07 Oct 19:00 Bulgaria v Holland 3.80 3.10 1.85. Home team has no major injury concerns.The weakest point is their defense,where all play in domestic league(Angelov,Topuzakov,Wagner,Iliev or Tomashic).In my opinion they are middle class players.In midfield the presence of Petrov(Aston Villa),Kishishev(Charlton),Petrov(Atl.Madrid) and up front Berbatov(Tottenham) and Bojinov(Juventus) make things better for Bulgaria.Striker Todorov(Wigan) will miss the game.
Dutch side have won their two games in this group(against Belarus at home and Luxemburg away)and showed not very impressive performances.Van Basten has been criticized because of his managerial policy.Van Bomel and Van Nistelrooy refused to play under his management.I really don't understand why man in very good form such as Van Nistelrooy has not been included in the squad.Holland always used to be a very good team,but at this stage they are not much better than Bulgaria and I can't see Holland achieving anything major in the near future.Manager Van Basten totally ignored the services of Zeedorf,Davids,Roy Makaay,Van Nistelrooy,Van Bommel.
De Jonk and Vanegor of Hesseling are both sidelined with slight injuries.
I will not bet on this game,because anything could happen.The draw occur to be the most likely outcome.
I will appreciate any team news regarding Romania-Belarus and Italy-Ukraine games.In my opinion both are home wins.
The prices on Spain has dropped quite a bit since monday, and laying Spain would normally seem like a good idea, but. Sweden is IMO no longer the force they used to be, every team has to go through a transitional period every now and then and I believe Sweden is having one right now. The national diva Zlatan Ibrahimovich (Inter) refuses to play after a conflict over a curfew violation and Larsson has retired. Swedens number one striker for this match is the veteran Markus Allbäck (remember him, played for Villa) who maybe out injured. Olof Mellberg is also a doubt, but I´ll reckon he´ll play, if he does not don´t lay Spain. Their number one goalie, Isaksson (Manchester City), is also injured so Rami Shabaan will play, I rate Isaksson so that is a minus.
On paper Sweden is fielding a Championship side sprinkled with top players (Mellberg, Ljungberg, Källström) but Sweden is Sweden and they always perform better than they should. In comparison Spain has all the talent in the world but underperform. Being a finn I might be biased, but I hope the smug swedes will be found out by a spanish side that plays to it´s potential.
I also hope Finland will beat Armenia, but Finland is not value at 1.6 and I will not back Armenia. Maybe a small bet on 0-1.
Agree with you about Sweden being a shadow of their former selfs there. Good analysis and welcome to TDP too
Remember England taking apart Greece and i couldn't believe that Greece were the current Euro champions as they were that bad.
Be interested to hear some Greek fans views on their side.
Norway quite impressed me in their last qualifying group and they will measure up well with the Greeks and i can't help but think their price is a bit inflated.
Thoughts?
Norway's price is more inflated than just a bit Kiko. I have taken the awaywin already.
In the greek squad, things don't look good. There has been lots of critique on coach Rehagel's calls once more but this time it's gone beyond control.
Last night's interview of Rehagel was all quarels with reporters and I say that the team is doing anything but concentrating on the game.
I am not going into details but I have to say that coach's decisions were bloody strange and the critique was well reasoned but this is not relevant.
Norway seem much more focused. The situation reminds me an awful lot of another meeting with Norway some years ago, when Norway won with Solskjear scoring and the Greek coach (Romanian Iordanescu back then) resigned after the game. I would not rule out a similar scenario.
I did not go into team analysis at all so far as this comes second in importance for my pick. Greece ain't playing good despite winning their first game. I don't rate Norway very high either to be honest but higher than Greece in any case. It's an easy group this one I think and Norway may well claim first place.
However it's not team news but general atmosphere surrounding the game that renders 4ish for the awaywin very very high indeed. Took it gladly despite being Greek and all. Medium to high stakes.
I wouldn’t touch Ireland this weekend (at that price of 4/9 anyway). I’ll be backing Cyrus on the Asian Handicap and might even have a nibble on the outrights. We are missing literally ½ a team and we’re not the side that can afford that - Shay Given, Stephen Carr, Steven Reid, Graham Kavanagh & Kevin Doyle are all out. Of them only Reid would have been likely to have been on the subs bench. Staunton is in the stands (although that might be an advantage ). Our recent record is abysmal – we have failed to score in the last 3 and have lost 5 from the last 7. I have 0 faith in Staunton (something I think the players might share). He seemed on drugs in his post match interview in Germany and he subbed Duff in as bizarre a decision as even the terminally crap Brian Kerr managed). We only beat Cyprus by a single goal the last time in Nicosia. Cyprus got tanked by Slovenia admittedly but prior to that they have been relatively competitive at home.
