xtremer11
09-18-2007, 12:11 PM
Schalke - Valencia
TEAM NEWS
Schalke
Mladen Krstajic missed the Bayern clash with a knee injury, so Westermann should continue in his absence. Defender Levan Kobiashvili is also missing, as is midfielder Gustavo Varela. The coach, Mirko Slomka - banned from the touchline after a previous outburst in Europoe - has options going forward, and Turkish forward Halil Altintop will be hoping to squeeze his way in alongside Kuranyi and Asamoah.
POSSIBLE STARTING XI: Neuer, Rafinha, Bordon, Pander, Westerman, Ernst, Rakitic, Jones, Asamoah, Lovenkrands, Kuranyi
Valencia
Villa, Silva, David Albelda, Carlos Marchena and Miguel should all return to the starting fold after a rest on the weekend. Ruben Baraja will hope his performance against Valladolid is enough to retain his place, as youngsters Sunny and Manuel Fernandes are breathing down the veteran’s neck. Canizares’ blunder in the same match is unlikely to cost him his place in goal, leaving Timo Hildebrand to watch from the sidelines on his first return to his homeland since joining Los Che.
POSSIBLE STARTING XI: Canizares, Miguel, Marchena, Albiol, Moretti, Joaquin, Albelda, Baraja, Silva, Villa, Morientes
If you are comparing these two teams by their recent games, then Shalke will be the favourites (Valencia didn't deserve their last to wins, because they were totally outplayed by Valladolid and Almeria). But Valencia have the by far the better and more experienced players. Los Che are playing better when they have to defend (like today's game) and know how to score goals on couterattacks.Experience will be the main factor here and Shalke lack that. I expect a 2-1, 3-1 win for Valencia. Expect another man of the match performance from David Silva and a goal from David Villa
Pick: Away win +0.25 AH (saffer) and also Over 2,5 goals
FC Porto – Liverpool
TEAM NEWS
Porto
Thankfully for coach Ferreria he doesn’t have to contend with too many injury worries, although the couple of significant ones he will have to remedy might prove costly. At present first-choice goalkeeper Helton has still not recovered from a knee injury meaning Nuno Santo will start his third consecutive game.
There is scope to suggest that goalkeeping mainstay Helton may make a miraculous recovery, but if not Santo will have to face the most formidable forward line of his career. At the other end striker Adriano is a major doubt with a thigh strain, but in his absence Porto should still have enough creativity and firepower to trouble Liverpool.
Liverpool
Rotation is at the heart of Mr. Benitez’s tactics and it shall be no different tonight. Andriy Voronin and Peter Crouch started up-front against Portsmouth last weekend so, following the trend that should mean Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt will start in Porto.
Otherwise Benitez only has three injury absentee’s with John Arne Riise still not sufficiently recovered from a groin strain picked up playing for Norway recently, whilst Momo Sissoko and long-term sidelined Harry Kewell join him on the list of players not making the trip.
On the plus side though Fabio Aurelio makes his return to the squad after long-standing ligament damage, although the Brazilian will probably make the bench rather a stating position. After a round of international games, clearly loathed by Benitez, a host of players might now be deemed fit enough to start, meaning Steven Gerrard will be expected to start in his favoured central-midfield berth.
A very hard game to predict. Both teams don't want to start the Cl campaign with a loss. The leading factor for both managers will be not to lose rather than win. They will be playing defencively. I expect a low-scoring draw here, maybe a 0-0 draw
Pick: Under 2,5 goals. Draw . Exact score 0-0
Marseille - Besiktas
TEAM NEWS
Marseille
Samir Nasri has recovered from his recent lack of fitness and is set to boss the midfield, with just the one major absence remaining for OM: Cedric Carrasso is still out in goal, meaning that young Steve Mandanda will take part again. Marseille really need to kick off with a win, and may do so by attempting to overrun the central areas of the pitch and feed through balls to Cisse via Niang and Nasri.
Possible XI: Mandanda; Taiwo, Givet, Rodriguez, Bonnart; Ziang, Cheyrou; Niang, Nasri, Moussilou; Cisse.
Besiktas
International defender Gokhan Zan is out of the squad due to injury in the only major loss for Besiktas, Bobo coming back into contention following his own knock troubles. Edouard Cisse will be relied upon to boss the central midfield in a 4-1-3-2, but there is always the possibility that they will operate more defensive and switch to a flat middle four.
Squad: Hakan Arikan; Serdar Kurtulus, Ibrahim Toraman, Diatta, Ibrahim Uzulmez; Edouard Cisse; Serdar Ozkan, Ricardinho, Tello; Bobo, Nobre.
