a)  15  b)  2:00
a)  12  b)  1:45

J.K. Dobbins is likely out for the season:

source: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1431983214424465410

I had this dude in 90% of my mock drafts, you hate to see when a promising young RB goes down with a serious knee injury, especially in a preseason game. Ravens now have the record for most consecutive preseason wins in a row at 20, but at what cost?

Jags ml + 49ers ml is my ticket for today, looking to finish strong. hehe   btw, Joe Burrow is expected to play a few series for the Bengals, probably worth checking...

Juventus with one point from their trip to Udine and today's humiliating loss to Serie B promotee Empoli.

From the Perez/Agnelli Super League fiasco to Juventus finishing fourth and Ronaldo leaving the club earlier this week, who said things couldn't get any worse? Lol

As an avid Juve hater, i'm simply living the dream. Jjust. 

Last season, i think it took me around ten rounds to get three exact scores, i got three exact scores today alone, i mean it could've been four if not for Ward-Prowse last-minute penalty (i see others are complaining about it, hey there VAR bros). 

Only rdbase had West Ham and Palace as draw, which is commendable, but how could one go against the Hammers given Antonio's current form, right?

Let's see if i can catch more of those exact scores tomorrow...hehe

Week 3 of preseason kicks today with 4 games, i'm still undecided on what i'll be watching, i will probably check each game and see who is playing and who is not...meh, not ideal.

Steelers will not have any of their starters against Carolina is what i heard, whereas Darnold and a few of Panthers' starters will see at least a quarter of the field.

The only reasonable selection here is to back the home team, hence CAR ml.  The line opened at CAR +4 and is currently CAR -3.5, which appears to be a strong indicator of who the oddsmakers think will win.

UECL group stage draw is up:


source: https://twitter.com/GoalFrance/status/1431226075527499785

Group E appears to be well balanced and somewhat hard to predict whos going to advance. Roma and Basel's groups look like pieces of cake, at least on paper.

Real Betis  vs Real Madrid
1. Match line - Away
2. Both to score - Yes
3. Number of yellow cards in the game - 6 and over

Atletico Madrid  vs Villarreal
1. Match line - Home
2. Both to score - No
3. Number of yellow cards in the game - 4-5

Time of first goal in Atl. Madrid game: 58th minute

ngl he was also on my radar, i wonder if Henderson's thumb injury (they say it's nothing serious) has anything to do with the trade or the Rams just adding depth to their RB position?

Since it's already draft snz, i have a quick hypothetical question. How would you treat unvaccinated players (that you know of) in this year's drafts? Are you willing to pass on a player just because he is not vaccinated and hence poses a higher risk of contracting rona and thus missing time/messing up with your team?

I guess this is the year of surprises, Sheriff made history yesterday by becoming the first team from Moldova to reach the CL group stages.

Flora Tallinn and Lincoln Red Imps both qualified for the group phase of the Conference League today. I'm not 100% sure, but i believe an Estonian team has also never made groups before, so it's a triumphant week for smaller nations, exactly what UEFA has hoped for creating this league.

By the way, Lincoln Red Imps have a significant advantage playing at home. I watched their home game against Cluj last month, and i can tell you they play on the worst artificial turf i've ever seen, not to mention that their stadium has a low profile and is very close to the sea allowing for sudden bursts of wind, in short, the absolute worst place you can play football.

Game 1:  16'  3-1 Manchester City
Game 2:  16'  2-1 Newcastle

Salzburg to win + D.Zagreb over 1.5 total goals @2.46 X

I can't believe oddsmakers have Salzburg at around 1.60 given how lopsided the game in Austria was, with Salzburg having 29 goal attempts to Brondby's 2.

Dinamo Zagreb still has a chance to qualify for the group stages, so i wouldn't write them off just yet, but it will be difficult against a really good team with so much pace up front.

I don't believe we have a dedicated Carabao Cup thread in the gd board, so i'll share a couple of winners from last night's matches. Well, not the usual 1000x accas that everyone is accustomed to see here from Steve, but still decent imo:    4.xx ; another 4.xx ; 7.xx ; and a solid live bet at the half 3.xx  (1.45 for Leeds and Wolves was an absolute steal).

