Weekend Outlook (13 Sep 2008)

Liverpool vs Manchester United

"...Question is that how would he (Berbatov) gel with the rest of the team. Who would be the better partner? Tevez or Rooney? These things take several games to come to a conclusion and to use a game as big as Liverpool-ManUtd seems hardly right..."

- JayWalk, 13 Sep 2008

"Come here, Bubba!" was my favourite chant last season as it seems to rile ihawk98 (who is a Spurs fan) up.

Everytime.

And over the summer, it looked almost that we were about to score that coup, only to falter at the last week.

Just when all hope is lost, we snagged him at the very last minute.

While it was quiet on the pitch during the past fortnight, it was a complete different picture off it. Curbishley, Keegan & McDermott exited their respective managerial role and Thaksin sold his share of the City to the Arabs thus burying all hopes of seeing a Thai face in the european arena any time soon.

JayWalk The Talk: Ronaldo is not ready to come back to the starting line up and it was highlighted by our sever lack of goals in recent games. As much as I hate for the entire team to be dependent on just one player, I have no choice but to accept the fact for now while trying to fix this problem in the interim.

Allow me to introduce Sergei Berbartov who will be making his debut against Liverpool. Bubba has proved to be a great scorer of goals not only from feeders but also from chances created by himself from out of the blue.

Question is that how would he gel with the rest of the team. Who would be the better partner? Tevez or Rooney? These things take several games to come to a conclusion and to use a game as big as Liverpool-ManUtd seems hardly right.

Then again, it is not as if we had a choice. So there. I guess we will have to bite the bullet, cross our fingers and hope for the best.

If right now, ManUtd seems to be depending on just 1 player, then Liverpool isn't really that far off with 2. Gerrard and Torres.

The good news for us is that both will not be able to start in tomorrow's game.

Tomorrow's game will be interesting as we have Liverpool that isn't really a team without Gerrard and Torress against ManUtd that isn't really a team without Ronaldo.

Bear in mind there is the opening fixtures at mid-week of the ECL where Liverpool will travel to Marseille and ManUtd will host Villarreal before traveling to Stamford Bridge later that weekend for yet another big clash.

Fixture-wise, we are at the disadvantage here.

JayWalk The Walk: Given that ManUtd has such a dismal start to the season so far, I was a tad disappointed at the handicap. I was hoping for a makan-ball handicap for once since we are (1) next very good at scoring goals now and (2) we are playing at Anfield.

Unfortunately, our history suggest that we have not been beated by Liverpool since 2001 and we beat then at Anfield for the last 3 games in a row.

Hence the Even-ball handicap at a rather surprising 1.80 decimal odds to beat it despite being the away team. Even the wager pot tips in favour of ManUtd by the sound of a 60-40 ratio.

I foresee a low scoring draw which means betting either team will yield you nothing. Perhaps better to look at other matches than to tie down your money on a match with no outcome?

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.