Arsenal scored twice, Santos Laguna won very comfortably and things feel a little better in the world this morning !
I have three selections today, two Europa League matches and a "top ten"golf bet for the PGA event the Tampa Bay Championship, formerly known as the Transitions Championship.
Fairly brief notes today, but we know three of the four teams well enough and there will be six emails over the weekend in any case, two on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if you are short of reading material !
Next email will be at 10.30 UK time tomorrow morning and will focus solely on the Ligue 2 fixtures, the follow up at 16.30 will look at any late news for the other Friday games and also the Saurday morning ( for those of us based in Europe) J-league match ups, we are in week 3 of the new season and I am hungry to get us up and running there, with a couple of winners !
Europa League
Internazionale- Tottenham Hotspur
Inter were completely outplayed in the first leg, losing 3-0 and to be honest, it could have been far worse. It is an old joke, but Inter wer lucky to score nil !
All the headlines were about Gareth Bale again, but Gylfi Sigurdsson, Scott Parker, Jan Vertonghen and the ever impressive Mousa Dembélé all played their part and this was one of the better all round Tottenham displays.
We discussed the usual Italian approach to the competition before the last round and despite Lazio continuing to show the Europa League respect, Inter have made it clear that a Champions League place is/was their priority. However, we could have taken those claims a little more seriously and dismissed the performance at WHL a bit more readily, if they had not also lost 1-0 at home to Bolgna last weekend.
We have not seen the best of Nerazzurri this season and definitely not since the turn of the year, when they have only beaten Catania ( where they trailed 2-0), Pescara and Chievo in ten Serie A starts and kept just one cleansheet in 13 outings. Coach Andrea Stramaccioni promised a spirited performance against Bologna, instead they were more like a whipped dog with his tail between his legs and they had clearly not got the humiliation of last Thursday out of their system. Inter have a must win game at Sampdoria on Sunday and next up is a visit from Juventus, normally I would be looking to oppose them tonight, but what the hosts need more than anything else now, is to restore some pride. I am not sure how they would have dealt with Bale in the wide open spaces of the San Siro, he ran a much better Inter side ragged here a little over two years ago and is a far more complete player now and Esteban Cambiasso, with 80 Champions League appearances to his name, had no answer at WHL.
Luckily for him and Inter, there is no Bale tonight, he is suspended and Aaron Lennon has picked up an injury, but travelled, that doesn't completely nullify the threat from pace out wide for the visitors, but it does make it far easier to handle. For the first leg, Fredy Guarin ( 38-10-11 all competitions) and Rodrigo Palacio ( 35-18-6) were left out of the starting eleven, but were both on the pitch early in the second period. Inter's approach to the competition was clear and in stark contrast to Tottenham and boss AVB, who is as keen to win this, as to get into the CL, although the accountants will probably not agree, but if he can do both, then fine.
Tottenham almost had a perfect week, winning the North London derby, thrashing Inter and then leading at Anfield entering the final quarter of the game, but Liverpool fought back to win 3-2 and that meant that nothing is even close to being decided, in the race for a top 4 finish. Meaning Tottenham will have to have one eye on the derby game with Fulham at the weekend, also, Arsenal, Inter, Liverpool inside seven days will have taken it's toll and I suspect they will be happy to come out of the San Siro with the minimum of energy spent and no new injuries. I suddenly feel this is important for Inter and that they need a result, maybe more urgently a performance and to get a little swagger back.
The hosts have left Alvaro Pereira (31-1-2) and Ezequiel Schelotto (24-1-1) out of the squad and look short of options again at left back, so I will keep stakes minimal, but I do like the odds on the straight home win. 1 unit Inter -0.5 ball 2.33 asian line/ Ibramarket.
Inter: 1 Samir Handanovic, 27 Vid Belec, 77
Raffaele Di Gennaro, 23 Andrea Ranocchia, 26 Cristian
Chivu, 28 Simone Pasa, 33 Ibrahima Mbaye, 40 Juan Jesus, 42 Jonathan, 4 Javier Zanetti, 11 Ricky Alvarez,
14 Fredy Guarin, 19 Esteban Cambiasso, 21 Walter Gargano, 24 Marco Benassi, 29
Mateo Kovacic, 8 Rodrigo Palacio, 99 Antonio Cassano,
47 Matteo Colombi, 60 Niccolò Belloni.
Chelsea- Steaua Bucharest
Chelsea completely outplayed Manchester United for the last hour of the match at Old Trafford last week and were unfortunate not to have come away with the win. Rafael Benitez made the tactical changes and Sir Alex didn't react, with his team clearly losing the midfield battle. The Blues were buzzing afterwards and I expect them to build on that momentum this evening and turn this tie on it's head. Steaua lead 1-0 from the first leg, but dispite a lacklustre display from Chelsea, the hosts created little from open play and things will be even harder for them to do so at Stamford Bridge, if the Blues are motivated to turn this around. Rafa will surely name a much stronger side than the one we saw in Bucharest and with the visitors already having conceded twice at both Stuttgart and Ajax, looking especially vunerable aerially in both and with Terry, Ivanovic, Cahill all poising a big threat from set pieces and having 15 goals between them this season, whomever starts from that trio ,will probably fancy their chances of adding to their tally at circa 7.5-8.5 to score at anytime. This is all about attitude for me, if Chelsea really want this they should win by two plus and with a degree of comfort. 1.5 units Chelsea -1.5 ball 2.04 asian line/ Ibramarket.
PGA Tour: Tampa Bay Championship
Briefly, I like Jim Furyk. This is his time of year, he often starts the year slowly and tends to up his game when Spring starts to spring. He loves it here in this part of Florida, where he has a home and said this week ...."Move over PGA National, Doral and Bay Hill, you’ve got nothing on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.“I’m obviously biased,” the 2010 champion said, “and it’s probably because I play well here, but I really think this is the best course we play in the state of Florida on (the PGA) Tour.“I’ve always liked it here, ever since I was a kid. It looks good to my eye and I’m comfortable here. When you come to a place with good memories and you come in with a positive attitude, it always helps and I think that’s one of the reasons I play well here.”
He won this event in 2010, finished 13th in 2011 and in a tie for 2nd last year, losing out in a four way playoff to Luke Donald. The course was changed last year, amidst a howl of protests, but made no difference to Slim Jim and nor will the decision to revert the course back to it's former condition. 2011 was not a good year for him ( just four top tens) and he showed little form coming in (MC-MC-35-49), so to finish T13th shows just how much this course , with it's premium on accuracy, plays to his strengths. Last year he arrived having finished T40 Pebble Beach, T11 Northern Trust, T33 Matchplay and a MC at the Honda, this year he has played the same four events and recorded T30, T13, T17 and T35 respectively, so clearly appears ahead of where he was last year at this time and after taking a long off season break from the game, should just about be primed to produce his best this week. 1.25 units Jin Furyk top ten finish 3.50 + there is up to 4.0 in a place, odds can be viewed here.
Good Luck.
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