| Euro 2008 Top Scorer Forum Tips |
| Euro 2008 Betting Tips - Euro 2008 Top Scorer Betting |
| Saturday, 31 May 2008 01:18 |
 Hello Euro 2008 fans. Everyone likes a little something on the top scorer market don't they? Always adds some extra interest and spice to matches and the tournament itself. So, let's see what the experts are saying in the betting forum with regards the top scorer market. Some interesting stuff.... no doubt Ronaldo's name will crop up a few times. Ronaldo this, Ronaldo that, blah blah. Our betting forum buddy, 'Mayonnaise' had this to say: "The last three tournaments, i.e. the Championship in it's present 16 team format, have each had strikers as winners of the Golden Boot, though the winners and placed (top three) scorers have not necessarily played for teams that have reached the final.
2004 Portugal Milan Baros - 5 goals with the Czechs reaching the semi-finals Ruud Van Nistlerooy - 4 goals with Holland reaching the quarter-finals Wayne Rooney - 4 goals with England reaching the quarter-finals 2000 Belgium/Holland Patrick Kluivert - 5 goals with Holland reaching the semi-finals Savo Milosevic - 5 goals with Yugoslavia reaching the quarter-finals Nuno Gomes - 4 goals with Portugal reaching the semi-finals 1996 England Alan Shearer - 5 goals with England reaching the semi-finals Brian Laudrup - 3 goals / group Davor Suker - 3 goals / quarters Hristo Stoichkov - 3 goals / group Jurgen Klinsmann - 3 goals / winners I'd be looking for a player who tends to be a focal point of his teams attacking play. I'd also tend to disregard the apparent weakness of the teams in a group as some players tend to thrive while playing against the stronger nations. For example, in 2004 Milan Baros only scored one of his five goals against minnows Latvia, his others coming against Holland (1), Germany (1) and Denmark (2). Likewise, Alan Shearer only scored one each against the "weaker" teams in the group at Euro '96, Switzerland and Scotland, while bagging a brace against Holland and one against the Germans in the semi-finals. Regarding Cristiano Ronaldo ( :swoon: ) I feel he plays to a lot more rigid system when playing for Portugal than when playing for Manchester United. Big Phil tends to stick Ronaldo onto one of the wings and expects him to play as an out-and-out winger, while at United he has the freedom to roam which Fergie afford possibly the best player in the world. I'm afraid 8/1 is far too short for me, unless Phil has a sudden change of heart with regards to his positioning!"
So I made a revised Top Goalscorers in Qualification Table, not featuring any goals scored against whipping boys and seriously substandard opposition (the criteria i used for that assumption was each team who placed bottom of the group + any team who conceded more than 2 goals per game average). This table is a much better betting guide to use than the standard table. Smolarek - 8 Anyone below 3 goals isnt worth considering in my opinion unless you have some huge reason otherwise. It gives a nice shortlist of 14 players to get stuck into and research. David Villa, his record is now nothing special although still decent with 3 goals. 4 of his 7 goals came against Lichtenstein. Torres only scored 2 in qualifying and 1 of those against Lichtenstein which is really an extremely poor return and at 10/1 its not something ill consider. I enjoyed Mayonnaise's post and thats got some good info. It basically shows that you want a striker/forward to bet on as opposed to a midfielder. That may sound obvious but on the shortlist above there is Dica and Xavi on 4 goals each who are both midfielders so probably npt worth bothering with. Mayonnaise's post also shows not to worry too much about backing a player solely because you think their team will reach the final, as the last 3 golden boots have gone to players from teams who fell at the semi final/quarter final stages. The only thing you have to be extremely confident in regards to that is the team qualifying from the group." |
"Ive been going through all the qualifying games and goalscorers to try and get a grasp on this market. I feel that this competition as a whole is strong as only 16 qualify and for example teams like England failed. For this reason I pay zero attention to any player who scored against whipping boy competition in the qualifying (Andorra, San Marino, Lichtenstein etc etc). They wont be facing anyone in this tourny of that awful quality defence so any goals scored there is immaterial in my opinion.Bet365 No.1 for football betting