Bet Smart: Week 7

The official pot stands at a steady $67. Still behind my original capital by $33, playing conservatively is the way to go. It is all about spotting the right results which yield high returns and bang it in like a dog in heat.

Chelsea seems unstoppable. Our defence is rock solid, so therefore against soccer minnows Aston Villa it should be a breeze. Although history shows it has always been tough low-scoring games, I still decided to put $5 on the correct scoreline 3-0 (5.00). As luck would have it, I lost all hope when Villa scored first from 4th choice striker Luke Moore. But the day was saved when an outrageous $5 bet on an outright Rovers away win (10.00) at Old Trafford paid off, and it brought my pot back to life to an amazing $107. Morten Gamst Pedersen is my hero of the week. I mean come on bitches, a 1:10 odd is just too had to pass. If I had more balls of steel it would have been a $10 bet. But for now it is all good.

The pot is healthy. Arsenal drew with West Ham and Man United lose for the 1st time. Liverpool is nowhere in sight after their draw.... and Chelsea is still top of the league.

I bet fucking smart jabronis.

Crespo Worship

It is hard not to worship a man of his stature. Hernan Crespo had scored 2 against Brazil and 2 against Liverpool in the CL finals thus proving what a talent he already is. And with what limited time he had with us in the 03/04 season he still managed to tap in a couple of goals and a long ranged bullet against Arsenal to show what a tremendous striker he is.

Is it just me or does every Crespo goal look superb. He scored with his foot against Wigan (which is the goal of the season thus far for me) and a sharp header against Charlton. Here is a man no short of firepower and only a Robben curler snatched his limelight. His only flaw being his lack of pace. Therefore if Jose should be in the mood, he should put both Drogba and Crespo upfront and destroy our opponents one by one by damn one.

Bet Smart: Week 6

The official pot is a healthy $50 and all is well with the world.

Deciding to play more conservatively than usual, I decided that a mere $20 will do to 'test water' so to speak. Chelsea's football has been flowing recently but not to its full potential. Therefore a sane bet of $10 on 2 Total Goals (3.70) made sense. And it paid off well when Chelsea won 2-0 yet again. However the other $10 went to the Fulham vs West Ham game and the Hammers won 2-1. Every other game ended up with draws but I had to pick this game. Portsmouth and Sunderland both drew their games and it pissed me off totally. However slow and steady wins the race and the official pot is now $67 and looking better than 2 weeks ago.

Die Like The Rest

It is too early in the season to get cocky. But I can't help but laugh at the misfortunes of the others: Man U's draw and Arsenal's loss. Winning 2-0 is a comfortable victory in my opinion. The crazy international week before this, which resulted in a handful of doubtful players due to injuries and fatigue, had always been a problem for Chelsea in previous seasons. But luckily we were against a bottom club like Sunderland and needed this mini practice game before Anderlecht.

The game itself (especially the 1st half) was not exciting according to the press. They expect Champions to be full of flair and scoring 5-0 every week. But we are not Champions by being full of flair but merely being consistent thoughout the season, and that is what Chelsea had done which is good enough for me. I noticed Jose's gameplan against weaker clubs is always to increase the pace only after the 1st half as the opponent's fitness would have been drained as we tend to be better in that aspect. Jose plays to win the game, not to impress ignorant soccer journalists.

Geremi has great upper body strength and was solid during the 90 minutes. His technique, ball control and vision enabled him to score a great goal. His other goal was quite a while back which was actually a crazy long ranged effort. Drogba scored with his preferred way.. his head. He has a very powerful physical presence and was very quick on and off the ball. Impressive start to the season so far with 5 goals and with his 2 goals against Cameroon before this match, his confidence is improving greatly. Essien plays the holding midfield role very well and is very strong with the ball. Very much a multi-purpose player just like Geremi.

Against Anderlecht, Del Horno is unlikely to play. So I would expect Crespo to start up front with 2 wingers Duff and Robben, Lampard, Makelele, Essien, Ferreira, Gallas, Carvalho, Terry and Cech.

Subs: Cole, SWP, Drogba, Geremi, Gudjohnsen, Huth, Cudicini

Bet Smart: Week 5

Down to my last $12 it was either make or break for me. Of course I could always throw more into the pot but that would be cheating.

I decided to put $10 on the Chelsea game as I feel I would know the team well enough to milk a favourable outcome. The odds for a correct scoreline of 2-0 was at a sweet 4.80, so I pinned all my hopes on just this one bet. And as with most Chelsea predictions I got this one right and resurrected my pot to $50.

$50 more to go to break even.. the Chelsea Gods had blessed me in my hour of need and I'm back with a fighting chance to earn enough for next year's World Cup.