Champions League: FC Cluj v Manchester United predictions

FC CLUJ - MANCHESTER UNITED PREDICTIONS AND PREVIEW - BETTING STATS

TEAM NEWS AND RUN OF PLAY

Both teams are expected to field solid sides. Manchester United let the dog out against Spurs (Rooney), this monday. His return will boost an already strong offense. FCCluj have invested heavily in international players for several years, but they have not been able to turn into a force on the Europa scene. To be honest, Cluj does not look much like a mover or shaker. They got a good group of players, don't get me wrong. Import of second tier Portugese, Brazilliand and Greek players might be good enough to do well in Romania, but at this stage more is expected. The stars of this FC Cluj side so far must be the Greek Kapetanos who have scored four goals so far in the league and Romanian MureÅŸan who also have bagged four goals.

Manchester United will now be looking to put on the pressure. Normally Sir Alex Ferguson is an expert in turning a low point performance like the one recently experienced against Spurs into a revenge seeking next fixture. In the Champions League however; United have struggled to dominate games as of late. Here it does look like they will be allowed quite some time with the ball. I am fairly sure coach Ioan Andone will try to emulate the strategy they used vs Braga, allthough he might flirt with going toe to toe with the English power house in the opening 20 minutes. In my opinion; that does not bode well for the home side overall., This because, it will allow Manchester United to send their highly skilled attacking players on raid after raid.  Giving players like Robin van Persie, Rooney, Nani, Valencia, Giggs and Kagawa is not recommended.

It must however be said that the United defence looks poor compared to the usual standard we have seen the last twenty years or so. Ferdinand is a shadow of his former best, and Evra doesn't look the Bauta he use to be. Young Raffael is still learning his tricks, and the jury is still out on him being a United player for the future. If Cluj can get their act together and stand up to Manchester United as a team, they can get something out of this game, at the very least a goal coming off a set piece or an effective counter attack. In Portugal they showed against Braga that they can do damage on the break, I am sure they can cause some problems in this fixture too.

FC CLUJ - MANCHESTER UNITED PREDICTIONS: 1X2 BETTING PREVIEW

Given that United is strengthened in attack with Rooney coming back and the very likely scenario that they will be allowed possession I think it is fair to say 1.735 offered by Pinnacle Sports is a good shout. FC Cluj will of course give it a go and they will have their fans backing them, but the team doesn't really look to be all that. Even if they do notch one, or possibly even two on the break I expect United to prevail here. 

If you believe in the Red Devils of Manchester, take 1.735 with Pinnacle Sports here.

FC CLUJ v MANCHESTER UNITED PREDICTIONS: ASIAN HANDICAP

Even if I think the Manchester United machine will grind down the Romanian home side I am not looking for a wide Asian Handicap. I do believe the home side have enough goal threat in them to go at a struggeling United defence, and I do not want to get into the business of predicting the exact number of goals United will score. I rather want to take the Manchester -0.75 as it keeps me in line with my thinking in the analysis presented so far. The best odds for that is 1.95, and it is given by 188bet. I take it.

If you want to follow me on that good bet you can click here.

FC CLUJ v MANCHESTER UNITED PREDICTIONS: TOTAL GOALS PREVIEW

For me this games smells very much like over 2.5 goals.  I know that the betting stats say different, but I think the setting explained above give me enough firepower to launch this bet. United will get chances, and Rooney and Robin van Persie are among the best strikers in the world. Cluj are good at counter attacks, and the United defence is not as strong as it once was. 2.00 is a very solid price in my opinion. This odds is given by Pinnacle Sports.

Follow my predictions and take 2.00 on the Over 2.5 here

FC CLUJ v MANCHESTER UNITED PREVIEW: The end

I hope you found this betting prediction of Cluj v Manchester United interesting, informative and useful. Feel free to check out our many other betting predictions here.

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