Veikkausliiga July 4th

Full round.

At Kemi there is another managerial change. Åhman had announced that he will leave after the season, but he got fired after their latest 0-1 loss vs VPS and replaced by a pair of Scottish footballing people.

Have to say people as neither David Hannah nor his assistant have a license to coach, and their are seeking special permission to do it. Hannah is said to have had some kind of a role in Kemi since February this year, but no one seemed to know he exists and his role was never announced, even the media person of Kemi PS was surprised to know that they have a Scottish sporting director.

Now Åhman was no genius as a coach, but he kept Kemi afloat for two seasons, and considering the player material and limited budget it is more than most others could ever do. He was well liked, and his assistants showed some decency and resigned.

This farce does not improve Kemi's survival chances one bit.

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Transfer window is about to open and there will be a few new and few familiar returning faces, but so far I have not seen any news that would make any real impact, oh well just as I speak KuPS have signed cb Pirttijoki from Sweden, and might turn out to be very useful for them. Let us see.

Asian odds from Sportmarket:

Expected points  (per game) until July 3rd:

Veikkausliiga 20-21.6

Local odds:

Asian odds from Sportmarket

Veikkausliiga June 12th

The big news during the intl break are that Inter Turku manager Fabrizio Piccareta is out.

The official version is that he left on his own initiative for personal reasons, but he was not fully accepted or appreciated within the team and there was very little success in Veikkausliiga, and the official truth is probably not the full truth.

We will never know.

He will be replaced by old dinosaur John Allen and defensive master Karo Virtanen. Now Allen is a relic whose methods and footballing philosophy are very simple and base on a good fight and effort but tactically there is very little be expected from him. Virtanen on the other hand was the main mastermind behind MIFK's title a few years back, and even if in general it is hard to predict what Inter will be like the rest of the season it is guaranteed that there will be some extra emphasis on the defense.


Expected points per game until June 12th:

This tool is about the become a bit useful now as there are matches vs everyone. There are a few easily identified better teams, a few weak ones and a lot of mid table clubs who can end up anywhere 4-10.

A few trends can be noticed, Honka rising, RoPS dropping and SJK likely improver in the near future.

Lineups and notes:


RoPS welcoming back Wato Kuate and Lappalainen, but in the defense they have Segawa and Geffrard and even VPS can take advantage of that. Hämäläinen on bench, why? Hyvärinen and Agnaldo out...

VPS perhaps have the honor of having made the worst foreign signings, and Guner is a top example of that.

Guess this ends somehow. X-X.

HJK still without Riski, Pelvas and Jalasto. Riski hopefully returns for European matches, but in these none of these is missed.  MIFK missing 3-5 regular starters depending on who you count. HJK to score +3 goals.

At SJK the big issues are the managerial change from a moron to a decent one, and Ions finally returning to match fitness.

TPS trying a bit of new things, but what can you do really when your material is Ykkönen class in general?

Lahti have Anier and Hostikka on the bench, last time they did it vs Kemi they did not get any goal scoring opportunities.

Honka missing only suspened gk Murray and winger Liikonen, but as even Korhonen is returning this is the strongest Honka so far this season. 

KuPS are now making ex-striker, winger Savolainen into a full-back. Good luck with that, there have been some signs that it might work. El Said unfortunately joined Egypt side, but at least exciting Murillo is still there. 

Ilves look like another random starting-11. I have lost count on what their actual optimal lineup might be.

Inter have their first match since manager Piccareta left, and I can not predict how the team will react as it was not a change everyone wanted. New managers Allen and Virtanen leave me somewhat cold.

Asian markets at Sportmarket:

FIN starting-11 vs ROM

A decent starting lineup regarding that there are some 10 players missing from the squad. The bench on the other hand looks rather sad.

 Vaihdossa:

12 Anssi Jaakkola 23 Walter Viitala 2 Albin Granlund 6 Glen Kamara 10 Moshtagh Yaghoubi 13 Pyry Soiri 15 Markus Halsti 18 Jere Uronen 20 Tim Väyrynen 21 Rasmus Karjalainen

Veikkausliiga lineups June 2nd

http://www.veikkausliiga.com/tilastot/2018/veikkausliiga/pelaajat/?team=60969&home_away=&player=&sort=Nimi#stats-wrapper

Markets:

all data from Sportmarket

Limits:

Veikkausliiga xP table May 29th

Expected points per game.

Veikkausliiga lineups May 26th

Blogabet temporarily down, interested in Lahti and KuPS.

VPS have gotten their points from the bottom teams only, and nothing in performances or lineups suggest any different vs a top form team at home.

Veikkausliiga May 18th

Local odds:

Asian odds by Sportmarket:

Local bookie giving ridiculously short odds on SJK.

Expected points table below, points per game as the number of played matches varies:

15.5	HJK	1,78
	KuPS	1,74
	Lahti	1,60
	RoPS	1,57
	Honka	1,34
	VPS	1,30
	AVG	1,24
	MIFK	1,06
	TPS	1,06
	Ilves	1,01
	Inter	1,00
	SJK	0,96
	Kemi	0,51

Veikkausliiga review May 8th

Footballing wise perhaps the weakest round so far, but it is no wonder as the clubs have played roughly twice a week from the start, now it will ease up at least a bit.

