Unai Emery should leave in the summer

I've been a big proponent and supporter of Unai Emery, but even I can not go on and defend him anymore. Since the defeat from Sevilla at our home ground in the Mestalla and mostly fresh players who were rested against Stoke City it hit me that out team hasn't really improved over the 4 years Emery has been here.

You can read my previous editorial on Unai Emery and find out in more about the details of the sporting and financial situation when he took over and what he's had to deal with to get a better understanding of the pros, but also cons of Emery's reign as Valencia CF coach.

I've been a big supporter because when Emery took over the team was in shambles, barely avoiding relegation under Koeman and most of the veterans on the periphery of the team and bad vibe in the dressing room. I thought that would be it and Valencia CF would become a middle table team and thus a rein will end, but it didn't.

Unai Emery was appointed as coach in the 2008/09 season after successfully leading Almeria to promotion to the Primera League and then finishing 8th in his first year in the top division. After taking over the reigns at Valencia CF, he led the team to a bright start, with a tough middle term battle and a weak finish that put us into sixth position, instead of third or fourth. Still that was a success considering the situation Valencia CF was in, sporting and financially wise, with a bankrupt looming and players not even getting paid for few months.


The next two years he would lead Valencia CF to two consecutive 3rd places finishes amidst loosing some of the best players like David Villa and David Silva and previously Albiol and later Baraja.
What is not so obvious within this is that Villa was towards the end of his sublime form and he literally had one more year in him of the performances we've gotten to know and expect from him and Silva would need a whole year to step up his level and play at the level he is playing right now at Manchester City and with a bit of luck Valencia CF also had some players step up like Juan Mata and Ever Banega. Valencia CF also brought Jeremy Mathieu immediately strengthening the left back spot, something that was weak link in previous years.
So while Emery has been loosing amazing players, he has also been getting new ones, in what one could attribute as luck or even a miracle if you wish and ultimately the team has kept the same level of talent and skill between the changes, what hasn't changed though is the level of play with any and all of the players that have played under Emery, almost always playing at the same level.

The results against teams of equal or slightly less quality is defeating and our results against stronger teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid are even worse. Our play in European competitions is equally defeating with losses against Atletico Madrid in a year when we were realistically stronger, losses against Schalke 04 in a year where they were playing poorly and were in the bottom of the table, but even more defeating are the results in the Spanish cup Copa Del Rey where every time we've faced a little bit of opposition, we've come crumbling down and loosing.

This year I see the same things happening, that has been happening in the past 4 years. Very strong start to the season with few to several unbeaten runs, then loose to a tough opponent, but continue with the momentum even challenging for first place, slowly going out of steam until we hit the winter vacation. Then we start in a slow fashion just as we've finished and sort of frantically adding wet steam to the machine hoping it gets dry fast enough and the machine starts picking steam up and towards the end we have a small push where we gain few places, only for the end to be on a downward spiral, but ultimately finishing strong because we've had weak competition.

So to me it seems that while Unai Emery deserves huge credit and respect for what he's done, the combination of circumstances has allowed him and our team to perform better than it otherwise would and with non existent success in all the other competitions other than La Liga which realistically we can't win, leads me to believe that our team has been performing above the level because of weak competition in Spain and the financial crisis that has engulfed all Spanish teams, but the Spain economy as well.

I think Valencia CF should part ways with Unai Emery this coming summer with both coach and club head held high knowing its on a good line. That said Valencia president Manuel Llorente should only bring in a coach that can improve and build upon Emery's reign and not start over, destroying everything that has been build and achieved over the past 4 years. We need a coach that can sort of take the pieces which are in place already and give them that final polish to be able to reach the next level.
The new coach must also be more experienced and must be proven that he can win and manage a winning team.

Valencia CF 1-2 Sevilla FC - player ratings

Guaita 6 - Maybe could have done better for the second goal, but not really at fault and dealt with crosses and such well.
Bruno 6.5 (MotM) - Was very good defensively and went forward to a good degree, don't know why he was replaced with Barragan of all people when Valencia were loosing.
Rami 4 (FotM) - Missing for the first and second goal and generally looked shaky all night. Should be replaced with Dealbert for some time.
Ruiz 5.5 - Nowhere to be seen for the second goal, but as always did have some nice tackles and marking.
Alba 6 - Failed to offer much in offense and while not troubled when he was back, it was a limited performance.
Albelda 5 - Early card and that prevented him to be more aggressive. Failed to break up Sevilla's attacks and lost the midfield battle.
Tino 5 - With this kind of performance Parejo may prove himself sooner than he'd hoped. Apart from the goal was almost invisible and unable to move the team forward or retain possession.
Feghuoli 5 - Few bright sparks here and there, but a far cry from a good performance.
Jonas 5 - Few nice touches, few bright moves, but ultimately failed to change the outcome in any way and the game mostly passed by him.
Mathieu 4 - Lost Navas for the first goal and was ineffective in attack.
Soldado 5 - Not enough service. In fact the whole team barely had few chances.
Subs:
Aduriz 5.5 - Tried really hard after he came in and had a try and involved in few actions, but couldn't muster a goal.
Barragan 5.5 - Didn't improve over Bruno and I have no idea why he was put on the field.
Pablo N/A - Not enough time, although he was probably the most active of the rest in his time.

