Monday, August 29, 2011

Big guns firing

The sole prediction of Real Madrid was an easy one and the Los Blancos have signaled their intentions with the demolishing of Zaragoza. I think it will pay to follow Madrid a lot this year even at prohibitively low odds because they look certain to win a very high percentage of their matches. So long as the tricky games are avoided.

I am truly amazed by the achievements of Christiano Ronaldo. I mentioned it before; Messi is very possibly the better and more explosive player, but Ronaldo is the Most Valuable Player (MVP) to his team. Messi can count on a cast of superstars to score the wonderful goals he's getting us used to every week, but Ronaldo does not enjoy such formidable teammates. So bagging so many hat-tricks for fun is really quite an achievement.

I expect Barcelona to match up to Real Madrid's winning start by beating Villareal in a few hours. They are recommended as an outright win. It will be a case of one of the teams setting up the tempo and the other team following. As I was mentioning, it will be rewarding to back both teams many times as long as they can be avoided on their occasional off-nights.

In the Premier League, the Manchester teams are leading the pack, so far validating my previews that they will be the main protagonists for the title this year. What else can I say that has not been written about the demolishing of Arsenal by the Red Devils? Man Utd are in truly great form and are to be followed closely on what seems to be a good winning run for them. Arsenal aren't "that bad" but the future does not look good for either management or the team's prospects for trophies. In my opinion, losing Fabregas and Nasri has broken the backbone of this team. They need Wilshere and their defensive corps back.

What about Man City? They have a resurgent Dzeko on fire and even better things seem to be coming from them. It will be folly to punt against them in any way. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Man City; to me, these are the best teams in Europe for now. By far, and for much of the unfolding season.

Win: Barcelona

No comments:

Post a Comment