The following are previews with betting tips for Round 11 of the 2018/19 A-League season.
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Friday, January 4
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Sydney FC v Central Coast Mariners7:50 PM AEDT, Jubilee Stadium |
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Sydney FC hold on against an Aloisi-less Roar
Opposition coach John Aloisi had re-signed prior to his former sides game against Sydney leaving their interim coach in charge for the time being. And this should have made them easy pickings for the free flowing Sky Blues. However it took an Andrew Redmayne penalty save within the final minutes of the game and two sausage-rolls from Andrew Le Fondre for them to hold on for the 2-1 victory. They were Le Fondre’s 8th and 9th strikes of the season as he leads the A-League scoring charts. As it currently stands for the Sky Blues they are only one win of top spot.
The Mariners prove once again why they are currently the A-League’s biggest disgrace
They are currently dead-last and have only two draws, so two points to show from their opening 10 games of the new campaign. While they already have a GD of -16! Compounding that Perth scored within the games opening three minutes and ended up thrashing the Mariners 4-1. Former Central Coast man Fabio Ferreira also bagged a double against his ex-side. There was also a massive banner calling for Mike Charlesworth to leave the club, which in all honesty is a fair call. While to top of a simply wonderful night for the home side (sarcasm), there was a long, long delay due to one of the goals became broken. That happened in roughly the 9th minute of the match after after a Perth player ran into the net.
Betting tip: It’s 3rd vs 10th on the table. And second to that is the fact that Sydney have beaten the Mariners in 10 of the past 13 matches they have played them in.
-You can easily pick a Sky Blues win at $1.30 (UniBet)
-Also pick them to score first at $1.30 (Neds)
Saturday, January 5
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Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix5:35 PM AEDT, Coopers Stadium |
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Goodwin’s as good as you like
Come the 91st minute Craig Goodwin calmly stepped up to the penalty spot and converted to hand his side a late and dramatic 2-1 win over the Jets. Goodwin made a statement and perhaps with the recent withdrawal of Martin Boyle, he should be selected in his place. This was a game the opposition dominated with 57% of the ball and having peppered their defence with 27 shots. But Paul Izzo was the man! He made a total of seven saves including two from outside his own box. As a result Adelaide are now less than a win of 4th spot. However rumours have been recently circling, however small they may be that Kurz may no longer be in charge of Adelaide from next season onwards. But given how well he’s done with Adelaide so far, the general hope is that a deal gets sorted out for one of the A-League’s most highly rated managers.
#NixOut? Hahaha
Everyone who doubted the Phoenix and wanted them out are now being forced to eat their words as they are currently the form team of the competition and are on fire. They drew with the Victory in Melbourne and held a 1-0 lead courtesy of a fine David Williams strike. Mark Rudan’s side showed why they are undefeated in their past five games and are an absolutely ruthless. Against Melbourne, Wellington had only 43% possession and 12 shots to their 20, but they still fought hard for the point. And on the competition ladder they are now not all that far away from the likes of the Victory and the Sky Blues. They are now among some very elite teams indeed!
Betting tip: Both sides have proven they are a legitimate finals force this campaign. However if it weren’t for the late foul call and an absolutely incompetent Jets attack, Adelaide would’ve lost their last match.
–Pick Wellington to be victorious at $4.20 (UniBet)
-Also pick them to strike first at $2.60 (Bet365)
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Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne Victory7:50 PM AEDT, ANZ Stadium |
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RBB, it stands for you gotta have a Plan B
And quite clearly the Wanderer’s active support group did, either that or they just hated how utter crap their team was playing as they walked out with a little while to go in the match. But in all fairness to them their team has been performing poorly all season and they were down 2-0 at that point. And that ended up being the final result despite City being without a man for the majority of the 2nd half. The Wanderers were their own worst enemy as they only landed six of their attempted 17 shots on target. That while Riera missed a late penalty attempt that would have given that would have given them a fighters chance at a draw. The Mariners will finish last, but it’s now up to them and the Roar who gets the not so proud distinction of bring runners up to them.
With a busted Honda, a few problems appeared
In their 1-1 draw vs Wellington, they didn’t score until Ola Toivonen got one back in the 77th minute. While in addition to that, they could only land six of their 20 shots on target. While the Phoenix blocked five of their shots. They also gave away 17 fouls and were forced to make 23 tackles. Just for a minute compare that to Wellington’s 11, they were forced to do less then half of the dirty work that the Victory did. Melbourne are now only a win of 1st and have the best GD in the A-League at +11. And coming up against Western Sydney, boy oh boy, that GD is about to get an even bigger boost! Yet Honda missing was obvious as his natural attacking instincts and abilities would be a massive addition to any side, including the reigning champs.
