knows this very well and will play to win but will not risk much tonight as he knows that an "away goal" might due some damage in European competitions and with more players available for the return leg Benfica needs to keep things close tonight. I expect a Benfica close win or maybe even a low scoring draw. My pick: Not a very good day...:gimme JC

[Charlie Wong]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March Couldn't believe how unprofessional Spurs were, thought they could just turn up and win, PSV should have won by 2 or 3. Spurs in trouble in the away leg, Think Everton have got a better chance of turning their tie around.Well done Rangers aswell.

[Wanderer89]

Re: UEFA Cup - 6 March No diouf, nolan, steinsson, jussi and still we outplayed sporting. We could of easily had 3 or 4 goals. Both teams hit the crossbar but bolton had far more chances and gutted we conceded that crucial away goal. I'm suprised at the way the game went but there were a few suprise results last night rangers and psv both won, i won on bolton unders anyway which i back quite alot these days.