Hey guys, finally some time with no matches and a little bit of downtime to take to write for other stuff instead of match previews and match reports.
Anyways I did an interview with barcablaugranes so check that out and see what I had to say mostly about Valencia, but also about Barcelona and the Champions League and Europa League.
Also if you want to know the top 10 football clubs of the world of the world go to www.footballclubrankings.com. It features a weekly ranking of the top 10 football clubs in the world.
This week Valencia play with Grenada, finally a weaker team and a chance for us to start winning again. I agree with Emery when he says our attack must improve, but I'll leave my thoughts for the match previews. Anyways that's that.
Valencia CF football club. News, articles, match previews, match reports, team, squad, lineup, results, transfers, information, statistics for valencia cf los che
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Valencia CF 1-1 Chelsea FC - Match Report
Valencia CF 1-1 Chelsea FC
Possession: 56%-44%
Goals: Lampard, Soldado
Assists: Malouda
Attempts on target: 8-8
Valencia CF and Chelsea FC shared the spoils in last night's match what was an interesting and competitive game that should have both sided pleased, although Chelsea do have more to rue about, since they've had several shots saved in time of 3-4 minutes.
Technical Details:
Valencia CF (1): Diego Alves; Miguel, Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Jordi Alba; Albelda, Éver (Jonas, min. 73); Pablo (Feghouli, min.73), Canales, Mathieu (Piatti, min. 59); Soldado.
Chelsea FC (1): Čech; Bosingwa, David Luiz, Terry, A. Cole; Ramires (Meireles, min. 66), Obi Mikel, Lampard (Kalou, min. 83); Malouda, Torres (Anelka, min. 72), Mata.
Goals: 0-1 Lampard (min. 56), 1-1 Soldado (p) (min. 87)
Anyways Unai Emery started the match with the standard 4-2-3-1 formation:
Diego
Miguel Rami Ruiz Mathieu
Albelda Banega
Pablo Canales Mathieu
Soldado
The start of the match was a handful for Valencia as the players were really nervous and pretty much half the team made stupid, silly mistakes. For example Albelda had a back pass that gifted Torres the ball and if Rami wasn't as good and Torres as bad it would have resulted in a goal for Chelsea. Rami himself also had few lapses, as did Banega who also lost the ball in dangerous positions.
Sufficive to say the first 10 minutes or so were all filled with mistakes on both sides, but mostly on the Valencia side.
Sufficive to say the first 10 minutes or so were all filled with mistakes on both sides, but mostly on the Valencia side.
After the storm calmed down and the players settled we started having more possession and a bit of a breathing room and maneuvering place. Both teams were pressing hard when they lost the ball, but quickly fall back to their own half to form a double line defense and basically put positional pressure.
So the game turned into changing turns who was in attack and defense. Valencia will start attacking and Chelsea will pull back and defend and vice versa. The first half was played without too much chances and the battle was fought in the middle where Valencia was a little bit better with 54% of the control of the ball in the first half. Apart from few sporadic forward runs from both sides and dew crosses nothing major happened.
Second half started a bit more intensely and this is when things got much more interesting. Valencia CF started strong with control of the ball and threatening in attack, but about 5-6 minutes in the second half for some reason Valencia almost felt apart and in a total of 5 minutes Chelsea managed to create 4 huge scoring opportunities that if it wasn't for the superb Diego Alves would have probably went in. So Diego saved Valencia, but he can only do so much as in an incoming attack Malouda would beat Alba and cross to the lone Lampard who's shot easily found the net.
Valencia will go on a strong attack after the recieved goal and Chelsea started setting up for defending their small lead, as the game was physical and hard and Villas-Boas knew chances would be rare so he closed up his team and they started defending. Emery brought Piatti for Mathieu to provide a more attacking threat and Piatti instantly made an impact after founding himself alone in front of goal with only Cech, but failed to score. Emery noticed that Chelsea were comitted to defense and won't move out, so he took out Banega as he wasn't needed too much at that point and put in Jonas. This was a double substitution so he also took off Pablo who was quite ineffective and brought Feghuoli on. The changes had immidiate effect and Jonas and Feghuoli really started probing and opening up Chelsea.
With Valencia now more dangerous Piatti and Soldado found themselves with more chances, but couldn't quite score and as attacking as Valencia was, Chelsea seemed like it was going to go away with the 3 points from Mestalla, until Kalou decided for some reason to play with his hand in his own penalty and it was pretty stupid as there was absolutely no need for it and there was no absolutely no threat towards Cech goal. Anyways the referee gave a penalty and Soldado took the penalty superbly, sending off Cech in the wrong direction and scoring the goal.
Match statistics
| Valencia | Chelsea | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goals scored | 1 |
| 8 | Attempts on target | 8 |
| 7 | Attempts off target | 1 |
| 6 | Corners | 5 |
| 3 | Offsides | 2 |
| 9 | Fouls committed | 10 |
| 2 | Yellow cards | 4 |
| 0 | Red cards | 0 |
Ricardo Costa profile
Playing position: Central defender
Previous club: Wolfsburg
Number: 20
Birthday: 16 May, 1981 (age 31)
Nationality: Portuguese
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 80kg
Contract ends: 30.06.2014
Player Rating:
Market Value:
Previous clubs:
Porto, Portugal 2002-2007
Wolfsburg, Germany 2007-2010
Lille, France 2010 (loan)
| 2010/11 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| Portugal | WC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| Valencia | UCL | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Portugal | Int | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Valencia | La Liga | 29 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 61 | 16 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 38 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 5 | 72 | 18 | 8 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 2009/10 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| Lille | Ligue 1 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| VfL Wolfsburg | Bund | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 20 | 13 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfL Wolfsburg | UCL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfL Wolfsburg | Ger Cup | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 24 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 4 | 40 | 26 | 6 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 2008/09 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| VfL Wolfsburg | Ger Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| VfL Wolfsburg | Bund | 10 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 12 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 29 | 5 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 2007/08 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| VfL Wolfsburg | Bund | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 48 | 10 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 48 | 10 | 8 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2006/07 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| FC Porto | UCL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2005/06 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| FC Porto | UCL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2004/05 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| FC Porto | UCL | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Season Totals | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2003/04 Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC | |||||||||
| FC Porto | UCL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Glossary |
| GS: Games Started, SB: Used as Substitute, G: Goals, A: Assists, SH: Shots, SG: Shots on goal, YC: Yellow Cards, RC: Red Cards, FC: Fouls Committed, FS: Fouls Suffered, SV: Saves, OF: Offsides, W: Wins, D: Draws, L: Losses |
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Valencia CF 1-1 Chelsea FC Player Ratings
Diego Alves 10 (MotM) - Absolutely brilliant performance, in a period of 5 minutes made some amazing saves, had one more amazing save towards the end to keep the result 1-1. Just perfect. Biggest mark I've given.
