Classic Tracks And Short Odds
Jun 10th, 2010 by 'holic
When she wrote “What a difference a day makes” Maria Grever was clearly not considering the close-season lull on World Cup Eve. A cursory glance at the stories hitting the news aggregators today shows remarkable similarities to yesterday, the day before, and so on.
No wait, I tell a tiny porkie. We are linked by Sky Sports with another potential free transfer coup. The impressively-monikered King Gyan Osei ticks a number of the usual boxes. Young, short, free, virtually unknown, and now apparently a target for Manchester City as well. I’m doubtful for just one reason. No mention of injury prone. Shame really, as Dionne Warwick has already recorded his song, “Osei’s a little player“.
So all that remains is for me to satisfy the request from Das in Monday’s drinks to splash the ‘holic pound on the World Cup. I’ll go a little further. I’m looking at two markets, starting with the leading goalscorer of the tournament. There is a reason why David Villa is clear favourite, but I have to follow my heart rather than my head for this one. Robin van Persie is fresh, having missed much of the last season, and looks decent value at a best of 12/1.
As for the eventual winners of the tournament I really don’t think you can look past the top three in the betting. Those who follow the old ‘Europeans never win outside Europe’ have to be lumping on Brazil and Argentina. Spain do look like an irresistible force at the moment. If they can protect the suspect Puyol and Pique by controlling the football for long spells then their firepower will surely see them home.
I do think Spain will be triumphant, but Stan James money back offer if Spain are winners means I will be having a second punt on Brazil. Nothing too extravagant there, I know, but this is the World Cup we are talking about. The gap between the supposedly big and small teams has certainly reduced, but it is still there when the biggest prizes are up for grabs.
There we are then. Quite how often I will post during the tournament may well depend on what the Arsenal players are doing. Hopefully I will be around every couple of days or so with my take on the latest match-winning performances from the boys, starting with Carlos Vela in tomorrow’s tournament opener, and followed by the French contingent tomorrow evening. Assuming of course they haven’t all gone on strike because Abou Diaby’s pre-match lucky Kinder egg didn’t contain a free toy.
Have a good one, ‘holics.
50 Responses to “Classic Tracks And Short Odds”
…and IN !
Oh yes! Excellent – that’s rather made my day. Help yourself to whatever you fancy sir…. brown stuff or clear today?
And I think I may join you on a punt for RVP to set the world alight. Or get ankle knack. One or the other.
Or maybe both – tournament top scorer and then hit by a meteor in the last minute, so ruling him out of the entire Arsenal season. Then he’ll return just in time for a Holland friendly.
Christ. Now I’ve depressed myself. More Gin please landlord!
Hello Catalan. First four drinks, eh? The profit on those should pay for my bets 😉
Took Van Persie at 25/1 two weeks ago for top scorer and 28/1 for player of the tournament. I’ll have a Gentlemans measure of Cognac while that Dom Perignon chills please Holic.
This is affirmation that a man’s dreams can come true.
I’d like to thank my parents, my agent, and all the unseen people behind the scenes, without whom I wouldn’t be where I am today.
In the kitchen, with a half empty glass….
Good one, soupy.
Half-full, surely Catalan, if you are on here?
Catalan, what are the odds on that meteor?
Very true sir… my tinted glasses must have slipped off for a moment. Actually the bottle is now only a third full…. but full of positive thoughts!
Truthfully I am slightly underwhelmed by this world cup… hopefully it’ll tickle my fancy soon.
Clangers’ mate
About odds on at Ladbrokes. They have obviously taken past form into account.
First Cooley of the evening. Very nice too. Four minutes to the World Cup Opening Concert on Beeb Two.
Still sounds like a good bet to me.
What odds on RvP getting another nasty injury 🙁
Much as I want them to do well, I would prefer all our players return in August fit and raring to go for the “real” football 🙂
Pint of your best old peculiar landlord….
I hope the Dutch rid themselves of the tag of the best team never to have won a World Cup. Doesn’t look likely when you glance at their defense though.
Four years ago in the office World Cup sweep (admittedly a different office) I disappointingly drew Italy (I thought they had no chance!). This time round I have drawn Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes) and while I believe they have at least one decent win in them, I’m not convinced they are ‘go all the way’ material.
I have, however, tracked the three teams that I would have wanted to draw. Ironically, my boss who pulled the next name out of the hat got Argentina, my lunch buddy pulled out Brazil and Spain went to one of our part-time administrators, who by her own admission, isn’t “really into football” – not surprisingly as her husband ‘supports’ that team from the wrong end of the Seven Sister’s Road.
So ends the destiny of the molluscian coin.
Anyone else involved in any interesting sweeps of late?