Unai Emery 3 - Rami has been playing rather poorly for at least 2 weeks now and should have noticed that and started Dealbert over him. Tino has been playing very poorly for a month or more and Parejo should have gotten the starting spot in absence of Banega. Played with Alba and Mathieu on the left and while its a good move in some cases, its never been a consistent things and performances have been hit and miss.

My opinion: I would have started with Barragan, Dealbert over Rami, Costa and Alba in the midfield. Rami has been playing poorly the past two or three weeks and should have been left out of the starting eleven.
I would have played with Albelda and Ruiz in midfield. I really feel like Ruiz can fit very well in the midfield with his passing range and play style. If that didn't work, I would have probably made a change at half time and bring Parejo over Ruiz.
On left wing I would have started Piatti and I feel like his pace would have caused Sevilla troubles at the back. The rest would have been the same.

I feel like Mathieu, Tino and Rami have been playing rather poorly over the past few weeks and need to be dropped and told to improve their game.

Valencia CF players called to national squads

Days ago Vicente Del Bosque released the list of players to feature for Spain and Roberto Soldado was on that list on the place of Frenando Torres. Jordi Alba was also called in and continues to steadily feature for Spain, but this makes him more and more close to Barcelona as well.

Adil Rami was also called in for France. Jeremy Mathiey did not found his name on the list, as Patrice Evra and Eric Abidal both returned to occupy the left back position.

Ricardo Costa got a call for the Portugeese national team once again, he has been on and off the Portugal national team for the past 2 years.

Mehmet Topal has been called for Turkey national squad for their friendly match against Slovakia.

Jonas and Diego Alves both got called back to the Brazilian team and it seems both are becoming regulars, especially Diego Alves who with the fall of Inter's goalkeeper Julio Cesar has got the opportunity to become Brazil's next starter goalkeeper.

Hedwiges Maduro is still not fit, but he is likely to get a call anyways for Holland, while Victor Ruiz who's shown some good plays is still on the waiting line for Spain, even though Albiol has been removed now and Spain continue to have defensive problems.

Valencia CF 1-0 Stoke City - player ratings

Guaita 6 - Had two wonderful saves to deny Stoke and was commanding in the air.
Bruno 6.5 - Bruno has surprised me with his performances against Stoke. Seems like he doesn't trouble with strong and fast players running at him and his weakness is technically good players.
Rami 6 - Good game by Rami, was good in the air and confident when dealing with the opposition.
Dealbert 6 - Keeps surprising me, yet another good performance, with only one early mistake and was rock solid after.
Alba 5.5 - His size really was important here as he got out jumped every time and got beaten a few times. Wasn't particularly effective going forward either.
Topal 6.5 - Good game by the Turk, made some good defensive tackles and good interceptions in the penalty area and spread the ball with effective simple and short passes.
Parejo 6 - Finally a good match by Parejo, albeit not impressive. He retained possession well and his passes were mostly accurate and and positive.
Pablo 6.5 (MotM) - Good game by Pablo who was really in his element tonight. Provided the assist to the goal, after a fine dribble to leave his defender behind.
Jonas 6 - Scored the goal and was involved in a lot of the attacks, fell back and helped out in midfield as well.
Piatti 5 - Very active on the left, but he really seems to find his stride on the right. So far whenever he has played left has been decent, but not very efficient, but when he's played right on the wing, has been very effective.
Aduriz 5 - Got the spot instead of Soldado, but wasn't convincing. His movement was good and was a big presence with his height in Stoke's penalty area, but failed to get in dangerous shooting positions.
Subs:
Feghuoli 5 - Didn't show very much in his 20 minutes. Lost couple balls and his crosses were fail.
Soldado 4.5 - Same as Feghuoli and didn't show much. Had one great chance after he found himself alone in front of the goalkeeper, but shot straight at Thomas Sorensen.