Miguel 4.5 - Slow and clumsy performance from Miguel, exposed numerous times and forced Rami to come out way too often on the side, couldn't get a decent cross for his life.
Rami 7 - Great performance once again from the Frenchmen as he commanded his area and made few curucial interceptions.
Ruiz 6 - Did well enough, but when pressed by the Chelsea attack made mistakes. Not his best performance and maybe he needs a little rest to get his strength and focus up.
Alba 6 - Did well in defense overall, but crucially allowed the cross that lead to the goal for Chelsea. Offered support going forward, but wasn't too secure and convincing in defense.
Albelda 6 - Had several misplaced passes in the beginning, giving the ball away to Chelsea in dangerous positions and Torres almost scored from his back pass. Improved later on and did good, but could have easily cost the team to loose with his poor passing early on.
Banega 7 - As Albelda was nervous at the beginning and lost few balls in dangerous positions, but improved later on and provided good passing, outlet for going forward and his performance was generally positive.
Pablo 6 - Quite the ineffective performance from Pablo even though he was rested on the weekend, but tonight he failed to provide anything of note and while he was full of running, failed to make an impact.
Canales 7 - Good performance and provided some good piercing passes that players couldn't take advantage of, dropped deeper when needed and worked very hard for the team.
Mathieu 6 - Its in this matches when one can see Mathieu is not a winger. Had good forward runs and good crosses, but wasn't intelligent with his crosses and they were all instinctive missing some opportunities. Still though had a decent showing.
Soldado 6 - Moved in some good positions and had decent service, its just that his first touch let him down and failed to control the ball so often, ruining his chances. Perfectly taken penalty though.
Subs:
Piatti 6 - Instantly effective as he was dangerous for Chelsea goal, had two shots towards goal, probably should have done better with those, but was more dangerous than Mathieu.
Jonas 6 - His and Feghuoli's coming on provided some urgency into the attack and Valencia became more dangerous, had a good shot on goal that Cech saves and created trouble for Chelsea.
Feghuoli 6 - Ditto Jonas, had great positive effect on VCF attack, provided some good passes, some good crosses and did more in 20 minutes than Pablo did in 70.
Unai Emery 7 - Set up the team great, pretty much what you'd expect though and in the second half made great substitutions that added depth and urgency in the attack and got lucky as Valencia equalized, although that was more Andre's sub helping us out.
Miguel 4.5 - Slow and clumsy performance from Miguel, exposed numerous times and forced Rami to come out way too often on the side, couldn't get a decent cross for his life.
Rami 7 - Great performance once again from the Frenchmen as he commanded his area and made few curucial interceptions.
Ruiz 6 - Did well enough, but when pressed by the Chelsea attack made mistakes. Not his best performance and maybe he needs a little rest to get his strength and focus up.
Alba 6 - Did well in defense overall, but crucially allowed the cross that lead to the goal for Chelsea. Offered support going forward, but wasn't too secure and convincing in defense.
Albelda 6 - Had several misplaced passes in the beginning, giving the ball away to Chelsea in dangerous positions and Torres almost scored from his back pass. Improved later on and did good, but could have easily cost the team to loose with his poor passing early on.
Banega 7 - As Albelda was nervous at the beginning and lost few balls in dangerous positions, but improved later on and provided good passing, outlet for going forward and his performance was generally positive.
Pablo 6 - Quite the ineffective performance from Pablo even though he was rested on the weekend, but tonight he failed to provide anything of note and while he was full of running, failed to make an impact.
Canales 7 - Good performance and provided some good piercing passes that players couldn't take advantage of, dropped deeper when needed and worked very hard for the team.
Mathieu 6 - Its in this matches when one can see Mathieu is not a winger. Had good forward runs and good crosses, but wasn't intelligent with his crosses and they were all instinctive missing some opportunities. Still though had a decent showing.
Soldado 6 - Moved in some good positions and had decent service, its just that his first touch let him down and failed to control the ball so often, ruining his chances. Perfectly taken penalty though.
Subs:
Piatti 6 - Instantly effective as he was dangerous for Chelsea goal, had two shots towards goal, probably should have done better with those, but was more dangerous than Mathieu.
Jonas 6 - His and Feghuoli's coming on provided some urgency into the attack and Valencia became more dangerous, had a good shot on goal that Cech saves and created trouble for Chelsea.
Feghuoli 6 - Ditto Jonas, had great positive effect on VCF attack, provided some good passes, some good crosses and did more in 20 minutes than Pablo did in 70.
Unai Emery 7 - Set up the team great, pretty much what you'd expect though and in the second half made great substitutions that added depth and urgency in the attack and got lucky as Valencia equalized, although that was more Andre's sub helping us out.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Valencia CF vs Chelsea FC - Match Preview
Valencia CF vs Chelsea FC
Stadium: Mestalla
2nd fixture, Champions League
Expected attendance: 55.000
Coaches: Unai Emery and Andre Villas-Boas
Here we are once again facing Chelsea FC in the Champions Leauge. The last time Valencia CF faced Chelsea at the Mestalla was in year 2007 in September as well I think when Valencia CF lost 2-1.
Valencia took the lead after nine minutes back then when David Villa raced clear to beat Petr Cech, but was unable to keep the composure for 90 minutes and eventually lost 2-1.
New Chelsea FC signing Juan Mata will have a swift return to Valencia CF after the Group E draw and is going to return to Valencia CF wearing the opposition dress this time.