Marseille players and coach are under big preassure to get result after their bad start in the Ligue 1. Besiktas are playing well in the league in their last game the drew with Ankaraspor (the last team in the league), but they were resting some key players for this game. Marseille have problems in dictating and controling the game, when playing at home and on the other hand Besiktas are playing better on their away games, when they have to defend and couterattack. Besiktas will get something from this game, it's your choice how to play they
Pick: Away win +0,5 AH(safer) with high stake, i'll personally try the clear away win with odds over 4 with small-medium stakes.
Real Madrid - Werder Bremen
TEAM NEWS
Real Madrid
Los Merengues managed to complete week three of their league campaign fairly unscathed and Schuster should have a full compliment of first team players to select from. Only leftback Gabriel Heinze picked up a minor niggle in the 3-1 win over AlmerÃ*a, but he was quickly withdrawn at half-time. The Argentine should make the starting line up if he passes a late fitness test.
Ruud van Nistelrooy was rested in the weekend game and the Dutch hitman will be fresh and fired up to lead the attack. However, all eyes will be on his countryman, Arjen Robben. The €35m signing from Chelsea was denied his debut on Saturday against AlmerÃ*a due to lack of match sharpness. The winger's involvement for Tuesday's clash is once again uncertain and coach Schuster will wait until the 11th hour before making a decision. If all goes well, the 23-year-old should make his debut from the subs bench.
Probable Starting XI: Casillas - Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Heinze/Drenthe - Diarra - Robinho, Guti, Sneijder - Raul, van Nistelrooy
Werder Bremen
Austrian striker Martin Harnik, promoted from the youth team to replace Klose, could make a return to the squad having recovered from an injury he picked up while playing for his country against Japan last week. Experienced midfielders Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski are both highly doubtful for the clash but the club's €7.8m record signing from Corinthians, Carlos Alberto, will be feverishly racing against the clock to be fit in order to bolster's Werder's attacking options.
But it is a strong and organized defence that will be imperative for Schaaf if he is to leave the Spanish capital with a decent result. The possible return to full fitness of a trio of defenders Sebastian Boesnich, Clemens Fritz and Patrick Owomoyela will be a welcome relief to the 46 year old trainer, who's side have the second worse defensive record in the Bundesliga.
Probable Starting XI: Wiese - Pasenen, Mertesacker, Naldo, Boenisch - Baumann - Jensen, Vranjes - Diego - Almeida, Sanogo
Two attacking minded teams, with class attacking players,i expect an open game and many goals
Pick: Over 2,5 goals medium-high stakes, Over 3,5 goals small stakes
TEAM NEWS
Schalke
Mladen Krstajic missed the Bayern clash with a knee injury, so Westermann should continue in his absence. Defender Levan Kobiashvili is also missing, as is midfielder Gustavo Varela. The coach, Mirko Slomka - banned from the touchline after a previous outburst in Europoe - has options going forward, and Turkish forward Halil Altintop will be hoping to squeeze his way in alongside Kuranyi and Asamoah.
POSSIBLE STARTING XI: Neuer, Rafinha, Bordon, Pander, Westerman, Ernst, Rakitic, Jones, Asamoah, Lovenkrands, Kuranyi
Valencia
Villa, Silva, David Albelda, Carlos Marchena and Miguel should all return to the starting fold after a rest on the weekend. Ruben Baraja will hope his performance against Valladolid is enough to retain his place, as youngsters Sunny and Manuel Fernandes are breathing down the veteran’s neck. Canizares’ blunder in the same match is unlikely to cost him his place in goal, leaving Timo Hildebrand to watch from the sidelines on his first return to his homeland since joining Los Che.
POSSIBLE STARTING XI: Canizares, Miguel, Marchena, Albiol, Moretti, Joaquin, Albelda, Baraja, Silva, Villa, Morientes
If you are comparing these two teams by their recent games, then Shalke will be the favourites (Valencia didn't deserve their last to wins, because they were totally outplayed by Valladolid and Almeria). But Valencia have the by far the better and more experienced players. Los Che are playing better when they have to defend (like today's game) and know how to score goals on couterattacks.Experience will be the main factor here and Shalke lack that. I expect a 2-1, 3-1 win for Valencia. Expect another man of the match performance from David Silva and a goal from David Villa
Pick: Away win +0.25 AH (saffer) and also Over 2,5 goals
FC Porto – Liverpool
TEAM NEWS
Porto
Thankfully for coach Ferreria he doesn’t have to contend with too many injury worries, although the couple of significant ones he will have to remedy might prove costly. At present first-choice goalkeeper Helton has still not recovered from a knee injury meaning Nuno Santo will start his third consecutive game.
There is scope to suggest that goalkeeping mainstay Helton may make a miraculous recovery, but if not Santo will have to face the most formidable forward line of his career. At the other end striker Adriano is a major doubt with a thigh strain, but in his absence Porto should still have enough creativity and firepower to trouble Liverpool.
