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I thought the gap between the Euros and the start of the season would be longer.
I have a list of things I wanted to do on the fridge; go to Greece (not booked it yet), catch a 20lbs+ carp (not caught it yet) and climb Snowdon (completed it mate). One out of three, a great success.
What I have done is roar on Fiji in the rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics, cheer on Neal Shipley at the 3M Open (backed him because he has the same name as a former Sheffield United striker) and watched a lot of friendlies. Plenty of time has been spent at the Impact Arena and even though it is coming around quicker than expected, I can’t wait for the football to come back.
In the first edition of this season's 'Jimmy's Punt' I'll share some outright fancies and thoughts for the upcoming campaign.
Brighton have the youngest manager in Premier League history and his cutting-edge tactics present us with betting opportunities.
It is not worth getting bogged down with the ins-and-outs of Fabian Hurzeler’s system (Tom 'Duffman' Carnduff has done that in his Notebook), the main takeaway is the two holding midfielders' attacking output.
At Hurzeler’s former club St Pauli, Jackson Irvine and Marcel Hartel combined to score and assist 66 goals in two seasons. In the season just gone, Hartel finished with 17 goals (2nd highest total in 2. Bundesliga) and a league-high 12 assists (1st).
Championship
6pts Luton to finish in the top six at 6/5 (General)
2pts Hull to be relegated at 9/1 (General)
2pts e.w. Emmanuel Latte Lath top scorer at 14/1 (bet365, Sky Bet 1/4 1,2,3,4)
League One
8pts Rotherham to finish in the top six at evens (Sky Bet)
1pt e.w. Sam Smith top scorer at 28/1 (Sky Bet 1/4 1,2,3,4)
League Two - *Added 05/08/24*
0.5pts e.w. Ronan Curtis top scorer at 150/1 (Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5)
Not a lot was expected of LUTON in the Premier League. Considering they made an immediate return to the Championship, it looks like they didn’t achieve a lot either, but this isn’t the case.
The Hatters were the favourites to go down but finished higher than the other two promoted sides and now return to the second tier with a much stronger squad than when they left.
Thomas Kaminiski, Mads Andersen, Jacob Brown, Marvelous Nakamba, Tahith Chong, Tim Krul, Chiedozie Ogbene and Andros Townsend are now amongst the Hatters' ranks, to name a few.
Hull chairman Acun Ilıcalı's decision to sack Liam Rosenior and replace him with Tim Walter has really confused me.
He claims it was actually down to the pair's differing philosophies saying: “Liam has a way of football thinking and football philosophy that I completely respect, but the football I want to see in my team is not the style Liam was playing.
“I think he’s successful, I think he’s okay, but there is a dream for me of the football club playing the style of football which does not match with his style. This is natural in football.”
Assuming the frontman can pick up where he left off we should get a run for our money this season.
Evans relies heavily on set pieces. At his last two clubs, Stevenage and Gillingham, 30% of the 213 goals the clubs scored across four seasons came from dead ball situations.
Boro centre back and captain Carl Piergianni netted 11 goals in two seasons under Evans (0.13 goals per 90) and Connor Ogilvie scored eight goals in 78 starts at Gillingham (0.11 goals per 90).
I will be eagerly waiting on the team news for their opening day match with Exeter to find out the centre back partnership.
If I had to hazard a guess, I would fancy Sean Raggett to feature.
The former Portsmouth man has netted 29 domestic goals (0.09 goals per 90) so will be keeping an eye out for his goalscorer prices in the early stage of the season.
Smith has hit 43 goals across his last three seasons in this division, posting a goals per 90 average of 0.41 and should take the Royals' penalties this campaign.
Odds correct at 1215 BST (05/08/2024)
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