Manchester United still seems to be after Frenkie de Jong despite adding Casemiro to the team already.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/soccer-transfers/story/4751862/manchester-united-and-frenkie-de-jong-saga-to-continuebellingham-also-a-target

They were looking for a defensive midfielder and spent a lot of money to sign Casemiro. His contract details are really enormous for a 30-year old player. But he was still a great choice for the team as he was one of the most reliable players at Real Madrid by his impressive performance. However he hasn't played in many league matches for now and we don't know if he will adapt to the team easily. Maybe Manchester United want to have an even stronger midfield. Because after losing Pogba they needed to strengthen the area. But I don't think that they will be able to transfer de Jong before next summer.

PSG did the expected and won the match. However it wasn't a too comfortable win for them truthfully. Mbappe's absence was felt until he entered the match and he was the game changer as he scored the goal to win. If Neymar was able to play better there wouldn't be even a need for Mbappe. By the way Messi's free-kick goal was really a usual one for us to see from him.    It was nice to see advertising boards turning to "GOAT" after Messi touched the ball. 



PSG have a more difficult job to do these days because they are in a competition for the lead with Marseille on one hand. They need to concentrate on the Ligue 1 and Champions League at an equal level to maintain a decent form. I believe that they will still manage to do this successfully.

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Pep Guardiola's unique system is hard to be replaced for Manchester City. This is the main reason they don't even think about sacking Guardiola for not winning the Champions League.

The team have a solid game plan for many years and this is the main factor they have been dominant in the Premier League in this period of time. They have added some other championships to their collection in the meantime of course. Last season was an opportunity for them but they were really unlucky against Real Madrid. Luck factor is also important for a team and Manchester City experienced this very badly. This season the expectation from them has got bigger after Haaland came and started to play like a beast in a short time. Guardiola might finally reach his main goal with this team to relieve finally before deciding to leave the team in the future.

England - Germany can definitely be one of the best matches I've seen in the recent times.

After Germany brought the score to 2-0 I was like that was it. Maguire is one of the worst and most overrated defenders ever. Because of him they conceded 2 goals. The first goal was really unbelievable. There was nothing dangerous first but Maguire made things difficult for his team suddenly. He lost the ball and caused a penalty. I wish to see him being sold by Manchester United to a small team.

However England made an insane comeback in 12 minutes. They scored three goals and got 3-2 ahead. The first goal made a huge impact on the team and they used the momentum in a great way. But Germany still were able to equalize it which was due to Pope's fault also. It is nearly ending 3-3 but let's see. Even though none of the teams had a target to achieve they still made us watch an unforgettable match. 

Bayern Munich are desperately trying to make their striker signing at the earliest opportunity but it's quite late for this season I'm afraid. Because they should have done this pre-season to be fully ready. They were just too stubborn about not going for any player and denied all the rumours linking them with Harry Kane.

There is no way they are signing Kane in January. They'd better forget about it and make their plans according to that. Whatever amount they offer I don't think Tottenham would be okay about selling him in the middle of the season. It'd be a huge problem for them while they are doing this much wonderful in the EPL.

Tomorrow playoffs stage is starting with these matches.

fnatic are in a recovery phase now and they are still having bad results against below tier 1 teams recently. They lost to Sangal around a week ago in a tournament for example. They have a nice potential actually by finishing the group stage above NaVi in ESL Pro League. Liquid had a serious difficulty against Cloud9 the last time and they owe YEKINDAR a lot for qualifying from the group. If we see a similar team performance then fnatic might take advantage of it. I'll try my luck and bet on fnatic @2.21.

There isn't much to talk about FaZe - Complexity matchup. Complexity had an astonishing run indeed but this is the end of the road for them. FaZe should end them without making big mistakes. 2-0 win might be preferred @1.43 but it carries some risks at the same time. FaZe might lose one map maybe. Their win @1.11 can be added to a betslip to increase the total odd a little.

This is the thing I'm afraid of the most.

