The shark in the pond - Ludogorets. Taking a big bite at Evens.

They were indeed very good last year and probably they will continue their form, but I don't remember them playing against Steaua Bucharest. They played a friendly against Dinamo Bucharest, but Dinamo was quite weak lately.
I haven't followed Partizan, but this could be a good bet.

Sorry, my mistake, It was Dinamo Bucharest. Only a friendly to be fair, but good prep for this new season.
As well beating Lazio last season, they also beat PSV home and away, and Dinamo Zagreb home and away in the Europa League.

Does seem a very good price considering they beat them twice last season. Partizan shouldn't even be in this comp either.

what's that about, match fixing?

Red Star Belgrade won the league but UEFA kicked them out because of high debts and financial fair play. So Partizan took their place

Ludogrets failed to win at odds of 1/10 in Europa recently

they already won the first leg with 4-0 and probably wanted to make some money :D

you might say 'that says more about inaccurate bookie coupons than it does about ludogrets' - and you might be right

what is ':D'

failed to win (from 4 up already)

Never

They have played two games so far in Bulgaria.
Lost one to a newly promted team and drew the other one.
That, along with the draw against Dudelange would make me a bit wary of backing them...

yeah saw the last game they played where they drew, wouldn't want to be backing them at low prices tbh

From what i have read Cosmin Moti and Yordan Minev are out of the game.
I know nothing about Bulgarian football but they were the two center backs for both games against Lazio last season.
I imagine that they will be a big loss...

Think about these games is that it's hard to know how good or bad Partizan might be.
All i know is that Ludogorets don't seem to be playing great and have a few injuries.
Seems a bit of a guessing game for me...

I'll post when I'm fully matched.

They lost their first game away to a newly promoted team last season as well. Same as then, the league is currently a distraction. Their priority is to make it to the group stages of the CL. The tie against Dudelange was already won before the second leg so it's understandable that they let them nick the draw.

Partizan had a player sent off in both legs last season so this tie will probably be a niggly affair.

[They played Steaua a week before they played Dinamo btw, winning both games 4-2]

The other thing about them beating Dinamo Bucharest and Steaua in friendlies.

Dinamo lost a friendly to Hearts a few days before the Ludogorets game and Steaua had been beaten 5-2 by Lugano from Switzerland just before their game with Ludogorets.

Honestly, i don't know.I wouldn't read much into friendlies.
I'm not backing or laying them i don't know enough about it to be honest...

Picked up what I want elsewhere.

Ludogorets have big big problems in defence with 6 defenders out. Cosmin Moti, Alexandre Barthe, Georgi Terziev who are the 1st,2nd & 3rd choice centre backs are out. Minev, Angulo & Vitinha, who are the 1st,2nd & 3rd choice left backs are out.

So as per the weekend you'll have Dyakov the captain who plays in a Def Mid role playing at centre back or a half fit Tero Mantylla.

Thanks for that CJ70.They look a lay with that many injuries...

At left back you'll either get Kaisara who is a right back or a winger.

Ludogorets are the better side by far and I wouldn't lay them but the current price is incorrect.

Fair enough mate.Yeah, i reckon they should drift a fair bit when people find out about the injuries.

so whats the bet then , back or lay ?

Jul 28, 2014 -- 11:19PM, Davy wrote:

Fair enough mate.Yeah, i reckon they should drift a fair bit when people find out about the injuries.

Doubt that information will get through. At this level most of the punters will be backing names and wont have a clue of the situation on the ground.

Jul 28, 2014 -- 11:24PM, degsy42 wrote:

so whats the bet then , back or lay ?

Back Liverpool, of course.

I will wait for Fc Porto match to qualify to Champions league and will follow them. They had an amazing team this year: Alex Sandro, Martins Indi, Diego Reyes, Danilo, Casemiro, Herrera, Quintero, Oliver Torres, Cristian Tello, Adryan, Quaresma, Brahimi, Jackson Martinez, and more! Watch them playing in the next 3 or 4 weeks

If those players are out they can still field Caicara at left back and partner Mantylla with Aleksandar Aleksandrov in the centre (with Choco on the right). Two Brazilians, a Finnish international and a Bulgarian international - not too shabby.

Mantylla and Aleksandar have only 4 caps between them
Aleksandrov at 28 years old, got both his caps in friendly games.
Mantylla at 23, likewise has two caps again both in friendlies.

I'm not sure if i would call them internationals...

I looked up Choco he didn't start any games during the Europa league run of last season.
Caicara played all of them...not at left back though.

Does that mean they're not internationals?

Technically...but at least when i think of an international, I think of a player who has a good few caps.
Just my opinion.

Or maybe better said a player who plays regularly for his country.

Mario Frick has 113 caps for Liechtenstein. What a player he must be.

Ludogorets gone out to evens.With their defensive problems i could see them drifting a bit further.
From what i have read on forums Partizan seem to be a fair bit stronger then they were last season.

I read this from a Serbian Partizan fan on forum.bettingadvice.com

“Partizan had one of the worst teams in history last season when we played against Ludogorets. On the winter break we brought several quality players and now this team is at least decent compared to last summer. We have now good relyable forward in Danko Lazovic ex Zenit player, and very dangerous midfielder Drincic who came from Russia. This guy has great long shot and there i see our chance. We got better in defence as well as we brought best defenders from Vojvodina which is 3rd best team in Serbia Trajkovic and Vulicevic. We can say that our defence now looks like a decent one , not the best though but compared to last year its much better. Now we brought another defender , Slovenian NT player Branko Ilic who will also bring some experience in our defence.

