Euro 2024 - Thoughts on Group C

 Group C thoughts;

Slovenia, qualified in what was the qualifying group of death where even the fourth placed team still got 18 points. Finishing second to the Danes with the same points, more goals scored and a better goal difference they can now enjoy the competition and forget about the Denmark.

Players to watch out for:

Benjamin Sesko - when not captaining Deep Space Nine he has had a very good season for RB Leipzig.

Denmark, oh dear look who just walked into the party wearing the same dress as Slovenia... Lets hope they can have a fun time without having a cardiac arrest like last time. Finished top of a crazy group and they have it in them to get out of this group.

Players to watch out for:

Rasmus Hoijlund - a player more suited to international football than club football.

Skov Olsen - one of those Belgian League players who someone should be taking a chance on.

Serbia, qualified second in their group have looked really good recently and have a squad full of familiar names. Also they've got the mix just right with some crusty veterans mixed with some youngsters. A team I really think can do well and have it in them to cause a shock.

Players to watch out for:

Lazar Samardic - a really bright spark in a dull Udinese side.

Dusan Vlahivic - a really smart striker who should be more well known.

England, this group is going to be England plus one other. They walked qualifying and are deservedly one of the favourites. They will go far, they are a team that for a while have been strong up front and are weaker the further back you go. But if they can stick a young central defender in next to Stones to get experience, get through the left back injury issue and hypnotise Pickford to think he plays for Liverpool instead of Everton they can cope with these issues.

Players to watch out for:

Declan Rice - after a move from West Ham to Arsenal he's gone up a level.

Jude Bellingham - an insane season in La Liga after moving to Real Madrid.

Philbert Foden - ended the season as the form player in the EPL.

Bets and trades

England to win the group.

Min stakes on Serbia to qualify.

Overs on Bookings for that final match of Serbia Vs Denmark which I suspect will be for second place.

Euro 2024 - Group B Thoughts

 Group B thoughts;

Spain? Spain?! Spain!!! Wake up Spain!!! I'm trying to do a preview here and not only have you not announced your squad yet your league season hasn't finished! So if Spain aren't going to make an effort neither am I. Spain...

Players to watch out for:

Whichever of them sets their alarm and turns up.

Croatia, a team made up of players who on reading the squad generate such comments as "is he still going" and "oh I forgot he ever existed." Case in point, Mateo Kovacic has played 46 times for Manchester City last season and my most recent memory of him is getting a yellow card for Inter Milam in 2012. They comfortably qualified, played alright but there's something uninspiring about them. Given Spain may have forgot to put the tournament in their calendar, Italy don't look too good and Albania topped their qualifying group they can get out of this group but I don't expect much from them.

Players to watch out for:

Mario Pasalic - had a really good season.

Luca Modric - appreciate him while he's still here.

Italy, as a Serie A viewer its rather depressing to see how poor Italy look at the moment. No strikers, a rather dull midfield and another crop of defenders over 30. Qualifying was brown trousers time and they look pretty bad. My pick to go out early and spend the rest of the tournament writing a strongly worded email about how they should get a bye to the final.

Players to watch out for:

Giacomo Raspadori - had a really good season for Napoli.

Federico Chiesa - every tournament theres a player who will turn on the style because they want a move, this is that player.

Albania, finished top of their qualifying group by winning only half of their games. They will be viewed as the minnows of this group but don't underestimate them. A dangerous floater for those looking to rest players against them or who forget to set their alarm clock.

Players to look out for:

Jasir Asani - played really well during qualifying.

Berat Djimsiti - another very good Atalanta player.

Bets and trades

Lay overall of Italy.

Otherwise theres not a lot of value in this group.

Minimum stakes lay of Italy to qualify.

If you fancy a fun £1.00 on Croatia to qualify as most people apparently I'd wait for their price to go up a bit. 

Euro 2024 - Group A Thoughts

 Thoughts on Group A;

Surely Germany can't screw this group up? Can they? Well lets have a look. Results wise they've been in friendly limbo with some odd results. Squad wise they look in transition, we have a few 30+ players on the verge of international retirement, a few up and comers (notably from Leverkusen and Stuttgart) and dare I say it a few journeymen who I'm looking at while wondering "how are they in the squad?"