FC Barcelona 5-1 Valencia CF - Player Ratings

Diego 5.5 - At fault for the second goal. Made several great saves after, but when you are responsible for the opposition leading after such a goal, it doesn't matter. He also received 4 more.
Miguel 6 - Great start to the match, was very firm in defense and combining well with Feghuoli, but then got injured.
Rami 0 - Absolute disaster. He was Dealbert at his worst minus 100 times. Horrendous performance tonight.
Ruiz 4 - Did better than Rami, but that doesn't say much. To his defense he was let down by Mathieu time and time again and was forced most of the time to be a left back as well.
Mathieu 3.5 - Mathieu's worse performance. I don't know what his problem was, but he just didn't run, didn't block, just mindlessly stood in defense.
Albelda 5.5 - Did what he could. It was another reliable and industrial performance, but wasn't at his best as he received a yellow card very early in the match and under pressure for red.
Tino 4 - Completely overrun in the midfield and this his his straight 3rd or 4th game where he has been sub-par, in this one Barcelona danced around him.
Feghuoli 6.5 - Had a good game, amidst a poor team performance, had several runs and some good passes, but couldn't do it alone.
Jonas 5.5 - Two amazing passes and very calm on the ball, but failed to help out the midfield or do much more than few passes.
Piatti 6 - Great run to score the first goal, tried really hard thought and helped in defense, but just didn't happen.
Soldado 5 - Completely isolated at front, only received 1 useful ball in the whole game. No service today at all.
Subs:
Ricardo Costa 4 - Bad performance, was beaten over and over again and with the incompetent Rami made a mess out of the game at the back.
Alba 5.5 - Improved upon Mathieu in defense and had one good run after he came on, but the team was not up to it and so he couldn't really do much.
Topal N/A - Not enough time

FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF

Stadium: Camp Nou
18th, February, 2012; 21:30CET
24th matchday, La Liga
Expected Attendance: 90.000

  Coaches: Josep Guardiola and Unai Emery

Its that time again in the new season where we face the title defenders and not so favorites for winning it again right now, as Real Madrid is leading the table by a big margin. 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. No doubt that is going to be the case this time around as well, with millions of people all over the world watching this match.

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 no different and FC Barcelona are the huge favorites, especially after winning over Valencia CF just a week ago in the Copa Del Rey. And while the games have mostly been fairly equal result wise with 2 draws and one not so big loss, Barcelona has always looked the one more likely to win and has been the better side overall.

Valencia CF gets 40 million TV rights money, Barcelona gets 140 million TV rights money. Valencia champions league qualification is considered a success, while for Barca winning only La Liga is somewhat of a disappointment.
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

Sep 21, 2011 Valencia CF 2 : 2 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Mar 02, 2011 Valencia CF 0 : 1 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Oct 16, 2010 FC Barcelona 2 : 1 Valencia CF Primera Division
Mar 14, 2010 FC Barcelona 3 : 0 Valencia CF Primera Division
Oct 17, 2009 Valencia CF 0 : 0 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Apr 25, 2009 Valencia CF 2 : 2 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Dec 06, 2008 FC Barcelona 4 : 0 Valencia CF Primera Division 

FC Barcelona has been in a somewhat of a semi-crisis with a loss to Osasuna just last weekend when they really needed a win to catch up to Real Madrid and two games before that only managed a draw with Villarreal who were still in a bad form and just changed coaches just two weeks prior.
Even though they've been in a rather 'poor' form in La Liga, they've been in great form in other competitions like the Copa Del Rey where they beat Valencia CF and they just beat Bayer Leverkusen away from home 3-1 in the Champions League.

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.
This season its been a similar case with the first match being rather equal in the first half with Valencia CF even more dangerous towards goal, in which Soldado missed a sitter of a chance to give us basically the win. Then in the second half Barcelona came back and almost won, but Valencia CF barely held to the 2-2 draw. Possession was 44%-56% with Barcelona just slightly in the lead there.

Iniesta has returned from injury and Xavi for the most part has been rested in easier games and will be fully fresh for this match. Of course the most dangerous man for FC Barcelona is Lionel Messi, who is especially dangerous against Valencia and has been responsible for Barcelona having better results against Valencia singlehandedly. Alexis Sancehz has also been accustomed to life and play at Barcelona and has excelled in recent time, scoring important goals for Barcelona.

Barcelona squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF is coming to this match after a big victory against Sporting Gijon in La Liga and a good result over Stoke City at an away match in the Europa League. Valencia CF is also currently in 3rd place, only 8 points behind 2nd placed Barcelona.

The biggest surprise comes from the obvious absence of Ever Banega for this match. Superdeporte reports that he has some sort of knee problem, but they are getting their info from official channels on this one and we know this can be a lie, although at this point I don't think it is and don't see it as a problem between Banega and Emery.