Some may consider Accrington's elimination and Cardiff not being able to score at least one goal against Brighton to be semi-surprises, but the 1/32 round has thus far been devoid of major upsets. Palace failed to score for third match in a row, and their next three opponents in PL are West Ham, Tottenham, and Liverpool... a difficult first month of the season for Patrick Vieira's men, for sure.

Speaking of difficult starts, what about Arsenal...it will be interesting to see who Arteta fields against West Brom (current leaders in Championship). Will he play any of his top players or rest them for the weekend match against Manchester City? Btw, City have won their last 8 meetings with Arsenal in PL...

Indeed, not too bad of a debut for him and Calhanoglu, each with an assist/goal.

Looking at Genoa, this might be a disastrous season, especially up front, where i'm not sure who will be the guy and score goals for them. They started the match with 38 old Pandev and some kid i've never heard of before. Shomurodov to Roma, Scamacca to Sassuolo and Mattia Destro wants out, <--- these three combined scored almost 30 goals for Genoa last season. They better find a new striker or else...

Pedro joined Lazio just two days ago, "first transfer between the cross-city rivals in 40 years", and immediately put in the starting lineup by Sarri, interesting move.

I'm surprised at how well Torino played today, missed on a bunch of good chances, did not deserve to lose like that.

Trubisky lighting it up against his former team and Justin Fields nearly getting murdered in the fourth quarter, not a good day for Bears fan. Fields seems to be okay though, but that hit in the head was terrible. 👀

Give me more meaningless preseason games, please!    

Trying to extend my winning streak with Ravens ml + Steelers ml, Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin are guys that care about wins regardless if its preseason or regular season. If BAL wins tonight, it will be their 19th straight, matching Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers team from the 1960s, who also had 19.

Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona
1. Match line - Away
2. Both to score - No
3. Number of yellow cards in the game - 4-5

Roma vs. Fiorentina
1. Match line - Draw
2. Both to score - Yes
3. Number of yellow cards in the game - 3 and Under

Time of first goal in Roma game: 30th minute

12)  Kelvin Gastelum 
11)  Mark O. Madsen 
10)  Chase Sherman
9)   Saidyokub Kakhramonov
8.)  Vinc Pichel
7)  Alexandre Pantoja
6)  Luis Saldana
5)  Brian Kelleher
4)  Josiane Nunes
3)  Fabio Cherant
2)  Roosevelt Roberts
1)  Ramiz Brahimaj

103 total strikes

I was wondering why the odds for U2.5 on Qarabag/Aberdeen were so low (around 1.50x), given that the Scots play very attacking football (8 total goals in two matches last round with Breidablik)...and then i saw the pitch Qarabag play their home matches on 👀:

     
source: https://twitter.com/CormackDavie/status/1428050178754420738 (click on images for high-res)

Didn't Azerbaijan host a few matches from the Euro earlier this summer? I mean c'mon look at this pitch, why can't they just play in Baku (use Baku's Olympic Stadium) instead.

I give him less than 20% chance of not getting sacked before the end of the season, the only thing working in his favor is that teams coming from Serie B aren't that good (except for Empoli, maybe). I had a somewhat good look at them over the weekend in the 1/32 finals of Coppa Italia, was not really impressed.


You already know what to do!  

Speaking of Mourinho, 12 teams will begin the season with new head coaches, not sure if that's a record, significant number nonetheless.

I don't understand how a mediocre coach like D'Aversa (relegated with Parma last season) or someone like Thiago Motta (one win in nine matches as Genoa manager) can get a job in Serie A again. But teams passing, or in Davide Nicola's case, Torino not renewing his contract. He pulled a miracle last year and saved their asses, and now he doesn't get a chance to establish himself as a coach, sorry but that's just dumb.

I'm particularly interested in what happens with Alessio Dionisi, the new Sassuolo coach, who had a fantastic season with Empoli in Serie B last year.  Sarri is another name i'm looking forward to, he won a title with Juventus two years ago but things didn't go well there. Nobody can question what he did with Napoli while he was their coach though, they had almost guaranteed finish in the top three every year and were on the verge of winning the title in his final season. I'm not saying Lazio has the right personnel that fits his style of coaching but if they get to a good start, Biancocelesti fans can hope for a good year and possibly top4. We will see...

a)  7    b)  0:55
a)  10  b)  1:05