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Astra Giurgiu will come to the Olympic stadium in London after salvaging a late 1-1 draw at home, but West Ham will be the heavy favorite to go trough.
Even with a “B” squad, West Ham should have won the first leg in Giurgiu. They were the better side for most of the match and led 1-0, but lost steam late on and allowed Astra to get an equalizer – which in the end Astra probably deserved. The hosts will field a stronger side in this reverse leg and will be confident of securing qualification at home after claiming their first Premier League win of the season during the weekend, 1-0 against Bournemouth.
Astra is an absolute mess right now. After winning the title last year, the team is slowly disintegrating and expectations are that they will become extinct sooner or later. Astra lost a fair number of key players in the summer, the backbone of the team and had coach Sumudica suspended for betting. His suspension expired, but now there are heavy talks about him resigning after this match. Astra has also been hit by injuries, so things are not looking good at all at the club. Astra recorded some very poor results in the start of the year and is on the back of a 1-5 loss against CFR Cluj – not the first blowout they suffered this season, also losing 1-4 to Dinamo Bucharest and 0-3 to Copenhagen in the UCL qualies, after 1-1 at home.
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Team news & lineups:
According to Slaven Bilic, West Ham will field the best available lineup in this game – though a few regulars are out injured. Payet could feature off the bench. As for Astra, they got back their best player Alibec, who played in the second half in Giurgiu and netted the equalizer. However, the team is very thin after the recent departures.
West Ham: Randolph – Byram, Collins, Reid, Masuaku – Nordtveit, Tore, Noble – Kouyate, Antonio, Valencia
Astra Giurgiu: Lung Jr – Vangjeli, Fabricio, Geraldo, Morais – Sapunaru, Lovin, Seto – Ionita II, Alibec, Teixeira
The two teams actually met last season as well in Europa League and Astra qualified with a 4-3 aggregate win – but Astra was a much better team back then and West Ham wasn`t quite focused on Europa League. This year Slaven Bilic repeatedly said that he values the competition and also the two teams met in the earlier qualifying stages last year, which was an advantage for Astra.
West Ham was the better team for 60 minutes or so in the first leg and that was in Romania, with West Ham fielding a much weaker lineup than the one that will take the field today. Obviously they should be much more dominant at home, like it happened in the previous round against Domzale (1-2 loss away, 3-0 win at home).
Astra was dreadful in the previous match on the road in Europe, being lucky to only lose 0-3 against Copenhagen after a 1-1 home draw – in a match that was very similar to the one against West Ham. I can`t see them doing better this time around – the team is simply in total disarray, so it`s hard to imagine how they could make up for the quality difference.
At home, with match rhythm and matches under their belt, West Ham would be absolutely pathetic to not win against a ruined side like Astra. I wouldn`t be surprised if the visitors suffer yet another blowout loss, but I will keep my bet as safe as possible and tip a West Ham win by a 1 goal asian handicap. Odds are good enough for me, though you can try the 1,25 at a better price if you feel confident. Prediction: West Ham United – Astra Giurgiu 3-0.
Pick: West Ham (-1 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.47 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 4.23
Event date: 25 August
Watching in disbelief how an Astra team on the brink of extinction pulled off a win. The bet wasn`t even close! I want to apologize for the past 10 weeks or so. It has been an unimaginable run of poor form. Literally everything I touched turned to crap. Right now I am probably the worst tipster in the world in terms of results, I mean you can`t do worse than this.
It was going really well until the summer started, I was on a roll and I had a sensible overall profit close to +200 units. In less than 3 months, I`m at -100.
Things will surely get better (came back from -100 before), I have always had horrible runs and incredibly good runs, but this is getting out of hand. It reached a point where it doesn`t matter if I regain my form in the future, because my present record can lead to bankruptcy. I need to regain it NOW and it would still be late. You can`t lose 300 units in 3 months like a princess and say you`ll do better later on.
THERE ARE 2 RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES ON SATURDAY and rugby has always been my best betting sport. Those will help me decide what to do further. Of course, the result of 2 matches does not mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but if I can`t win on rugby, maybe it`s time to take a break and let other people write as editors on Betdistrict.
It`s not easy, as top writers are expensive, but there are a couple of elite guys who grew fond of Betdistrict and maybe we will be able to work something out with them. Maybe I`ll do better writing less. We`ll see. Point is I`m trying and working on making things better on the website.
Some of you supported me lately, some of you criticized me with solid arguments or simply expressed their disgust, but without offending me. I`m happy such quality people read Betdistrict.
Prostick at his best
Who would think west ham loses with astra? You are ok man you will recover for sure
thx mate, that is true, but it`s not just one game, it`s a pattern
it,s ok Rostick. I took almost 10 months off because I was losing a lot. stay strong.
on a side note europa league play offs or groups it feels to me like lottery at times.
Good for you that you knew when to say ‘pause’. But with me it`s a bit different, betting and betdistrict are my livelihood. I am still very confident in myself, but I am also responsible for what I post here. True, those qualifiers can be roulette, but if that`s the case, then it`s my fault for betting on them.
Very happy to hear from you, you are one of our oldest friends. Maybe you should check out our betdistrict group on facebook, it`s a nice community and I`d love ‘old’ guys like you there https://www.facebook.com/groups/359053416824/ (especially as Betdistrict will become inaccessible for Romanians in a week or so, we can stay in touch there).
Invitation is valid for all our friends who fancy being part of a betting community with quality people
i think that if you let someone also as editor it is not a solution.when you are betting from a long time it s inevitable to have such a bad run. look what happened to the other tipster ocean. i am not so experienced like you but if you allowed me i can give you an advice.It can be a good one or a bad one that s for you to decide,but try to change you re style of betting . for example i saw that ocean played very much the same games the same style of betting and it wen t from bad to worse. it s only a poor opinion . anyway you are a great caracter and you have quality and you deserve respect. heads up and best of luck
Only idiots dismiss advice. We must all take all the advice we can get and decide if it`s useful. And you are not a novice, you know your stuff, so any advice is welcome.
Good point about Ocean (who might come back for a ‘trial’). He actually was a very good tipster and it`s documented (http://www.blog.betforcash.ro/ – see mid-right – +250 units from 1200 tips). Maybe he got too comfortable with his style, as you are saying.
Maybe that is my case as well, though I think I tried to diversify and made adjustments. I actually worked hard to change my style in the last year or so and it was working well until 3 months ago. But I will always bet on games involving certain teams / players (Dinamo, Arsenal, Federer, etc), because I watch those teams / players. That`s key, to watch who you are betting on / against.
Do you have any suggestions about my style of betting?
Why would more editors be a bad idea? I think guys like Alcuni or Ardeal would be fantastic additions to the editorial area, if I can “sign” them. They are experts in their domain. We have a few amazing tipsters, it`s not just me here.
Thanks Raul for being a great guy!