I see them getting through the group although not with ease. There is a very good German 15 in here but I don't think they have the depth to get to the final. I see them going out at the quarter or semi final stage.

Players to watch out for:

Florian Wirtz - the star player of this season Bundesliga, so much of how Germany do depends on him.

Deniz Undav - the form German striker this season.

Kai Havertz - a very good season for Arsenal.

Scotland, Steve Clarke has put together a good squad who didn't just eek into the tournament on the back of some 1-0 wins, they nearly won the group, beat Spain and amazingly scored some goals - they never had a 1-0 victory during qualifying. Hopefully they can take this form into the tournament, odds wise their the outsiders for the group but I'm hoping they can cause some more upsets.

Players to watch out for:

Ncuti Gatwa - good start to his career part of a good partnership on his debut with David Tennant, but needs to concentrate more and stop running into minefields.

Hungary, played some really good stuff comfortably won their group, the goals have been spread around the team and like Scotland look quite good. Bar Dominik Szoboszlai no real big names so lets hope to uncover an unknown gem.

Players to watch out for:

Dominik Szoboszlai - everything about this team revolves through him.

Switzerland, they've played some really good football, scored a lot of goals and generally had a fun time in qualifying. They're often about in the early stages of competitions sometimes knocking out a big name only to go out themselves the next round. Checking my notes aside from Granite Chaka Khan and Yann Sommer there isn't a lot to write home about. In Switzerland I find a team I don't want to do well, I want Hungary or Scotland to get through this group and in order for them to do that they need to get something from Switzerland who are the second favourites in this group.

Players to watch out for:

Remo Freuler - a good all round player whose had an outstanding season for Bologna and someone who I find to be unappreciated.

 

Bets and trades;

My big lay of the tournament is Germany, I think they'll win and I think the host factor is lowering their odds. 5/1 is a good lay as even if they do win I think the price will go longer at some stage.

Low level minimum stakes lay of Switzerland to finish top 2 in the group.

The Mist

 "Whats going on?"

"Don't know, I can't see anything..."

THE END

September Football 2023

 Its the return of my football ratings of the month, I watch a lot of football for pleasure and trading. Here are the matches I watched this month rated from worst to best;

Roma 1-2 AC Milan, Serie A. An awful match where Roma offered nothing except trolling until the final few minutes despite being a man up from the 60 minute point.

Newcastle Utd 1-0 Brentford, English Premier League. Neither team got started, it felt like watching a 90 minute warm up.

Everton 0-1 Arsenal, English Premier League. Everton were rubbish and the dragged Arsenal down to their level, a heavy favourite won 1-0...

Luton Town 1-2 West Ham Utd, English Premier League. Lutons first home game in the EPL saw counter attacking West Ham with most of the play until they scored. Neither team are used to having possession and it showed, plenty of off target shots and corners little on action or decent play.

Inter Milan 5-1 AC Milan, Serie A, I missed the start of Strictly to watch Milan get thumped.

Olympique Lyon 0-0 Le Havre, Ligue 1. A battling display from the away team earnt a point against an unconfident Lyon. Plenty of blocked shots and Le Havre worked a minor miracle to keep a clean sheet. 

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Burnley, English premier League. A game about misses, Forest would miss a ton of dead certs which gave Burnley the confidence to go ahead late in the first half. Forest equalised with a brilliant goal in a game that both will feel that they could have won.   

West Ham Utd 1-3 Manchester City, English Premier League. West Ham with more of their on the break routine went ahead in the second half City came back with the inevitability of heat death.

Millwall 0-3 Leeds, Championship. Fun attacking game with both sides going for it.

Sunderland 5-0 Southampton, Championship. A very good performance from Sunderland who played on the break for most of the game. A fun attacking game with Southampton unable to penetrate despite having most of the play.

Southampton 1-4 Leicester City, Championship. Jamie Vardy started a party after 20 seconds and Southampton cried because they wanted too.

