OB-Hobro

Sunday 20/7 14.00

OB got an 8th place last season, but it was another disappointing season. The club from Denmark’s third biggest city has higher ambitions, but the quality of the squad is simply too low. OB have three very strong offensive players: Rasmus Falk, Baskhim Kadrii and Emil Larsen. And for once, they are all fit! The rest of the squad is not something special though. OB have lost veterans Morten Skoubo (striker), Mustafa Abdellaoue (striker), Anders Møller Christensen (central defender) and Espen Ruud (right back). Lasse Nielsen has been signed in FC Vestsjælland to cover in the central defence while Lasse Kryger has been signed in Horsens to cover the right back. They are decent signings, but nothing extraordinary. No extra players have been bought to cover the striker position. Therefore OB will probably be forced to line-up with the miserable Darko Bodul as striker (3 goals in 21 matches last season) alongside Kadrii. Hobro have been deemed the most likely team to go down in the history of the Superliga. Coming from a small town of only 12.000 inhabitants, the club has very limited resources, but will try to stay in the league through fight and hard work. They have signed some of the better players of the second best Danish football league, hoping that they will succeed at the highest level (for instance striker Emil Berggreen and winger Martin Mikkelsen). But bottom-line is that Hobro played a poor spring season after losing star player Kasper Fisker to Randers. They barely got promoted, and the pre-season friendly matches have been frightening with Hobro losing all four matches. Hobro is likely to get their best chances on set pieces with the tall defenders Justesen and Egholm.

Although we dread OB might face another tough season, we believe that they should be capable of beating Hobro. The likes of Falk and Larsen will pose tremendous problems on the flanks, while we expect Kadrii to have good chances of scoring in this match. Hobro will try to defend their way through the match, but on a sunny day in Odense, we believe it will be a difficult mission. The odds on OB have increased and are now at an interesting level.

Recommendation: 1 (AH -1) – 2.05 at Bet365 (no longer value)

UPDATE: Kadrii has just signed with FC Copenhagen. No longer value in OB! 

UPDATE v2: Quincy Antipas, speedy winger/attacker from Brøndby, has just signed with Hobro! Quality signing and surprising that a bigger club like OB did not pick him up. Is in the squad for the match and is an eternal threat although he has poor finishing. Value currently in Hobro!