Soccer Betting Proving to be a Mixed Bag

The Premiership season has been somewhat predictable in the past few years. The top four teams, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have always managed to finish in the top four and there was a distinct difference, on paper at least, in their quality on the pitch and their buying policy during the transfer windows from the other teams in the league. Other teams sold their best players to them, for example Liverpool buying Robbie Keane from Tottenham, whilst the other sides tried to build and tried to survive. This season has seen the beginnings of a changing of the guard.

Manchester City have the backing of rich investors whilst Daniel Levy has continues to spend big backing Harry Redknapp at Spurs to turn them into a footballing power. The early season results certainly show that the top teams are no longer alone in their ability to win the big matches. Tottenham have started the season very well and Manchester City have answered their critics to prove that when their buying policy of picking proven Premiership players has been effective and they will be able to challenge for the title very quickly, something which was doubted before the season started.

Any football betting fan that likes to wager against the betting tips would be doing quite well this season so far. The football betting odds always favour the on-paper favourite as bookmakers know that, over time, the better teams win more often than not. But I believe there is a changing of the guard occurring in football at the moment with the status quo of the top four teams being broken in favour of a top six to eight teams. Perhaps not all eight of the better sides can win the league, but the recent results have shown that they can certainly contest the matches with the top sides and defeat them given a good performance.

In my spare time I am a big fan of the Football Management simulations on the PC. I read a lot of forums and fans criticise “unrealistic” results in the simulated games. But how many of them would have scoffed if Burnley had defeated Manchester Utd 1-0 or just this week Sunderland losing to Birmingham and Stoke (currently a real in form side who look to be relegation favourites on paper) defeating Tottenham away? Sometimes the most realistic thing in the world is varied outcomes in sport.

Perhaps the economic downturn has forced clubs to turn to honest players in their youth and reserve teams and given them a chance to stake their claim. More teams are being filled with “journeyman” pros like James Beattie and Aaron Hughes who are proven Premiership players and performers without the glitzy lifestyle and big wages other players who do not live up to their hype command. The exit of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid has watered down the effect Manchester United has on the league and I would argue that the likes of Obertan, Rafael, Fabio, Machida, Anderson and others are not as formidable a generation as the previously dominant players at the club. They also have a large club debt, the consequences of which are yet to be felt by the club due to on field success and refinancing.

We are unsure whether the transfer embargo placed on Chelsea will make them struggle. Their team is ageing together and they will need to dismantle and rebuild in the next two to three years. Liverpool continues to have off field difficulty with problems between their owners. Football fans may see Tottenham slow down their spending now a multi hundred million stadium is being proposed. Teams like Everton, Aston Villa and Arsenal may reap the benefit of managing themselves more efficiently. All these factors point to an evening out of the Premiership quality.

Using Live streaming services you may be able to cash in on this more competitive matches as a result of the balancing of the league. Football betting is going to be extremely interesting in the next few seasons as the consequences of the economic downturn and recent changes are felt.

By Malcolm Clarke