Betting tip: The Wanderers have won only one of their past 15 games against the Victory and have won only one of their past seven matches. It’s pretty obvious which way this result is going to go!
-Pick the Victory to be victorious at $2.12 (TopBetta, BetEasy)
–Also pick Melbourne to score last at $1.80 (Neds)
Sunday, January 6
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Melbourne City v Newcastle Jets5:00 PM AEDT, AAMI Park |
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City too slick for the struggling Wanderers
2-0 was the score in front of a small Sydney crowd as Warren Joyce’s side once again won against the odds. The opposition had never lost three straight at ANZ Stadium, but Melbourne cosigned them to that unwanted piece of history. And Eugene Galekovic was the hero as he kept his 10 man side in the match after Griffiths was sent of in the 56th minute after being handed his second yellow card. Wales bagged his second career A-League goal in the 35th minute and then not long after in the 37th minute de Laet made it two nothing. And in the 87th minute Galekovic came up huge in saving Oriol Riera’s penalty attempt, that essentially won them the match! It doesn’t matter if they don’t have Fornarolli up front because Melbourne are only two wins of first place.
Boogaard you idiot!
It was a Nigel Boogaard foul on Ryan Kitto in the 89th minute of the match that gave Adelaide a chance to take home all three points. Cometh Craig Goodwin, he scored it with relative ease and the Hunter Valley side were left disappointing to not take home a point. Roy O’Donovan had earlier leveled the scores and had his first of the campaign in the 75th minute of the match. However if it weren’t for Boogaards simply idiotic foul! And the Jets horrific shooting 8/27 on target, they may well have claimed a valuable point, or possibly even all three! The result leaves them four points of a finals spot. Disappointing indeed for Ernie Merrick’s men.
Betting tip: The last time they faced off was only in Round Six and it was there that McGree, Brattan and Wales saw of Newcastle 3-0. And with contrasting results in recent matches you can expect much of the same here.
-Pick City to be victorious and relatively easy at that at $2.08 (UniBet)
-And also pick Melbourne to win both halves at $6.50 (Neds)
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Brisbane Roar v Perth Glory7:00 PM AEDT, Suncorp Stadium |
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John’s left the building, but still the same old problems for Brisbane
They lost 2-1, a respectable result to Sydney FC, one of the A-League’s finer teams. However it could have been so much more of the back of John Aloisi’s shock resignation. And the side fought hard without their former Gaffer in charge, however it was to no avail. Adam Taggart was still misfiring (ala his potentially game tying penalty), weak defensively, no real threat up front. It was just…., well even thinking your hardest there isn’t much positive to say about Brisbane. They had 16 shots but only six of them went on target. While they gave away 17 fouls and two yellows. They currently hold six competition points and have a GD of -6. Their season has now gone from bad to worse with Aloisi’s departure! Oh well at least brother Ross is still at the club right (insert sigh emoji).
Won’t somebody please think of the children
In reference to that famous Simpsons line said by Helen Lovejoy, won’t somebody? Mike Charlesworth your up. A massive banner was seen by the majority of the crowd calling for his head. While they got smashed 4-1 by Perth. It was a simply horror performance by them. The Mariners fans had to put up with this BS for the entire 90 + stoppage time + the broken goals time. How they still have fans is a mystery, as is how Charlesworth still holds an A-League licence. While ex-attacker Fabio Ferreira scored a double against his old side in purple colours to compound Mike Mulvey’s mens misery. That is what Perth caused the Mariners. Tony Popovic’s side opened the scoring within the games opening three minutes and currently sit 1st on the ladder. They are a win ahead of both the Victory and Sky Blues. Their attacking instincts were on fire and they didn’t miss a beat without Ikonimidis who was called up to the national side.
Betting tip: Keogh (a goal last game and six on the season) and now Ferreira should combine well to absolutely terrorize the Roar’s defence. And if Santalab gets some game-time in the place of Ikonimdis then expect it to roll on throughout the duration of the match. This one could get very ugly and very quickly!
-This ones easy, pick Perth to be victorious at $2.55 (UniBet)
-Also pick Perth to score last at $1.95 (Neds)
Best Bet of the Round
My favourite & best bets of Round 11 are for PER to beat BRI at $2.55 (UniBet) and for SYD to beat the CCM at $1.30 (UniBet). The favourites are all class and the underdogs, well not so much, expect both results to be fairly one sided!!!
Tobias, what’s your call on Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar this evening? Cheers
Hi Gareth, sorry that’s my fault. I didn’t include the Newcastle Jets vs. Brisbane Roar fixture in the Round 11 template for Tobias. That fixture is technically part of Round 12, which threw me off.