Football Guru

It has been nearly 56 years since Bergamo-based Atalanta BC beat Torino 3-1 in the Coppa Italia final to land their one and only piece of major silverware. That win in 1963 was achieved with a team predominantly made up of local players, with half a dozen born in Bergamo itself.

The club has continued to harvest talent through its 75-year-old youth academy but have yet to add another trophy to their cabinet. However, that could all be about to change as they prepare to take on Lazio in the 2019 Coppa Italia final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Image: Gio la Gamb [CC BY-SA 3.0]

Underdogs despite league triumph

The team known as La Dea will start as underdogs as Lazio have the home advantage. However, when the two met at the same venue in their recent Serie A clash, it was the visitors who came out on top, romping to a 3-1 win. They are currently 9/5 in the football betting odds to claim the second Coppa Italia trophy in their 111-year history.

Atalanta last reached the Coppa Italia final in 1996 where they were beaten 3-0 on aggregate by Fiorentina. They also reached the final in 1987 where they fell 3-0 to Diego Maradona’s Napoli. They will be hoping for a more positive outcome when they contest their fourth domestic cup in the middle of May.Continue Reading

February has been far from plain sailing for Lucien Favre and Borussia Dortmund. Die Schwarzgelben were knocked out of the DFB Pokal by Werder Bremen and have dropped points in successive Bundesliga games for the first time this season. As of February 12th, they still hold a five-point advantage over Bayern Munich and look to be in prime position. Can they prevent the resurgent holders from regaining their crown this season?

Source: BBC Sport via Twitter

This year’s title race has been fascinating viewing for neutrals, with Dortmund taking advantage of Bayern’s early-season inconsistencies. The pair are eight points clear of third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach and it appears to be a straight shoot-out between the high-flying pair. Niko Kovac’s side are looking to secure their seventh successive Bundesliga title, but they’ve already been defeated on four occasions this campaign and were edged out in a 3-2 thriller at Signal Iduna Park on November 10th.

Dortmund have rightly been getting plenty of plaudits this season and have been a joy to watch. They are the most prolific side in the German top flight, netting 54 times in 21 games and scoring four or more goals on six separate occasions. Paco Alcacer found the net in each of his first seven matches for the club, but he’s failed to notch since December 18th and Dortmund fans will be hoping the former Barcelona man can recapture his early-season form in 2019. Jadon Sancho is another player who has caught the eye this season, but Dortmund’s troubles have largely been at the other end of the pitch. They’ve only kept one clean sheet in their first four games of this calendar year and a cavalier approach to maintaining the lead inevitably proved costly against Hoffenheim on February 9th. Continue Reading

Many would argue that the international break doesn’t have any meaningful purpose other than leaving fans up and down the country at a loose end for two weeks. The forced state of limbo does, however, have the football community taking stock of what has gone on up until this point of the season and there surely isn’t a more impressive managerial story going on throughout the land than that of Eddie Howe.

This time last season after as many games, Bournemouth were in 13th position. As things stand at the moment, the Cherries are in sixth position with seven more points and ten more goals than they had in 2017. Howe’s men have conceded two more goals but their attacking philosophy is what is arguably driving them up the table so that won’t be of any real concern to the Vitality faithful.

The thing, though, with Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth is that the further you go back, the more impressive the story becomes. This is now the fourth straight season in the Premier League for Bournemouth under Howe and if that’s impressive given the size of the club, consider that when the 40-year-old was appointed as manager, Bournemouth were in League One.Continue Reading

Liverpool endured their second Champions League loss of the season on November 6th as they suffered a disappointing 2-0 reverse at the hands of Red Star Belgrade. The Reds have struggled on the road in this competition over the last couple of years but they’ve looked imperious in the Premier League and Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that their Serbian disappointment doesn’t halt their domestic momentum. They remain unbeaten in the top flight so far and fans will be hoping that they can continue to avoid defeat during the second half of the campaign.

Source: Football Stuff via Twitter

The 4-1 victory over Cardiff at the end of October ensured that the club matched it’s best ever start to a Premier League season. It also saw the Merseyside outfit go top of the table, albeit for 48 hours. The Reds appear determined to make this year’s title race interesting with Klopp’s men keeping tabs on Champions, Manchester City.Continue Reading

They say you can’t really tell too much about how a season will pan out until at least 10 games have been played.

Throughout the season, the odds on who will win the league will fluctuate, as the chasing pack either closes the gap on the pre-season favourites, or the front-runners break clear and become borderline unbackable at the bookies.

So with the Premier League now into double-figure games played, how are the EPL’s top four protagonists faring as we head into the winter period?

MANCHESTER CITY

 

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City are currently 4/11 favourites in the Premier League betting to win the title this season, and it’s hard to imagine them collapsing as the season progresses.

They have the strongest squad in the league, a manager who seems totally at ease with the expectations placed upon him and a team that creates more chances than any other side in the division. They also share their goals around, with City offering a legitimate goalscoring threat from all over the pitch.Continue Reading

This is one that always provokes plenty of debate as a big tournament comes to a close. Who have been the shining lights of the tournament? And which have been the best in their respective positions? We’ve had a bash at putting a team together made up of who we think have been the standout players in Russia so far. It’s been a gruelling process and some positions are much more competitive than others, but we think we’ve picked a team that would give anyone a run for their money! This article was originally published on Kitlocker.com.

GOALKEEPER

Thibault Courtois, Belgium

The Chelsea stopper has been in unbelievable form this summer. After a somewhat iffy season with Chelsea, some questioned whether the 6ft6in giant was really all that. He seems to have put all that to bed, having been incredibly reliable and consistent during Belgium’s run to the Semi-final. Courtois secured his place in our team with his performance in the 2-1 win over Brazil, helping secure the Red Devils’ place in the last four. He narrowly edges out England’s Jordan Pickford, who performed heroics in the Three Lions’ quarter final win over Sweden.

DEFENCE

Harry Maguire, England

What more can we say about this man that hasn’t already been said? After being affectionately dubbed “Slabhead” by his teammates, Maguire has become a cult hero back home but he is so much more than that. His place in the England team was far from assured going into the tournament but he is now one of the first names on the team sheet and vital to his country’s hopes of bringing it home. Maguire is as classy as they come when playing the ball out from the back but also a warrior in both penalty areas, winning more aerial duals than any other player in Russia with 33. The cherry on the cake for Slabhead came when he headed in the opener in England’s 2-0 win over Sweden, putting that impressive bonce to very good use.

Raphael Varane, France

The Real Madrid defender seems to have finally come of age this summer after years of talking about his potential. Strong, fast and confident on the ball, Varane has been nothing short of a monster alongside the equally impressive Samuel Umtiti for France. This was showcased during his team’s Semi-final win over Belgium, in which the pair successfully kept the likes of Hazard, Fellaini and an in-form Lukaku relatively quiet. It’s to the credit of them that a Belgium side that has looked so dangerous throughout the tournament, never really looked like scoring, despite dominating the ball during the latter stages of the match.Continue Reading