Tuesday, September 20, 2011

TUESDAY .....



Very interesting midweek, with a full programme of top flight action from Spain , Italy and France, along with Carling Cup games in England. I have put up three selections today, none of which I will be posting on here, but I have included my basic notes and some "suggestions" about a couple of other matches ......

I couldn't find anything in La Liga, but the Osasuna- Sevilla game is of some interest, we talked last week about how strong the hosts are on home soil, yet goodness knows what frame of mind they will be in, after conceding eight at Barcelona on Saturday evening. It was hard to keep count after a while, but Barce had 18 attempts on goal, only four of which were not on target and three of those hit the woodwork ! Osasuna only had 18% possession and must have been mentally drained afterwards, I am surprised they got onto the correct airplane back to Pamplona ! However, they are a different team on home ground and Sevilla have won only once in ten visits to the El Sadar stadium.

In Serie A, newcomers Novaro entertain Internazionale in a match between two teams both desperately searching a first win of the season. Hosts have gone two down in both starts to date, snatching an unlikely point at Chievo on Matchday 1, the equaliser coming very late and once the home team were reduced to ten men. No such luck in a slow tempo game at Cagliari over the weekend, although they did manage to claw one goal back. Inter threw away three points at Palermo in their opener, after leading twice, having 60% possession and creating 18 attempts on goal. They created the same number at home to Roma on Saturday and had to be content with a share of the spoils. New Coach Gian Piero Gasperini , who has only been in the job five minutes, has already come under fire, from supporters and president Massimo Moratti , who have both said he is playing the wrong formation. One point in the league, to go along with a dire 1-0 home loss in the Champions League to Trabsonspor, means that it is already a crisis situation at the San Siro. I am sure that Gasperini is happy to be away from Milan, but now really needs his star names to perform, Inter go to Bologna on Saturday, ahead of a Champions League trip to CSKA Moscow on Tuesday, a fixture they simply dare not lose.

I Nerazzurri need the three points tonight to relieve the pressure on the whole club and to avert another four days under the intense scrutiny they are going through currently,
would be a nightmare scenario. A win might allow them to rest a few key players at the weekend for Moscow and will certainly lift the mood at the club, where in
every interview, players feel that they have to offer words of encouragement to the management. Massive gulf in class between the two squads and really this game is huge for Inter and especially Gasperini. Inter -0.75 ball 1.96 asian line.

In France, just one Ligue 1 game today, with Bordeaux hosting Lille. This game does have the look of a draw, the visitors have not won here in seven visits, but five of them have been all square after 90 minutes. They are without a cleansheet in nine outings and have conceded two or more goals in three of their last four starts, that is a worrying statistic for the French champions who had only conceded three goals at this stage last year. Bordeaux are yet to register a home win and are turning into draw specialists, with 14 in their last 30 league starts, no bet or selection for me, but hosts are happy for what they can get nowadays againstthe bigger clubs and Lille, with a win-able home game at the weekend and trip to Turkey next midweek, will just be happy to get something from this and move on. Draw .







Good Luck.











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