Dinamo – Gaz Metan

My favorite team, Dinamo Bucharest, needs a win more than air today against Gaz Metan. The current ninth place in the standings is way below Dinamo’s aspirations, even if the team is in rebuilding mode. Despite me supporting Dinamo, I`m sure nobody can question my objectivity, so let`s get going with the analysis.

The hosts have a new ownership this year after some financial problems, and they are trying to create a strong squad for the next years, promoting a lot of talented youngsters. Naturally, Dinamo was not expected to challenge for the title but was and still is seen as being capable of achieving a top 5 finish in a very poor league, as the hosts still have some top players in the roster, including 2-3 guys in the Romanian National team. However, the hosts had a very poor start, with inconsistent performances and bad results against relegation candidates and newly promoted team. Manager Multescu was sacked and youth coach team Stoican was brought in, and with the players starting to gain some chemistry, Dinamo is playing better and better lately. Dinamo has 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in all competitions since Stoican took charge. The Red Dogs are on the back of a disappointing 1-0 defeat at CFR Cluj. While CFR is a very strong team, Dinamo played 60 minutes with a one man advantage but failed to capitalize on the opportunity to at least level the score.

Gaz Metan was seen as an outside favorite for relegation prior to the season, as they steadily declined over the past 2 years and their demise culminated with losing key assets like their long-time manager (Pustai) and two top players (Eric – their best player by far, Breveeld) this year, all signing with Pandurii. Despite clearly lacking quality, financial power, and also starting the season with very bad results, Gaz Metan is now on the 6th place in the standings after some excellent results in the last few matches. The visitors have 6 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw in the last 8 matches, but it`s doubtful their form will last too long. One of the reasons for which a decline is expected (aside from lack of quality), is that Gaz Medan`s manager, Cristi Dulca (who took over in the summer) is well known for having good starts with his teams, but then quickly losing form and ending up getting sacked.

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Leaving football arguments aside, it`s very important to know that Gaz Metan’s players are not payed in months, they boycotted a friendly in the International break and have warned the club that they will take action to break their contracts if things do not improve immediately. Needless to say, morale is poor among the visitors, despite their recent results.

Team news & lineups

Dinamo Bucharest just lost legend striker Ionel Danciulescu, who retired at 37 years of age, but he has failed to earn a starting spot this season anyway. Regular right back Collins Fai is injured and veteran Catalin Multeanu is being slowly re-introduced into the team after recovering from an unfortunate ACL tear, but otherwise there are no squad problems for the hosts. Gaz Metan Medias will miss two of their key players for this game, Florin Dan and Iasmin Trtovac.

Dinamo: Balgradean – Rus, Grigore, Luchin (Durimel), Filip (Grecu) – Thicot (Elton), Boubacar – Lazar, Matei, Curtean – Tucudean

Gaz Metan: Buchta – Buzean, Markovic, Muth, Frasinescu – Petre, Bawab, Llullaku, Todea, Munteanu – Robertson

Dinamo is the better team by a sensible margin, and they are clearly improving lately. The Red Dogs have been impressive at home recently, in part thanks to some electric support from their fans, who are happy that a new ownership has taken charge of the club. Gaz Metan will eventually fade away, and the financial problems are helping to rush this process. The visitors already played a horrible match last round, but were lucky to escape with a home win against poor Concordia, so you can see a clear downside trend. I think we can gain advantage here, as the bookies look to still hold Gaz Metan in high regard. All in all, I can`t see Dinamo losing points at home to this Gaz Metan side. The visitors will try to defend but they don`t excel in this area. The key absences of Dan and Trtovac will also hurt Gaz Metan.

I`ll go with a simple home win in this one. Note that Dinamo remains an inconsistent team due to the high number of new and/or young players in the squad (see our article on teams to avoid betting on this season – though my predictions in this one did not turn out to be my best work so far), so normally I`d keep this one to a maximum stake of 8 units. However, considering the high odds (1.90 is just too good), I`ll take a calculated risk and bet maximum stakes on the Red Dogs. My pick is Dinamo Bucharest – Gaz Metan Medias 2-0 / 2-1.

Pick: Dinamo Bucharest
Odds: 1.90 @ Unibet
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 9
Event date: 24 November

Editor Facts

• Rostick is 2 for 4 in tips involving Dinamo this season, with a ROI of +4%