The Pacman's Midweek Multiple / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 06 November 2007 / 9

Since penning my thoughts on a suitable selection on the Betfair Multiples product this time last week, I have put on a stone in weight and wandered around the streets aimlessly, head down and answering monosyllabically when spoken to. The reason? I have been eating humble pie for the last week after having tipped up a lay of AC Milan away to Sampdoria in the Serie A. A Kaka-inspired Milan scored just the five to Sampdoria's zilch.

I've always heard that if you fall off a horse, you need get right back on it at the soonest opportunity. Personally, I've never ridden a horse, much less fallen off one but it's Champions League this week so I'll apply that rule by just pretending it happened to me, a bit like Milli Vanilli pretended they could sing.

A few years ago I went to Hawaii and was sitting on the beach when a bloke walked past me with his highlighted hair and Chinese-symbol tattoo. He had a top-of-the-range wetsuit and surf board which he polished with wax for 15 minutes before doing a few exercises and taking to the sea. Two minutes later he was rescued by the lifeguard as he almost drowned in neck-high water. The point of the story? He looked the part but he was out of his depth - literally. Which reminds me of Roma. They look the part with their hand-gesturing, designer stubbles and innovative formations but they've been pretty poor all season, a 2-2 draw at Empoli after being 2-0 up being the latest of their disappointing performances. Without the leadership and goals of the injured Francesco Totti, they strike me as a side that doesn't really know where it's heading. Sporting Lisbon were impressive in their 2-1 defeat away at Kiev and unlucky to lose at Roma in the last round of fixtures. My money is on Sporting's young guns to come good and take all three points at 2.78.

Sachin Tendulkar is one of my favourite batsmen in world cricket and I have always look forward to watching "The Little Master" bat when he comes to the crease. Eight years ago a certain Virender Sehwag came on to the scene and when I first saw him I thought Tendulkar had been the first human to have been cloned. Same height, build and most crucially, same technique. In fact, he was so similar that they called him "The Little Tendulkar". Since then I have always wondered what would happen if another batsmen came along who looked and batted just like Sehwag. Would he be known as "The Little, Little Tendulkar?"

Sehwag has been dropped from the current ODI side that is playing an ODI Series against Pakistan but Tendulkar, who turned down the Test captaincy a couple of days ago, is still there. India look a confident and assured side under the leadership of Dhoni and I've been extremely impressed with the resourcefulness and patience of both Gambhir and Uthappa. Harbhajan Singh looks like he's back to something like his best and Yuvraj Singh is quickly becoming one of the most reliable middle-order batsmen in this form of the game. With Inzamam out of the picture, Afridi's continued insistence on going for broke just after arriving at the crease and Kamran Akmal still not convincing as an opener, too much pressure is piled on those two class performers Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Akhtar to perform miracles. India are the more balanced side and I fancy them at 1.74 in Wednesday's ODI.

Phil Neville is someone who you instinctively feel has always been handed a bit of a rough deal. Fathered by a guy called Neville Neville, brothered (is that a word?) by a guy who is better looking than him and who is also best mates with the world's most famous footballer, you could also say that not only is he not the most talented player in his family but perhaps not even the second most talented as twin sister Tracey has 14 England caps more than him (at netball), despite her career being plagued by injury.

Good thing for the Toffeemen then that Joleon Lescott and Mikel Arteta have had storming seasons for Everton that have made up for their weakest link. Moyes has assembled by far the best squad they've had in years and are beginning to get results from matches in which they haven't played particularly well, as happened on Saturday against Birmingham. I see no good reason why third-from-bottom in the Bundesliga Nurnberg are as short as 2.94 so I'm laying them. Which is a good bet anyway and a cracking bet if Phil Neville doesn't play.

The Pacman's midweek selections are:

Backing Sporting Lisbon v Roma @ 2.78

Backing India v Pakistan @ 1.74

Laying Nurnberg v Everton @ 2.94

which comes to odds of 6.1

(9)

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