With Albelda getting a contract extension for one more season and Topal having a good games after quite a while, we have things to be optimistic about going into this game. Its likely to be a very tough game, especially at Camp Nou which has always been a tough venue for Valencia CF.

Valencia CF squad:

• Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Guaita.
• Defenders: Miguel, Bruno, Ruiz, Dealbert, Ricardo Costa, Rami, Alba, Mathieu.
• Midfielders: Topal, Albelda, Feghouli, T. Costa, D. Parejo, Pablo, Piatti, Bernat.
• Attackers: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado.

Technical Details FC Barcelona (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Valdes; Puyol, Mascherano, Pique, Abidal; Xavi, Busquets, Cesc; Thiago, Messi, Alexis.
Tactics: High defensive line, interchangeable right wing, bore VCF to death with endless circle passes that pose no danger and when all fell asleep score a goal.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Alves; Miguel, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Albelda, Tino; Feghuoli Jonas, Piatti; Soldado.
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, double left side cover, high frequency wing attacks, counter attacks, mostly long passing.

Result Prediction:
Barcelona 2-0 Valencia CF
Barcelona already beat Valencia 2-1 at home in the Copa Del Rey match and this time its going to be the same, with the only difference that Valencia is not going to score.

David Albelda contract extended, Mathieu and Alba next

David Albelda extended his contract just before the match with Stoke City and will stay at Valencia CF for one more year. Albelda has been very consistent this year and overtook Topal as a starter in the team and thus earned himself  a new contract.

He is also Valencia's captain and oldest member of the club and most standing, having played at Valencia for 15 years.

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente said that the team needs Albelda as he brings so much to the team and more recently he's said that they are going to extend the contract with Jeremy Mathieu very soon and how they have an agreement with Mathieu. He also said Jordi Alba is also likely to extend his contract with Valencia.

Valencia CF wallpapers batch 4

Hi there. Valencia CF wallpapers batch 4 is here. Its been a while, but I have few more wallpapers to release now.

If you want to contribute with a wallpaper send it to me at slickr12345(at)yahoo(dot)com

Stoke City 0-1 Valencia CF - Match Report

Stoke City 0-1 Valencia CF

possession:

Attempts on target: 2-2

Attempts off target: 3-7

fouls: 13-11

Match started with Stoke City pressuring hard and forcing Valencia CF to loose the ball fast in the middle and then quickly try to cross the ball to Peter Crouch and hoping he would score with a header.

Stoke City was more dangerous in the first 15 minutes and controlled the tempo of the match and in those 15 minutes had few good crosses and throw-ins, but once the starting energy wore off Valencia CF began to control more of the ball and keep possession.

21st minute Jonas with a chance after good one-two play with Piatti, but his shot goes straight to Stoke City's goalkeeper.
Few minutes later Jonas and Piatti with a good combination once again, with Piatti shot being blocked, but winning a corner kick.

After some midfield battle and back and forward Valencia CF would start threatning Stoke City goal a lot more seriously and would have few chances and tries on goal and then in the 36th minute Topal releases a bomb, a missile towards Stoke's goal and the goalkeeper has no chance to stop it and Topal scores a goal, giving Valencia CF the lead.

38th minute Tino Costa has a shot towards goal, perhaps influenced by Topal, but his shot goes wide. Just a minute later Stoke would have their chance through Crouch who hits a volley, but it goes wide.

In the last seconds of the first half Feghuoli with some dribbles in Stoke's penalty area, but he does too much and ultimately looses the ball and wastes a good opportunity.

Second half started with Stoke City the better team with more of the ball control and more of the initiative, while Valencia CF were the ones trying to catch Stoke on the counter attack.

For the first 20 minutes it was pretty much all Stoke City with a lot of tries through crosses and long balls, but Valencia's defense would stood firm.

70th minute starts a counter attack, passes to Piatti and this one to Feghuoli who's shot hist the post.
Just few minutes later chance for Stoke City after a corner kick, but shot goes above the goal.

93rd minute free kick for Valencia just outside the penalty area on the right side with Tino Costa taking it, but his shot is too powerful going wide and above goal.

Final time and Valencia CF wins 1-0 over Stoke City and going into the second leg with a clear advantage.

Line-ups:
Stoke City (0): Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Wilkinson, Wilson(69, Shotton), Pennant, Delap, Etherington, Palacios(53, Whitehead), Walters, Crouch(69, Jerome)
Valencia CF (1): Guaita; Bruno(81, Miguel), Rami, Dealbert, Mathieu; Topal, Tino; Feghuoli, Jonas, Piatti(88, Bernat); Aduriz(79, Soldado).