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HJK continued their weak performances away in the North. Kemi never looked like getting any points but it was not as easy stroll for HJK as it should had been. Cup final next on Sat vs Inter.

Kemi were their usual selves, very few of the players are even Veikkausliiga class and there is not much you can do with the material.

Ilves vs RoPS and TPS vs VPS both were expectedly boring and low-scoring, and I am not saying that a  low-scoring match could not be a great affair if it is because of brilliant defensive efforts. In these cases the clubs just seemed totally clueless. RoPS perhaps did not deserve anything and their top start for the season is all gone, but TPS were by all accounts the better team in their match.

KuPS 5 goals? They did naturally deserve the win in the end, but they were 2-0 up just for free, and they were in big troubles until the relaxing 3-1 goal was scored. Inter did rotate ahead of their cup final vs HJK on Sat, a match which could be a salvation to their weak season.

Lahti were dominant from the start and the winning goal should had come earlier. To be honest Lahti were nothing special either, but SJK is a shadow of a club. Given their resources they would probably do better if I was their manager or sports director. Badly built and coached team they are.

Honka should had again won the match earlier on as MIFK missed 4 starters, but Honka have a serious problem in winning matches, and the longer the match went the clearer it became that MIFK equalize in the end, which they did.


At xP table there is a clear leading trio in KuPS, HJK and Lahti, in the bottom Kemi have secured their place as the worst team for a long time. Most of the others are rather close to one another at 1.0 - 1.4 or so, it is still too early days to take too long looks at that tool really.

Veikkausliiga lineups May 7th

Quite a many players rotated, suspended or injured here and there.


At Kemi the problem is that even the optimal lineup would be crap, and they have not yet found it.
HJK Mosa returns, lb Pirinen still out, but as mentioned a dozen times before everyone at HJK bench would be a star player in any other club. Resting Dahlström is a good idea, also gk Rudakov gets another chance today at neutral ground in Oulu.

Honka getting good news as Hervas returns to squad. Captain cb Saarinen rotated, key players Kaufmann and Kandji starting from bench.

MIFK can not make any useful substitutions, mf Petrovic biggest miss.

TPS more or less normal. Ristola on the bench is just a good idea. Holma, Milovic, McKendry and Virtanen might be starters too any some other day, but quality-wise not much different.

VPS did win Kemi deservedly last time, and they are causing some controversy also this season. People are not sure if they play the same possession stuff this season as they simply have been rather weak.

Ilves are quite strong today, but they have rotated a lot before and there has been very little difference in performances and they have evenly performed around 0.9 points per game in xP.

RoPS df miss benched Hämäläinen and Hyvärinen, the striker Ivanovski has failed so far and there has been some tiredness in the air.

Lahti gives 2nd choice keeper the chance, other than that they have best possible X1.

SJK miss half a dozen players, O'Brien debuts from the reserves, and bench is shortish. Biggest miss suspended mf Hetemaj.

KuPS keeper still out, and df Coulibaly. Super Egyptian El Said rested. Top mf Gabriel finally in squad.

Inter striker Furuholm suspended, mfs Garcia and Ojala rotated and there is some pressure on Inter coach Piccareta as they get no results.

Although TPS were early with this.

Veikkausliiga May 7th

Sportmarket PRO asian markets:

Market moves until match day morning:

After Thursday's matches the "true" table as follows:

 KuPS take the lead after another solid performance and win over SJK, HJK and RoPS going downwards, but especially in the case of RoPS it is a regression to the mean.

In the bottom there is very little light in the Kemi performances, but it only reflects the poor player material and resources.

Bubbling under are Lahti and Honka, whose new signing Kandji scored immediately in his debut.

KuPS	1,81
HJK	1,74
RoPS	1,70
Lahti	1,53
Honka	1,46
VPS	1,27
AVG	1,26
TPS	1,12
Inter	1,08
SJK	1,08
Ilves	0,98
MIFK	0,88
Kemi	0,42

Veikkausliiga May 3rd

Full round, and not much joy and speed to be expected as the teams are now playing twice a week.

One likely market mover is KuPS as SJK preview mentions 9 possible absentees. SJK can actually handle it as they have a wide material, but it surely looks ugly and markets likely to react.

Lineups:


VPS no drama, Douglas and Lähde would be needed, they are on the bench.
Kemi: some weakish players subbed in and out. 2 strikers starting.

RoPS Lingman rested on the bench, cb Hämäläinen out and Geffrard in.

Honka striker Ömer out all season, new singning Kandji starting from bench, form unknown but class is good for this league, it has been shown previously at HJK. 

HJK rotating more or less, and it looks like they have too many good players  now when every one is fit. 

Lahti no drama, but only kids on bench.

Inter missing Ademi, and probably starting with 1 striker only today as Furu is on the bench.
Ilves look like very defensive also today, perhaps even more than usual as Noubissi and Tamminen both at bench.

SJK missing a big number of players and it shows on the bench, the starting-11 are more or less regular starters. 

KuPS big miss is keeper Virtanen, and cb Toivomäki who perhaps has not been excellent by any means, but surely Pitkänen need to show today some improvement also in his role. 

MIFK getting finally back important cb Petrovic.
TPS miss cb Holma, df Friberg.

Local odds

Best asian odds, from Sportmarket: