It’d be fair to say that the Europa League is not everybody’s idea of fun.
To win the tournament generally involves travelling to some of the most remote places on the footballing planet, jeopardising your chances domestically, and playing countless matches.
You go through the endless hours of pain and torment, travelling to place that you never want to return to, places like Kazakhstan, Albania, Wales, and what do you get at the end of it?
Europe’s equivalent of the League Cup and lots of belittling looks from those teams that have smugly gone about their business in the Champions League.
Unless of course you happen to be Fulham, in which case you are patronized in the extreme and want to scream every time you hear or see the words ‘plucky Fulham’, or at least, that’s how I would have felt if I was a Cottager.
It’s unsurprising then, that Motherwell boss Craig Brown’s first words after his side’s second qualifying round victory were: “Now we go on a marathon trip.”
You can almost sense the excitement.
Suffice to say, I don’t expect The Steelmen to put on much of a show against Norwegian Cup winners Aalesund, so much so that I believe the hosts to be very capable of covering a one goal handicap...
Which is why Bet365’s quote of 11/4 on such an occurrence is the bet of the round.
Scottish football is not what it used to be, believe it or not, there was once a time when the likes of Gazza, Gennaro Gattuso and Paolo Di Canio plied their trade in the SPL. Now the division is filled with players that would struggle to make it into Bolton’s reserve team.
Unsurprisingly this has led to a dip in European performances, with last year’s effort quite frankly embarrassing. In the Champions League Celtic crashed out in the qualifiers, while Rangers finished bottom of a very winnable group, a full six points and nine goals behind the interestingly named Unirea Urziceni.
Meanwhile, in the Europa League, Falkirk went down 2-0 to FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein, Aberdeen were pummelled 8- 1 by Czech side Sigma Olomouc and Motherwell exited 6-1 to Steaua Bucharest.
With nothing much changing north of the border over the last 12 months (see Celtics 3-0 defeat last night), I don’t expect the Scottish entrants to fare much better this time around, so they are well worth opposing in any match, particularly when faced with an arduous trip.
As previously mentioned, Motherwell aren’t too keen on their upcoming journey and they also face a team that are well into their domestic season (and performing strongly).
Whereas Craig Brown’s men have played in just two competitive matches this term, and inspired little confidence in eventually grinding out a 2-0 aggregate win over Icelandic minnows Breidablik.
There are all sorts of handicaps to choose from in betting but the most common are the Asian handicap...
Which I’ll explain another time...
And the standard handicap, where one team is given a head-start by the bookmaker.
In the case of Aalesunds vs. Motherwell, the Norwegian side have been made rightful favourites and as such can be backed with a -1 or -2 goal handicap.
My tip is to back the -1 with Bet365 at a mouth-watering 11/4
However, it’s also worth noting that Boylesports are offering a massive 9/1 on the hosts to cover a two goal handicap...
Which is well worth a shout if you can foresee another national tragedy like Celtic's surrender last night.
To win the tournament generally involves travelling to some of the most remote places on the footballing planet, jeopardising your chances domestically, and playing countless matches.
You go through the endless hours of pain and torment, travelling to place that you never want to return to, places like Kazakhstan, Albania, Wales, and what do you get at the end of it?
Europe’s equivalent of the League Cup and lots of belittling looks from those teams that have smugly gone about their business in the Champions League.
Unless of course you happen to be Fulham, in which case you are patronized in the extreme and want to scream every time you hear or see the words ‘plucky Fulham’, or at least, that’s how I would have felt if I was a Cottager.
It’s unsurprising then, that Motherwell boss Craig Brown’s first words after his side’s second qualifying round victory were: “Now we go on a marathon trip.”
You can almost sense the excitement.
Suffice to say, I don’t expect The Steelmen to put on much of a show against Norwegian Cup winners Aalesund, so much so that I believe the hosts to be very capable of covering a one goal handicap...
Which is why Bet365’s quote of 11/4 on such an occurrence is the bet of the round.
Scottish football is not what it used to be, believe it or not, there was once a time when the likes of Gazza, Gennaro Gattuso and Paolo Di Canio plied their trade in the SPL. Now the division is filled with players that would struggle to make it into Bolton’s reserve team.
Unsurprisingly this has led to a dip in European performances, with last year’s effort quite frankly embarrassing. In the Champions League Celtic crashed out in the qualifiers, while Rangers finished bottom of a very winnable group, a full six points and nine goals behind the interestingly named Unirea Urziceni.
Meanwhile, in the Europa League, Falkirk went down 2-0 to FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein, Aberdeen were pummelled 8- 1 by Czech side Sigma Olomouc and Motherwell exited 6-1 to Steaua Bucharest.
With nothing much changing north of the border over the last 12 months (see Celtics 3-0 defeat last night), I don’t expect the Scottish entrants to fare much better this time around, so they are well worth opposing in any match, particularly when faced with an arduous trip.
As previously mentioned, Motherwell aren’t too keen on their upcoming journey and they also face a team that are well into their domestic season (and performing strongly).
Whereas Craig Brown’s men have played in just two competitive matches this term, and inspired little confidence in eventually grinding out a 2-0 aggregate win over Icelandic minnows Breidablik.
There are all sorts of handicaps to choose from in betting but the most common are the Asian handicap...
Which I’ll explain another time...
And the standard handicap, where one team is given a head-start by the bookmaker.
In the case of Aalesunds vs. Motherwell, the Norwegian side have been made rightful favourites and as such can be backed with a -1 or -2 goal handicap.
My tip is to back the -1 with Bet365 at a mouth-watering 11/4
However, it’s also worth noting that Boylesports are offering a massive 9/1 on the hosts to cover a two goal handicap...
Which is well worth a shout if you can foresee another national tragedy like Celtic's surrender last night.
