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Saturday, August 29, 2009

UEFA getting it wrong again with Eduardo hysteria - Arsenal v Celtic

UEFA announced that its disciplinary unit was studying footage of the incident and had the authority to ban him for two European matches if it felt he had cheated.

The Scenario
In case you missed the incident, on a wet and slippery autumn evening in North London, two players challenging for a football at some pace go to ground in the penalty area - it's a tough call.

We see these situations hundreds of times a season, and all eyes go instantly to the referee, who has to make an instant decision, because the ruling bodies of football (FIFA and UEFA) have decided that use of video replay technology is unacceptable.

The referee, who was behind the action at the time, chooses a penalty (which as Gooner I thought it was at the time too - based on the initial TV angle).

However, for us at home, the subsequent television replays showed that the referee was wrong, and the keeper did not touch Eduardo. But that's a long way from saying that Eduardo cheated and should be banned.

The referee had three possible calls to make :
1) It was a foul and therefore a penalty.
2) There was no foul and was a goalkick - or corner - depending on the last touch
3) Eduardo "simulated" a foul and should receive a yellow card.

We can see in the replay that option #1 is wrong - but unless you are Uri Geller (is he still alive?) and can read minds - I can't see anything in the replay that suggests option #3 is correct either.

Remember, it's wet, the players are moving at pace, and probably most importantly, Eduardo has just come back from an 18 month injury in a similar contact situation. I have no doubt in my mind that he jumped to avoid injury.

How does a possible yellow card become a suspension?
Furthermore, even if the referee had decided upon option #3, the punishment for simulation is NOT a two-match suspension, but a straight YELLOW card. That's it. On the scale of offences committed on the football field - it's at about the same level as taking off your shirt to celebrate a goal.

Given both UEFA and FIFA's reluctance to use TV replays at any level of football to help referees to make correct decisions DURING the game, I'm amazed that they are advocating the use of replays to now go back and turn possible YELLOW CARD offences into SUSPENSIONS.

If the referee calls option #2 then there is no issue to go on with? And if he calls option #3 then it's a yellow card and it's dealt with? But somehow because of a referee call this is now a heinous footballing crime?

Where will it lead us?
Are UEFA also going to use replays to punish every defender that tugs a shirt? That action is a clear and obvious yellow card according to the rules of the game and goes unpunished.

What about verbal abuse of the referee and linemen? Now that UEFA are prepared to be mind readers to determine Eduardo's fate, are UEFA now also going to employ lip readers to apply retrospective yellow cards (and suspensions?) to all players who mouth off at officials - as laid out in the games statutes?

IF this happens then we will soon be watching games that are reduced to 8-a-side or more, and clubs will need to have squads of 50+ players to handle all the additional suspensions!

Obviously my extrapolation of UEFA's intent appears ridiculous, but it is the logical extension of UEFA's new found determination to embrace video technology to clean up the game.

Where did this mandate come from? Why hasn't it been announced? OR perhaps, just perhaps, this is another case of Michel Platini shooting his mouth off again without engaging his brain?

Get a technology grip and move on
Yes, UEFA should be using TV replays for important events DURING the game - but they're not likely to anytime soon.

And this "kangaroo-court" video committee that has been whipped up by the Scottish FA and UEFA as a response to some hysterical reaction will not serve as a suitable substitute.

UEFA president Michel Platini either needs to provide stable, sensible, football based leadership - or else get off the throne.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Champions League draw kind to English clubs

The four English clubs in the Champions League were handed favourable draws for the group stage of the competition.

Arsenal have been drawn against AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos and Standard Liege in Group H.

Last season's finalists Manchester United take on CSKA Moscow, Besiktas and Wolfsburg in Group B.

Liverpool are top seeds in Group E and face Olympic Lyon, Fiorentina and Debrecen.

Chelsea are the ranked club in group D and will play Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia.

Remaining Groups :

Group A
Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa

Group C
AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich

Group F
Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dinamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan

Group G
Sevilla, Glasgow Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni

Arsenal 13/1 to win the Champions League

Arsenal are 13/1 with top Euro Betting site Betsson to win the Champions League after they cruised into the group stages with a comprehensive 5-1 aggregate victory over Celtic on Wednesday night.