In his first press conference for Chelsea, Juan Mata said: "I have a wish that [the two clubs] will meet in the final of this season's Champions League." I guess his wish came true, but a lot sooner than he had wished.
Both teams are pretty much the same in quality with young managers on the helm, with Villas Boas reminding a bit of the Jose Mourinho story, since he was his assistant and then went on to become Porto manager and win everything with Porto and then transfer to Chelsea, albeit one year sooner than Mourinho.
Head to Head
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/12/2007 | UEFA CL | Chelsea vs Valencia | Group B, matchday 2 | 0 - 0 |
| 04/10/2007 | UEFA CL | Valencia vs Chelsea | Group B, matchday 1 | 1 - 2 |
| 11/04/2007 | UEFA CL | Valencia vs Chelsea | Quarter Finals | 1 - 2 |
| 05/04/2007 | UEFA CL | Chelsea vs Valencia | Quarter Finals | 1 - 1 |
Valencia CF is coming to this match after a hell of a week with FC Barcelona the first opponent, then Sevilla FC next and now Chelsea FC and apart from such a difficult weak it did great and will try to get the better of Chelsea and win as it has certainly shown that is has the quality to do so. Unai Emery doesn't have much room for maneuvering and must go for the win after an unexpected draw with Genk and is going to use the home matches to win against everyone.
Pablo Hernandez has been rested as he is one of the most important players for Valencia CF this season and should be fully ready to help the team try and win.On the other hand Banega, Mathieu, Rami, Ruiz and even Soldado played in the Sevilla match with all but Soldado starting the match.
Valencia CF lost the match against Sevilla FC 1-0 and I've written a technical report on it explaining why Valencia CF played bad in the first half, how and why it improved in the second half and why Emery's substitutions worked against us.
But that is behind us now and the focus in on Chelsea FC who are a dangerous opponent and the players will need to play at their best and be fully focused to beat them.
Valencia CF coach Unai Emery had this to say in the press-conference: "Tomorrow is a big game with the usual complications, but we feel confident. We know all about Chelsea but also know that we are a very strong side, even more so here at Mestalla. We are only focused on ourselves and want to produce a great game and a victory for our fans. Tomorrow every player wearing blue [including Mata] will be our enemy.
Chelsea defend and attack their own way, and we'll try to exploit this and hurt them. I expect a physical game and we have to be switched on. We respect all our rivals but this doesn't affect our philosophy of playing football.
We want a full stadium and it's our responsibility to put on a great show so the fans can enjoy a great game. I can't promise victory, but we will give our all to get one. We played our best match of the season against Barcelona [2-2 last Wednesday], but every opponent is different and we have to adapt to them.
In the Champions League there are many great teams, and we're one of them. Chelsea were the top seeds and we were in the second pot, but the favorites don't always win"
Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Vicente Guaita, Diego Alves.
Defenders: Bruno, Miguel, Ricardo Costa, Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
Midfielders: Albelda, Maduro, Éver, Feghouli, Pablo, Parejo, Piatti, Canales.
Forwards: Jonas, Adúriz, Soldado.
Chelsea FC on the other hand is coming to this match after a big victory in the Premier League against the newly promoted team Swansea and they completely destroyed them even with one man less. Torres scored his fourth goal I believe, but was later on given a red card and would be thankful that his team managed to beat Swansea easily even without him.
Juan Mata played 60 minutes in the game and provided the assist to Torres for the first goal, he was quite dangerous on the left side all the way until he was substituted.
Whether Juan Mata play against Valencia CF is still unknown as Chelsea manager Boas may think its too early of a return to Valencia and Mata may not give his best, so we'll have to see.
Chelsea FC have also made a great start to the Champions League and they beat Bayern Leverkuzen in their first match, so right now they are the group leaders and are surely planning to leave the Mestalla with at least one point from it.
In their match against Leverkuzen Luiz came in and scored a fantastic goal who he himself started and set up basically, but he has not featured in the premier league at all, so this may be his chance to start and personally I don't know why he hasn't been starting in the Premier League, I mean they did spend 20 million on him last season and he was supposed to be Terry's hair, but it seems everyone so far is ahead of him right now.
Lampard has also gotten the back seat treatment as well, as his showing this season has been underwhelming and former Liverpool men Meireles is chosen over him. Meireles just joined this summer and has been quite the regular for Chelsea considering, with Malouda also loosing his place to Mata, although Malouda has been benched quite often last season as well.
Anyways there are no reported injuries for Chelsea and all of their squad is fit to play and its definitely going to be an interesting game.
Chelsea FC manager Andre Villas-Boas had this to say at the press conference: "Valencia will be extremely motivated. They had a good game against Barcelona but lost last weekend against Sevilla. They will try to get the three points. In the first game they only got a draw when they expected three points. We have to believe in our philosophy, the game will be very fast and intense, and if we get to win the three points tomorrow we will be in a very good position to go through.
'I am very good friends with [Valencia coach Unai Emery]. I think he is one of the best in the country. He has been extremely successful here in Spain and I hope one day he will go to England in the Premiership because the philosophy is very similar to what Unai believes in. I am very impressed by the way Valencia play football and by the way Unai motivates his players.'
Chelsea FC squad: to be announced...
Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups) Updated 28.09.11:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Diego; Miguel, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Banega,
Tactics: Medium defensive line, all round pressure, positional changes from the wingers, 3 way attacks, mixed passing.
Technical Details Chelsea FC (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Mikel, Meireles; Anelka, Torres, Mata.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, own half closing, three way attacks, free role Mata, mostly short passing.
Result Prediction:
Valencia CF 2-1 Chelsea FC
Well hopefully Emery has learned not to experiment with formations especially against tough opposition and hopefully he'll return to the 4-2-3-1 formation. This is going to be a tough match and there is no telling what may happen, but I expect if Valencia play with full focus and desire as against Barcelona we can win this match. Chelsea are dangerous in attack because they use brute force, since Mata has joined they have a little bit more flair and finesse, but they are still mostly a brute force team so our players will need to be ruthless in their tackles to gain an advantage.
