Monday, October 24, 2011

Change of guard

It would have been a great week-end with Tottenham and Real Madrid winning, and Liverpool and Barcelona drawing on draw-no-bets, but the Man Utd recommendation went awry. Man City went to Old Trafford and conquered big time.

Obviously, the score is very flattering for City but the game changer was Johnny Evans' dismissal. The Citizens played well and possibly could have won even without the central defender's sending off. More than the 3 points, this victory will also have given a tremendous mental boost to Mancini's men, raising their belief that they can hit it off with the best.They are clearly in the driver's seat and if they keep their head straight without being distracted by the off-field antics of some of their rogue players, they will be hard to dislodge at the top.

On the Red Devils' side, the defensive partnership of Ferdinand and Evans is possibly a recipe destined for disaster. At 32, Rio is past his best and the string of injuries that have beset him for the past 2 years are clearly taking a toll on his fitness for the rigours of the Premier League. He's still got some class in his play but not the elite and dominating player he once was. As for Evans, he's the weak link of the whole Man Utd team. A team sheet with Evans at the center of defence is a delight for opposing strikers out there. Next time Evans is in the starting eleven against a credible opponent, think twice before loading up on Man Utd, in my opinion.

Tottenham's winner at Blackburn was a fantastic result for this blog's predictions, and Blackburn certainly looks to be playing a major role at the bottom of the table, in my opinion.

In La Liga, Real Madrid jumped to the head of the pack by expectedly thrashing Malaga. I feel they are on a good winning run. Barcelona lost 2 important points by drawing against Sevilla. It remains to be seen if Messi's penalty miss in injury time could prove disastrous for them at the end of the season. The thing is, Messi always seems to be aiming for the same spot for most of this penalties and Sevilla's keeper played the probability game to great effect.

In racing, yet another Montjeu winner in the Racing Post Trophy as Camelot came out an easy winner in a small field. Weak field too, I should add. The previous editions of the race certainly were more competitive paper-wise and involved better-seasoned juveniles. So it is too early to gauge the real merits of Camelot, who nevertheless looks a smart sort. It would certainly be folly to have any sort of ante-post punt on him for next year's Guineas or Derby.

2 comments:

  1. Couldn't agree more about Jonny Evans, and Ferguson had Phil Jones sitting on the bench as well, managers mistake for me.

    Didn't have a bet on that game as it was hard to know what to expect. I thought City were more than capable of giving United a game, but I couldn't be sure that Mancini's old Italian instincts wouldn't take over and park a large bus at Old Trafford.

    With this game and the Tottenham performance, it looks like those days seem to be over now for Man City.

    Think Barca will claw Madrid back when they play them, can see them taking 4 points from Madrid over the 2 games, although from Barca's point of view they better hope the first game isn't due for a while as they are in a bit of lull by their high standards.

    Do you use the 'draw no bet' option often? If you don't mind me asking.

    Cheers, Dean

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  2. Hi Dean

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Only my opinion, but I am not convinced if Barca will be able to get 4 points out of Real. Mourinho's negative tactics will see him perfectly happy with getting 2 points from the Blaugrana, and let the results with other teams make the difference. That would be the best way for him to beat Barca in the end.

    The thing with Barcelona is their central defence is thin. With Pique and Puyol injuries, Guardiola doesn't trust his defensive corps and prefers the likes of defensive midfielders like Mascherano and Busquets. This is bound to come haunt them at some point, and Jose will be well aware of those failings if they are still missing when they play Madrid!

    Yes, the draw-no-bet (DNB)is one of my favourites. With a Win punt, your team needs to score for you to win. DNB is a great safety net. I would rather go big on DNB rather than small on WIN for the same earnings. Remove the risks, and it puts you in better stead in the long run. But when powerhouses like Barca, Real, Man Utd etc are playing minnows, then a Win punt makes a lot of sense because they've proved they can do it consistently over the years.

    I've added your site to my bloglist.

    Cheers,
    JM.

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