Enforced Contributers - Feel free to add your own
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It can be hard to compare two teams from different countries who never play each other. However, I believe that the current Swedish league leaders and Gent, who finished 6th in the Jupiler League last year, aren't a million miles apart. Considering Kalmar are 3/4 of the way through the season and Gents first league match is on Sunday, there's no doubt in my mind which side will be the sharper for this match.
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Burnley had a horrible start to the season against Sheffield Wednesday, 1 nil down inside 31 seconds and 3-1 down inside 17 minutes. It would have been a shock result for Owen Coyle after a good pre-season and the addition of some quality signings over the summer. Coyle blamed the defeat on schoolboy defending, a surprise considering the only change in defence was new Peruvian international goalkeeper Diego Penny. Club record signing Martin Paterson did offer some consolation by grabbing a solitary goal, but Coyle didn't hold back in his post match comments:
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These two will face each other twice this week with both games being played at Central Park. Cowdenbeath won't be allowed to forget the 'Annan' game on the opening day for quite some time. Apart from that game they haven't done too badly with 3 wins from 4 competitive matches. Manager Danny Lennon fielded a strong side in the previous round against Montrose and I'd expect the same for this match.
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Sitting second and third in the league, there's not much seperating these two midway through the season. Both are surprise packages this year and it remains to be seen if they can last the pace.
Fredrikstad coach Anders Grönhagen has worked wonders with his side since arriving in January. With only 1 loss at home in 8 games Grönhagen has turned the club from mid-table also rans into genuine title contenders.
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Another friendly and again I'm very keen on Spurs to take the win here. Roma, a bit like Feyenoord yesterday, have struggled in the transfer market during the summer. Plenty of players have been linked to the club but the only notable signings so far are Riise from Liverpool and Loria from Siena, both defenders. There's rumours that Julio Baptista will join from Real Madrid in a 10 million euro deal but thankfully he won't be involved in this match.
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Benfica v Feyenoord (KO 20.45 sat night)
It's unwise to read too much into the results of pre-season friendlies but I feel these two teams may have contrasting seasons this year.
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I guess Bohs will be quite a popular pick tomorrow night and I'm going to have to have a slice of the action as well. Bohs are sitting pretty at the top of the division with a 1 point lead and 2 game cushion over nearest rivals St. Pat's. They face 2 home ties in the league against Cobh and Shamrock before facing a potential banana skin away at Cork City next Saturday.
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Not much I fancy from tonight's fixtures but I'm quite liking Limericks chances at home to Kilkenny.
The home side surprised a few with an excellent away win at Dundalk last week. They've acquired quite a few new players during the transfer window and have a couple of players returning tonight, including captain Purcell.
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daikoku's blog