I think Valencia CF will take this match 2-1, but ultimately anything can happen.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sevilla FC 1-0 Valencia CF - Match Report
Sevilla FC 1-0 Valencia CF
Possession: 37%-63%
Goals: Kanoute
Assists: Navas
Valencia CF lost its first match this season at the legs of Sevilla FC. And it wasn't just the loss that is bad, but it was how Valencia CF played in the first half.
Technical Details:
Sevilla FC (1): Javi Varas; Martín
Cáceres, Emir Spahić, Julien Escudé, Fernando Navarro; Jesús Navas,
Piotr Trochowski, Gary Medel, Diego Perotti (Coke Andújar, 70m);
Álvaro Negredo (Manu del Moral, 80m), Frédéric Kanouté (Ivan
Rakitić, 59m).Valencia CF (0): Vicente Guaita; Adil Rami, Hedwiges Madruo, Víctor Ruiz (Roberto Soldado, 72m); Bruno Saltor (Antonio Barragán, 46m), Tino Costa, Éver Banega, Jérémy Mathieu; Pablo Piatti (Sergio Canales, 63m), Jonas Gonçalves, Aritz Aduriz.
Goals: 1-0 Frédéric Kanouté (18th minute).
Unai Emery started with a 4-3-3 formation:
Guaita
Miguel Rami Ruiz Mathieu
Banega Maduro Tino
Piatti Aduriz Jonas
This formation has never worked for Valencia CF in any shape or form, and having some weird transformations in it as well didn't help one bit either and it just made it more confusing to the players. But I know what Emery was thinking and why he set up the formation as he did.
He was planing on playing Maduro so back that in a way it would be only Tino and Banega in the middle with Mathieu and Bruno standing in the middle as playing as wingers and have Jonas come in deep whenever possible when attacking.
Here is an illustration:
The first image is the starting formation, but that formation was fully transformed when defending and attacking. For example when transforming to attack the formation changes to what it is in the second position. As you can see from red arrows the distance from Tino to Banega was huge and not to mention the distance from Tino to Mathieu or Bruno so most of the time the ball ended up circling in the defense for too long until Rami crossed forward or until Bruno came back and got the ball. As it was, Banega did not come back and with Tino unable to bring the ball forward Valencia was forced to play with long crosses that ended up just giving the ball to Sevilla.
In the situations when we did manage some try at an attack our left side was fully exposed. As you can see from the second picture the red arrow from Matheu and the back. Our whole left side was exposed and as we saw Jesus Navasu used this space to get a counter attack and pass the ball to Kanoute who had ample time to slot the ball into the net.
But that wasn't Valencia's only problem. Since Emery wanted the full backs to play as wingers this also left our right side exposed since Bruno was way too slow to came back from attack and his attacking contribution wasn't something to talk about either.
Ultimately it was Emery's fault for the formation and tactical setup and only did he fix it at the start of the second half.
Anyone noticing any difference? As you can see Emery made some good changed in the second half, that he should have probably started with. As you can see from the above picture Ever Banega and Tino Costa changed places. Why was that you ask? Well its because this way Valencia CF had someone (Banega) who can actually bring the ball out of defense and transfer it in attack. This could have possibly left us more vulnerable in attack and I suspect this is why Emery didn't start this way, but Banega and Maduro were able to cope good in defense and Tino Costa dropped deep anyways since once we controlled the ball there was time for Banega to move forward still on the left side and Tino Costa to come backward, still on the right side.
The other change was Mathieu came a little bit more back and this created the perfect passing opportunities for Banega who could play to Mathieu on the wing, Maduro back if under pressure or forward to Tino Costa. It also created a natural progression for the ball to be passed.
Third change was the arrival of Barragan in the place of Bruno and this had basically one effect and that is to add some speed on the right wing. It made the right wing more safe defensively and more dangerous offensively.
Fourth change was the position of Jonas. As you remember in the first half he barely touched the ball and was nowhere to be seen and this is because he can't play as a left winger. He is either a striker, support striker or an attacking midfielder. Emery decided to put him just behind Aduriz, but give him the freedom to roam and this paid off as Jonas linked up quite well with many of the players after this change and we can see him doubling on the right a lot of times or coming in the center straight towards goal and he had quite a few shots and passes with his new position and given freedom.
The biggest mistake Emery did in this match looking from retrospective is the substitution of Piatti for Canales.
With the four changes Emery made we were basically stranded with only one attacker as Jonas was positioned as an attacking midfielder.
At this point Sevilla were with two players down and I guess he wanted to add some more precision passes from the right into the penalty area and with Piatti missing 20 passes it wasn't going to happen by him. The problem was that our midfield at that point became too crowded and with Canales playing more in the middle than right it sort of strangled our own attack and decreased the effectivness of Jonas.
Mathieu was also tiering as always around the 70th minute mark and instead of Canales, it would have made perfect sense to Bring on Feghuoli for Tino Costa who wasn't really needed at that point and all he did was provide short passes to Banega and nothing else.
Replacing Tino with Feghuoli would have put Piatti on the left side and he would have helped out Mathieu, Feghuoli would have slotted on the right and added more depth to the right wing and later on Emery could have brought on Soldado for Ruiz.
As it is this loss was not Emery's fault per say, as Banega missed a penalty, Aduriz got himself send off by falling for Navarro's provocation and basically gave Sevilla a lifeline.
Ultimately it was a combination of things that resulted in Valencia CF loosing, from the bad formation, the unknown 3 defense system that caused Rami and Ruiz problems to Banega missing a penalty, Aduriz getting send off and generally the weaker play by all the players in the first half.
Sevilla 1-0 Valencia - Player Ratings
Player Ratings:
Guaita 6 - Had one good intervention, and could do nothing for the goal.
Bruno 5 - In no mans land, wasn't good defensively nor offensively. Properly substituted at half time.
Rami 6 - Mixed performance from the French. Did not communicate with Ruiz as he should have and both managed to mark absolutely no one.
Ruiz 6 - Same as Rami, both share responsibility for first goal. Other than that was pretty good.
Mathieu 6.5 - Some great runs forward and provided crosses and passes in abundance, but similarly as Dani for example for Barcelona was absent from defense and it showed as Jesus Navas counter attack led to the goal.
Maduro 6 - Was actually quite effective in defense, though I guess was a bit of a nuisance to Rami and Ruiz as he was ordered to go the sweeper position when Valencia defended and they weren't used to a 3 man defense.
