To say I haven't had a stellar couple of weeks tipping would be a slight understatement. In my defence a lot of matches have only gone against me last minute and this time of the season is notoriously hard to pick winners due to a complete lack of playing time to judge the teams. But, I should be doing better. Those of you that also follow me on Twitter will have noticed that I picked 5 from 7 winners in the Careless Cup midweek, sadly I didn't have time around my actual job to put those up in the form of the blog.
Hopefully now that most sides have played 3 or 4 matches it should be slightly easier to get a feel of how they will be getting on this season. Obviously if you listen to some newspapers, or most sadly, Arsenal are probably going to be relegated as the worst team in the history of the game, Man Utd's new batch of kids will likely show Barcelona exactly how to play football and everyone else is largely irrelevant. Of course we know this is not the case. Blackburn are the worst side in the history of football, not Arsenal.
Music comes from the superb Lawrence Arms with the cracking Recovering the Opposable Thumb.
Wigan v QPR, Saturday 1230
Those of you that have followed this blog since inception will know that I am no lover, or backer, of Wigan. I think they're a black mark on the Premier League with their consistently poor displays and skin of the teeth survival every season. And then there's the fact that no bugger watches them. I appreciate they're there on merit, but there are an awful lot of teams I would rather see take their place. Anyway...they looked pretty good away at newly promoted Swansea last weekend to me. They actually offered a decent attacking threat and Ben Watson looks a tidy little player to me. On the other hand QPR have not looked very good since coming up. They were handed their own arses by Bolton on the first weekend at home and then somehow beat Everton without ever looking likely to last weekend. There is a feel-good factor around the club now due to the removing og the previous owners, but as yet the new guy has not had a chance to alter the Championship standard team. Back Wigan at a very appealing 2.42 on Betfair whilst it lasts.
Swansea v Sunderland, Saturday 1500
I got burnt on Swansea last week, but I'm going to try them once more before I start thinking they're a lost cause. They again looked a good footballing side against Wigan, but they look a little short of firepower and that may be their undoing over the course of the season. The goalkeeper Vorn looks a real signing to me, even if Swansea go down he should not be short of offers. If they are going to stay in the division then home form will be all important, and the fact they were only beaten 3 times at the Liberty last season suggests it can be made something of a fortress. Sunderland, and in particular their manager Steve Bruce, are a very interesting case to me. They have never been shy of spending decent amounts of cash, but they seem very un-concerned about the fact they have seen no progression at all from all that investment. Similarly there are no articles calling for Bruce's head and no major fan unrest on matchdays. Why is this? He has presided over a period of major investment and no results. He changes the team every season, then uses it as an excuse to say they need more time to play together. They have again started poorly and were knocked out of the Careless Cup by Brighton midweek. Back Swansea to add to the misery at 2.5 with William Hill.
Tottenham v Man City, Sunday 1330
One of the matches of an actual 'Super Sunday' this week has Man City's first real challenge of the season as they take on Spurs at White Hart Lane. The Blue side of Manchester has been getting very excited over the last month with some brilliant signings made and some good early performances. Sergio Aguero has obviously taken most of the headlines, but equally as important has been David Silva. He is a proper playmaker when given the opportunity and it is his runs and passes that are making it easy for Aguero and Dzeko so far. Spurs have started late due to the rioting that took place around them a couple of weeks ago. They opened up with their annual surrender to Man Utd in a truly hopeless second half on Monday night. Sloppy Chops has been doing his usual routine of whining about how he has absolutely no players to pick from and it's all everyone else's fault. The fact that not a single one of his signings has performed since he got there seems completely alien to the utter clown. I think Spurs will again be left chasing shadows by Silva in particular and I expect something of a statement of intent from City. Back Man City at 2.5 with Bet365.
Hoffenheim v Werder Bremen, Saturday 1430
To the Bundesliga and a match between two sides with two wins and a loss in their three matches played. Hoffenheim have established themselves as something of a mainstay since being promoted a few years back. They were bankrolled by a local businessman to a certain extent and it seems that they are now happy to be an upper mid-table side with hopes of Europe every season. Not too bad for a village side. They generally entertain and try to play on the front foot too which has endeared them to a lot of neutrals from abroad. Werder are a fantastic team to watch when in full flow. They have played Ossie Ardiles style football for a decade now where it doesn't matter how many you concede, so long as you score more. Last season saw an attempt to try defending fail miserably and happily they look back to playing with reckless abandon once again this year. I'm going looking for goals, goals, goals in this. Back Over 3.5 goals at 3.0 with William Hill.
Hannover 96 v Mainz 05, Sunday 1430
A second match from Germany this week with the two upstarts of last season meeting in Hannover. Hannover sit atop the Bundesliga after three matches with two wins and a draw, Mainz have won two and lost one. Both sides came into last season playing good attacking football and also promoting youngsters from within to do so. This comes with the twofold bonus that the players have no fear and also they constantly learn how to play best with each other with no pre-conceived ideas. This should in theory only make both sides stronger this season. Hannover also gained a very good draw away in Sevilla last night to progress to the Europa League group stages. Sadly Mainz were eliminated early on in something of a shock result. I think both sides are evenly matched, but home form swings it towards Hannover for me. Back Hannover at 2.3 with Betfair.
Nice v Brest, Saturday 1800
First of all shall we have a jolly good chortle at the away sides name? Brest! Those crazy surrendering French swine! Back to the football now. Nice have started the season horribly a draw and two losses from their three matches. Losing star striker Loic Remy seems to have hurt them a great deal and they have been considerably poorer for his absence. Brest have stayed in the top flight against all predictions with shock wins here and there also adding to their CV. They have started the season with three straight draws with three goals for and three goals against. They fit right in in France as they are not the most entertaining of sides. I think we could again see a draw in this one. Back the draw at 3.1 with most firms.
Tom Tomsk v Amkar, Saturday 1230
Final match this week comes from Russia. Two sides battling at the wrong end of the table currently meet and it will probably be a deathly dull affair. Russian matches are generally not blesses with goals and the two sides respective home and away records would bear out my feelings for this one. Tom Tomsk have won once at home all season and Amkar have won once away all season. Tom Tomsk have scored 8 in 11 home matches and Amkar have scored 7 in 9 away matches. This is not one to raise the temperature I'm afraid. However comma I really don't see off the back of those stats how Amkar can be pretty short priced favourites for this. I am willing to oppose the odds makers on this. Lay Amkar at 1.85 on Betfair, or wait for another bookmaker to come out with Double Chance and back Tom Tomsk and Draw.
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