At last!The long wait is over.Premiership kick-starts tomorrow, soon to be followed by the rest of the interesting European Leagues. Judging by the clubs' transfers and general summer activity (friendlies,managers hired etc) I have finally decided on my ante-post betting.
- Premier League: The top four teams are more or less at the same standards as last season. With the exception of Man U, the rest of the teams have kept their stars but have done absolutely fuck-all in terms of getting stronger.Chelsea bought Zhirkov,Liverpool bought Glen fuckin Johnson for 17m(!!??!?!)and Aquilani but lost Xabi, Man U got the injury prone Michael Owen and 3 promising youngsters(Valencia,Obertan,Diouf) to cover for the big name losses of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlitos Tevez. Arsenal are still buying virtually unknown players and selling their stars (Toure-Ade out,Vermaelen in) but Le Boss insists his kids can do it. So If there was a "most beautiful flowing football" bet I would back the Arse but I don't see them challenging for the title. My faith in SAF and his magic will lead me to bet on Man U to defend their title. Comes at 2.80 at Bwin, I can do with that.
- Primera Division: This will be fun. The two horse race between the giants of European football (and spending) can only have one outcome. Barca will do it again. I don't see the Galacticos as serious contenders for local or European glory this year. Yes,they bought absolutely everybody but maybe next year, as they will need to cope with the the battle of Ego's in their dressing room and the spectacular cohesion and explosiveness of the treble holders. Barca to win it at 2.00
- Campionato: With Milan a far weaker side after the Kaka departure there are only 2 teams left to challenge: The champions Inter Milan and Juve. Based on their managers,players and budgets I have to go with Inter. They have an amazing frontline with Etoo,Milito,Obinna,Suazo,Balotelli etc etc and generally a far more competitive squad than their Turin counterparts. Still I see them flopping in Europe yet again. Mourinho to collect more silverware at 1.90
- Liga Sagres: If you follow Portugese football you have to respect Porto. They did well to cover for the sales of Lisandro Lopez and Lucho Gonzalez by bringing in Falcao from River and Fernando Belluschi from Greek eternal champions Olympiakos. Benfica and Sporting are trying but are still a long way from the champions' standards. Belluschi to shine,Porto to win it yet again at 1.80
- Greek Superleague: OK,no further discussion needed here. There's only one champion in Greece in the last 20 years and I don't see any changes. OSFP even got stronger with the captures of world-class center back Olof Mellberg and solid midfielders Enzo Maresca and Cristian Ledesma plus 2 more transfers are due with the names of Mancini,Jonas Gutierrez,Pantelic,Obinna and Nene all in the list. Panathinaikos got stronger with Cisse,Leto and Katsouranis but are still nowhere near the Champions. AEK are way behind, even from Paok who have completed several decent signings in Vieirinha,Cirillo,Filomeno and the Greek Messi Koutsianikoulis. PAOK can officially now be renamed into"cunt team" with Conceicao,Pablo Garcia and Cirillo all featuring in their starting lineup. Olympiakos will stroll to another title at 2.05
- Cyprus 1st Division: Well,I wouldn't recommend this to anybody. Apollon FC come at 19/1 to win it this year and I plan on gambling a part of my income on them. OK, you may say I'm blind and I accept that. Follow this scenario though. If Apoel make it through to the Champions League group stage there is no way they can cope with all three competitions. So with Apoel out of the battle and Omonoia being their usual stupid selves we could see several teams competing including Anorthosis,Apollon and AEL. These teams are more or less at the same level but I guess that If Thomas Von Hessen can shape his numerous new transfers (Nunez,Agogo,Matusovic,Mrdakovic,Atorno,Duro,Bangura,Sfakianakis,Sales,Lopes,Ferreira,Pellatz Mishaelov)into a well functioning team then we're in with a shout. Plus the support the team showed to the current president of the Federation Koutsokoumnis in the recent elections and the return of Tselepos in the island's football life guarantee a lot of "underground activity" which could work in favour of the Limassol Giants (as quoted in the BBC).
So, resulting from this casual analysis I would go with 2 bets
For safety: Man U 2.80
Inter 1.90
Olympiakos 2.05
Barca 2.00
With a 20GBP bet you get a return of approximately 436 GBP
For risk-takers: Manu 2.80
Inter 1.90
Olympiakos 2.05
Barca 2.00
Porto 1.80
Apollon F.C 19.00
With a 20GBP bet you get a whopping 14,919.408 back. 15 thousand in the bank for that tour of the USA anyone??
Drooldog's favourite is the one above right. Click to enlarge.
At last!The long wait is over.Premiership kick-starts tomorrow, soon to be followed by the rest of the interesting European Leagues. Judging by the clubs' transfers and general summer activity (friendlies,managers hired etc) I have finally decided on my ante-post betting.
