Balance
Loss €8.25
Result Inter Milan 2 (Viera 5,Jiménez 36) Palermo (Materazzi OG 25)
So we are back to square one more or less after being unable to capitalise on the Bordeaux win back in December.An uninspiring performance from Ibrahimovic last weekend didn't stop Inter from collecting the vital three points they needed after a winning goal from Chilean international Luis Antonio Jiménez.After a small stint following Italian football it is time to take this blog elsewhere and with a degree of caution it is Jiménez place of birth Chile.Now I know nothing about Chile domestic football so I am relying on stats totally.Jiménez began his career at a curious little club in Chile;Palestino from Santiago,a club founded by Palestinian immigrants.This weekend they take on another club that takes it's name from the birthplace of it's immigrant forefathers;Unión Espanóla.Both teams are in poor form,Palestino have lost their last three games while Espanola have won just one game in eight.Espanola have won four times this season and three of those have been on the road,one of those wins coming in their last match.Espanola may have a turned the corner and armed with their decent away form a win/draw not bet punt on the away team is my choice at 2.62 with Bet365.
more to follow..
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Week 18 Inter Milan v Palermo 16th March 2008
Balance
Profit €41.75
Result Albinoleffe 1 (Conteh 94) Messina 0
Not the goal fest I predicted last week but Sierra Leone defender Kewullay Conteh scored a late late goal to keep the Seriani dream alive.After a defeat yesterday to Pisa they remain one point beind top team Chievo in what promises to be an exciting finish in the race for promotion with four points covering first to sixth.Also heading for an exciting and surprising climax is the race to win the Italian title.It was only a couple of weeks that this blog wrote off the run in for the Scudetto as more or less over with Inter leading by nine points at the time but after Roma beating AC Milan yesterday the gap is only three points now.Inter today take on one of Kewullay Conteh's ex clubs Palermo today.It is sure to be a tense affair and with Inter licking their wounds after a midweek exit to Liverpool in the Champions League expect the Nerazzurri to bounce back today if they of course can keep their discipline.They will be boosted by Mancini's decision to change his mind about stepping down at the end of the season.My choice this week is to put €40 on Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score at 7/5 and €10 on him to bag the first goal at 9/2 both with Paddy Power.The Swede had a great chance on Tuesday night which he hit wide and with Mancini picking five strikers in his squad for the Palermo game he will be looking to hit the net today to keep his fellow strikers behind him in the pecking order.
Inter's opposition today are best known for their colourful attire,the hard men from Siciliy wear pink shirts,a unique colour in sporting clothing.Why pink?No the shirts didn't run in the wash.The club originally wore red and blue but in 1905 club member Giuseppe Airoldi in a letter to club chairman Joesph Whitaker suggested that the club change their colours to pink and black as red and blue was already used by many teams.He wrote that pink and black were the colours of 'bitter and sweet' and because Palermo's results were 'as alternate as a Swiss clock' the new colours would be apt.Not everyones cup of tea on choice of colours.A little in the feminine side but there have been worse.
Footballpunts three least attractive kits ever are as follows
3. Chelsea away 2007-2008.
The official colour is electric yellow,to me it looks like ugly luminous green.Abrahomvic would do anything to get his hands on the Champions League,trying to blind the opposition is taking it to new levels!They look more like men at work than professional footballers.
2. Republic of Ireland France 1998 qualifiers.
The orange jersey wore in a game remembered as one of Ireland's all time lows.Two penalties given away for handball ,Jason McAteer sent off for impersonating Bruce Lee and of course the ugly orange jersey never to be wore again.The game became a benchmark for bad and in training a player would receive a 'I had a Macedonia bib' if they had poor session.
1.Norwich City 1993
In 1993 Norwich City knocked Bayern Munich out of the UEFA Cup in what is known as their finest hour.They done it in style winning in Munich with a Jeremy Goss screamer however their jersey wasn't stylish at all in the fashion sense of the word.The ugliest jersey I have seen has to be that 'bird shit' shirt that the canaries wore that season.Decide for yourself below!
STATS
Ibrahimovic league goals this season 15.Nine of those have been first goals.
TRIVIA
Why do Italy play in blue despite the colour not featuring in the national flag?
Last weeks answer Filippo Inzaghi.