If Verstappen continues to dominate F1 for long years seasons will start to become boring again. Verstappen is so close to increasing his title streak to two seasons now. I have hopes about next season though. Because it depends on how much Ferrari and Mercedes develop themselves to be a serious competitor for Red Bull. Maybe we can see McLaren or Alpine doing much better than this too but it is still difficult for them to join the title race as there is a big gap to close up.

Even if Verstappen wins that season also, at least I hope to see a big competition for the championship between two or maybe even three drivers. These drivers would be Verstappen, Leclerc and Hamilton I guess. Hamilton wants the 8th title to own the record only himself so I don't think he would let Russell get past him when they both have fast cars.

I also don't believe that Liquid deserved to qualify from this group after seeing their team performance. If it weren't for YEKINDAR's insane effort there was really no way they were winning against the unbeaten team of the group. After all that effort I would have liked to see Eternal Fire instead in the playoffs. But they were also punished for their poor performance at the beginning. When their playoff ticket started to be in danger they barely started to perform better.

I hope they have learned their lesson from this journey because they have RMR starting in a very short time period. Considering their group they should be able to enter top 8 easily. Top 4 is too difficult for them so even if they qualify for the Challengers Stage it would still be good for them. They qualified for this stage in the previous RMR also but couldn't make it to next phase. This time they might achieve this success depending on their effort with their new players.

I'm really shocked now. I was really frustrated with Belgium's performance today. When they had a chance for the lead they should have tried harder to benefit from it. Of course it wasn't going to be easy but at least they would have got a win here. Instead Netherlands won by 1-0 and my bet lost as a result.

Belgium were quite effective in the second half actually. They found many critical chances but wasted them generously. The bicycle kick moment was really great but it also didn't end up with a goal unfortunately. I assume that many people believed in Belgium tonight and lost as a result.

This is their biggest opportunity in the Champions League. I wouldn't like to mean that they were bad last season. They had a big chance then too but their being eliminated by Real Madrid was really dramatic as you remember. But this season is different than that one because they have a much more stable squad now after signing Erling Haaland. They didn't have a very productive striker like him since Aguero's brightest times here ended.

Maybe one can think about if one player can really change the fate of the whole team. If that player is Haaland then yeah. He can definitely change many things for Manchester City this season.    Winning the EPL title wouldn't be a surprise but if they win the CL title then he will have the biggest role in it without doubt.

When it comes to today's matches, the most attracting one to me is Netherlands - Belgium. There is nothing ended for any team also which can make this match more attracting to watch. But Netherlands are in a pretty advantageous condition because they aren't losing their lead unless they lose to Belgium by at least three goals. However I don't think that Netherlands will even lose easily. While they are in a strong shape it is difficult for Belgium to weaken them very much mentally. It isn't easy to pick a result for this match when it comes to betting.

I guess I will choose both teams to score @1.55 for this one. Maybe it is a very easy preference for most people but it might win easily even until the end of the first half.

We can say that things are already clear in Group D. I'm afraid it is nearly impossible for Eternal Fire to finish the group at the 3rd place in the worst case. Let's say EG and Liquid both lost, Eternal Fire will still need to win against Movistar Riders by a huge round difference. In short, they need a miracle tomorrow.  

I think FURIA will defeat EG but Liquid will manage to defeat Cloud9 also. Cloud9 are already in a safe condition and they will most probably end the group as the leader even if they lose this one. Liquid might react to the shocking Eternal Fire loss strongly by winning this and secure themselves in the group. FURIA @1.24, Eternal Fire @1.53 and Liquid @2.65 are my choices for tomorrow's matches. Maybe it is a risky parlay but I'll give it a chance.

I can agree that Fenerbahce are the luckiest team in the league taking the upcoming seasons and the foreign player rule into account. They have many young domestic players in their squad and these are really talented ones at the same time. When it comes to İsmail Yüksek his equalizer against Luxembourg was really amazing. Maybe we can see this like he has a good technique also. 

Galatasaray also are lucky to have some players like this. Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Berkan Kutlu are most promising players among them. But they should do their best to keep them in the team because they might get some offers from big European teams for them next summer depending on their performances this season. Berkan has a potential to be a wonderful defensive midfielder. Kerem is a very important part of the attacking line already now.

