Central Coast Mariners vs Perth Glory
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Today’s free tip is in the Australian A-League encounter between Central Coast Mariners and Perth Glory.
I don’t want to jump to any hasty conclusions regarding Glory but they look a bit poor at the moment. They’ve made a lot of changes pre-season, to be fair to them, but they’re showing no signs of gelling, at least not in the final third. Their defensive setup looks solid enough, which is impressive when you consider that two of their three goalkeepers are injured, not to mention right-sider Burke-Gilroy. Even their kids have slotted in well at the back, and they’re doing so without Clisby too, so yeah – I’m fine their defence.
Their attack doesn’t function though. Fornaroli is too isolated up there, and he’s not going to do anything if he is. I appreciate Sardinero is injured but there’s other good players that were brought in to bridge that gap. Instead of sticking Fornaroli alongside David Williams though, Zadkovich seems intent on playing one or the other, for the most part. Azubel would be an even better choice. In both of their games this season, they’re not playing high enough up the pitch to hurt teams though, the sole exception being last match after Elsey’s stupid red card.
They’re too easy to hem in, Glory. They’ve got some decent counterattacking threats but seldom see enough of the ball to use them. We’ve not seen anything close to the best of Colli or Ryan Williams because this team simply does not get forward enough as a whole. It makes them predictable. Hard to score again, but predictable. That’s all well and good when you’ve got thirteen players out and are having to call players up from the academy to make up a matchday squad, but that was last season; now Zadkovich has got to turn them into a non-embarrassing team – and there are no signs of that coming yet. They’ve not been unlucky so far this season, Glory – they’ve been poor, at least from an attacking perspective.
That won’t last forever, and I can’t pretend that the Mariners are some supreme unit whose problems are non-existent, but they do carry an attacking threat – that’s the difference here. I mean, the Mariners themselves are a little out of sorts as their derby opener was postponed so their first game of the season was in New Zealand last weekend, and they were quite lucky to draw that in the end, struggling like crazy to get a foothold in the contest against an overwhelming, fit Wellington Phoenix. However, they bagged two goals despite not playing well because they’re loaded with good attackers nowadays, and that’ll be even truer here with wonderkid Kuol back from international duty.
I thought their centre-backs struggled last weekend – again, not a surprise, as both are new to the club. Triantis was on international duty and Hall was suspended. Both of the latter duo are back now though, so an improvement is to be expected. I do think that the Mariners need someone in midfield to control games though – they are lacking in that department. It’s the only area they’re not quite A1 in. Against Glory though, I don’t see that being a tremendous issue because Glory seemingly prefer to be on the back foot anyway.
Where the Mariners will excel this season is in outscoring teams. Personally, I’m pretty amazed that they kept hold of Cummings pre-season; he’s too good for them. Although they’ve officially sold Kuol, they’ve done really well to keep him until January too. Ayongo has impressed in spells since arriving, and there’s no pressure at all on Tulio because of the afore-mentioned but he should be amazing in due course too – and this is without even mentioning Nkololo, who was one of their unsung heroes last season. Whether they play well or not, the Mariners are goal-scorers, and that’s what they’ll need to be in order to break down a resilient Glory here.
I can see this game being a shit one to watch, most probably with few chances – unless the Mariners seriously step up their game from last week. I still think that the home team are perfectly placed to win it though; they simply have more match-winners.
Verdict: Central Coast Mariners to win at 9/10.
Sunday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Australian A-League:
Sydney FC vs Adelaide United
Central Coast Mariners vs Perth Glory
Austrian Bundesliga:
Wolfsberger AC vs SCR Altach
Austria Lustenau vs SV Ried
LASK vs Austria Vienna
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Antwerp vs Racing Genk
AA Gent vs RFC Seraing
Standard de Liege vs RSC Anderlecht
KV Oostende vs Zulte-Waregem
Brazilian Serie A:
Fluminense vs Botafogo
Juventude vs Sao Paulo
Atletico Goianiense vs Ceara
Cuiaba vs Goias
Coritiba vs Internacional
Bulgarian A PFG:
Botev Vratsa vs CSKA Sofia
Ludogorets Razgrad vs Botev Plovdiv
Croatian Prva Liga:
Istra 1961 vs Sibenik
Slaven Koprivnica vs Rijeka
Czechia Liga 1:
Ceske Budejovice vs Hradec Kralove
Slovacko vs Teplice
Mlada Boleslav vs Bohemians 1905
Slavia Prague vs Sparta Prague
Danish Superligaen:
Randers vs FC Nordsjaelland
AC Horsens vs Silkeborg
AGF vs Brondby
English Premier League:
Aston Villa vs Brentford
Leeds United vs Fulham
Southampton vs Arsenal
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Leicester City
Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Trans Narva vs Nomme Kalju
FCI Levadia Tallinn vs Flora Paide
Finnish Veikkausliiga Promotion/Relegation Play-Off:
FC Lahti vs TPS
French Ligue 1:
Angers SCO vs Stade Rennais
Clermont Foot 38 vs Stade Brestois
Stade de Reims vs AJ Auxerre
Toulouse vs Racing Club Strasbourg
Troyes vs Lorient
OGC Nice vs FC Nantes Atlantique
Lille OSC vs AS Monaco
German Bundesliga:
VfL Bochum vs Union Berlin
Hertha Berlin vs Schake 04
German Bundesliga 2:
Hamburger SV vs Magdeburg
Heidenheim vs Greuther Furth
Karlsruher SC vs Fortuna Dusseldorf
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Bnei Raina vs Bnei Sakhnin
Hapoel Hadera vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Italian Serie A:
Udinese vs Torino
Bologna vs Lecce
Atalanta Bergamo vs SS Lazio
AS Roma vs SSC Napoli
Italian Serie B:
Palermo vs Cittadella
Pisa vs Modena
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Dziugas Telsiai vs FK Panevezys
Suduva Marijampole vs Jonava
Zalgiris Vilnius vs Hegelmann Litauen
Kauno Zalgiris vs FA Siauliai
Dutch Eredivisie:
Excelsior Rotterdam vs AZ
Cambuur Leeuwarden vs FC Twente Enschede
FC Groningen vs PSV Eindhoven
NEC vs Go Ahead Eagles
FC Utrecht vs Sparta Rotterdam
FC Volendam vs SC Heerenveen
Norwegian Eliteserien:
Aalesund FK vs Sandefjord
Bodo/Glimt vs Kristiansund
Haugesund vs Lillestrom SK
Jerv vs Viking Stavanger
Sarpsborg 08 vs Tromso
Molde FK vs Rosenborg BK
Portuguese Liga 1:
Vizela vs Santa Clara
Maritimo Funchal vs Arouca
Chaves vs Gil Vicente
Vitoria Guimaraes vs Boavista
Spanish Primera Liga:
RCD Espanyol vs Elche
Real Betis Balompie vs Atletico Madrid
Girona vs CA Osasuna
Villarreal vs Almeria
Barcelona vs Athletic Club
Swedish Allsvenskan:
FC Basel vs FC Winterthur
St. Gallen vs Servette
FC Zurich vs Grasshopper Zurich
Swiss Challenge League:
Aarau vs Neuchatel Xamax
Vaduz vs FC Wil
Turkish Super Lig:
Kasimpasa vs Kayserispor
Adana Demirspor vs Konyaspor
Galatasaray vs Alanyaspor
Enjoy your free betting tips!