Profit €41.75
Result Albinoleffe 1 (Conteh 94) Messina 0
Not the goal fest I predicted last week but Sierra Leone defender Kewullay Conteh scored a late late goal to keep the Seriani dream alive.After a defeat yesterday to Pisa they remain one point beind top team Chievo in what promises to be an exciting finish in the race for promotion with four points covering first to sixth.Also heading for an exciting and surprising climax is the race to win the Italian title.It was only a couple of weeks that this blog wrote off the run in for the Scudetto as more or less over with Inter leading by nine points at the time but after Roma beating AC Milan yesterday the gap is only three points now.Inter today take on one of Kewullay Conteh's ex clubs Palermo today.It is sure to be a tense affair and with Inter licking their wounds after a midweek exit to Liverpool in the Champions League expect the Nerazzurri to bounce back today if they of course can keep their discipline.They will be boosted by Mancini's decision to change his mind about stepping down at the end of the season.My choice this week is to put €40 on Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score at 7/5 and €10 on him to bag the first goal at 9/2 both with Paddy Power.The Swede had a great chance on Tuesday night which he hit wide and with Mancini picking five strikers in his squad for the Palermo game he will be looking to hit the net today to keep his fellow strikers behind him in the pecking order.
Inter's opposition today are best known for their colourful attire,the hard men from Siciliy wear pink shirts,a unique colour in sporting clothing.Why pink?No the shirts didn't run in the wash.The club originally wore red and blue but in 1905 club member Giuseppe Airoldi in a letter to club chairman Joesph Whitaker suggested that the club change their colours to pink and black as red and blue was already used by many teams.He wrote that pink and black were the colours of 'bitter and sweet' and because Palermo's results were 'as alternate as a Swiss clock' the new colours would be apt.Not everyones cup of tea on choice of colours.A little in the feminine side but there have been worse.
Footballpunts three least attractive kits ever are as follows
3. Chelsea away 2007-2008.
The official colour is electric yellow,to me it looks like ugly luminous green.Abrahomvic would do anything to get his hands on the Champions League,trying to blind the opposition is taking it to new levels!They look more like men at work than professional footballers.
2. Republic of Ireland France 1998 qualifiers.
The orange jersey wore in a game remembered as one of Ireland's all time lows.Two penalties given away for handball ,Jason McAteer sent off for impersonating Bruce Lee and of course the ugly orange jersey never to be wore again.The game became a benchmark for bad and in training a player would receive a 'I had a Macedonia bib' if they had poor session.
1.Norwich City 1993
In 1993 Norwich City knocked Bayern Munich out of the UEFA Cup in what is known as their finest hour.They done it in style winning in Munich with a Jeremy Goss screamer however their jersey wasn't stylish at all in the fashion sense of the word.The ugliest jersey I have seen has to be that 'bird shit' shirt that the canaries wore that season.Decide for yourself below!
STATS
Ibrahimovic league goals this season 15.Nine of those have been first goals.
TRIVIA
Why do Italy play in blue despite the colour not featuring in the national flag?
Last weeks answer Filippo Inzaghi.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Week 17 Albinoleffe v Messina 8th March 2008
Balance
Profit €91.75
Result Livorno 1(Diamanti 62) Catania 0
Last weekend was a good one thanks to Serie A newcomer Alessandro Diamanti's wonder goal to give Livorno the three points that this blog predicted.I'm quite enjoying following the mixed bag that is Italian football and this weekend I am taking my journey down to Serie B,to one of Diamanti's former clubs Albinoleffe who are currently flying high in the race for promotion to the top division.Albino who?More on that later,let's try to make some cash for now.Today it's the team known as the Seriani versus Messina,second versus tenth.When evaluating what is a good bet plain old number crunching has to be taking into account and this week I am relying on this facet of the bet alone as I am not what you would say 'in the know' on either side.So on pure maths overs is my bet this weekend.In the last four matches involving the home team the goal has been breached 12 times,so far so good and Messina,the last four matches involving the team from Sicily has yielded a whopping 21 goals.To get anything over evens on the overs I'd take as great value considering this form and the 2.16 on betfair is the bet for me.Before more on Albinoleffe check out Diamanti's goal against Catania,top notch.