Banega 6 - Overall it was a good match for Banega, but did have two bad reactions where he lost the ball in dangerous positions and missed a penalty. Still he was pretty much the only guy that can actually start an attack from the middle.
Tino Costa 6 - Absolutely terrible in the first half, improved in the second and finally started playing good when Sevilla were 2 men down. Overall if Sevilla wasn't 2 men down would have gotten a rating of probably 5.
Piatti 5.5 - Ran channels, was very active and did actually have one good pass to Aduriz that put him clear on goal, but misplaced 10 other passes and goes down to the slightest touch. Messi is similar stature but can dribble and pass.
Aduriz 4 - What a bad day for Aduriz. As if achieving nothing in attack isn't bad enough, he felt to Navaro's provocation and stepped on Navarro's leg and was shown the red card just when Valencia were 2 men up.
Jonas 6 - Was quite crap in the first half, improved quite a bit in the second, but not quite enough to score a goal.
Subs:
Barragan 6.5 Was quite the step up from Bruno and if this didn't place him above Bruno in the pecking order I don't know what will. Played good in defense and attack, albeit he had a little easier time as Sevilla lost 2 men later on.
Canales 5 - Didn't bring anything in the field. Should have played right, but he was always going to the middle, crowding the place.
Soldado N/A - Not enough time.
Unai Emery 4 - Started with a wrong formation. We would have controlled the game without 3 midfielders. Should have just started with 4-2-3-1 as its served us so well so far. He put Jonas on the left a position Jonas has publicly said he doesn't like and can't play. It is what it is, but he also made a wrong substitution by subbing Canales for Piatti. He should have brought Feghuoli and added depth to the wings as our team with Canales now had 4 central midfielders and no wingers !
Guaita 6 - Had one good intervention, and could do nothing for the goal.
Bruno 5 - In no mans land, wasn't good defensively nor offensively. Properly substituted at half time.
Rami 6 - Mixed performance from the French. Did not communicate with Ruiz as he should have and both managed to mark absolutely no one.
Ruiz 6 - Same as Rami, both share responsibility for first goal. Other than that was pretty good.
Mathieu 6.5 - Some great runs forward and provided crosses and passes in abundance, but similarly as Dani for example for Barcelona was absent from defense and it showed as Jesus Navas counter attack led to the goal.
Maduro 6 - Was actually quite effective in defense, though I guess was a bit of a nuisance to Rami and Ruiz as he was ordered to go the sweeper position when Valencia defended and they weren't used to a 3 man defense.
Banega 6 - Overall it was a good match for Banega, but did have two bad reactions where he lost the ball in dangerous positions and missed a penalty. Still he was pretty much the only guy that can actually start an attack from the middle.
Tino Costa 6 - Absolutely terrible in the first half, improved in the second and finally started playing good when Sevilla were 2 men down. Overall if Sevilla wasn't 2 men down would have gotten a rating of probably 5.
Piatti 5.5 - Ran channels, was very active and did actually have one good pass to Aduriz that put him clear on goal, but misplaced 10 other passes and goes down to the slightest touch. Messi is similar stature but can dribble and pass.
Aduriz 4 - What a bad day for Aduriz. As if achieving nothing in attack isn't bad enough, he felt to Navaro's provocation and stepped on Navarro's leg and was shown the red card just when Valencia were 2 men up.
Jonas 6 - Was quite crap in the first half, improved quite a bit in the second, but not quite enough to score a goal.
Subs:
Barragan 6.5 Was quite the step up from Bruno and if this didn't place him above Bruno in the pecking order I don't know what will. Played good in defense and attack, albeit he had a little easier time as Sevilla lost 2 men later on.
Canales 5 - Didn't bring anything in the field. Should have played right, but he was always going to the middle, crowding the place.
Soldado N/A - Not enough time.
Unai Emery 4 - Started with a wrong formation. We would have controlled the game without 3 midfielders. Should have just started with 4-2-3-1 as its served us so well so far. He put Jonas on the left a position Jonas has publicly said he doesn't like and can't play. It is what it is, but he also made a wrong substitution by subbing Canales for Piatti. He should have brought Feghuoli and added depth to the wings as our team with Canales now had 4 central midfielders and no wingers !
Friday, September 23, 2011
Sevilla FC vs Valencia CF - Match Preview
Sevilla FC vs Valencia CF
Stadium: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán
September 24th 2011, 18:00CET
6th matchday, La Liga
Expected Attendance: 42.000
Coaches: Marcelino García Toral and Unai Emery
Valencia CF is in its toughest week or so as far as I can remember back. Before the match against FC Barcelona just 3 days earlier, Valencia CF played Sporting Gijon just 4 days before the Barca match. And if the match against Barcelona wasn't hard enough we now face Sevilla FC and after that once again just 4 days later we face Chelsea FC in the Champions League. So over 11 days Valencia CF is to play 4 matches against 3 top clubs. Good thing is that two are down with good success rate, two to go.
Valencia CF had a great match against Barcelona and deserved to win no doubt about it as it was the far better side of the first half. Soldado had the amazing chance to put Valencia up 3-1, but unluckily he missed from less than 1 meter. Of course Valencia CF had other opportunities and also started the second half with more dangerous attacks and it wasn't until the 70th minute when Valencia tempo slowed down and Barcelona started to dominate and had their best chances of the match, including a goal.
Overall Valencia CF has had a good season so far and is currently first place in the league, but its only the beginning of the season and Valencia CF must keep its momentum.
Sevilla FC is coming to this match after a fairly good start to the season and have had a two difficult matches themselves against Malaga and Villarreal in which they managed to draw 2-2 away from home. Sevilla FC have 8 points from 4 matches and are capable of beating Valencia CF as history can testify if.
They have the same core team from last season and they are experienced and great players that know their football and with a new coach they are reinvigorated this season. Its obvious that they are a top level club as they managed to beat Malaga at the start of the season, who sports some big talent now, then went on to draw with Villarreal on the road. A bit of a bummer for them would be their latest match in which they only managed to draw with Osasuna, the team that lost 8-0 to Barcelona just few days earlier.