Liverpool
Rotation is at the heart of Mr. Benitez’s tactics and it shall be no different tonight. Andriy Voronin and Peter Crouch started up-front against Portsmouth last weekend so, following the trend that should mean Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt will start in Porto.
Otherwise Benitez only has three injury absentee’s with John Arne Riise still not sufficiently recovered from a groin strain picked up playing for Norway recently, whilst Momo Sissoko and long-term sidelined Harry Kewell join him on the list of players not making the trip.
On the plus side though Fabio Aurelio makes his return to the squad after long-standing ligament damage, although the Brazilian will probably make the bench rather a stating position. After a round of international games, clearly loathed by Benitez, a host of players might now be deemed fit enough to start, meaning Steven Gerrard will be expected to start in his favoured central-midfield berth.
A very hard game to predict. Both teams don't want to start the Cl campaign with a loss. The leading factor for both managers will be not to lose rather than win. They will be playing defencively. I expect a low-scoring draw here, maybe a 0-0 draw
Pick: Under 2,5 goals. Draw . Exact score 0-0
Marseille - Besiktas
TEAM NEWS
Marseille
Samir Nasri has recovered from his recent lack of fitness and is set to boss the midfield, with just the one major absence remaining for OM: Cedric Carrasso is still out in goal, meaning that young Steve Mandanda will take part again. Marseille really need to kick off with a win, and may do so by attempting to overrun the central areas of the pitch and feed through balls to Cisse via Niang and Nasri.
Possible XI: Mandanda; Taiwo, Givet, Rodriguez, Bonnart; Ziang, Cheyrou; Niang, Nasri, Moussilou; Cisse.
Besiktas
International defender Gokhan Zan is out of the squad due to injury in the only major loss for Besiktas, Bobo coming back into contention following his own knock troubles. Edouard Cisse will be relied upon to boss the central midfield in a 4-1-3-2, but there is always the possibility that they will operate more defensive and switch to a flat middle four.
Squad: Hakan Arikan; Serdar Kurtulus, Ibrahim Toraman, Diatta, Ibrahim Uzulmez; Edouard Cisse; Serdar Ozkan, Ricardinho, Tello; Bobo, Nobre.
Marseille players and coach are under big preassure to get result after their bad start in the Ligue 1. Besiktas are playing well in the league in their last game the drew with Ankaraspor (the last team in the league), but they were resting some key players for this game. Marseille have problems in dictating and controling the game, when playing at home and on the other hand Besiktas are playing better on their away games, when they have to defend and couterattack. Besiktas will get something from this game, it's your choice how to play they
Pick: Away win +0,5 AH(safer) with high stake, i'll personally try the clear away win with odds over 4 with small-medium stakes.
Real Madrid - Werder Bremen
TEAM NEWS
Real Madrid
Los Merengues managed to complete week three of their league campaign fairly unscathed and Schuster should have a full compliment of first team players to select from. Only leftback Gabriel Heinze picked up a minor niggle in the 3-1 win over AlmerÃ*a, but he was quickly withdrawn at half-time. The Argentine should make the starting line up if he passes a late fitness test.
Ruud van Nistelrooy was rested in the weekend game and the Dutch hitman will be fresh and fired up to lead the attack. However, all eyes will be on his countryman, Arjen Robben. The €35m signing from Chelsea was denied his debut on Saturday against AlmerÃ*a due to lack of match sharpness. The winger's involvement for Tuesday's clash is once again uncertain and coach Schuster will wait until the 11th hour before making a decision. If all goes well, the 23-year-old should make his debut from the subs bench.
Probable Starting XI: Casillas - Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Heinze/Drenthe - Diarra - Robinho, Guti, Sneijder - Raul, van Nistelrooy
Werder Bremen
Austrian striker Martin Harnik, promoted from the youth team to replace Klose, could make a return to the squad having recovered from an injury he picked up while playing for his country against Japan last week. Experienced midfielders Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski are both highly doubtful for the clash but the club's €7.8m record signing from Corinthians, Carlos Alberto, will be feverishly racing against the clock to be fit in order to bolster's Werder's attacking options.
But it is a strong and organized defence that will be imperative for Schaaf if he is to leave the Spanish capital with a decent result. The possible return to full fitness of a trio of defenders Sebastian Boesnich, Clemens Fritz and Patrick Owomoyela will be a welcome relief to the 46 year old trainer, who's side have the second worse defensive record in the Bundesliga.
Probable Starting XI: Wiese - Pasenen, Mertesacker, Naldo, Boenisch - Baumann - Jensen, Vranjes - Diego - Almeida, Sanogo
Two attacking minded teams, with class attacking players,i expect an open game and many goals
Pick: Over 2,5 goals medium-high stakes, Over 3,5 goals small stakes