Torino to ease to victory
The Europa League starts early but for one team it could be the beginnings of something amazing. Will that team be the, once glorious, Torino? Have a read of our preview as they face Hungarian side Debrecen here:
Making a stand of their own
Torino have, for many years now, been in the shadow of their city rivals Juventus and this will not be changing anytime soon. The fact that the financial power of the Old Lady sees them not only dominates the city of Turin but the whole of the peninsula makes for a difficult life if you support the Granata.
However, last season saw them flirt with the top four and end up finishing a creditable seventh. In former Watford boss, Walter Mazzari, they have a safe pair of hands at the helm and will head into the Europa League with outside hopes of going deep.
The squad is solid, if not spectacular and the summer business has been decent enough so far. The problem for Torino is the fact they don’t always create enough chances and only managed to bag 52 goals in Serie A last season which was better than only Bologna of those sides finishing 11th or above.
Debrecen will be a well-organised side who could be hard to break down so the key will be drawing them out and taking advantage of the space left in behind
Transfer business so far…
Il’Toro have always got to be smart in the transfer window as keeping up with neighbours can be pretty difficult. M’baye Niang has departed to Rennais for nearly £14m while the talented Adem Ljajic was signed by Besiktas for just over £5m.
This has helped the club find the permanent signing of Simone Zaza who only netted four goals in 29 Serie A matches last season. He will be expected to do better during the campaign ahead.
Ola Aina joins from Chelsea while the experienced Christian Ansaldi is a good addition from Inter as is Koffi Djidji from Nantes.
The best business, so far anyway, has been keeping star striker Andrea Belotti who netted 15 times in the league last season as well as Iago Falque. The pair are probably Torino’s best players and certainly offer the most going forward so making sure they remain in maroon in 2019-20 is vital.
Torino v Debrecen betting tip
With Debrecen likely to turn up and sit behind the ball it could be a case of being patient for Mazzari’s side. That’s why backing this one to finish with under 2.5 goals at odds of 5/4 is a decent shout here.