Latvia 0-2 Wales, European Championship Qualifiers. A young Welsh side dominated a niggly Latvia, Wales should have scored more. 

Crystal Palace 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers, English Premier League. Enjoyable end to end match, fun trading which got better when the goals started flying in during the second half.   

Borussia Monchengladbach 1-2 Bayern Munich, Budesliga. A dominating display from Bayern in a game enlivened by the hosts going ahead midway through the second half. Wave after wave of Bayern attacks saw them equalise and then grab a winner in the final few minutes. A good trading game created by the hosts going ahead. 

Burnley 2-5 Tottenham Hotspur, English Premier League. A dominant away display by Spurs who bossed Burnley. A good display of a new manager asserting his personality on the team as well as a satisfying hattrick from Son proving there is more to him than his partnership with Kane. 

FC Twente 3-1 Ajax, Eredivisie. A dominant display from Twente in a game of many chances, even by Eredivisie standards. Twente keep up their 100% league record and Ajax are already 7 points behind the leaders.

Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 Newcastle Utd, English Premier League. A dominant display from Brighton who kept Newcastle in their pockets for most of the game. Very impressive as I'd expected this game to be a lot closer. 

Sheffield Utd 2-2 Everton, English Premier League. A fun, attacking game with both teams going for it feeling that this was a game both could win. A 12:30 kick off and one of the most enjoyable EPL games that have been in this time slot. 

Genoa 2-2 Napoli, Serie A. An out of sorts Napoli with an eye on Europe went to Genoa and found themselves two goals down. An aging Kevin Strootman for most of the game kept Napoli at bay but when he ran out of gas things looked grim. After hooking him off around the mid 70 minute mark Napoli would score an equaliser and an away banker turned into a score draw.

Bayern Munich 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen, Bundesliga. Kane put Bayern ahead within ten minutes and it looked like game over, Leverkusen ripped up the script, did some adlibbing and equalised. Bayern went ahead again late but a penalty earned a point for the away side in what was an unexpectedly an even game.

Paris Saint-Germain 2-3 Nice, Ligue 1. There's nothing like a good pantomime villain (OH NO THEY DON'T) and in recent years that is what PSG have become just that. Nice went ahead early and despite being pegged back before half time mounted a counter attacking second half that saw them go 3-1 up. PSG would pull another goal back but thankfully Nice held on and a Merry Festivus was had by all.

Fiorentina 3-2 Atalanta, Serie A. I felt this was going to be a good game and it didn't disappoint. Both teams would go ahead and take turns dominating what was a good above mid table league game. Possibly the best flowing game I've seen this month and I look forward to a good season from both teams.   

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-3 Liverpool, English Premier League. Liverpool don't do midday first half's, Wolves do and they had a cracker going 1-0 up and could have got a few more. Liverpool made a change at half time then another two ten minutes later, in a unique move for a subbed player Gakpo left via the penalty box and scored an equaliser. From that point Liverpool were rarely in trouble going ahead via Robertson with a counter attacking run from a cleared corner and Harvey Elliot making three although it would be credited as an own goal. 

Arsenal 3-1 Manchester Utd, English Premier League. A fantastic guns blazing game from two sides who were going out to win. Plenty of cards, corners, chances and talking points, a far cry from the damp squib that I feared. A lot closer than the score line suggests with the two late goals creating chaos on the correct score market. 

Napoli 1-2 Lazio, Serie A. The top two clubs in Serie A last season went to battle early in the month at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and produced a belter. After a few waves of attack from Napoli they fell behind to a deft Lazio flick only to equalise minutes later. Napoli would spend the rest of the match on attack with Lazio playing on the break. Lazio had two goals ruled off for offside however their game plan was well executed. 

Borussia Dortmund 2-2 FC Heidenheim, Bundesliga. What started as a standard game with Dortmund taking a two goal lead turned into something special as Heidenheim mounted a comeback complete with VAR and disallowed goals that earned them their first ever point in the Bundesliga.

Caveat, I fell ill and was in hospital most of the second half of the month.