The biggest changes in the transfer were the departure of central defender Didier Zokora and the arrival of striker Manu Del Moral from Getafe. Other than those two they had quite a bit of changes overall, but mostly fringe players, except for probably Diego Capel.
Negredo is curently the top scorer for Srvilla as can be expected and he is in good form, as shown from his club matches for which he was called for the Spain team where he showed his good form as well scoring some goals and helping out Spain.
Sevilla FC squad:
Goalkeepers: Andrés Palop, Javi Varas
Defenders: Coke Andújar, Martín Cáceres, Alexis Ruano, Emir Spahić, Julien Escudé, Fernando Navarro
Midfielders: Jesús Navas, Emiliano Armenteros, Diego Perotti, Gary Medel, Ivan Rakitić, Piotr Trochowski, José Campaña
Forwards: Manu del Moral, Álvaro Negredo, Frédéric Kanouté
The biggest changes in the transfer were the departure of central defender Didier Zokora and the arrival of striker Manu Del Moral from Getafe. Other than those two they had quite a bit of changes overall, but mostly fringe players, except for probably Diego Capel.
Negredo is curently the top scorer for Srvilla as can be expected and he is in good form, as shown from his club matches for which he was called for the Spain team where he showed his good form as well scoring some goals and helping out Spain.
Sevilla FC squad:
Goalkeepers: Andrés Palop, Javi Varas
Defenders: Coke Andújar, Martín Cáceres, Alexis Ruano, Emir Spahić, Julien Escudé, Fernando Navarro
Midfielders: Jesús Navas, Emiliano Armenteros, Diego Perotti, Gary Medel, Ivan Rakitić, Piotr Trochowski, José Campaña
Forwards: Manu del Moral, Álvaro Negredo, Frédéric Kanouté
Valencia CF on the other hand is coming to this match as second place on the table and after a great match with Barcelona, having competed with them and beat them at their own game for 70 minutes of the match. Of course then changes were made and players got tired and Barcelona dominated the last 20 minutes, but I'd say winning against Barcelona for 70 minutes is whats the main story here. Soldado even had an amazing chance to put Valencia up 3-1, but he missed a sitter from less than 1 meter.
If you havent seen the match go see as it was great football, great spectacle and you are missing a lot.
Unai Emery decided to change the squad up for this match and rest few players like Pablo Hernandez and Miguel Brito, while Jordi Alba is suspended and David Albelda injured and will be out for at least a week.
In their place Emery brought Barragan, Feghuoli, Parejo and Ricardo Costa. Basically all but Costa have not had their debut in La Liga yet and this could be their best chance to make it.
We should not forget that after this match Valencia have an even difficult opponent just 4 days later in the Champions League where we face Chelsea and our former player until a month ago Juan Mata. So Emery should probably rest the strongest players for that Match and give the other players some playing time.
Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Vicente Guaita, Diego Alves
Defenders: Antonio Barragán, Bruno Saltor, Adil Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Ricardo Costa, Jérémy Mathieu
Midfielders: Hedwiges Maduro, Tino Costa, Éver Banega, Dani Parejo, Pablo Piatti, Sergio Canales, Sofiane Feghouli
Forwards: Roberto Soldado, Jonas Gonçalves, Aritz Aduriz
Goalkeepers: Vicente Guaita, Diego Alves
Defenders: Antonio Barragán, Bruno Saltor, Adil Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Ricardo Costa, Jérémy Mathieu
Midfielders: Hedwiges Maduro, Tino Costa, Éver Banega, Dani Parejo, Pablo Piatti, Sergio Canales, Sofiane Feghouli
Forwards: Roberto Soldado, Jonas Gonçalves, Aritz Aduriz
Technical Details Sevilla FC (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Javi Varas; Navarro, Alexis, Escude, Caceres; Navas, Medel, Rakitic, Peroti; Negredo, Kanoute.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, own third closing down, mixed passing, high frequency wing attacks with mostly crosses from the wings.
Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Guaita; Barragan, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Maduro, Tino; Feghuoli, Canales, Piatti; Aduriz;
Tactics: Medium defensive line, own half pressure, high frequency wing attacks, counter attacks, mixed passing.
Result Prediction:
Result Prediction:
Sevilla FC 0-1 Valencia CF
Sevilla have been quite shy for goals so far in the season and with Valencia players spening all of their energy against Barcelona I don't think this is going to be a goal fest. I think both teams are going to be equally matched and the defenses will give us the winner and that should be Valencia as I know Alexis is very bad and if he plays we should score.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Valencia CF 2-2 FC Barcelona - Match Report
Valencia CF 2-2 FC Barcelona
Possession: 44%-56%
Goals: Abidal(o.g.), Pedro, Pablo, Cesc
Assists: Messi, Mathieu, Messi
Goal occasions: 3-6
Great match from Valencia CF and this shows that Barcelona can be beat and beat rather easily as Valencia showed tonight with chance after chacne in the first half, but unfortunately there were some incredible misses like the Soldado one and that kept Barcelona coming out of the Mestalla with a lucky draw. Valencia CF showed that it is a serious title contender and I look forward to the next time we face Barcelona so we can destroy them and hopefully ruin their title hopes so that Valencia CF is first.
After few minutes of testing each other the first chance came from Valencia CF from a counter attack in which Pablo Hernandez had a shot.
The following minutes would be a tug of war in the middle of the field, with neither side able to dominate possession and the sporadic runs forward.
The next chance would come in the 12th minute once again from Valencia CF as Mathieu recieved a ball from Pablo and send a cross that Abidal touched and send the ball into his own net, although the ball would probably ended in the goal if he didn't touch it as well. Anyways Valencia CF had the lead 1-0.
The celebration would be short lasted though as only one minute later Barcelona would manage to equalize. Lionell Messi would manage to send a good pass to the ongoing Pedro and with Miguel caught standing Pedro had a clear sight of goal and scored to equalize the result.
The match would go once again into a battle for the middle with Valencia CF overall the better team with more dangerous runs towards the Barcelona goal. Then in the 23rd minute Mathieu's cross founds Pablo Hernandez who scores and puts Valencia CF in the lead. The goal chance was started by Banega who dribbled past 2 FCB players and passed the ball to Mathieu who was able to assist Pablo.