Leading 2-0 after the first leg at Parkhead, Arsenal extended their advantage at the Emirates Stadium when Eduardo converted a penalty he had controversially won while Emmanuel Eboue added a second on the night following a crisp move at the start of the second half.

Andrey Arshavin came off the bench to score a clinical third goal but the visitors did at least manage a consolation when Massimo Donati fired home a stunning volley for Celtic in injury time.

TOP PRICES FOR 10 MOST LIKELY WINNERS OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
5.50 Barcelona at Eurobet
6.00 Real Madrid at Eurobet
7.50 Chelsea at Betsson
9.00 Manchester United at Paddy Power
12.00 Liverpool at Paddy Power
13.00 Inter Milan at Paddy Power
14.00 Arsenal at Betsson
23.00 AC Milan at Bet365
26.00 Juventus at Paddy Power
26.00 Bayern Munich at Bet365

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Liverpool's title hopes sinking already - according to the bookmakers

Liverpool are out to 8/1 with Betfred to win the Premier League title following their 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa on Monday night.

That makes it two defeats in three games for Rafa Benitez's Reds and leaves them six points off the pace already.

Liverpool are now fourth-favourites for the title, having slipped below in-form Arsenal, 11/2 (6.50) at PinnacleSports.

Chelsea remain favourites following a 2-0 win at London rivals Fulham on Sunday while Manchester United strengthened after bouncing back from defeat at Burnley to beat Wigan 5-0.

Tottenham
are on top the table after battling back to win 2-1 against West Ham on Sunday and Spurs are now as short as 25/1 in places while you can still get 45/1 (46.00) at PinnacleSports.

Best online prices to win the Premier League title are :
2.50 Chelsea at PinnacleSports
4.50 Manchester United at PinnacleSports
6.50 Arsenal at PinnacleSports
9.00 Liverpool at Betfred
15.00 Manchester City at Ladbrokes
46.00 Tottenham at PinnacleSports
201.00 Aston Villa at Bet365
501.00 Everton at Bet365

(compilied by BookieLabrat's Online Premier League Betting Odds)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

EXCLUSIVE £200 FREE BETS FOR YORK'S EBOR MEETING

It promises to be some week at York's Ebor meeting with dual Classic winner Sea The Stars just one of a host of equine stars in action, and it's just got even better as bet365 are offering new customers up to £200 free bets when they open an account!

To qualify for this fantastic offer, you simply need to sign up between Saturday 15th August and Sunday 23rd August. What better way to kick-start your bet365 account than having £200 free bets to place on some top-class horse racing!

Click here to sign up with bet365 and claim your £200 free bets.

Furthermore, you can watch all 18 races from York live at bet365. Simply place a qualifying bet of £1 or more, click on the "Live Stream" icon next to the race and enjoy the action.

To cap a great week for punters, bet365 are going best odds guaranteed on every horse race (not just at York), so be sure to take a price as you'll get paid out at the SP if it's bigger.

Click here to enjoy bet365's fantastic horse racing service

Monday, August 17, 2009

2009/10 English Premier League outright betting after round 1

Liverpool are out to 5/1 (6.00) for the Premier League title after their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday.

Liverpool only lost twice in Premier League last season but got off to a losing start to this term, Steven Gerrard's penalty not enough to take anything from White Hart Lane after goals from Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Sebastien Bassong.

Manchester United were not at their best but still recorded a 1-0 win over Birmingham earlier in the day and continue to fight for favouritism with Chelsea, who saw off Hull 2-1 thanks to Didier Drogba's injury-time fluke on Saturday.

Manchester City set down an early marker with a 2-0 success at Blackburn.

Arsenal also made a tremendous start with a 6-1 hammering of Everton and they are into 7/1 from 8/1 - Hills were even more impressed and they go 11/2 from 9/1.