So Albinoleffe,who are they?Not exactly a household name but if they can keep their form between now and the rest of the season we will hear a lot more about this fairytale story,another Italian football miracle.Castel Di Sangro's promotion to Serie B in 1996 was hearalded as a miracle,Albinoleffe if the can make Serie A it will be just as great as one.The club was formed in 1998 with the merger of two Serie C2 sides Albinese and Leffe.The two teams were from neighbouring towns in Bergamo,Albino and Leffe with a combined population of 23,000.Despite Albinoleffe's lofty position in Serie B they only average crowds of under 3,000 people.From the beginning both sets of fans were not happy with the idea of their clubs amalgamating and support for the new club has never taken off the ground.Leffe fans had the biggest gripe as they viewed themselves as the bigger club having become something of a fixture in C1 and they've even had Filippo Inzaghi and Giuseppe Signori on their books early in their careers.Albinese had been a fifth tier side(Serie D) for most of their history so a big fan base was never on the cards.This hasn't perturbed the players at all and straight away they went about their business.In the 1998-1999 season they were promoted to C1 under coach Oscar Piantoni but it was his successor Elio Gustinetti who began to write the first chapters of the fairytale.Gustinetti assembled a side of local talent and lower division journey men and todays squad still has that look about it.He led the club to promotion in 2003 through the playoffs overcoming Pisa at Bergamo's communal Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium where the Seriani play all their home games.The crowd that day was 11,000,one thousand of those home supporters.
In Serie B the aim has been 50 points every season,the figure normally needed to survive in the second tier.The first couple of seasons the Favola continued but Gustinetti parted company with the club to coach Arezzo.The new man Vincenzo Esposito found the burden of keeping the story going too much and after a bad start in their third season in Serie B Emiliano Mondonico stepped in to rescue the club from relegation after a playoff win against Avellino.Last season they came 10th under Mondonico which was seen as an amazing achievement,along the way twice holding the mighty Juventus to two draws.There was clearly something special going on at the club but in a suprise move their coach decided to drop a division and take over Cremonese.They say you should never go back but this cliche has so far been made redundent by Elio Gustinetti who has comeback as Albinoleffe's knight in shining armour and who has so far this season guided the Sariani to second playing swashbuckling football by all accounts.With big city clubs - Brescia,Chievo,Pisa and Lecce breathing down their necks there is still a massive battle on to guarantee that promotion spot.Even though they are close to completing a dream season the local apathy still exists,if they make the big league maybe this apathy will be lifted but there is still a long way to go.
STATS
Goals scored in Albinoleffe home fixtures 39 in 14 games
Goals scored in Messina away fixtures 34 in 13 games
TRIVIA
Who scored both goals against Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final?
Last weeks answer Cristiano Lucarelli(he actually plays for Parma now after leaving the Ukranians in January.Nobody told me!)
Profit €91.75
Result Livorno 1(Diamanti 62) Catania 0
Last weekend was a good one thanks to Serie A newcomer Alessandro Diamanti's wonder goal to give Livorno the three points that this blog predicted.I'm quite enjoying following the mixed bag that is Italian football and this weekend I am taking my journey down to Serie B,to one of Diamanti's former clubs Albinoleffe who are currently flying high in the race for promotion to the top division.Albino who?More on that later,let's try to make some cash for now.Today it's the team known as the Seriani versus Messina,second versus tenth.When evaluating what is a good bet plain old number crunching has to be taking into account and this week I am relying on this facet of the bet alone as I am not what you would say 'in the know' on either side.So on pure maths overs is my bet this weekend.In the last four matches involving the home team the goal has been breached 12 times,so far so good and Messina,the last four matches involving the team from Sicily has yielded a whopping 21 goals.To get anything over evens on the overs I'd take as great value considering this form and the 2.16 on betfair is the bet for me.Before more on Albinoleffe check out Diamanti's goal against Catania,top notch.
So Albinoleffe,who are they?Not exactly a household name but if they can keep their form between now and the rest of the season we will hear a lot more about this fairytale story,another Italian football miracle.Castel Di Sangro's promotion to Serie B in 1996 was hearalded as a miracle,Albinoleffe if the can make Serie A it will be just as great as one.The club was formed in 1998 with the merger of two Serie C2 sides Albinese and Leffe.The two teams were from neighbouring towns in Bergamo,Albino and Leffe with a combined population of 23,000.Despite Albinoleffe's lofty position in Serie B they only average crowds of under 3,000 people.From the beginning both sets of fans were not happy with the idea of their clubs amalgamating and support for the new club has never taken off the ground.Leffe fans had the biggest gripe as they viewed themselves as the bigger club having become something of a fixture in C1 and they've even had Filippo Inzaghi and Giuseppe Signori on their books early in their careers.Albinese had been a fifth tier side(Serie D) for most of their history so a big fan base was never on the cards.This hasn't perturbed the players at all and straight away they went about their business.In the 1998-1999 season they were promoted to C1 under coach Oscar Piantoni but it was his successor Elio Gustinetti who began to write the first chapters of the fairytale.Gustinetti assembled a side of local talent and lower division journey men and todays squad still has that look about it.He led the club to promotion in 2003 through the playoffs overcoming Pisa at Bergamo's communal Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium where the Seriani play all their home games.The crowd that day was 11,000,one thousand of those home supporters.
