Mop Up Monday

Probably a good job I didn't commit to any of the scenarios I mentioned for the Steelers/Patriots game - it would have been a bad end to a satisfactory weekend. Having said that, the Patriots win shows that they are a legitimate contender for the Superbowl.

Overall, I'm actually quite pleased with what happened over the weekend. I knew that Manchester United were behind at Aston Villa but I had no idea that Fergie's men would have to come from two goals down until the game had finished. That's why I recommended separate bets on the draw being the outcome of both halves - if Villa had held on, I'd have lost the full time part of the single bet, which is what happened with Auxerre v Rennes yesterday.

The only other issue from the weekend was that it's sometimes difficult to oppose a team that you're fairly certain isn't going to win. Sporting Gijon were beaten by an 82nd minute goal from Gonzalo Higuain, but backing Real Madrid at the prices on offer didn't have any value. I eventually decided to have a tiny bet on both the Sporting Gijon win and the draw, but I may revise that strategy. Backing the draw would have worked in the Manchester City/Birmingham game on Saturday, but that's a game I thought Roberto Mancini's side would win.

It's also worth looking at some of the less well known competitions. All the bets I recommended in Hungary came up and if you count the insurance bet on Standard Liege then I got a majority of decisions in Belgium. The only real surprise was that Zagreb lost to Hrvatski Dragovoljac in Croatia but I can live with things like that - it's why I'm a fan as well as a punter.

I'll have some thoughts on the MNF game between the Eagles and the Redskins later on, but I'm off to see if there are any early bargains for this weekend's games now!