My picks for today are:

Czech Republic - Portugal: Portugal win @1.67
Spain - Switzerland: Spain win @1.46

These are obvious choices of course. I know that these are risky at the same time because we see many surprising results in this tournament. Yesterday was a really good example for that as England and Germany both lost. However I still want to continue with this kind of choices one last time considering their conditions in their groups. Portugal need to win to maintain their chance for playoffs. Spain are also in the same condition. They are the leader but there is only one point between them and Portugal now. I expect both of them to win and carry this excitement to the last matches. In addition, I think both teams to score @1.89 might be a nice choice for the Portugal match. Czech Republic scored two goals against Spain home. They can score one goal at least here too.

It is really hard for the teams in this league to increase country coefficient very much in the circumstances. Because as most of you mentioned already, the Ligue 1 isn't getting enough investments and sponsorship deals. This is preventing the teams from having a much better financial condition to consolidate their squads with very qualified players. As a result, we don't see them being successful in European tournaments.

PSG are the only hope for the country now but even they aren't able to win the Champions League title even for once. Even if they achieve the title this season it is still not enough for this league. The Ligue 1 management don't seem like they are intending to take some action about this topic also. It isn't easy to increase the quality of a league in a short time period of course. But they can do this in time if they take the right steps to attract the investors here.

League A matches are going on really interestingly. I assume that there are not many people who expected this kind of a scenario. Germany and England both are the losing side by the same score now, 1-0. We are closing in on the last ten minute period in these matches.

Germany have been dominating the second half and they have a disallowed goal in the same half as well. Hungary are a really magical team in this tournament. They are still able to keep Germany away from scoring a goal despite being under this kind of a pressure. If they maintain this score advantage till the end they might guarantee joining the playoff stage. It depends on the result of Italy - England match of course. It is another surprise as I said. I was waiting for England to win here due to being in danger of dropping down from this league. But they are likely to lose this one for real. This win will help Italy keep their hopes alive for the playoff stage.

I wonder how long Mercedes will be able to keep up the good work in the rest of the season.

After some changes in the regulation (which has made Ferrari weaker) and some increase in power, Mercedes are in a serious fight with Ferrari for the second spot in the standings. There are two different competitions between Ferrari and Mercedes drivers at the same time (Leclerc-Russell, Sainz-Hamilton). I think that Russell won't be able to leave Leclerc behind. But I'm not sure about Sainz. Him and Hamilton both have had many problematic races so far. If Hamilton uses his current power advantage well he might leave Sainz behind until the end of the season.

There was some improvement in Ferrari's performance also in Monza GP though. But it is still early to say anything about the next race in Singapore. Ferrari must have started to focus on developing their next season car just as Mercedes I assume. Hence we might not see big updates in the remaining races from both sides.

Of course, there is no guarantee for anything. 

I just still can't trust Manchester United very much especially in this kind of very challenging matches. They are in a really good form recently but Manchester City can really be the only team that can put an end to this now. Erik ten Hag might try the same strategies he used against Arsenal and Liverpool here. There is no need to change anything in a game plan that is already working smoothly in the end. But we will see how much they will be able to resist Manchester City's attacks. Haaland is a huge threat.

I also think over 2.5 goals would easily win as long as Manchester United score a goal also. Otherwise Manchester City need to destroy their defense to score at least three goals by themselves.


Let's see. Honestly I'd like to get wrong about Manchester United for this match. It'd make this match even more delightful to watch at the same time. Otherwise we would only watch a one-sided match which would be quite boring. 

Poland's performance was really disappointing. I was expecting them to score also even though I was still waiting for Netherlands to win. They tried to play even more attacking style after Milik entered the match at the beginning of the second half but they were still ineffective. Lewandowski wasn't in the mood also but I can't say that he found so many goal opportunities either.

Belgium's result was a little surprising to me because I'd have expected more from them instead of winning only 2-1. Actually they had the chance to score the 3rd one but the penalty disallowed by VAR system. They still got what they wanted of course. They still have a chance for the lead mathematically but it is very hard for them. Because in case of equal points head-to-head matches will be taken into account. As Belgium lost to them 4-1 before they will need to win by at least three goals against them on the final week.