I followed this league last season, having been able to listen to most of the games through their radio broadcasts. Live games are available on
(australian?) Fox Sports, which may be available on one of the web-casting programs
(does anybody know if this is true?).
Anyhow, hopefully I'm still up to speed with what's gone on during the post-season, any transfers that have taken place, managers that have come and gone, etc....
I'll probably start slowly, may just place phantom bets for the first few games in order to get a feel for the new league season. The clubs do have a bit of form coming into the season having taken part in the pre-season cup. Adelaide eventually won the cup, and should figure in the final running for this seasons championship, but a lot of the clubs rested players at key times, while some squads were decimated by injuries and international call-ups.
Anywho....
Melbourne v Adelaide
The last four meetings between these teams have finished in 1-0 victories for Adelaide, and I'm expecting a low-scoring game here as well, possibly the same 1-0 Adelaide victory.
Melbourne finished the pre-season in 5th place, a poor start with 2 losses and a draw being off-set by two wins and a draw in their last three games. All in all, it's been a poor build-up over all though. New found optimism after the arrivals of Scottish midfielder Grant Brebner and a trio of attacking Brazilian players has been overshadowed by their poor results, though decent performances, thus far. Grant Brebner seems to be pretty solid in the middle of the field, alongside midfield convert Kevin Muscat. Brazilian Fred has played the majority of the preseason and links the ball up well with the front players, Alsopp and Thompson, but may be replaced by Australian Kristian Sarkies, who's maturing into a fine player. I believe this Melbourne side may develop into a very good unit, but the team as a whole have had limited time to gel over this preseason and could start slowly.
Adelaide won the pre-season cup, going unbeaten despite having played 5 of their 6 games on their oppositions grounds. They had a tendancy to grind out their results, winning by a single goal on three occasions, while drawing the other three games. They've also played pretty much the pre-season with their first choice squad, only Lucas Pantelic missing out due to serious injury and new signing Bobby Petta due to permit work problems. Last seasons champions had the strongest away record in the league, finishing the season 8-1-2 away from home, their draw and one loss coming in the final two games of the season when assured of top place in the league. For these games they rested some of their more important players so as not to find them banned or injured come the end of season play-offs. Adelaide have kept the majority of the same squad as last season, but have strengthened, both to bring a better balance to the team and to improve their squad depth. Bobby Petta comes in to the squad
(but will not play tomorrow due to work permit problems) and Greg Owens adds more attacking options having signed from Sydney. Quite sensibly, they've decided to retain the defensive unit which has made them so difficult to break down during the last season of competition. If any team is going to be up-and-running from the off it will be Adelaide United.
As I've said, Melbourne may take time to gel as a unit, while Adelaide should easily be able to integrate their few new players into their squad. Both teams will be difficult to break down, but United
(Adelaide) seem to have some kind of hold over the Victory
(Melbourne). Tight game and probably another shut-out for United.
Bets: 0.5 points on both of
0-0 and
Melbourne 0-1 Adelaide @ 6/1 each!