The paper last week carried a story that said the FAI had only sold 2,000 tickets for this game. In 2004 we took 18,000 fans. The 2,000 seems awfully low but expectations for this are not of a walkover.
Cyprus are IMO well worth supporting on the Asian Handicap and if there is a long odds shock this weekend it might well be in Cyprus.
Aye its a tricky one CJ but it has to be a must win game for the Irish but those odds do look on the shortish side based on recent performances and i have to agree on it being a game that should not be touched.
Shay Given i should imagine will be the biggest miss as he never seems to have a bad game when pulling on the green jersey, i should imagine Kenny will replace him but he's nowhere near Givens class IMO.
Staunton is on a hiding to nothing here and must surely go out attacking to get a result as anything but must surely put his job in jeopardy.
Its sad to see the Irish lose the 'never say die' spirit Charlton instilled in them as they used to fancy themselves against anybody and end up with some great results.
Mind you they had some decent players back then but it did carry over for a short while into the current generation.
Its now upto the more experienced players like Robbie Keane and Duff to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and produce for the Country.
havent Lithuania a few injuries Gooner? im always a bit wary of the Faroe's on their home turf honest i am. An unispiring 1-1. Scotland were just World class in the first half against them. theyre probably not all that bad.
I like the look of your dowble there mind and i think i'll have some of that too Gooner. right what else we got?
Wales/slovakia looks either hard to call or draw material to me. Poland have a few out. Israel always worth a draw. Czech republic look good for putting your deposit on for free bets with those that dont mind the odds. England a 2, 3 nil victory poss. I'll leave it. Moldova v Bosnia looks steeped in history. France are 8/13 where i have my money and i can't chance that. I'd rather shout on Scotland getting something from the game so i'm staying clear.
I can't back Romania at 1/4 Gooner mind especially as seeing i know sod all about them. Hungary v Turkey looks a good game and i'll read up and see if theres much mention of that one. could be another one for the draw line. Holland away at bulgaria could be a popular pick so i'll read up on that one too.
N Ireland are playing a lot better but you have to respect the danes. Nah i could see N Ireland nickign a draw poss so im gonna avoid it even though i said i was on it before
Sweded Spain again is a corker and one that folks will have discussed. Belgium to get a draw in Serbia?
greece/norway is a horrible game for me but i presume the low scoring draw is all the rage. I could fancy the home if team news is in favour. i could take Italy -1 at 6/4. see them scoring a couple in a must win game. Maybe the most goals in first half could be the one. 21/10. Italy come out. score 1 or 2 and then keep it casual.
As to the matter that "Finland were way too good latley" all I have to say is we have had the potential for the last 10 years, but we tried to play too "neat" fotboll under Muurinen. Hyypiä, Litmanen, Tainio, Väyrynen, Jääskeläinen (Niemi before him), Forssell are no mugs, even if the last two are getting on a bit. With Hodgson we are going for results and results only and I´m actually happier seeing Finland win 1-0 than losing 4-3 in the last minute.
Betting wise you should regard the finnish national team the following way:
If all our "first eleven" players are fit then we can beat any second class team in the world (aka Poland) and give a first class team a good match (aka Portugal). The problem is that Finland´s squad is very thin when it comes to class players, so when we get injuries you should absoulutley not bet on Finland. For the Armenia game Tainio and Eremenko are injured, and I´ll think we´ll cope, but those two alone means we have much less class in the side and have to bring in Nurmela! Hopefully Nurmela can do a decent job today, but a 34 year old winger playing for HJK Helsinki who has seen his best days instead of Tainio...
But that´s the way it goes. Recap: Finland with injuries - Estonia class - Finland without injuries - Scottish class?. The value today might be with Armenia, but Finland is going to the Alps for it´s first major tournament!
Euro 2008 Qualifiers: 7th Oct
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). Our recent record is abysmal – we have failed to score in the last 3 and have lost 5 from the last 7. I have 0 faith in Staunton 
(something I think the players might share). He seemed on drugs in his post match interview in Germany and he subbed Duff in as bizarre a decision as even the terminally crap Brian Kerr managed). We only beat Cyprus by a single goal the last time in Nicosia. Cyprus got tanked by Slovenia admittedly but prior to that they have been relatively competitive at home.
im always a bit wary of the Faroe's on their home turf 
honest i am. An unispiring 1-1. Scotland were just World class in the first half against them. theyre probably not all that bad. 
