Melbourne City vs Newcastle Jets
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Today’s free tip is in the Australian A-League encounter between Melbourne City and Newcastle Jets.
Something’s going on at Melbourne City, isn’t it? Warren Joyce is taking a stand on Uruguayan striker Fornaroli, having dropped him for their defeat against Brisbane Roar. The rumour mill suggests he’ll do that again today. Part of me understands the point he’s trying to get across because Fornaroli hasn’t been at his best ever since his injury but Melbourne City literally do not have a worthy replacement for him so dropping him seems a bit backward to me.
I mean, Melbourne City are incredibly limited in the final third as it is without dropping their most effective striker. This team is all central midfielders with maybe one flair at most so they seldom get anywhere. They sure have gone off the boil since the days of the lethal trio which contained Novillo, Mooy, and yes – Fornaroli. Melbourne City are now very boring so it’s even easier for the casual Australian viewers to detest them, having already expressed their disgust at their “cheating” (i.e. getting around Australian FA rules by getting parent club Manchester City to buy players to loan them to them). So, yes – they’re now boring and hated, Melbourne City. Not a great combination.
Their best players this season have been marauding full-back de Laet and promising midfielder McGree. Vidosic hasn’t been as effective as you’d think he would, and the rest are just passers. Good passers, but they’ve nobody to pass to because of a lack of movement and a lack of flair so it makes the team very predictable. Their defence looks good, though – that’s a positive. They look even stronger with Griffiths parked in front of them. This team will require a lot of luck to break the deadlock against a savvy Newcastle Jets though, because they aren’t showing enough when it comes to hurting teams. That’s going to be even harder if indeed Fornaroli is dropped.
Newcastle Jets under Merrick have become one of the better tactical sides in the competition nowadays. They’re not as effective as they were last season but that will change in time. Hopefully Vargas won’t get any big injuries because he’s a bloody class act at this level and he can lead them to a title challenge. “Hated” Irish striker O’Donovan should be back from suspension now and he is a very experienced target man at this level so he’ll improve their effectiveness in time too. Ultimately, it’s all about time – getting the newbies to integrate with the squad. Merrick knows how to do that though, so don’t underestimate the Newcastle Jets – they get better with each passing week.
Imagine – at one stage, they can have O’Donovan as the lone frontman whilst being flanked by any combination of Jair, Austin, Vargas, and Petratos, and they’re all good players with different strengths. With Kantarovski in front of the back four (Ridenton to step in to give him a breather sometimes) and solid centre-backs like Topor-Stanley and Boogaard at the heart of their back four, Newcastle Jets won’t concede many goals this season. They’ve got good, solid full-backs too. This is a very well-balanced, motivated, and organised team; far moreso than their hosts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jets nicked it, to be honest.
Still, I can’t bet on that outcome because if the hosts do scrape their way into the lead, it’s going to be very hard for Newcastle Jets to break them down. Backing under 2.5 goals at 9/10 seems the far more logical value pick here because both sides are going to sit deep, and they’re both good at doing that. Whoever scores will sit on it – most likely successfully too. So, yes – my call is under 2.5 goals.
Verdict: Under 2.5 goals 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.
Argentinian Superliga:
Aldosivi vs San Lorenzo de Almagro
Independiente vs Boca Juniors
River Plate vs Gimnasia de la Plata
Australian A-League:
Wellington Phoenix vs Perth Glory
Melbourne City vs Newcastle Jets
Austrian Bundesliga:
Salzburg vs SCR Altach
Wacker Innsbruck vs Rapid Vienna
Sturm Graz vs Wolfsberger AC
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Club Brugge vs Standard de Liege
RSC Anderlecht vs Racing Genk
AS Eupen vs Waasland-Beveren
Brazilian Serie A:
Parana vs Internacional
Chapecoense vs Sao Paulo
Bahia vs Cruzeiro
Fluminense vs America Mineiro
Ceara vs Vasco da Gama
Sport Recife vs Santos
Palmeiras vs Vitoria
Gremio vs Corinthians
Bulgarian A PFG:
Botev Vratsa vs Septemvri Sofia
Ludogorets Razgrad vs Vitosha Bistritsa
Slavia Sofia vs CSKA Sofia
Croatian Prva Liga:
Dinamo Zagreb vs Gorica
Czech Republic HET Liga:
Bohemians 1905 vs Dukla Prague
Marila Pribram vs Banik Ostrava
Viktoria Plzen vs Sigma Olomouc
Danish Superligaen:
SonderjyskE vs FC Nordsjaelland
Randers vs FC Midtjylland
AC Horsens vs FC Copenhagen
Brondby vs Hobro
English Premier League:
Chelsea vs Fulham
Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool vs Everton
French Ligue 1:
Toulouse vs Dijon FCO
Olympique de Marseille vs Stade de Reims
Stade Rennais vs Racing Club Strasbourg
Girondins de Bordeaux vs Paris Saint-Germain
German Bundesliga:
RB Leipzig vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
Eintracht Frankfurt vs VfL Wolfsburg
German Bundesliga 2:
MSV Duisburg vs Holstein Kiel
SV Sandhausen vs Heidenheim
Magdeburg vs VfL Bochum
Hungarian Liga 1:
Vidi vs Budapest Honved
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Ra’anana vs Beitar Jerusalem
Maccabi Netanya vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Italian Serie A:
AC Milan vs Parma
Frosinone vs Cagliari
Sassuolo vs Udinese
Torino vs Genoa
Chievo Verona vs SS Lazio
AS Roma vs Internazionale
Italian Serie B:
Brescia vs Livorno
Carpi vs Lecce
Perugia vs Pescara
Dutch Eredivisie:
AFC Ajax Amsterdam vs ADO Den Haag
Feyenoord Rotterdam vs PSV Eindhoven
Heracles Almelo vs VVV Venlo
Groningen vs NAC Breda
Norwegian NM Cupen:
Rosenborg BK vs Stromsgodset
Portuguese Liga 1:
Portimonense vs Tondela
Desportivo Aves vs CD Nacional de Madeira
Chaves vs Vitoria Guimaraes
Boavista vs FC Porto
Portuguese Liga 2:
Pacos de Ferreira vs Penafiel
Leixoes Matosinhos vs Sporting Braga II
Sporting Covilha vs Farense
Russian Premier League:
FK Krasnodar vs Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast
FK Rostov vs CSKA Moscow
Spartak Moscow vs Lokomotiv Moscow
Spanish Primera Liga:
Real Betis Balompie vs Real Sociedad
Girona vs Atletico Madrid
Barcelona CF vs Villarreal CF
Deportivo Alaves vs Sevilla CF
Swiss Super League:
FC Basel vs Young Boys Bern
Lugano vs Neuchatel Xamax
FC Zurich vs Grasshopper Zurich
Swiss Challenge League:
FC Wil vs FC Schaffhausen
Aarau vs Lausanne Sport
Servette vs Chiasso
Turkish Super Lig:
Bursaspor vs BB Erzurumspor
Besiktas JK vs Galatasaray
Enjoy your free betting tips!