BEST ODDS FOR YOUR TEAM TO WIN THE 2009/10 LEAGUE :
Chelsea 3.00 @ Ladbrokes
Manchester United 3.50 @ Pinnacle
Liverpool 5.50 @ Ladbrokes
Arsenal 9.50 @ Pinnacle
Manchester City 15.00 @ Ladbrokes
Tottenham Hotspur 101.00 @ Pinnacle
Everton 301.00 @ VCBet
Aston Villa 501.00 @ VCBet
West Ham United 751.00 @ Bet365

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Arsenal blast SIX past Everton

Arsenal scored six goals at Goodison Park on Saturday evening - surpassing my wildest hopes for the opening game of the season.

Even Andrei Arshavin got it wrong (predicting FIVE goals in ONE game here in this promo)


Arsene Wenger's young side produced a classy and clinical display to tear apart last season's FA Cup finalists - and make a statement on opening day.

Denilson started the avalanche with a superb strike on 26 minutes, and new boy Thomas Vermaelen was left unmarked to nod home the second from a free-kick 11 minutes later.

The game was over as a contest four minutes before half-time thanks to another header from a free-kick - this time from William Gallas.

Things didn't get any better for the Toffees after the break, with Cesc Fabregas taking centre stage to net on 48 and 69 minutes.

Eduardo added a sixth for Arsenal with two minutes remaining - his first Premier League goal since suffering that horrific injury at Birmingham back in 2008.

Louis Saha finally got Everton on the scoresheet with a tap-in in the closing seconds.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Top 10 Bets getting action at EuroBet this weekend

Here is a quick rundown of the top 10 bets seeing the most turnover at top online bookmaker Eurobet this weekend.

Not surprisingly, the opening wekeend of the English Premier League dominates punters thoughts with four games getting in the top 10 so far. But the top betting action choices might surprise you :
PREMIER LEAGUE -- Tottenham v Liverpool ---- Liverpool at 2.30
PREMIER LEAGUE -- Portsmouth v Fulham ---- Draw at 3.30
PREMIER LEAGUE -- Chelsea v Hull City ---- Chelsea at 1.16
PREMIER LEAGUE -- Aston Villa v Wigan ---- Aston Villa at 1.66

There are also two lower league games seeing a bit of action, and in both cases it's the perceived value on the away side that is attracting the money - especially Reading travelling to St James's Park at 4.00 (3/1).
CHAMPIONSHIP --- Newcastle v Reading ----- Reading at 4.00
LEAGUE ONE ------ Stockport v Bristol Rovers - Bristol Rovers at 3.00

In Europe it's the same theme, as punters are taking the attractive odds on offer for top ranked side travellnig to face lower ranked opposition.
HOLLAND --------- RKC Waalwijk v AZ Alkmaar -- AZ Alkmaar at 1.61
BUNDESLIGA ---- Cologne v Wolfsburg -- Wolfsburg at 1.80
BELGIUM --------- Roeselare v Standard Liege -- St. Liege at 1.53
PORTUGAL -------- Nacional v Sporting Lisbon -- Sp. Lisbon @ 2.00

Check out all the odds at Eurobet this weekend.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Canbet off £25 / €30 joining bonus for new season

Australian and UK licensed bookmaker Canbet are starting the new English Premier League season by offering a matching free bet to all new players who open an account.

Join Canbet and make your first bet of £25 / €30 / USD $35 and they will give you a matching freebet of the same value.

In order to claim this offer simply enter the promotional code BETBONUS when registering an account on the Canbet joining page.

Check it out at Canbet now.


Monday, August 10, 2009

Paddy Power has zero tolerance for bore draws!

Premier League Opening Weekend - Sat 15th - Sun 16th August

Top Irish bookmaker Paddy Power hates a dull game, and has decided to do something about it for punters who have the bad luck to punt on a 0-0 draw in the opening weekend of the English Premier League.

Paddy will refund ALL losing single pre-match Win-Draw-Win, Correct Score, 1st-last-anytime Goalscorer, Scorecasts and Half-time-Full-time market bets on any match that finishes 0-0.

So if you're having a punt on opening weekend of the English Premier League, it makes sense to check out the odds at PaddyPower and get that bit of insurance on your side!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS :
---------------------------------------------------------
- Does not apply to customers whose language of registration is Spanish.
- Max Refund €300/£200 per customer.