Liverpool FC Player by Player Review 2022/23

 A quick player by player season review of the season;

Alisson - not the most consistent of seasons with some very good performances peppered with some WTF moments 5/10.

Joe Gomez - terrible season where at times he looked like he was sinking, after last season where he was injured this looked like a season to reap some hay but he went backwards 2/10.

Virgil van Dijk - a bad season where he morphed into Eric Saward. There would be countless mistakes from him but always resulted in him shouting at and blaming other players. He would improve the further the season went on and salvage a 5/10.

Ibrahima Konate - some very good impressive play and kept his head in defence while others lost theirs. He has become the first name on the team sheet as the season ends 8/10.

Kostas Tsimikas - got a lot of game time this season and during the first half of the season was out most consistent full back 6/10.

Andrew Robertson - eight assists and no goals, disappointing season but we have high expectations of him and for a lot of fullbacks its a decent return. Deducting a point for giving Bajctic a crap nickname which better not stick 4/10.

Joel Matip - he was alright, bit injured, bit in and out, had good games and bad games 5/10.

Trent Alexander-Arnold - a season of two halves which got better as the season went on and he upped his game during the run up to 5th position 6/10.

Fabinho - very poor season where he lost his touch and timing, hopefully the rest of close season will do him good 3/10.

Thiago - the most consistent of our traditional middle three yet in and out through injury 5/10.

James Milner - legs have gone and I wish he'd make the move to coaching 2/10.

Naby Keita - I just don't care about him enough to give him a rating.

Jordan Henderson - not a good season, was knackered from last season. Very likely wont be a started next season and its time to take the captaincy away from him 3/10.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - a player who seriously needs to move to a lower quality league which his body can handle or get a job 3/10.

Curtis Jones - a return to the form that saw him initially break into the team and an improvement towards the tail end of the season 8/10.

Harvey Elliott - some good performances mostly early in the season when all around him were sinking but seemed to hit a wall the more the season went on 5/10.

Arthur Melo - spent the season bound, gagged and locked in my shed. 10/10 for signing a waiver that clears me from criminal prosecution.

Fabio Carvalho - was in the side early season, got some goals and an assist then disappeared 4/10.

Bajman - a good breakthrough season which proved to much for his body at this young age but he'll grow into himself and we'll see more from him in the coming seasons 6/10.

Roberto Firmino - at one point he looked poised to have his best season as he managed to hold down a starting place but injury and incoming players sadly put a stop to it 6/10.

Momhamed Salah - a season which on paper was pretty standard but one in which he really had to grind things out as his natural form and flair wasn't there 7/10.

Cody Gakpo - hit the ground running and proved to be a spark for our front three in the second half of the season. Some really good positional play at times 7/10. 

Diogo Jota - in and out of the team for various reasons yet consistent when called upon 6/10.

Luis Diaz - it doesn't feel like the league suits him, he has his moments but feels too soft to be a starter 4/10.

Darwin Nunez - a season of trying to and imo struggling to get used to the league. At times he's really tried on my nerves, he's getting a 4/10 with the caveat that some players take a season to get used to the league.

Everyone else hasn't played enough to warrant a rating.

The Big Finish Catch-Up January 2023

For those of you new to this section of the blog, I started listening to the Big Finish Doctor Who releases when they started back in 1999, getting them as they were released up to mid 2002 and release No 33 Neverland. At that time I left Uni and due to being a bit busy with life and what not I only heard one or two releases over the next few years. I started getting back into them around 2008 and was 6 years behind at that point. Due to wondering off into the Lost Doctor range and a relaxed listening pace I fell further behind. In order to catch up I'm listening to two releases a month (or more when its a 60 min single disc release, plus without seeing the cover or knowing anything about the story) and my mission to catch up continues; 

Army of Death, the finale of the 8th Doctor and Mary Shelley trilogy. A good fun played for laughs pulp story that is bags of fun 8.5/10. 

Deadline from the unbound range this week. Utterly harrowing and an all time classic 10/10.

Also Neverwhen from the War Doctor range. Bleak time war action and a good finale to the box set 7.5/10.