The preview looked at the stats and picked out a couple of bets: the thinking wa that United might start well but City would come back into the game and it would finish a draw. The game was scoreless at halftime, and City took the lead during the second half and seemed to be comfortable, but it did not look like they would get a second goal. United had the better of the chances and came into the game as it went on. Credit goes to Erik Ten Hag for his tweaks during the game to make this happen.
Regarding the bets, it was too close to call pre-ko and I should have been more patient and placed not bets. Often there are better opportunities in-running in these situations, which proved to be the case as United could be backed at 40.0 during the game to win. Given City’s defensive problems that was real value.
Foden started but only had 15 touches in the opening hour and had no shots at all. Very poor for his ability. At this stage I’d have to speculate that the morale within the City dressing room is not good and there is likely a lot of dissent within the camp towards Pep. There is not much to back this up however there is nearly always some uphappy players in any squad and the team’s style of play has had to be changed to accomodate Haaland and there is likely to be others put out by this. The World Cup performance of some players like Kevin DeBruyne, Cancelo and Foden can also have these players dissatisfied in general.
As this is a betting blog, I am going to take a position on this opinion and back Manchester City to finish outside the Top Four in the English Premier League. They are currently priced at 1.05 in Betfair. The thinking is that the morale problems might get worse and results may get worse. For that to happen they would have to finish fifth and that means that Spurs would need to finish fourth. They are six points behind City today.
I also think Spurs can finish the season stronger than they have started. Again, this is speculative, but they have a trend where they finish games better than they start them. This mentality might also transfer into their season, and they only get focused when things get closer to the end. They should also have key players returning from injury soon.
This is a bet we will following as the season progresses.
Bet: City to finish outside the top four. Laying them at 1.05 on Betfair. My liability is €6, with potential winnings of €120.
Current Balance: €685