Ireland v Serbia. Might not be too friendly
Hopefully, Ireland v Serbia (7.45pm, Sky Sports 3) might be a little more exciting than Chesterfield v Portsmouth on Monday.
In the end I was quite happy to swallow a 12 point loss on the 0-0 draw having bought Chesterfield at 1.2. They looked nothing like league leaders for my money and I was quite relieved it didn’t end 2-0 to Portsmouth as it easily could have done.
As always with friendlies you have to build in the experimentation processes that can go on in terms of tactics, formation and players.
Ireland and Serbia both have new managers who have made promising starts to their new roles and in the two times these two sides have met it’s ended as a draw both times.
HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Max last 10 only)
Aug 2012 International Serbia 0 – 0 Ireland
May 2008 International Ireland 1 – 1 Serbia
Ireland under the leadership of Martin O’Neill Ireland have had a 3-0 win against Latvia and a 0-0 draw against Poland.
O’Neill is likely to make several changes and the manager has hinted that he may opt for a new central defensive partnership leaving John O’Shea (93 caps) on the bench. There has been no recall for Shay Given or Stephen Ireland and most significantly record scorer Robbie Keane is sidelined.
The World Cup Finals have eluded Serbia however they showed plenty of promise in the qualifiers with with wins against Wales, Macedonia and Japan together with creditable draws against Croatia and Russia.
I’m tempted to buy bookings at around 23. Appreciate it’s a ‘friendly’ and all that – but this looks a low quote and could easily see a yellow in both halves and hopefully one more to get us into profit.
RECOMMENDED BET (scale 1-10 points)
BUY BOOKINGS for 10 points at around 2.3 with Star Spreads
RUNNING RETURN (MARCH): LOSS 15.00 POINTS
RUNNING RETURN (YEAR): PROFIT 85.30 POINTS
- Any spread prices quoted are indicative and as always prices are subject to fluctuation.
- Please note the opinion, views and forecasts above are of the author and not of Star Spreads.