Player Ratings:
Guaita 6.5 - Very confident dealing with Stoke's dangerous crosses, throw-ins and corners and did his job well.
Bruno 5.5 - Good in defense and helped out well enough in attack, but got tired towards the end and lustfully replaced with Miguel.
Rami 6.5 - Good positioning and very strong in the air, but once and a while has this crazy runs and dribbles and that needs to stop.
Dealbert 6.5 - Great performance from Dealbert who was in charge of subduing Crouch and did a great job at it.
Mathieu 6 - Good defensively and made some nice and clean tackles. Did well going forward as well.
Topal 7 - Good game by Topal who had some key defensive interventions and scored the only goal with a magnificent shot.
Tino 5.5 - Started well and very involved in the second part of the first half, but was gone in the second half and did very little.
Feghuoli 6 - Had some nice chances and did decently to find himself in such positions, but really made the wrong decisions in what to do when he got in dangerous positions.
Jonas 6.5 - Great match by Jonas who combined really well tonight with Piatti to cause Stoke all sorts of problems.
Piatti 7 (MotM) - Man of the match performance and was a thorn for Stoke's side, causing them all sorts of problems and combining really well with Jonas for come good actions.
Aduriz 5 - Not too involved and failed to get into dangerous positions.
Subs:
Soldado N/A - Not enough time

Miguel N/A - Not enough time

Bernat N/A - Not enough time

Stoke City vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

Stoke City vs Valencia CF

Stadium: Britannia Stadium
16th, February, 2012; 21:05CET
R32, 1st leg, Europa League
Expected Attendance: 27.700

Coaches: Tony Pulis and Unai Emery

Valencia CF founds itself in the Europa League instead of the Champions League after failing to qualify by drawing the first match with Genk and then later also loosing to Bayern Leverkusen 2-1. In the last match with Chelsea there were hopes we'd be able to basically draw and move on, especially since Chelsea was in bad form at the time, but once again we showed our second class and lost 3-0.

Now we face English side Stoke City in what is going to be an interesting match and in which match Valencia CF needs to show its strength and character and be able to win at least minimally.

 

Stoke City on the other hand fought their way to the round 32 in the Europa League from the start, starting with the third qualifying round beating Hajduk Split 1-0 in the first leg and then beating them 1-0 once again in the second leg for an aggregate win of 2-0.

In the play-offs Stoke City beat Thun 5-1 on aggregate showing its class against the weaker sides. 

In the group stage they finished second in their group behind Besiktas with 11 points to Beshiktas 12 leaving Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel-Aviv behind.

Now Stoke's biggest challenge yet in the round of 32 is Valencia CF and as such they are going to be extremely motivated and playing 120% percent, enthusiastic to show their crowd they can compete with Spain's third best club.

Right now Stoke City are thirteen in the Premier League table with 30 points, safe from relegation, but way off from any top 6 finish. Their best striker is Peter Crouch with 6 goals and he is likely to cause some trouble for our defense with his 2 meters height. They also have Jermaine Pennant as someone more known in their squad and he is with 3 assists.

Stoke City haven't won in 5 matched domestically, loosing four and drawing 1 of their last five matches, though two of those opponents have been Manchester United and Liverpool, but its still a bit of a bummer, although they haven't really been winning much overall as they are 13th place on the table.
They've scored a total of 24 goals in the Premier League and conceded 38 goals and are with pretty much same record at home and away.

Stoke City squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF on the other hand is coming to the Europa League after failing to qualify for the round of 16 in the Champions League by finishing 3rd place behind Bayer Levernusen and FC Chelsea. I guess David Albelda is happy right now as he called this competition as good and that we have better chances of winning this competition, but I beg to differ with teams like Macnehster City, Manchester United, Udinese, Atletico Madrid and even Schalke 04 who beat us last season in the round of 16 in the Champions League.

Valencia CF also lost in the Copa Del Rey recently to Barcelona and although there is no shame in loosing to Barcelona, its still a bad feeling to loose and certainly in the poor way we played for the second leg didn't help things.

In the domestic league Valencia CF is doing much better with pretty safe 3rd place right now and 8 points away from 3rd and 4th places Levante and Espanyol, though it is only this last week that we broke a winless streak of 5 matches.

Against Stoke City our biggest problem would be Peter Crouch with his 2.1 meters height and the fact that English players have more strength and play a more physical game. While Valencia CF is no Barcelona and we have powerful players like Rami, Topal and Aduriz, most are still weaker like Alba, Mathieu, Pablo, Piatti, etc...

