UEFA Cup Final - Zenit St.Petersburg v Rangers Wed 14.05.08

[KanKeano]

Having watched the Russian side in the quarter=fianls and the semnifinals I belive they are the best side of the 2 in the final. Rangers have done well to get here and have played to their strengths throughout but their schedule is becoming draining. You can see them physically tailing off and they have laboured in the last couple of games.

The Russians have been given 3 weeks off to prepare for this final and worthy favourites.

What does everyone else think?
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[spenny1]

yes but what about the support rangers are going to have in manchester,dont you think that could help rangers? i carnt make my mind up yet,going to wait till after tomorows game to dicide who to back!

[alfran]

British bookmakers will naturally expect most Brit fans to back Rangers in this game and therefore, I believe they will make a lot of money.
I think Walter Smith and his team including Ally McCoist have done absolute wonders with Rangers over the last couple of seasons but I think that they are VERY fortunate to be in this final. They have bored the pants off of everyone who is not actually an ardent Rangers fan! Against top class oposition their attack is toothless and they tend to pack their midfield and defence and hit on the break (occassionally). Now due to their rediculous schedule in reching this final, they are looking tired, jaded and bereft of ideas on the park.
Zenit are a weird side in as much as their league form in Russia can only be described as 'patchy'. The Russian league only started up again a few weeks ago and their form in that league is little more than 'average'. However, their European form has been phenominal and the way that they played against both Bayer Laverkusen in the quater finals (particularly in Germany) and then Bayern Munich in the semi finals (particularly in Russia) was outstanding.
I don't believe that Rangers have played a team as good as Zenit this season or would have been capable of getting the results that Zenit did in their previous two rounds of this compitition. As for the Manchester (home) advantage...I believe that Zenit have proven with the Laverkusen result (1 4) that they are more than capable of performing extremely well away from home. They also have three or four brilliant young Russian players that will be looking forward to putting themselves in the shop window for some of the wealthy onlooking Western European league clubs. With one more good performance they can expect the cream of Germany, England, Spanish and Italian teams to be watching them very closely... I believe that Zenit will win this game comfortably. The only question is the exact margin of victory will depend on just how tired and 'ordinary' Rangers play on the night.

[leeph]

I just think the opposite of form is what will happen, look at Boro as an example, superb all the way to the UEFA Final, beating the likes of Roma and then moving mountains against Basel and Steaua, and then totally blowing the Final against Sevilla. Rangers on the other hand have not underperformed on the way to their final but have not been awesome either , I reckon their team will turn up, their fans will be voiceferous and it should be a cracking game, certainly not plastic like Chelsea v Man U.

Rangers to win 3.2

[griffy33]

Rangers have not under performed?????
They have been the jammiest team in UEFA Cup history

Zenit 3-0!!!!

[Antony OLBG]

Whatever you think the result will be there will no doubt be lots of patriotic/local money for Rangers which means Zenit will be overpriced
For me its more a question of when to bet not who to back

[alfran]

trader1204.... I couldn't agree more that is why personally I'm going to cover my basis on this match and go for the Zenit DNB result. Although I think Zenit will win the game there is no guarantee that Rangers won't bore the pants off of everyone with 11 players behind the ball constantly. If their keeper plays another blinder I suppose it could go into extra time for the eventual Zenit win. As the bookies will only pay out (with their quoted odds) on 90 mins play I think it is the safest bet! I would really hate the fact that Rangers boring play even when they eventually lost had cost me a pay out!

[dorrian3]

i think 2-1 to zenit is a good bet should be around 7-1
rangers dont have much attack against a decent defence so i think they may get 1 but we all no zenit will score at least 1 or 2 maybe even 3 ??

[thercmc]

bayern munich have only lost 2 of 33 games this season and made the bundesliga look like childs play and zenit absolutly tonked them in the last round second leg,plus bayern munich are a much better side than rangers,i think zenit are much hungrier for this cup and think rangers have got to much on there minds at the moment!

zenit to win by at least 2 goals!

[Ipoh Shark]

i agree that local money will be on Rangers, but i the weight of money should be on the "logical" choice, Zenit, due to their high profile thonking of favourites, Bayern Munich. This will be more so when punters note that Zenit have enough rest and preparation for the Final compared to Rangers who are tired. So, i do not quite agree that Zenit will be overpriced.
As usual, i will go for the underdogs in any final. So, Rangers AH +0/0.5 for me.

[fastal72]

I think I'm going to avoid this one as I just can't make my mind up!! On the one hand I can see Zenit sweeping Rangers aside and putting in a performance like they did against Leverkusen or Bayern, and on the other I can see Rangers putting in another excellent defensive display and frustrating the Russians and maybe nicking a winner.

Personally I think it's a great match up and should make for a good game, but I'll watch it with me feet up and a beer, and keep my money in my pocket.

[bigmoose]

Every time i watch Rangers (even against mid-table SPL oppo) i can't see where their next goal is coming from. I really do expect a 4-5-1 play it tight Rangers performance..... AGAIN. So tht'll be great for us viewers!

So in my mind it's all about can Rangers continue to stifle & kill off another skillful european team and sneak it 1-0 or win on pens. Every bit of logic says surely they're out of luck and won't be able to keep a clean sheet & then won't have the ability to chase once they concede. But that's what i said in every knockout round. I'm with Anthony - it's not if but when to bet on Zenit.

The tiredness that not one player will feel because they're playing in a big final (it's the game after Rangers will be stuffed), could poss play on Rangers players minds if they go behind if it's mentioned enough times in the media build-up. A bit like how Rep of Ireland fell to bits in USA World Cup partly due to Jack Charlton banging on again & again that his players couldn't play in the heat...... so they went & proved him right.
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