Man City rate a great bet against Dortmund

Manchester City look to be tremendous value at 2.18 (11-10 with the bookies) to beat Borussia Dortmund tonight and get their first points on the board in this season’s Champions League campaign.

Do Dortmund deserve the respect the market is giving them? Well yes if last the past two season’s German League form is taken into account. But an empathic NO if Champions League form is the guide. Dortmund were awful in last season’s European campaign and I’m not convinced this season is going to see marked improvement. On match day one, Dortmund huffed and puffed against a poor Ajax side. They ultimately won 1-0 but they were not impressive.

City know they need to win. After losing late on in Madrid anything other than 3pts will see them on back foot for the remainder of the group stage. With Real Madrid likely to be on 6pts by the end of the night, City can’t afford any slip ups.

Dortmund are very attractive to watch and they score and concede plenty of goals. There promises to be goals, goals, goals in this contest.

City are the best are the best team in England. They are also very strong at home. They have yet to click into gear yet this season but with a front three of Tevez, Aguero and SIlva, they have the ability to carve this flaky Dortmund defence apart.

City were odds on to beat Arsenal last week yet they can be backed at odds against tonight. This rates brilliant value.

Manchester United – Begging to be opposed in Romania

As I write this Man United are trading at 4-6 on the exchanges and with the bookies to win in Romania tonight. What am I missing? Has anyone watched Man United this season? If you have, then you wouldn’t bet United with counterfeit money to take three points from Romania.

I’m not sure punters have worked out that Anderson and Darren Fletcher will probably be United’s central midfield pairing in this game. I will repeat – ANDERSON AND FLETCHER! Creativity none!

Ferdinand and Evans are an accident waiting to happen in defence. Wait, scrap that. As Spurs proved on Saturday, that accident has already happened. Zero pace. Ferdinand, once a great player, had had one injury too many and is ready for retirement. Evans is not a good player and has never been a good player. And where do I start with Rafael? To say defending isn’t his strong point is the understatement of the century.

In United’s last two league games they improved markedly when Paul Scholes got on the ball and was able to conduct the flow of the game. In fact United improved last season when they brought Scholes out of retirement. He is very important to them. He is United’s Xavi. Pass, pass, pass. When he is on song United are in business. He will be a huge loss tonight.

On the plus side for United, however, is the return of Rooney. He is likely to play alongside Van Persie (in the hole or out on the flank). This is obviously an exciting strike pairing. They will cause problems for any defence in Europe.

The one thing that most people seem to be forgetting when assessing this game is that United don’t have to win. In fact a point will not a disaster at all. If you offered Ferguson a point now he would probably take it.

The Romanians Cluj are often underrated because they are not fashionable. And they have not received the credit they deserved for defeating Basle home and away in the final Champions League qualifying round. Basle are no mugs, as United will testify having had so many problems against them last season.

Also Cluj trounced Braga, away from home, 2-0 in match day one. That was a stunning result for the Romanians and put down a marker for the rest of the group.

Of course United can win tonight. But at 4-6 they are a shocking bet. A) They don’t have to win b) They are playing poorly so far this season c) Scholes is missing d) Their defence is dodgy e) They have a tough game at Newcasle this weekend f) Cluj are flying.

If that is not enough to make you press the lay button on United tonight then nothing will

Yet Another Frankel Retirement Story

Yesterday, once again my phone was red hot with news that Frankel had been retired. My reaction? ‘Meh’. I just couldn’t care.

Frankel is without doubt the best horse I have ever set eyes upon. I will probably never see another one like him again in my lifetime. But he is being retired after one more run anyway so what is the big deal this time? And that race will be a stroll. A coronation. A walk in the park. It will tell us nothing about the great horse.

I remember the rumours on Grand National day that Frankel was injured and would be retired. I was devastated. But not this time. “Meh”.

See, Frankel sidestepping the Arc to run in a glorified gallop in the Champions Stakes has taken the gloss of this majestic horse for me. Because what he did over ten and a half furlongs at York teased us into thinking anything – and I mean anything – was possible with this beast.

But connections have played safe. Yawn!

Xavi Hernandez – the wonderful Barcelona midfielder – gave a great interview in The Guardian last year. He talked about this brilliant Barcelona side’s shock semi final defeat in the Champions League to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan a few years back.

Inter Milan suffocated Barcelona with their negative tactics. And Inter prevailed to much wailing and gnashing of teeth by the footballing public.

And as Xavi said: “Who remembers that Inter side? No one out side of Milan. They won but left no legacy. It’s not all about winning. It’s about the legacy you leave behind. We lost but we will leave behind the greater legacy. We will be remembered for years to come”.

Xavi is spot on. People are all cosumed by winning, winning, winning. And forget about the legacy. Frankel winning the Arc would’ve left a legacy that we would have been talking about for years. Champions Stakes? “Meh”.