Then 3 minutes later Alba and Mathieu would combine superbly on the left and Alba sends the ball to Banega, but this one miss controls the ball and ends up loosing it.
After quite a battle in the middle once for for about 10 minutes Puyol plays with his hand, but the referee waves play on, only for the ball to reach Soldado and Puyol fouls Soldado, but its Soldado who receives a yellow card? Does this make sense? No, but obviously the referee is favorite towards Barcelona and people better admit it.
Barcelona was quite helpless in the first half and did not create any dangerous chances towards Valencia goal, but that is why Valencia was dangerous and in the 41st minute Mathieu with another great run on the left and a great pass that found Soldado alone, but Soldado somehow managed to miss from only 1 meter. How he managed to miss the chance is a mystery and will surely eat him up.
Second half started similarly to the first, although Barcelona did have more of the possession, but it was Valencia CF who had the first chance as Pablo crosses towards Soldado, but this one fails to deliver once again.
67th minute Mascherano releases a powerful bomb shot towards Guaita and hits the woodwork, but thankfully it didn't went in. Just few minutes later decent chance for Barca as Adriano goes past Alba, but nothing comes out of the chance.
Messi later tries with a shot, but Ruiz manages to block in the last moment and Guaita gets the ball. Just a minute after that Messi runs towards Valencia CF goal, but Rami closes in on him and get him off balance, enough time for Guaita to catch the ball.
Barcelona were getting very dangerous in the past 5 minutes and Valencia CF needed to calm down the tempo, but failed and Cesc Fabregas scores from a great assist from Messi and once again proves that Barcelona is an average team that Valencia CF can beat with no problems, but they have Messi who is undoubtedly the best player of all time. Just as Barcelona was struggling he was their main threat and along with Cesc managed to save Barca from a loss. Either way Soldado should have converted his chance in the first half and right now must take the blame for Valencia's loss. You are not allowed to miss from 1 meter and less in any game, let alone against Barcelona.
Anyways after that Villa and Adriano found themselves with a goal chance in the 89th minute and in the first chance Guaita saves from Villa and in the second Barcelona chance Miguel saves as he blocks the ball from going into the goal.
Then two minutes in extended time the referee for some reason goes berserk and gives Alba a red card for no obvious reason. Luckily the game ends and Valencia CF get a draw even though it deserved a victory and would have gotten it, if Soldado didn't ruin a 1 meter chance.
Technical Details:
Valencia CF (2): Guaita; Miguel, Rami, Ruiz, Alba; Albelda(Tino Costa, 46th minute), Banega; Pablo, Canales(Jonas Gonçalves, 69th minute), Mathieu(Pablo Piatti, 73rd minute); Soldado.
FC Barcelona (2): Valdes; Alves, Puyol(Thiago Alcántara, 63rd minute), Mascherano, Abidal; Xavi, Busquets, Keita(Adriano Correia, 57th minute); Pedro(David Villa, 57th minute), Messi, Cesc.
Goals: 1-0 Eric Abidal (own goal, 12th minute), 1-1 Pedro Rodríguez (14th minute), 2-1 Pablo Hernández (23rd minute), 2-2 Cesc Fàbregas (77th minute).
Player Ratings:
Guaita 7 - Had some great saves and couldn't do anything about the goals. Overall though not tested too much as Barcelona was lucky to end the game with a draw.
Miguel 6.5 - Way too many mistakes at the begining and wasn't convincing in the first half, but went on to make few crucial interceptions in the second half, including saving the goal from the goal line.
Rami 7 - Won most of his duels and covered well in defense, but a little bit exposed when the midfield was not too quick to cover.
Ruiz 6.5 - Had a decent match and wasn't particularly at fault for any goal, had few great blocks, but it shows that he and Rami need more playing time together to improve.
Alba 6.5 - Some great defensive maneuvers and some rather poor ones. Dani and then Adriano got the better of him, but he also had quite a few great moves in attack. Lucky that his mistakes didn't cost goals, otherwise the score would have been lower.
Pablo 7 - Good work all over the field as he covered a lot of ground. Managed to score a goal and was somewhat dangerous on the right, although he did come to the middle to help out Banega.
Albelda 6 - Good cover for the defense and his experience and positioning is exceptional, but lacks the pace and passing skill to move the Valencia CF midfield forward.
Banega 8 - Amazing skill, singlehandedly countered the Barcelona midfield and kept possession for Valencia CF. Involved in all the attacks and generally all positive things came from him. Got tired in the later stages of the match and made few mistakes towards the end, but overall great match.
Mathieu 8 (MotM) - No doubt about it, the man of the match. Responcible for the first goal, even though it won't be written to him, set up the second goal and then set up several other chances including the one to Soldado when he missed from 1 meter.
Canales 6 - Good defensive work from Canales and managed to steal quite a few balls from Barcelona. Went deep to get the ball when needed, but not too influential in attack.
Soldado 3.5 - What a miserable match from Soldado. I'm in shock he wasn't substituted, as he wasn't helping out defensively and wasn't a threat in attack either. A huge miss in the first half that would have made Valencia the winner.
Subs:
Tino Costa 5.5 - Run all over the pitch, tried hard to help put on defense and attack, but the ball just didn't like him too much tonight. Did worse defensively than Albelda and I wonder why emery made the substitution so soon.
Jonas 5 - Another weird substitution. He should have come for Soldado and try some solo runs to threaten Barcelona. As it was he was not good at all.
Piatti 6 - Came in and caused Barcelona quite a few troubles, but failed to provide the kind of threat that Mathieu provided and was also not good enough defensively.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Valencia CF vs FC Barcelona - Match Preview
Valencia CF vs FC Barcelona
Stadium: Mestalla
September 21st, 2011; 20:00CET
5th matchday, La Liga
Expected Attendance: 55.000
Coaches: Unai Emery and Josep Guardiola
Its that time again in the new season where we face the title defenders and favorites for winning it again FC Barcelona. The matches between Valencia CF and FC Barcelona have always been very entertaining and have attracted huge crowds and a lot of viewership not only in Spain, but all over the world.
