Thursday, April 01, 2010

THURSDAY ............


We got back most of the Plymouth losses with Forest Green last night, the in form BSP side finding a late winner against a Barrow team that were looking for a 0-0 draw from the off and who did not mount an attack, worthy of the name, until after 70 minutes.
Most eyes were on the two Champions League games of course and even Arsene Wenger, who is often guilty of not seeing too much on the pitch, noted that his beloved Gunners were fortunate in the extreme to register a draw with Barcelona. Don't get me wrong, I rate the Frenchman very highly and consider the day he joined Arsenal in 1996, the best single day's business the club have ever done, but his eyesight frequently fails him on matchday !
Hard to believe that Barce did not return home with a win, or that Inter did not add a second or third goal against CSKA, after battering the Moscow goal in the second period, but the ball is round as the saying goes and sometimes has a life of it's own. All four quarter finals remain interestingly poised and doubtless one will be turned on it's head in the return legs, which take place next week. I mention that because it will be very interesting to see how these clubs perform at the weeekend, with most facing vital domestic fixtures, especially Bayern Munich and Manchester United, who play virtual title deciders against Schalke and Chelsea respectively. Sir Alex and Louis Van Gaal (notebook et al), perhaps not the two most lovable coaches in world football (!), will be earning their corn in the next seven days and neither can afford to put all their eggs in one basket. Their two blue opponents must be rubbing their hands with glee and sending off cheques to the schedulers as I type !
The Europa League is a decent competition now that we are at the business end and l assume that all eight quarter finalists will be anxious to win, what would be a hard earned trophy. Not going to write any previews, as I expect to be busy on here over Easter and my two fingered typing skill can only stretch so far.
However, I do expect both Valencia and Atletico to score this evening and have taken over 3 goals in that game at circa 2.11 and also feel that Fulham will be very motivated to take a lead to Germany for the second leg and might play at too high a tempo for Wolfsburg , 2.15 + for the home win looks decent value.
Good Luck.

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