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by . said: […]
I was all about Spain up until Iniesta’s injury news today…Now I can only see how much those bastards in Barcelona are going to want Fabregas when he plays so well in Spain’s opening match followed by his orchestration of their romp to glory. This will, undoubtedly ensure that they sell off the Camp Nou to some African cartel and use the proceeds to offer some absurd amount of money, half of their youth team (that they will claim that we stole in the years to come once they actually become world class players) and the keys to the city (of Madrid!)
Meanwhile, Hill-Wood will claim that he is not good enough for their reserve youth team, we don’t need his sort at the club anyway and there is about £60 billion left for Arsene to spend on players…
Arsene will announce the signing of two 9 year olds to add to the nineteen 15 and 16 year olds we have “stolen” from Barcelona and a free transfer from some obscure part of Northern Liechenstein!!!
And another Arsenal summer goes by as usual!
Oh, barman, as I am currently living in the dark recesses of Northern Peru, could you PLEASE throw over a nice cold Guinness please…It has been almost 3 years since last I drank one (sobbing heartily!)
Peru?
Paddington…
Have you really come back to me? 😉
Ha ha!
I actually bought my son a Paddington Bear and a DVD before we left the UK in 2004…Now my second son has a beaten up old Paddington Bear and a DVD that only plays on the off chance!
Imagine what his baby sister will end up with?!
By the way, whoever said they got 25/1 on RvP for top scorer may actually have the very best bet of the entire World Cup. Great bet that.
Snail, Molluscian Coin has quite a nice ring to, almost as good as though not with as proven a track record as yet, as ‘Holic Pound itself.
Completely unrelated, but I’m quite happy to have finished my first read of Fever Pitch today. Feels like a seminal moment as an Arsenal supporter. It is, by the way, an incredible read, and tomorrow I’ll be shipping my copy off to my friend, a new convert.
As for Saturday…
Come on you YANKS!
I do like RVP as top scorer at those odds….better still please stay healthy.
Off topic – if you are my age or older the very idea of South Africa hosting the World Cup is quite fantastic compared with where we were back in the 80’s.
If you are really bored I blogged about that today…..
http://www.theclashblog.com/south-africa-richly-deserves-world-cup-a-good-time-to-remember-why/
Cheers
Didn’t Wenger say that he would sign players before the W
he has 10 hours…..
He said he wanted to but as you can see every single club is holding up thinking that prices will skyrocket after the world cup.
Valencia is an exception, they had to sell to avoid bankrupcy in the summer.
Otherwise I’m with zicoinexile on this one, I too believe that RvP has more chances to get injured again than to finish top scorer 🙁
Holic, what’s the odds on the Aussies spanking the Krauts? wouldn’t mind a case of XXXX on at least a draw…our new Keeper, Schwartzer will have a blinder and we’ll have to up the ante to Fulham – maybe even have to throw in Denilson – OMG how disaterous would that be….
The mighty Timmy Cahill to score the winner – Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie!!!
Past midday here so must be time for a coldie of some sorts 🙂
I got Robin at a healthy 16-1 for the tournament’s top scorer, plus a decent 100-1 for him to top the scoring charts and Brazil to win the Cup.
According to goal.com repeated by Bleacher, Cole has signed subject medical . So par for the course, Joe will be injured in pre-match warm up today ….
Lets have Pelforth Brune s’il vous plait
was it just me or have you all just turned over to watch the film on bbc2 as soon as adpaymore started to speak on world cup match of the day?
What a cnut! We should withhold our licence fee
Well, Abu was the best threat , and Bacari had 1 slip
I bet arseblog and the other Irish are happy that Thierry didnt get a penalty:)
In the end the French didnt deserve to win ‘cos they didnt know how to score..
Neither team deserved to win honstely. Diaby MOTM without a doubt.
And on this game Gourcuff did not do much to justify his price tag…
what a boring match the 1st one…..dissapointed in France now they see they should have played 2 strikers and taken nasri!!! diaby and sagna were good….how on earth is evra captain sagna was lots better…….what do u think holic and guys?
A good day for gunners overall.
Vela was very enthusiastic and brought a spark into the Mexican team in the first half.
Diaby was MOTM as Matt said, and he’s almost finished product, I just love the guy, the only thing he HAS to improve is his SHORT passes, his long passes are quite accurate, his short passes are too heavy at times.
Sagna was good supporting Govou who is useless and had a couple of good crosses into the box (he really isn’t credited for his crossing ability, a lot think that his crossing is poor and that’s absolutely wrong!).
Gourcuff had a poor game along with Ribery.
Tomorrow will be a non gunner day apart from Joe Cole 🙂
Cognac, my info is that Cole has not signed. He wants to join, but not surprisingly the complication is that his valuation of himself is different to ours. We will probably pay him more than any other London club. After the World Cup we will find out if that is enough.
Agreed Snir. Well played Abou and Bacary. Otherwise forgettable game. Domenech is completely void of imagination.
Holic, what’s the odds on the Aussies spanking the Krauts?
Go to Coral for 7/1 gaz.
Well, the broadcasters certainly have done us all proud this World Cup.