While the Barcelona fans are undoubtedly in higher numbers all over the world, Valencia CF does have a good amount of abroad fans considering the fact that Spanish clubs, but Valencia CF in particular haven't really done anything to attract foreign fans and all the support that Valencia CF has over the world is grass roots and grown spontaneously. Obviously helping were the few websites and blogs that covered Valencia CF over the years.
No doubt this is going to be an interesting clash once again and an entertaining game and in a lot of ways its a measurement for Spanish clubs in recent years to assess their strengths against the untouchable Barcelona. This time is different though and even though on paper Barcelona are still the clear favorites I don't think they are and I've already written an article how Valencia CF will destroy Barcelona.
I'm pretty sure that with the injuries of Iniesta and Alexis Sanchez, Valencia CF will have an easier time and watching all Barcelona games since the start of the competitions I'd have to say with absolute certainty that David Villa is out of form and even though he still possesses his amazing technique he has become slower, clumsier and has even lost some of his mental strength. I can say the same thing about Xavi who even though still possesses the possessions skills, he lack pace, he lacks the piercing through passes that he's been very well known for over the years and is generally a lot more average as of late.
I think this is going to be a good match for Valencia CF and I'm a little worried since it comes very quickly in the season and the team has too many new signings and hasn't had the time to gel yet, so from that point I'm a little bit comprehensive, but we are going to see what happens.
The contrast between these two clubs is huge, especially in recent years, but when these two sides meet on the grass what matters is only the performance on the pitch and nothing else.
Head to Head
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Valencia CF is coming to this match after an important victory over Sporting Gijon this last weekend, albeit a small 1-0 victory. What is important is that the defense hasn't conceded any goals in three matches already, since the Rami and Ruiz duo took over. This match against FC Barcelona is going to be the important assessment though whether the defensive duo is really good or has it been just lucky with weaker opposition. By the way the first La Liga match (2nd technically) Valencia CF conceded 3 goals by Racing with the duo of Rami and Costa, but lets wait and see about the new duo and how good it is.
Valencia CF also had a little bit disappointing start to the champions league with a draw against Genk, although Valencia played away and every champions league team is good if its managed to qualify for the Champions league group stages, but still most of us expected a comprehensive win against them and it didn't happen. The positives from that match are that Pablo Hernandez, Tino Costa and Canales were rested and all are likely to start against Barcelona.
So far so good for Valencia CF in the Spanish league with 9 out of 9 points and is currently sitting in first position ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Soldado has been in good form, although I didn't like some of the great chances he missed against Gijon, Pablo has thankfully been in good form and is one of the most important players for Valencia CF and Ever Banega has played so far so good and seems really motivated to prove himself. Maybe not having Chori influencing him in bad ways is paying off?!
Mehmet Topal is injured and will be out for 2 to 3 weeks with a shoulder injury, but other than him everyone right now is fit and ready to face Barcelona. Valencia CF vs FC Barcelona is going to be a really interesting match.
Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Vicente Guaita, Diego Alves
Defenders: Miguel Brito, Bruno Saltor, Adil Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Jordi Alba, Jérémy Mathieu
Midfielders: David Albelda, Hedwiges Maduro, Tino Costa, Éver Banega, Pablo Piatti, Pablo Hernández, Sergio Canales
Forwards: Roberto Soldado, Jonas Gonçalves, Aritz Aduriz
FC Barcelona on the other hand is coming to this match having silenced their doubters and skeptics with a comprehensive victory of 8-0 over Osasuna this past weekend. This victory was very important for Barcelona because they had sort of a mini crisis with two draws in just few short days. Their first draw came in the Spanish league with Real Sociedad; 2-2. Then came their second draw with Milan in the Champions league. Even though Barcelona had most of the play against Milan and created way more chances for goal, they really seemed vulnerable at the back.
In that regard Barcelona have some great news as Puyol has been playing the last 2 matches some minutes and seems ready to step up and take his spot in the back four.
Last year the most trouble that Barcelona had was against Valencia CF in both the matches and Valencia CF was the best and only team to take the game to Barcelona and have as much as 49% possession. Valencia CF also scored first in the second match and had several more opportunities to increase their lead, but just didn't have enough luck. In the second half though Barcelona pressed and managed to get more of the possession and were the more dangerous team and ultimately scored two goals and won.
The most dangerous player for Barcelona is of course Lionel Messi as he is able to single-handedly win games, Bearcelona would otherwise struggle to win. He has incredible dribbling skill, pace and passing range and is the most important player. If Valencia CF want to stop Barcelona from scoring they must shut down Messi completely. Players like Cesc Fabregas and Xavi are good, but Messi is on another level.
FC Barcelona are quite weakened as they are without the injured Iniesta and Alexis Sanchez, although this year they have Cesc Fabregas and Thiago who can come in and fill the shoes. They also have good news and that is that Affelay returned from injury and even got some minutes in their last game against Osasuna.
FC Barcelona squad:
Goalkeepers: Víctor Valdés, José Manuel Pinto
Defenders: Dani Alves, Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano, Maxwell Scherrer, Adriano Correia, Éric Abidal, Andreu Fontàs
Midfielders: Cesc Fàbregas, Xavi Hernández, Thiago Alcántara, Seydou Keita, Sergio Busquets
Forwards: David Villa, Lionel Messi, Pedro Rodríguez, Ibrahim Afellay
Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-1-2-1
Line-up: Guaita; Miguel, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Albelda, Tino; Banega; Pablo, Alba; Soldado.
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, double left side cover, high frequency wing attacks, counter attacks, mixed passing.
Technical Details FC Barcelona (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Valdes; Alves, Mascherano, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Busquets, Cesc; Thiago, Messi, Adriano.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, interchangeable right wing, double right side cover, bore VCF to death with endless circle passes that pose no danger and when all fell asleep score a goal.
Result Prediction:
Valencia CF 2-1 FC Barcelona
Valencia CF hasn't had enough time to gel yet and this may cause few problems, but Emery is likely to field players from last year and bench Canales, Piatti and the likes. Barcelona should be pretty tired as they haven't changed much in all their matches and with Iniesta and Alexis injured they are forced to play the same squad. Ultimately Valencia CF will be better and beat Barcelona 2-1.
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