Another busy day at clubgowi, five previews with red type selections at odds of between 2.10 and 2.75 and a blue type suggestion @ odds of circa 11.0. You can read one of those write ups below.......

 

Europa League:

 

Many of us are already on Wolfsburg outright at 21.0-23.0 , they are now trading at circa 4.50 and hopefully they will complete the job this evening and hold on to their 3-1 first leg lead ( see notes from last week below) , which should have been even more emphatic. I feel a little churlish saying that the competition owes us,  as we have done incredibly well previously, BUT after going so close with Benfica two years running at very big odds, that is exactly what I am thinking !
 

Anyway, that will give us an interest in the match in Milan this evening and hopefully progress will be followed by a good draw for the quarter finals on Friday, which take place at 12.00 UK time.

Besiktas- Club Brugge

 

We backed Besiktas in the last round in both legs against Liverpool, ahead of the trip to Anfield, with a +1 handicap .....

 

Then ahead of the return ......They lost that 1-0 to a very late penalty which was disappointing, but we saw what we expected from them, Bilic had them extremely disciplined in defence and well organised all over the pitch, Demba Ba looked threatening and will be "up" for tonight, as will his team mates and coach, who is linked with the West Ham job every other week and will surely get his long desired chance in the EPL sooner rather than later. We spoke at the weekend (see below) about options for Pool , but they have again dried up a little and those priorities already mentioned have come to the fore and Philippe Coutinjo. Glen Johnson, Mamadou Sakho and Jordan Henderson have not travelled with the match against Manchester City at the weekend firmly in mind, Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva are still sidelined, Emre Can is set to move into central midfield and Kolo Toure to return at the back for the first time since his return from the ACN. Five youth team players have made the journey to Istanbul, including three who played on Tuesday in Lisbon in the Champions Youth League. Hosts are without suspended pair Ramon Motta and Ersan Gulum, which is not ideal, but tactically is where Bilic is so strong and he will have a gameplan....  Demba Ba has been listed as a doubt, but it was the same before the first leg and there is slim to no chance of him not playing and as the old saying goes....slim has just left town ! Good chance for the hosts and with Liverpool happy with the draw , or to lose by one if they score.
 

Besiktas won that 1-0 taking the match into extra time and the tie on penalties, they have subsequently continued in good form domestically and hold a two point lead at the top of the table, but could not hold on to a lead in the first leg of this tie in Belgium, which they lost 2-1, but the away goal is hugely valuable and another 1-0 win will see them progress. The visitors play their domestic cup final with Anderlecht on Sunday and are without key midfielder Victor Vazquez ( two wins, four defeats in eight European outings in his absence) and probably winger Felipe Gedoz who was having treatment all day yesterday. Besiktas also have the small matter of their derby game with Fenerbahce in a few days time and are also without a couple of important  players in Jose Sosa and defensive midfielder Atiba Hutchinson who impressed against Liverpool. However, we have seen before that they can handle injuries and Bilic is strong tactically and will have learned plenty from the first leg and he will not want to miss this opportunity to further stake his claim for a higher profile job ( in European terms) elsewhere and for him and the hosts ( with a huge crowd expected), I suspect this game will have priority. Today is also the anniversary of the club, 112 years is not a milestone, but it seems a very big thing for the club and takes up many pages on the official website and you have to feel that is an added incentive. Home win for me. Edit: Bilic said in interview last night that Htchinson trained yesterday and was not out of contention, we have seen before a lot of misinformation from him and the club, so it is not impossible he could play.
 

 

 

Those closing comments about the Torino game , also apply to Inter of course and if Wolfsburg play close to their best and especially keep the tempo up, the visitors are going to be in for a very long evening. Inter conceded three at Celtic in the previous round and it could have been five and this is team not used to being under the constant pressure which the Wolves will apply and one goal could quickly become two or three. We are already on the hosts to win the competition at a big price.....

The visitors got the attention of the footballing world on Friday night when they put four goals past Bayern Munich , led by an amazing high energy performance from Kevin de Bruyne, who scored twice and also contributed his 11th assist of the season. Bayern had only conceded four goals previously all season through 17 league starts and whilst most teams might have sat back and basked in the glory of that huge win, the Wolves got busy and in a massive statement of intent, completed the signing of André Schürrle from Chelsea for circa 30m €. That has left everyone in no doubt about how VfL see themseleves over the next year or two, a very big player in both domestic and European terms. They also made sure that de Bruyne was also left in doubt about how highly they value him and an already lengthy and lucrative contract is about to be increased and extended until 2020, which I view as a clever move with a new "star" arriving on the scene.

Schürrle is apparently going to take part in a short workout with the rest of the squad this morning, but is not expected to make his debut until Saturday, but his arrival is a really big deal in Germany and after his success in Brazil and West London, he brings with him a winning mentality and will force the other squad members to up their game still further and looks incredibly good business. It is going to be very difficult for them to close that eight point gap on Bayern at the top of the table, but I feel they will want to give it a go and staying within a single digit of the Bavarian giants would be a major achievement and closing it, offer so much for next season. They are currently seven points clear of BMG in third and if they could really push on through the next 3-4 weeks, really cement a Champions League spot early and then look at other targets, which perhaps they are already doing. We have spoken a lot about the Europa League and how the competion, and the last year or two of the UEFA Cup, has been dominated by teams from Eastern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula, but we have no Porto or Benfica this year and the round of 32 and 16 is always testing for the Eastern teams coming off such a long break, Villarreal and Sevilla look decent representatives for Spain, but are both involved in what looks certain to be a season long battle with Valencia for fourth, elsewhere , there are a lot of teams who have been priced up on name alone. If the Wolves can find a way past Sporting this month, I am sure that we will see several of those "names" drop out and Wolfsburg might be in position to let their focus switch to a European title. There is still some 21.0 around for Wolfsburg to win the Europa League, even bigger in a place or two and if you can find it, or close, I suggest we try 1 unit for now, we can take a closer look at this competition after the round of 32 ties .
 

They come into this on the back of their first defeat in 15 starts at Augsburg at the weekend, that was an infortunate loss and a game they should have got something from, but it will have served as a reality check and also effectively ended the dream of catching Bayern in the Bundesliga, so now it will surely be all about the Europa League and I expect a hungry and very motivated host to get back to winning ways.