Valencia CF squad:

• Goalkeepers: Alves, Guaita, Adrián.
• Defenders: Miguel, Bruno, Rami, Dealbert, Víctor Ruiz, Mathieu.
• Midfielders: Albelda, Topal, Tino Costa, Éver, Bernat, Pablo Hernández, Feghouli, Piatti.
• Forwards: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado. 

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Diego; Miguel, Rami, Dealbert, Alba; Banega, Albelda; Feghuoli, Jonas, Piatti; Soldado.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, mid field pressure, positional changes from the wingers, 3 way attacks, mostly short passing.

Result Prediction:
Stoke City 1-1 Valencia CF
Stoke City are not some big club and technically are a lot weaker, but what they lack in technique they add up with strength and at home they are going to be a problematic opponent. I can already see Peter Crouch scoring a goal against Alba or Ruiz or Miguel so one goal for them is a certain, with Valencia CF using Soldado's speed to score as well. Ultimatelly I see the match finishing level with one goal a piece.

Want to chat while watching VCF vs Stoke?

Join us at the forum which now also has a new domain name www.valenciacf.me

Also Stoke City proclaimed that Valencia CF is not weaker than Barcelona and Real Madrid and so they are expecting a lot from Valencia, but I think they might have missed the year. Its not 2003, certainly not 1999.

Seems Benitez also told them few stories about VCF, maybe from his time to scare them. Either ways its going to be a fun match, especially the English commentary if I can find one with good quality, otherwise will watch it on TV.

Angel Dealbert offered new contract by Valencia CF

Angel Dealbert revealed that he's been offered new contract by Valencia CF, but he hasn't signed it yet and is going to wait till the summer to sign it. He probably hopes there to be some interest for him to be able to negotiate for a bigger salary, although he said he would like to stay at Valencia CF and finish his career here.

He has been very humble and hasn't caused any troubles for not being a regular, which is not what you can say for Ricardo Costa for example.

I'd certainly like to see him stay for few more years, plus he has been actually very good in his appearances and done a good job defending and in my ratings has been actually better than Ricardo Costa or David Navarro or Stankevicious or even Rami and Ruiz if we compare to his score last year.

Valencia CF vs Sporting Gijon - Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Sporting Gijon

Stadium: Mestalla
12th, February, 2012; 18:00CET
23rd matchday, La Liga
Expected Attendance: 35.000

Coaches: Unai Emery and Iñaki Tejada

 

After a disappointing loss from FC Barcelona at the Copa Del Rey, Valencia CF will once again focus on the primera league and try to get its first win in 5 matches. With Atletico Madrid and Atletico Bilbao drawing and loosing respectively Valencia CF has a chance to get away from them and increase the lead to a comfortable 9 points lead over Atletico Madrid. 

Levante is also playing against Real Madrid so its safe to say that if Valencia CF wins it will increase its ldead over Levante to 8 points.

 

Valencia CF has been in a slump the last month or so in La Liga and has gone 5 matches without winning, 4 of those matches drawing and loosing to Real Sociedad. This kind of performance is not surprising, as almost every year with Emery now he gets similar results with Valencia. We always seem to slump after returning from the short winter break.

Will today's match again Sporting Gijon be the turning point or will we continue on this bad run of results. Certainly this is the match we must win, before the alarm bells start ringing. The fact that Valencia doesn't have tough opposition this season is benefiting us, since we are not under pressure to start getting results, but this is very important match and one we must win.

 

Unai Emery has brought 18 players with him, with Ruiz injured and Pablo as Emery says left to recover further from his injury, after a bleak performance in the last La Liga match.

 

Valencia CF squad:

• Goalkeepers: Alves and Guaita.
• Defenders: Miguel, Barragán, Rami, Dealbert, Jordi Alba.
• Midfielders: Mathieu, Albelda, Topal, Tino Costa, Éver, Bernat, Feghouli, Piatti.
• Forwards: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldad.

Sporting Gijon is in the relegation zone with only 19 points, only less than Zaragoza and with Villarreal improving under their new coach its going to likely be a tough season for them with every match a battle to avoid relegation. 

In the last 5 matches Sporting Gijon have won once, draw once and lost 3 times. They are also the worst team defensively with a staggering 39 goals conceded and only 20 goals scored which while not worst, its pretty low.

David Barral is their most proficient goal scorer with 7 goals scored so far which accounts for 1/3 of their overall goals scored.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Diego; Barragan, Rami, Dealbert, Alba; Tino, Albelda; Piatti, Jonas, Bernat; Soldado.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, all round pressure, positional changes from the wingers, 3 way attacks, mixed passing.

