"29", "name" => "Multiples", "category" => "The French Connection", "path" => "/var/www/vhosts/betting.betfair.com/httpdocs/multiples/", "url" => "https://betting.betfair.com/multiples/", "title" => "The French Connection : The French Connection : Multiples", "desc" => "From Fulham to Coventry . . . via the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay. Chris Coleman's managerial path has followed some unlikely turns. However, the former Welsh international has left behind sunny San Sebastian after his spell at...", "keywords" => "", "robots" => "index,follow" ); ?>

The French Connection

The French Connection RSS / Andrew French / 22 February 2008 / 2

" class="free_bet_btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">

From Fulham to Coventry . . . via the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay. Chris Coleman's managerial path has followed some unlikely turns.

However, the former Welsh international has left behind sunny San Sebastian after his spell at Real Sociedad, and finds himself in the thick of a relegation battle at the Ricoh Arena. The Sky Blues have had a forgettable season: to the brink of administration off the pitch, and hanging over the precipice that leads to League One on it.

Coleman's unsuccessful spell in Spain should not detract from the fact he did a pretty good job during his four years in West London. He took them to ninth in 2004 - what would they give to get close to that this season?

The Sky Blues host near neighbours Leicester, themselves battling to avoid the drop, although they can trump Coventry (and pretty much any other club) when it comes to a manager count this season.

Victory for Coleman's side would take them above the Foxes, and I think a combination of that famed 'first-game effect' for the new boss, coupled with Leicester's dismal away record (three points and five goals in eight games), makes Coventry a good bet.

You're a mid-table League One club with a home draw in the FA Cup quarter-finals, and the real possibility of your first-ever semi-final appearance. Would you be able to concentrate on run-of-the-mill league games?

Bristol Rovers are 19 points off the play-offs, but 16 points clear of relegation. In short, their league season is pretty much a tale of completing fixtures as they're not going up or down. But victory over Southampton last week took them into the last eight of the world's greatest cup competition and a home tie with West Brom (rather than a trip to Old Trafford) gives them a decent chance of progressing.

As much as Paul Trollope and his team will stress they are not distracted, they are bound to be. And will the manager or the players want to be throwing everything into the next two league games and risk injuries or suspensions ahead of the quarter-final?

Ronnie Moore's dogged Tranmere Rovers are just the sort of side to capitalise, especially as they currently possess a play-off place but could climb to third with a victory at Rovers.

Certainly the Bristol club's impressive home record of late makes taking them on a risk, but Tranmere are no slouches on the road either: unbeaten in their last three without conceding a goal, and their recent 2-0 win at Leeds was no fluke.

League One clubs just don't have the resources to rotate their squads or rest their best players, so Rovers will have to try juggling two league games with giving themselves the best chance of reaching the FA Cup semi-finals. I'll take Tranmere to pounce this weekend.

Not so long ago Dagenham & Redbridge v Morecambe would have been a non-league match, that may have crept onto the pools coupon under the title that always amused me: 'Other Pools Matches'.

This weekend, it's a League Two fixtures, with the new kids on the block having vastly different seasons. Morecambe are on the edge of the play-offs - the Daggers are just on the edge: two off the bottom of the table.

However, there appears to be something of a recovery going on at Victoria Road. Having thrashed Chester 6-2, they travelled to Grimsby and ended the Mariners' 10-game unbeaten record in emphatic style with a 4-1 victory at Blundell Park.

Two games, six points, 10 goals. Not the current form of a team about to drop back out of the league. It's all about momentum in League Two, and John Still's side clearly have more than most at the moment.

Morecambe are better than most on the road, but the Daggers are on a roll and I think we can expect that to last into this weekend.

Therefore, the French Connection treble this weekend is backing Coventry at [2.45], Tranmere at [2.98] and Dagenham and Redbridge at [2.42] - that should pay around the [17.0] mark.

(2)

  1. mark | 28 February 2008

    firstly i want to say this site is great
    why don't you post more multiples?

  2. mark | 28 February 2008

    I mean do you make more multiples sorry