Western United vs Perth Glory
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Today’s free tip is in the early Australian A-League kick-off between newly-formed Western United and Perth Glory.
The odds are dropping on the home win here, which I find a bit curious. I know what Western United have done pre-season, and I am extremely impressed with it – from an attacking standpoint. Well, perhaps that’s unfair of me; I like all of their signings, really. However, what was blatantly apparent on their trip to New Zealand last weekend was that they’re not the finished article yet, and anyone expecting them to be is a fool. It takes time to galvanise such a large group of footballers, most of which have never played together before. The early signs of their attacking looks really good though, whether it’s Kone drifting into space and picking the right pass, Berisha’s battering ram movements, of Diamanti’s classy passing and vicious shots. Winger Pain was arguably the best of the lot too, reminding everybody of his obvious yet often unused potential. Anyway, I’m sure Western United will score plenty of goals this season.
Defensively speaking though, they’ve got a lot to learn. Their positioning was problematic against a toothless Wellington Phoenix, and it resulted in the Australian side being placed under some rather substantial pressure in the second-half, even preventing Western United from counter-attacking properly, which was something that had been rather prominent in the first-half. This happened against Wellington Phoenix, easily one of the three worst teams in the division right now, and it happened with Rudan as manager (who managed Wellington Phoenix last season). To me, that says the problem is in defence at the moment, and with Hamill and Calver yet to feature, I think that makes sense. Again, with time, this will be a very complete-looking and impressive outfit. For now, it simply looks like a team that can score goals, and I don’t believe that kind of team can beat Perth Glory, home or away.
Perth Glory really disappointed me by failing to beat Brisbane Roar last weekend. Despite dominating the game and controlling everything, they let their concentration slip at the end of the game to make a 1-0 win into a 1-1 draw. If my memory serves me correctly, that was Brisbane Roar’s only shot on goal in that game, which really does say it all. Still, as strong as Perth Glory are defensively – they’re the best in the division at defending for m money – they still need to be more ruthless in the final third. Sometimes mistakes/accidents will happen and they need to be prepared for it by already being a couple of goals up. It’s that approach that ended up costing them the title last season, in my opinion, so they need to sharpen up in attack.
The above is me being overly critical of Perth Glory though. As far as I am concerned, they’re still the best team in Australia with the best manager in Popovic. They know how to control games, hurt teams, defend well, and seldom look nervous. They’re good at pretty much everything, even after some forced pre-season changes. Brisbane Roar were pulled from pillar to post by Fornaroli, Castro, and Ikonomidis last time out, and I doubt Western United’s unfamiliar defence will fare any differently. This is a very good, consistent, and organised Perth Glory side, and it’ll take a better display than Western United showed last weekend in order to beat them today.
In a couple of months, I might see things differently. Again, I really like what Western United have done pre-season; they’ve potentially got a really good balance to their squad, and a very good manager too. However, at the present time, they’re nowhere near the finished article whereas their opponents are the closest thing to it that the A-League has right now. Therefore, I’m going to back the visitors to win this one with draw no bet cover.
Verdict: Perth Glory to win with draw no bet at 4/5.
Saturday’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:
Western United vs Perth Glory
Central Coast Mariners vs Newcastle Jets
Austrian Bundesliga:
LASK Linz vs SV Mattersburg
Sturm Graz vs Salzburg
SCR Altach vs Admira Wacker
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Standard de Liege vs Racing Genk
Kortrijk vs Zulte-Waregem
KV Oostende vs AS Eupen
AA Gent vs Waasland-Beveren
Brazilian Serie A:
Fortaleza vs Gremio
Corinthians vs Cruzeiro
Bulgarian A PFG:
Botev Plovdiv vs Ludogorets Razgrad
Levski Sofia vs Arda
Croatian Prva Liga:
Varazdin vs Istra 1961
Slaven Koprivnica vs Rijeka
Czech Republic Liga 1:
Slovan Liberec vs Baumit Jablonec
Sigma Olomouc vs Ceske Budejovice
Zlin vs Mlada Boleslav
Slavia Prague vs Marila Pribram
English Premier League:
Everton vs West Ham United
Bournemouth vs Norwich City
Aston Villa vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Chelsea vs Newcastle United
Leicester City vs Burnley
Tottenham Hotspur vs Watford
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Southampton
Crystal Palace vs Manchester City
Estonian Meistriliiga:
FCI Levadia Tallinn vs Kuressaare
Flora Paide vs Tallinna Kalev
Trans Narva vs Maardu
Finnish Veikkausliiga:
Inter Turku vs KuPS
Ilves vs HJK
FC Honka Espoo vs IFK Mariehamn
SJK vs FC Lahti
HIFK vs RoPS
KPV vs VPS
French Ligue 1:
Olympique Lyonnais vs Dijon FCO
Stade de Reims vs Montpellier HSC
Angers SCO vs Stade Brestois
Metz vs Nantes Atlantique
Toulouse vs Lille OSC
Nimes Olympique vs Amiens SC
German Bundesliga:
RB Leipzig vs VfL Wolfsburg
Werder Bremen vs Hertha Berlin
Fortuna Dusseldorf vs Mainz 05
Augsburg vs Bayern Munich
Union Berlin vs SC Freiburg
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
German Bundesliga 2:
Jahn Regensburg vs SV Sandhausen
St. Pauli vs Darmstadt 98
Wehen Wiesbaden vs Heidenheim
Hungarian Liga 1:
Mezokovesd-Zsory vs Fehervar
Puskas FC vs Paksi SE
Kaposvari Rakoczi vs Varda SE
Zalaegerszegi TE vs Budapest Honved
Debreceni VSC vs Diosgyori VTK
Ferencvaros vs Ujpest
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Hapoel Kfar Saba
Hapoel Hadera vs Maccabi Netanya
Hapoel Be’er Sheva vs Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Sektzia Nes Tziona vs Beitar Jerusalem
Italian Serie A:
SS Lazio vs Atalanta Bergamo
SSC Napoli vs Hellas Verona
Juventus vs Bologna
Italian Serie B:
Juve Stabia vs Pordenone
Pescara vs Spezia
Venezia vs Salernitana
Virtus Entella vs Trapani
Benevento vs Perugia
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Rieterai vs Kauno Zalgiris
Panevezys vs Atlantas Klaipeda
Dutch Eredivisie:
AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen
RKC Waalwijk vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam
Twente Enschede vs Willem II
FC Utrecht vs PSV Eindhoven
VVV Venlo vs Vitesse Arnhem
Norwegian Eliteserien:
Kristiansund vs Rosenborg BK
Valerenga Oslo vs Stabaek
Russian Premier League:
Tambov vs Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast
Spartak Moscow vs Rubin Kazan
Zenit St. Petersburg vs FK Rostov
Spanish Primera Liga:
Eibar vs Barcelona CF
Atletico Madrid vs Valencia CF
Getafe vs Leganes CF
Real Mallorca vs Real Madrid
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Helsingborg vs BK Hacken Goteborg
Ostersunds FK vs Sirius
Swiss Super League:
FC Basel vs FC Thun
Young Boys Bern vs Neuchatel Xamax
Swiss Challenge League:
Chiasso vs SC Kriens
Stade Lausanne-Ouchy vs FC Wil
Winterthur vs Vaduz
FC Schaffhausen vs Grasshopper Zurich
Turkish Super Lig:
Antalyaspor vs Genclerbirligi
Trabzonspor vs Gazisehir Gaziantep
Istanbul BB vs Goztepe
Ankaragucu vs Besiktas JK
Enjoy your free betting tips!