Last season we lost narrowly 2:1 with goals from mistakes from both teams. In Belgrade we missed many chances but we were outplayed in midfield especially so we couldnt do much.Partizan had one of the worst teams in history last season when we played against Ludogorets. On the winter break we brought several quality players and now this team is at least decent compared to last summer. We have now good relyable forward in Danko Lazovic ex Zenit player, and very dangerous midfielder Drincic who came from Russia. This guy has great long shot and there i see our chance. We got better in defence as well as we brought best defenders from Vojvodina which is 3rd best team in Serbia Trajkovic and Vulicevic. We can say that our defence now looks like a decent one , not the best though but compared to last year its much better. Now we brought another defender , Slovenian NT player Branko Ilic who will also bring some experience in our defence.

Last season we lost narrowly 2:1 with goals from mistakes from both teams. In Belgrade we missed many chances but we were outplayed in midfield especially so we couldnt do much.“

Watched both games last year. In the second game Partizan had a young kid come on after about 50-60 minutes, game completely changed when he came on. Think he might have gone onto bigger things somewhere else, but apart from that nobody else really threatened.

If Partizan have completely changed, then none of that will make much difference. But Ludogorets midfield will be stronger than last year, that is if Dyakov isn't forced into defence.

so what is the bet

Živković was the guy that came on CJ70.He is still at the club.
Also, during the winter they signing this guy who is supposed to be pretty good...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danko_Lazovi%C4%87

Jul 29, 2014 -- 9:38PM, degsy42 wrote:

so what is the bet

Full bank on Liverpool.

Aha that's him, he was away at a tournament for the first game. When he came on everything went through him and not surprising as he looked absolutely mint, fair play.

Just reading about this Zivkovic kid, in the space of a year he's played for Serbia's U17, U19, U21 and full national side. Not bad going.

so whats the bet , ludo win , draw or lose

Youngest player ever to make his debut for Serbia...

I'll go with Partizan if only because of the serious injuries that Ludogorets have.
4.6 to me seems a big price...

ok , small bet partizan then

Probably best avoided, but a small lay of Ludo would be safer imo. Still watch the game and see how it goes before you throw away any money on it!

Going by experience on here, as the majority of this thread has gone with a lay of Ludo, it's gotta be a home win.

Ludogorets:

Stoyanov(GK)
A. Aleksandrov
Moţi
Vitinha
Júnior Caiçara
M. Aleksandrov
Fábio Espinho
Dani Abalo
Dyakov(C)
Marcelinho
Bezja

Partizan:

Lukač(GK)
Volkov
Vulićević
Stanković
Trajković
Brašanac
A. Živković
Drinčić
S. Ilić(C)
Lazović
Škuletic

No players out of position. Don't know how fit Moti is and a surprise selection of Abalo.

whee did you get your missing players info from?

Stoycho said it at the press conference.

For the benefit of Partizan no doubt (who don't take much to wind up).

I can't get excited by the qualifying rounds (other than Sparta Prague last night) so it's a small stakes treble for me: Feyenoord, Ludogorets and Standard Liege.

Ludogorets awful at the back. Partizan should have scored there.

what game are you watching cj70? ludo all over them, only a matter of when

You didn't see the start then did you? Still making errors when Partizan are coming forward.

haha no right you are, shocking just then at the back for ludo

But yeah, last 15 mins has been all Ludo. But you fear they'll concede if they don't settle down at the back.

are ludo looking like they can score tho,,,i think they will need more than one..the bet is now over 2.5 goals....

I think this has 0-0 written all over it

They've got to get something out of this leg but there's more atmosphere in space than in the ground.

Can't see how over 2.5 is going to come in atm.

no way ludo win this game, op has jinxed them

Based on the first half Ludo could get a couple and Partizan could also score. Equally it could be a 0-0 if the same pattern with shots off targets happens.

Ludo have no left back as Vitinha hobbles off.

I'll take that back Angulo has come on.. WTF?

Partizan going to be down to 10 soon at this rate.

Vura on for Abalo.

This is 0-0

how much you do here plat? 1k?

mind numbingly boring game

not for the mug backers 

Needless to say anybody who can should have greened out to avoid the late goal sting in the tail

4mins of added time.

FT 0:0

Safe to say Partizan are no world beaters.

Looks like the Shark in the pond is more of a guppy! Awful game though.

Partizan will kill them at home, that i have no doubt

I still see Ludo as the favourites. Partizan wont improve that much in a week and they were worse than last year today.

Disappointing that

fair point CJ, but i think partizan could have won if they really wanted too but just stuck to the draw

Watched a different game.

I saw Partizan parking the bus trying to hold on to the 0-0, but not from a position of strength.

we'll see

I watched it. Ludo dominated but no killer instinct in front of goal. I also think they're still favs to go through.

Ludo have just sacked the manager after last nights display.

Not surprised at all. The owner is a real nutter and demands they win every game - that's largely why they've been so successful recently.

Wouldn't call him a nutter. He does love the club, this is his baby. He and his brother are one of the richest people in Bulgaria and they've brought the club off from amateur status to where it is now. Not sure it's right to sack the manager as I don't see anything really wrong with the team, but if you give unsatisfactory answers to the boss, you go.

Ass Man Georgi Demendziev is taking over on a perm basis.

LUDO

Made it hard for themselves by giving up on defending. Many nails were bitten in the second half.

Because Celtic were eliminated Ludogorets are now seeded for the playoff round.

rightly so. I would cream myself if they drew Legia tho

The only team I wouldn't want at this stage is Salzburg. They've got a decent chance of qualifying against the others and that's all that matters.

They're so unpredictable tho. Wouldn't want to back or lay them in any match.

I lost money on them, too and i agree they could do well.

It's going to be Salzburg now.. Damn meddling.

mug goalie