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Friday 18 February 2011

UEFA - you need to start having respect for players and fans alike!

Well what a great week of football we have just witnessed! As a Spurs fan I was clearly delighted with the result in Milan (0-1) but more impressed with the performance. Harry Redknapp appears to have sorted out Tottenhams weaknesses and the team goes from strength to strength! To win in AC Milan was a great achievement however the performance of the Milan captain was an absolute disgrace! To head butt an opposing coach is completely off the scale and hopefully a long ban will be given out. I must also raise an eye at Flaminis challenge on Corluka who will now be sidelined for a month. The rules in football are somewhat odd, Flamini was booked for his challenge and not sent off despite the fact we had 5 referees watching the game and no one in UEFA seems to want to look at TV replays. Corluka was lucky not to end up with a broken leg, the sad fact is that the people that run the game are spineless and don’t seem to care about players or fans. Yesterday we were told that to watch the Champions League final will cost a small mortgage, making the game way out of range of the real football fan. To charge £85 for a single ticket to watch 90 minutes of football if you support the club and £150 to watch the game if you are not a fan of one of the teams is quick frankly incredible. We live in an age where it seems football has no view on what is going on around it!
Rant over, I turn my attention to Arsenal or as some have nicknamed them “Mini-Barca”. As I was travelling I could only listen to the game. At half time Arsenal were available at 16/1! Arsenal at home! I understand that Barcelona played them off the park but credit to Wenger and his men for turning in an amazing second performance. I have since seem the second Arsenal goal and was very impressed with the speed of the attack and the final finish. Watch out Birmingham next week in the Carling Cup final!
This weekend we have both 5th round FA Cup ties and 4th Round replays. As I haven;t had a great deal of success with cup games this season I am turning my attention to other fixtures this weekend.
In league 2 we have seen the resurgence of Hereford United. Although the lost to Lincoln at the start of the month we have to go back to December to find another league defeat. They are at home to Burton Albion who are struggling at present and lost again away from home at Torquay. Hereford recently won at Torquay so as a form guide for this game you have to favour Hereford. At odds of 7/5 and given Burton have only won once away this season this is my first selection!
Torquay are at home to Southend, Torquay have won their last 3 games on the bounce but lost at Southend earlier in the season. Southend are a good away team having won 6 games away this season. The sides are locked together just outside the playoffs although Torqauy have a game in hand, i can’t see Torquay continuing their win streak and can see this game ending in stalemate, that will suit both clubs at this stage. Its 12/5 the draw!
As home form goes it doesn’t come much better than Millwalls. Another team looking enviously from outside the play offs they will play Middlesborough at the New Den. Millwall have won 9 times already at home, with Middlesborough only winning 3 away and losing 10. Middlesborough recently lost away to Crystal Palace in a relegation battle after recently winning 0-4 at Bristol City.  Millwall also won at Middlesborough in November. At 19/20 this is the one for me!
Finally Ipswich host Hull. Ipswich have hit some form recently and have shot up the league. It maybe a little bit too late to see them push into the play offs but cannot see them being beaten by Hull this weekend. Ipswich are a different side under Paul Jewell and will be on a high following their 0-6 demolition job at Doncaster in the week. Ipswich are availabl at 21/20 to pick up  3points.
This weeks £1 yankee is valued at £123.80
The £10 accumulator will pay £326.20

1 comment:

  1. This is getting a little embarrassing now IMJ, however having selected the following fixtures for my Yankee on Thursday during the drab 0-0 Liverpool game, I seem to have chosen two of your fixtures – as they say, great minds think alike (with of course the exception of the MK Dons fixture last weekend! Anyway, good luck this weekend:

    Millwall v Middlesborough (10/11)

    You have to go a long way back to find a ‘Borough win at Millwall, or even a hard-earned, solitary point for that matter. That year was 1973, when there was (another) oil crisis and petrol prices went sky high – some things never change, eh? But the real question here is, will ‘Borough’s away fortune change this weekend? In short, I don’t think it will, particularly as The New Den has become a fortress recently for The Lions. They have won their last 6 matches there, so am going for the home win.

    Swansea v Doncaster (4/7)

    Neither side have been accustomed to playing each other in so high a division until recent years, where they have staged five Championship games between them thus far. Tellingly, Swansea have not lost any of these encounters and enter this fixture in fine goal-scoring form. Donny for their part are on a shocking run of results, most recently a 6 goal reverse against fast improving Ipswich in midweek. I am favouring the home side once again in this one.

    Crewe v Stevenage (11/10)

    The Railwaymen have never hosted Stevenage in a League fixture at Gresty Road, so there is absolutely no history here to give away any potential clues. Turning to the form book then, we see that you are always guaranteed goals with Crewe (nothing like setting up the ‘kiss of death’!), particularly at home where they have scored 29 goals – more than any side barring top of the table Chesterfield and third placed Rotherham. Conversely, Stevenage have nearly the worst away scoring form in the Division (10 in total), with only 9-goal Burton Albion scoring less away, although they have also played 5 games less at this stage of the season in their defence! It all points to another home victory for me.

    Hereford v Burton Albion (7/5)

    This fixture was a seven-goal thriller last season, with Burton coming out on top. The Bulls go into this one as the form team however and have only lost once in their last 6 outings – typically that was the week that I backed them! I am sticking with them though, as 7/5 seems good value to me. For their part, Burton have the games in hand, but didn’t some wag once say that it’s better to have the points in the bag? Home win.

    £1 Yankee pays £69.86

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