 

Result Prediction:

Valencia CF 2-0 Sporting Gijon

With no more Copa Del Rey to defocus the players and no more room for mistakes the team should be able to beat Sporting Gijon, especially since we are playing on home ground.

Valencia CF interested in Jonathan Viera

Valencia CF technical director Braulio Vazquez admits interest in Jonathan Viera, Las Palmas striker. Speaking to the newspaper La Provincia he said that Valencia CF is interested in Viera and that Valencia CF has been following him and analyzing his play and he likes what he's seen. He announced to make a move in the summer to try and sign him.

With a clause of six million euros, the fact is that Viera contract with the Las Palmas ends in June 2013 so they are going to be forced to sell the player, as the player has announced he wants to move.

Report have it that Jonathan Viera has reached a verbal agreement with Valencia, so its likely in that circumstance Valencia CF to be able to sign him in the summer without too much trouble from other teams like Atletico Madrid, Napoli and Malaga.

Join me to a new forum and lets get the discussion going

Hi there. I've changed my forum link to a new forum one managed by Gavin, Rezaur and now me. There are already more than dozen people there actively discussing and I hope to see all of you there. Its obviously an English language forum.

You can go on there immediately and engage in discussion right now even without registration, but preferably you would want to register if the rules change in the future.

http://valenciacflosche.proboards.com/

Valencia CF 19th richest football club in 2010/11

Deloitte released their football money league results and Valencia CF is 19th on the list of the most richest clubs in 2010/11.

Real Madrid head the Money League for the seventh successive year and require one more year in top position in order to match the dominance of Manchester United’s during the first eight years of the Money League. FC Barcelona complete a Spanish one-two for the third successive year, whilst the top six positions remain unchanged.

German club Schalke’s run to the semi-finals of the Champions League has allowed the club to claim a top ten position for the first time, climbing six places. We expect Manchester City to claim a top ten position in the next edition of the Money League. England retains the largest representation from any single country with six clubs, with the other 14 clubs from the other ‘big five’ European leagues. There are three new entries into this year’s top 20 in Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Napoli.


2010/11 Revenue (€m)
1 Real Madrid 479.5
2 FC Barcelona 450.7
3 Manchester United 367
4 Bayern Munich 321.4
7 AC Milan 235.1
8 Internazionale 211.4
9 Liverpool 203.3
10 Schalke 04 202.4
11 Tottenham Hotspur 181
12 Manchester City 169.6
13 Juventus 153.9
14 Olympique de Marseille 150.4
15 AS Roma 143.5
16 Borussia Dortmund 138.5
17 Olympique Lyonnais 132.8
18 Hamburger SV 128.8
19 Valencia 116.8
20 Napoli 114.9

FC Barcelona 2-0 Valencia CF Match Report

FC Barcelona 2-0 Valencia CF

Possesion: 66%-34%

Fouls: 12-22

Shots: 14-4

The match started fairly calmly with both sides trying to establish control in midfield with Valencia CF being more successful in the early stages and pressuring Barcelona aggressively and deep in their territory and this would have an effect and Barcelona players would commit quite a few errors.

First chance was for Valencia in the 12th minute with Mathieu's great through ball to Feghuoli who was basically alone on goal, but his shot was inaccurate.

15h minute counter chance for Barcelona and their actual first chance and Fabregas converts it into goal after poor marking by Miguel and an even poorer reaction and positioning by Diego Alves.

18th minute a huge blunder by Rami who gives the ball to Messi, trying to pass to Banega, Messi sprints towards the goal and shoots, but Alves was alert and saves.

Good save by Digeo once again in the 25th minute after a shot by Messi after the free kick. Minutes later Barcelona would start pushing hard on goal and would get their chance in the 31st minute with Diego clearing the ball short to Ruiz and this one fails to receive the ball properly and ends up giving it to Fabregas or Messi, but luckily the shot is saved by Diego yet again.

36th minute one more chance for Fabregas after Mathieu fails to get the ball off of him in some very poor marking, but once again this shot was saved by Diego.

Valencia would try to get something going and in the 39th minute it would come close to Pinto's goal, but Jonas shot is blocked.

Ultimately the first half was rather poor and we are lucky the result is still only 1-0 for Barcelona after their several chances to score.

Second half started and a quick chance for Alba as he gets to a pass from Jonas and in front of goal, but Pinto reacts fast and saves.

53th minute Chance for Messi as he escapes Ramim but Ruiz is close and blocks with a sliding challenge. Just a minute later Messi goes past Jonas, Albelda and Ruiz and manages to shoot at goal, but Diego saves.

58th minute chance for Valencia CF as Aritz Aduriz finds himself in decent position and Pinto is out of goal, but Aduriz fails fails to score as Mascherano gets to the ball and heads it out.

