bwin – the world's biggest online gaming platform

Of course I am pleased that my fellow countryman is now heavyweight champion of the world (or one of the champions anyway) but I am not too happy about my bet dipping in Nuremberg on Saturday night. But I am still happy that the price on Nikolai Valuev was a good one.

In fact you really should have been getting on Valuev as the odds on www.bwin.com of 2.15 were one of the best in the market. Despite the fact that he lost….good value. Liverpool had yet another miserable result again last night drawing 2-2 at home to Birmingham City. The thing is, I just don’t see what sacking Benitez is going to do. He hasn’t got the funds, he hasn’t got the money and now he simply hasn’t got the team to challenge for the title.

No Alonso this season and no one to replace him, add to that the injuries to Gerrard and Torres who are still not back to full fitness and what do people expect. Liverpool are somewhat of a mediocre team without these players. Even if mediocre is too strong a word, they are far below the calibre of title winners. Do not back Liverpool for the title at any price…..even 100/1…..200/1….forget it as they are simply not good enough.

Liverpool’s last chance of a major trophy this season may be the Europa League but the FA Cup would prove welcome relief at this moment in time for the reds. I think Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal will definitely be top 4 this season so Liverpool are in a four way scrap for 4th with Spurs, Man City and Villa. At this stage they are not playing better than any of them.

If you think that they cannot miss out on 4th then remember 2005 when they had to rely on winning the Champions League to get back into the competition as holders. It almost happened then when Everton pipped them to 4th and there is far more competition this season. I think at this stage I would make Liverpool favourites to miss out on the CL next season merely because they are behind the big three in points and performances and are merely keeping pace with the other three mentioned clubs.

May be a long season for Rafa but there may be a silver lining yet.

see you soon

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

Well my value bet (or what I thought was a value bet) on Nikolai Valuev dipped yesterday after he lost on points to David Haye. Many people would be shocked that I bet against my fellow countryman. Unfortunately I have no loyalty in betting except to my money

Haye defeated Valuev on points and made the 1.68 on bwin betting look about right, pity I didn’t see it that way yesterday. Still though, the price that I got on Valuev still gave me enough as Haye didn’t win like a 1.68 shot in my opinion. Anyone I don’t like to talk about losing bets for too long

What did I say about Arsenal being a potential challenger for the title! Something has changed within that team this season and they could be a far more credible threat than many (including me) realised at the start of the season. In fact even Alex Ferguson wrote them off when he said that the title would be fought between themselves and Chelsea again.

They (Arsenal) are currently two points behind Chelsea in second place after 11 games and their offensive capability has to be the best in England at this time. Their worry is that this can and will lead to them leaking more goals than their two nearest rivals which is the price you pay when you play in an almost Barcelona type way.

I thought that Manchester United’s weaknesses were exposed again in midweek by CSKA Moscow who they really should have lost to. I think this league title race has the potential to be very close with more than two teams involved. Liverpool have never been a credible title challenger and not after losing Alonso. In fact even Jamie Carragher even admitted that they are still trying to come to terms with losing him to Real Madrid.

Financially, Liverpool are not in the same ballpark as Chelsea and Manchester United so how can they be expected to compete against them over 38 games for the league title? It is totally unrealistic to expect them to do so but yet the media don’t seem to see it that way.

see you soon

Carl

The big fight tonight between David Haye of the UK and the Russian Nikolai Valuev has been attracting massive attention with massive being the operative word. The 7ft plus Russian man mountain will be a very difficult hurdle for Haye to overcome. Haye has explosive punching power but his problem will be that he is conceding about a foot in both height and reach and about seven stone in weight. In fact as weight goes then Valuev goes beyond most heavyweights.

The experts are saying all sorts of things but the predictions are that Haye will find the size of Valuev a serious problem in the fact that he will be constantly having to punch upwards which is more energy sapping. Valuev has 50 wins from 52 fights and has never been knocked out. While it is true that his physique offers him some almost unique advantages, he hasn’t really fought anyone as good as Haye although that could be argued.

It is for this reason why Haye is starting as favourite and is 1.68 currently on bwin betting with Valuev at 2.15. I find that value to be quite frank and I don’t see how Valuev can be worse than even money. The fight takes place in Nuremburg and the Germans are big boxing fans these days. Valuev’s only loss came in a points decision against Ruslan Chagaev from Uzbekistan and Valuev changed trainers after that loss.

Haye’s problem is that Valuev is also used to going the distance so tiring in the later stages will not be part of his vocabulary. No doubt that the Haye camp will have been studying the fight against Chagaev where Valuev lost but since Valuev changed trainers afterwards, you would have to say that he must have blamed his trainer for the defeat. So how much we can draw from that fight is any one’s guess.

One thing is certain though and that is that this will be one of the most eagerly awaited fights in recent months…cannot wait

see you soon

Carl