RELATED LINKS :
- Our Paddy Power bookmaker review
- Our full page list of cashback offers and specials from top UK bookmakers

English Premier League Football Tickets on Sale

Online sports tickets company SportsEvents365 have launched a new service to provide hard to get tickets to English Football matches.

Tickets for most Premier League games for the 2009/10 season are on sale with many games in the opening month available online.

One search engine puts together data on thousands of sports events in hundreds of cities in dozens of countries worldwide! For the first time in the world there is a website that allows users to perform a location-based search of future sports events.

See this link for tickets to major football games in England over the next month as an example.

Or you can do team specific searches as well, with tickets for big clubs available online now :
- Arsenal tickets available now,
- Chelsea football tickets for sale
- Manchester United tickets listed,
- Buy Liverpool tickets online
- Tottenham Hotspur tickets available here

The tickets prices are defintely higher than the face value - but that is the fact of life for today's football fan with many games sold out. It's still a useful service to source those hard to get tickets - or to plan a sporting event on holiday.

Check out SportsEvents365 for more details

Friday, August 07, 2009

Doyle Brunson's First Class Vegas Experience

There are two kinds of Las Vegas - the typical one you see on TV and the unbelievable one that only the highest rollers have access to.

If the "unbelievable" Las Vegas sounds like your kind of town, then you're in luck.

Every month, Doyle Brunson and his poker room are sending DoylesRoom Poker and DoylesCasino players to the strip to live the dream in the best Las Vegas hotels, restaurants, clubs and casinos.

All you need to do is rise above the crowd in the cash games, sit n go tournaments, video poker or slots available on Doyles Room.

Winners will spend 48 hours in Doyle's world including a private dinner with Doyle Brunson while enjoying everything Vegas has to offer.

RELATED LINKS :
Read our full page review of Doyles Room Poker
Or visit Doyles Room now

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Ladbrokes Bingo £20 welcome bonus !

Ladbrokes Latest Offer - A £20 Bingo Welcome Bonus!
Ladbrokes bingo welcome bonus
Ladbrokesbingo.com is now offering all new UK and Ireland customers an amazing £20 FREE welcome bonus when you spend £5!

That's getting 4:1 on your money before you even start to play!

Online Bingo is becoming more popular every day. It's easy to play and the rules are exactly the same as offline bingo. Click to find out more



RELATED LINKS :
GoonersGuide UK and Ireland Online Bingo Comparison Feature - see Ladbrokes Bingo, Betfred Bingo and PaddyPower Bingo compared side by side.

BetOnline Sportsbook added to list of recommended betting sites

Offshore Sportsbook BetOnline.com has been added to the list of recommended betting sites at GoonersGuide.com.

The Panamanian based sportsbook specializes is servicing Canadian and United States based players accepting VISA cards, Wire Transfer, Bank Wire, and Bank Check - and the sportsbook will cover any / all fees on transfers of more than $300.

BetOnline also offers various bonuses but our suggested option for new BetOnline.com players is to claim a first deposit bonus of 25% to $125 (so deposit $500 if you want the full $125 bonus). A x6 rollover of bonus winnings applies.

BetOnline.com offers live lines plus a range of bets and props on all major sporting events popular in the USA and Canada: Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, Boxing, MMA, Auto Racing, Racebook.

Our full review of BetOnline rates the offshore sportsbook as 83% overall, after considering sports coverage, odds juice, bonuses, security and payouts making the overall rating for BetOnline a solid A.

RELATED LINKS :
Full page review of BetOnline.com
Bonus details for BetOnline.com
Comparison of four good offshore sportsbooks for US players

Or visit the BetOnline.com website directly now.

Monday, August 03, 2009

David Trezeguet decides to stay at Juventus

David Trezeguet has decided to stay at Juventus, at least until the end of the 2009/10 season.

The 31-year-old French striker has attracted interest from Italian clubs AC Milan and Roma, although Juve recently said they would only be prepared to sell him to a club outside of Serie A.

Trezeguet is quote on Juventus's official website: "I am definitely staying at Juventus for the whole season. After ten years in Turin I don't think it's right to leave now.

"At the back of this decision is the decisive support of those who backed me in the recent period - that is, the management, the coach, my mates and the supporters."

Trezeguet is under contract with the Bianconeri until 2011.