In Serie B the aim has been 50 points every season,the figure normally needed to survive in the second tier.The first couple of seasons the Favola continued but Gustinetti parted company with the club to coach Arezzo.The new man Vincenzo Esposito found the burden of keeping the story going too much and after a bad start in their third season in Serie B Emiliano Mondonico stepped in to rescue the club from relegation after a playoff win against Avellino.Last season they came 10th under Mondonico which was seen as an amazing achievement,along the way twice holding the mighty Juventus to two draws.There was clearly something special going on at the club but in a suprise move their coach decided to drop a division and take over Cremonese.They say you should never go back but this cliche has so far been made redundent by Elio Gustinetti who has comeback as Albinoleffe's knight in shining armour and who has so far this season guided the Sariani to second playing swashbuckling football by all accounts.With big city clubs - Brescia,Chievo,Pisa and Lecce breathing down their necks there is still a massive battle on to guarantee that promotion spot.Even though they are close to completing a dream season the local apathy still exists,if they make the big league maybe this apathy will be lifted but there is still a long way to go.
STATS
Goals scored in Albinoleffe home fixtures 39 in 14 games
Goals scored in Messina away fixtures 34 in 13 games
TRIVIA
Who scored both goals against Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final?
Last weeks answer Cristiano Lucarelli(he actually plays for Parma now after leaving the Ukranians in January.Nobody told me!)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Week 16 Livorno v Catania 2nd March 2008 WINNER!!
Balance
Profit €22.75
Result Cagliari 1(Matri 87) Lazio 0
So very close to a much needed win last week.The game was heading for a stalemate until substitute Alesandro Matri guided a fine header towards Marco Ballotta's far post and into the net to earn a vital three points for the Islanders in their battle against relegation.Despite another loss at least last weekend I got a bit of value out of the draw bet and if relegation dogfights are your thing then you will be guaranteed plenty of value following the Italian league scrap for survival.With only nine points separating bottom club Cagliari and Torino in 13th place the fight for survival promises to be captivating unlike the top of the table with Inter cruising to another title with the same nine points between the Nerazzurri and their nearest rivals Roma.This weekend I am following the relegation battle and I will have a look at the third from bottom Livorno versus fourth from bottom Catania,two teams squaring up to each other from both sides of the relegation zone.My choice this week is to go for the team on the wrong side; Livorno to win at 2.38 with betfair.
With two successive trips to the San Siro; the first a draw against AC then a defeat against Inter followed by two narrow defeats at home to Napoli and away to Fiorentina,Livorno should relish easier opposition with the visit of Catania to Stadio Armando Picchi.Catania won the reverse fixture one nil back in October but they have not got a point on the road since November and they are one of three clubs not to have won on their travels this season.Don't be fooled by the midweek draw at home to AC Milan as the Champions League holders started with out Nesta,Oddo,Kaka,Pirlo and Gattuso.It is a Livorno win for me this weekend to send the Sicilian team into the drop zone.Livorno need to hit some form soon and with most of their fellow stugglers still to come to the Picchi they should be confident of picking up some more vital points in the six pointer games.The Amaranto also have a goalscorer,Francesco Tavano in double figures this season,a stat that the teams around them cannot claim.If Tavano keeps scoring Livorno can stay up.Francesco 'Ciccio' Tavano currently wears the number 10 shirt for Livorno after a brief retirement of the jersey.
Livorno's number 10 jersey was retired in 2005 after Igor Protti retired.Protti became a Livorno legend after he joined them for a second spell(his first spell was in the 80's) in Serie C1.He guided and captained them to Serie A on the way becoming capocannoniere in CI and B resulting in him becoming the first player to be top scorer in all top three divisions.Protti ended the 1996 season joint top goalscorer with Giuseppe Signori whilst playing for Bari,a feat made all the more remarkable as Bari were relegated that season.Protti had short spells with Lazio,Napoli and Reggianna before heading to Livorno for a second time in 1999 and the rest is history.He may have never won an Italian cap or the hearts of the nation but he will always be in the hearts of the Livorno fans and he himself retired a supporter.After receiving the freedom of the city Protti unretired the jersey in 2007 announcing that he wanted to give back the dream of wearing the number 10.
STATS
Livorno at home W2 D5 L5 F13 A19
Catania away W0 D5 L8 F9 A23
TRIVIA
Which Livorno fans favourite now plays for Ukranian side Shakhtar Donetsk?Last weeks answer 1990,England 1-1.
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