Neil

Kiraly. Now he WAS eccentric.

Get away man. I'd applaud such eccentricity. Captain.

Powerful.

Barca on at 7 for those interested.

Got 4 picks I fancy - Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Malaga over 1.5 goals. Not sure how best to arrange them though. Waiting on team news. Reckon Pilko will like this: In round three of this competition in 2012, 15 of the 16 games had over 1.5 goals In the same round in 2011, 14 of the 16 games had over 1.5 goals And in round three in 2010, 15 of the games had over 1.5 goals 24/25 Round 2 matches this year had over 1.5 goals. Can get 16/1 on every Round 3 game having over 1.5 goals. Not massively keen myself but food for thought.

Leffe - thoughts on the above comments? You don't have to be overly modest either.

Of course. But so far the signs are they have the toughness to go with the immense talent their squad has, the win at Cardiff being a prime example. Old Spurs might have drawn that, even lost 1-0 and claimed bad luck. As it is, they kept creating chances and quality - again - told. I think Man Utd will recover but it really is Van Persie or nothing for them. If he's in form, he'll carry Man Utd to a decent-ish season. If he gets injured or doesn't score with such consistency, they're in big trouble. Also, let's not get caught up in the mystical notion Man Utd's defence is vastly superior to Spurs - something I've seen inferred a few times recently. As though just because Spurs are good to watch, they must automatically have a leaky defence. Spurs have conceded 1 goal in 8 games. Man Utd have conceded 8 in 7. Granted, Man Utd have had harder games, but the point clearly stands.

I've come to the conclusion that it's only Van Persie stopping me from thinking Spurs have a comfortably better team than Man Utd. As it is, it's close - such is Van Persie's value to Man Utd. With a manager now not currently able to make Man Utd better than the sum of their parts, Spurs should very realistically be looking to finish above them this season.

GW6: Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea Aston Villa 1-2 Man City Fulham 1-1 Cardiff City Hull City 1-0 West Ham Man Utd 3-1 West Brom Southampton 2-0 Crystal Palace Swansea 1-2 Arsenal Stoke City 1-0 Norwich Sunderland 0-2 Liverpool Everton 2-2 Newcastle

Velez/Rafaela over 2.5 goals (11/10 by itself - bizarre) Broncos -15.5 Double at a little over 3/1. Very, very close shave on the Broncos. Seemed to get a bit complacent later on. Mind, was 1 sack away from another bet coming in (over 4.5 sacks). Quick look tomorrow (yes, today) and Spurs stand out massively at 6/5. Even ringing the changes, they should field a quality side, while Villa have a number of injuries - notably Benteke and Agbonlahor. Also Chelsea -1 @ evens looks good.

Really good. I'm also looking forward to Sid Lowe's Fear And Loathing In La Liga, more about the clasico rivalry. Shot it in my play.com basket. Yeah, think Sid was talking about it a little on a recent Football Weekly podcast, sounds very interesting. Will keep an eye out.

After watching the first 20 minutes, you'll never have guessed there'd be 5 goals in the match. But, there we are. This fixture once again produced goals. All in all about £150 profit from those 3 Espanyol/Bilbao bets. Added to the Real Madrid/BTTS combined bet yesterday, very good 24 hours. Waiting for something to knock me back off course. Now to put it all (and an additional 33p) on whoever Bayern are playing in their next game. I've got a feeling. I bet Pep hasn't shaved for 2 weeks, they're losing concentration. Typical Bayern arrogance. Do it.

Anyone read the Barca book Graham Hunter wrote? If so, thoughts?

Partially laid Espanyol in-play now as well for my Espanyol/BTTS combined bet. 3/3 would be nice, mind! Like the look of this winner/BTTS for the League Cup this week, could get some real value. Don't fancy putting big stakes on due to weakened squads, underestimating of opponents - the usual cup game dangers (bobbly pitches and swirling winds included).

Nice.

Few thoughts from Marcotti in his weekly blog: http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/mondaymusings/id/566?cc=5739

That's the BTTS in. Now for over 2.5. Also had a small stake on Espanyol to win with BTTS. Been a poor game like, Espanyol in particular look mediocre technically.

Proper golazo in the Espanyol game. Thwack.

.....what a fucking goal.

Brentford v Leyton Orient is probably a better watch so far. Awful opening, can't string 2 passes of note together.

Yup. He'll get them safe, no doubt about that IMO. He won't get them loads further than that, but he'll do enough. i.e. basically what their current general level is, floating around lower mid-table.

I'll be completely bewildered if he doesn't. He has to.

Espanyol v Bilbao has gone over 2.5 goals in each of their last 6 meetings. 11/10 with Betvictor.

Will probably miss the game at Elche, likely to be back next weekend for the Madrid derby. According to Ancelotti it was more a precaution than any sort of major injury. Rotten luck getting injured in the warm-up as I'd fancy him to have got a goal or 2 yesterday and mid-week, but these things happen. Slows down some momentum he could have built, but still equally as confident.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/sunderland/10328138/Paolo-Di-Canio-sacked-as-Sunderland-manager-after-massive-player-rebellion-undermined-his-authority.html