Radio5 Live today had Chris Twaddle spouting off in what sounded like drunken Japanese, so I dared to tune in to Talkshite to see what was on offer. Shouldn’t have bothered as the booming monotone of Stan the Man (who hits women) Collymore was in full swing. So off went that too.
So, to tonight and BBC1 for Uru v Fr only to be confronted by Adebarndoor.
Have they all conspired to do this to us, or is it just some hideous coincidence. I honestly don’t know who ITV have lying in wait, but i’m now expecting to turn on and find Sam Allardyce and Teddy Sheringham in my front room. Jesus H, i wasn’t looking forward to the thing that much anyway – now there’s not a station that doesn’t have me reaching for the off button.
There was a creative midfielder playing for France tonight that many are calling for to be signed during the summer. For the most part he mis-controlled balls, overhit passes and shot wildly off-target. He was
substituted after about 70 minutes, having contributed, disappointingly, little to the game. His name was Yoan Gourcuff.
There was another creative midfielder playing for France who was virtually impossible to knock off the ball, drove the team forward at every opportunity, passed quickly when required, ran distances with the ball into the heart of the opposition, passed positively and accurately, covered a huge amount of ground and defended well into the bargain.
At first sight it really appeared to be PV4 at his peak. At second sight, it was a player who is already at Arsenal. His name was Abou Diaby.
What a player he looked.
A little credit for Arsene, perhaps.
A brilliant French Red for me please ‘Holic.
On the house, Trev.
Well played.
@ Trev
Agreed – Diaby was near his best.
Why Nasri isn’t on that team is beyond me…they needed someone to do his work around the box today but kept sitting on the ball waiting too long and being caught in possession.
We do at least get a fit Nasri in August!
Trev,
Im sure we have all seen the odd blinder from Diaby.. Question is whether he can recreate that on a regular basis.. I doubt it.
Young players show flashes of their brilliance. Look at them when they’re at their best, that’s how they will play consistently when they reach around 25.
Diaby has been more consistent step by step every year. He will be more consistent next year.
Great writeup Trev!
Have to agree about Diaby being MOTM. In a very, very dull game he was one of two players who were actually trying to be creative for the benefit of his team (the other one was Vorlan, who was really, really good but just didn’t have enough quality around him to benefit from his work) and that through-ball from Diaby to Govou (?) which would have put Govou clean through on goal had not that idiot Anelka stepped in with his massive ego and taken the ball was of the highest quality.
Early morning Boddington’s for me, please!
Think some of the chat above (and other places) regarding Monsieur Diaby is a bit over the top – he was the best of a bad bunch.
I was most amused when Lawrenson waxed lyrical about his ability to head a clearance out of the penalty area – “magnificent” said Lawrence – well in the context of what he did at Old Trafford last season, I suppose it was!
God knows what’s happened to Ribery, and as for the rest of them, how Nasri cannot get into the team, never mind the squad, is beyond me.
Hopefully the quality of the football will improve, and quickly, or it will be another long summer awaiting the real stuff in August.
a message for the b-arse -a board
Cuando usted le conseguirá a mensaje las conchas del extranjero – fabregas no está para la mierda el hablar de la venta así que de la parada e irse a la mierda
or
When will you get the message you dago cunts – fabregas is not for sale so stop talking shit and fuck off
Good man k,
Right then boys. Nearly time for England v USA. It will be close.
“We do at least get a fit Nasri in August!”
Unless he trips over the wet half of RvP’s broken leg in pre-season training, of course!!!!!
Joking aside, I think we should sign THAT Diaby! I know we have seen glimpses of this in the red and white, but what on Earth can that buffoon Domenech have contributed to his game that has raised it so suddenly to this level? The comparisons with PV4 before he broke his leg were there to be seen, not so much since. Is this the turning point for him? Let us all hope very much so.
Off to the “local” bar now to watch In-Ger-Lund…..Should be the only English speaker as usual, which is handy as the language barrier allows for some hearty swearing without a good dressing down from the very large landlady!
See you after the game 🙂
Congrats Merkan ‘holics. Good point. I did tell you it would be close.
I just wanna say today that A.C Milan are lucky.
That Oguchi Oneywu is perfect. I fell in love with him. He’s exactly the kind of guy we need to sign, unfortunately he’s way too attached to Milan after he was injured this whole season and as a token of appreciation to Milan’s treatment during the injury he agreed to play the 2012-2013 season FOR FREE!
He’s strong, tall, tough, determined, has a great heart and he’s just what we need, unfortunately that Koscielny isn’t looking THAT strong.
He looks just the kind of guy that would be able to stop Drogba.
Rumours that Fabianski was wearing a Robert Green mask today are being investigated by police in South Africa
Stop Press: 13th June. Arsenal announce the signing of Robert Green. “We feel he will fit in perfectly to our team” commented Arsene.
A Spanish chocolatey red please barman,,,,