Midweek Outlook (29 Sep 2010)

   Valencia vs Manchester United  


This is possibly the toughest fixture for ManUtd as far as Round 1 of the European campaign in concerned and what worse timing than now when ManUtd is sputtering on all cylinders.

The good news is that once this is over, it is smooth road all the way. We can pick up the rest of the points along the way and qualify. Still, I rather take the 3-points here and have an easier path to the finishing line hereafter.

Bookies are rating this game as a Level-Ball game but decimal odds points in favour of Valencia at 1.84 on account of ManUtd's recent lousy form and Valencia's home ground advantage.

Valencia does not hold the key as far as outcome of this game is concerned. ManUtd does. Problem with ManUtd is that they leak too many goals at the back. Defense is really a big problem. We were trailing Bolton twice. We couldn't get past Fulham and even Scunthorpe managed to put 2 goals into our net. Scunthorpe leh!!!! Scunthorpe!!! 2 goals!!! Not 1. 2!!!! How the fuck that happened?

Valencia (our player) is out. Giggs and Rooney both cannot make it (as in unable to feature. Not CMI). So I expect Scholes (and maybe Carrick) to command the centre, supporting Owen and Bubba. I hope to see Macheda getting some play time too.

Now some may say that Valencia is not to be taken lightly for after all, they are leading the La Liga right now ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Let me scatter the smokescreen for you.

Have you seen who they have played in their last 5 La Liga fixtures? Atletico Madrid, Santander, Gijon, Hercules and Malaga. With the exception of Atletico Madrid which ended in a draw, the rest are all weak teams and I would expect nothing than 3 points from all these hollow victories. So naturally, they are top of the table. For now.

Yah lah. Yah lah... we drew cellar team Everton lah. Bleh!

Mark my words. Without David Villa and David Silva, Valencia isn't as fantastic as they currently appear to be. I don't foresee them finishing in the Top 4 this season. In fact, there are in real danger of doing a Leeds United selling top players in lieu of mounting debt. It would be a vicious cycle as cashflow diminishes as a result of poor results, as a result of losing star players, as a result of cashflow diminishing.

The 4-0 thumping of Bursaspor? That is just a mirage. ECL virgins confirm must pay school fees one. No?

Form-wise, Valencia does not fare to well on the ECL front. Their last victory at home playing an ECL fixture was way back in 2006 when they beat Olympiakos 2-1.

As I have mentioned earlier, bookies are favouring Valencia. However, majority of the punters disagree as 67% of the buy-ins are ManUtd at Level-Ball.

Yes, we really messed up the start of our season and so whether I like it or not, I think this game will end up a goal-less draw like we did when we played away to them back in 2000 and 2001.

Still with a decimal odds of 2.14, I say perhaps a small wager on ManUtd and take advantage of the good odds. I mean how often do you see ManUtd having odds above 2.00?

JayWalk's 2010/2011 Track Record to-date (29 Sep 2010) :  P34-W19-L15

- Voxeros