62nd minute Ruiz gets the ball kicked off his legs by Alexis and the ball finds its way to Messi whonow has huge chance, but Diego or Ruiz just manage to get to him and get the ball to go just wide and into corner. 

72th minute Mathieu tries to pass to the lone Aduriz after a counter attack, but only gets a corner. From the corner Jonas manages a volley, but Pinto saves.

74th minute good chance for Barcelona, but Miguel is there and blocks.

79th minute good chance for Aduriz , but he slips just as he is to shoot and ruins his chance.

Minute later Barcelona make it 2-0 after a quick counter attack in which 3 Barca players find themselves against 2 Valencia defenders and Xavi scores while being all alone and unchallenged by anyone.

From there the match was basically over and Barcelona had few more tries and chances, but the match ended 2-0 for Barcelona after a deserved victory in which Valencia CF had very little chances of even drawing and not to mention winning.

Player Ratings:

Diego (MotM) 7.5 - Man of the match even though the saves weren't that hard to make, but he did have quite a lot of them so he gets a good score and man of the match.

Miguel 5 - Dealt with most of what came from Cuenca and Abidal and not overly troubled.

Rami 4 - Terrible night from the Frenchmen as he made few huge blunders and only gets a reasonable 4 because he actually did make few decent tackles and blocks.

Ruiz 4 - Same as Rami. Was better in the first half, but as if not to let Rami look bad did the same blunders Rami did in the first half.

Alba 6.5 - Actually good performance on an individual level and had few good runs forward that if he had a little bit more luck could have converted.

Albelda 6 - Good match from the veteran and steady as always and simple in his play.

Banega 5 - Was overrun in midfield and had no chance against Xavi and Thiago. Some cheap and inaccurate passes as well.

Feghuoli 5 - Started well and was involved in some attacks, but got himself taken out with two yellows after a stupid and needless foul on Puyol in Barcelona's half.

Jonas 5.5 - Not too involved and didn't drop deeper to try and help the midfield. Had two good plays with a pass to Alba and a good velley shot, but he was too invisible to get a better score.

Mathieu 5 - Very ineffective in attack as he was by formation the more forward of him and Alba, but failed to do anything of note and wasn't very effective in defense as well.

Aduriz 5.5 - Had few decent chances, but he failed to convert them reacting rather poorly in all of them. Got in good positions though, but it just didn't go his way.

Subs:

Tino 5 - Did not offer anything over Banega and was as isolated and ineffective as Banega before him.

Piatti 5 - Could not make any difference.

Parejo N/A - not enough time.

Valencia needs a win in La Liga

While I'm pleased with the draw with Atletico Madrid and I think that is the fairest result by all measurements I feel like Valencia CF has overall slipped in the domestic league with 4 draws and 1 loss in the last 5 matches. That is basically 11 points lost and considering we drew 3 of these matches in the last minute practically it really increases the pain.

Part of this is probably the Copa Del Rey as Valencia CF has really been focusing on going further and with now Barcelona and previously Levante it probably did have an effect of the overall performance, but since Emery has been rotating the players it shouldn't have affected us so much.

Right now though first things first we need to go and win against Barcelona and no less at the Camp Nou, but the fact that we've drawn with Barcelona twice this season shows that we can compete with them and our bigger squad should theoretically give us a bit of an advantage, although I really doubt how much real the freshness effect is and how really tired players are.

But no matter if we win or loose at Camp Nou we must prioritize the domestic league as top priority and 3rd place is a must, especially after such poor season start from all Valencia CF competitors.

Villarreal, Sevilla, Atletico Bilbao and for much of the start Atletico Madrid have all been poor, with Malaga not really being a direct competitor just as I've actually predicted it won't and said it will finish around 6th and now it seems increasingly likely that way, so the biggest competition we've had is from Levante another Valencia based club, which I guess is good.

But thing is Atletico Madrid are catching up really fast and just as I've predicted again accurately before the season began that Atletico Madrid have a very strong squad, realistically stronger than Valencia squad and if things go their way will be our main competitor and hold and behold with the change of coach that is happening right now.

Surprisingly though even I couldn't predict the disaster that is going to turn out Villarreal and their miserable season, especially since their current squad is practically the same from a season ago minus Cazorla.

So yeah right now the biggest worry I have is Atletico Madrid as I feel can challenge our 3rd place which up until now was pretty safe and even Emery admitted yesterday that after the last draw 3rd place is no longer safe and it will be a challenge to keep it.

What I'm enthusiastic about is the fact that even without Mata and with some big injuries and quite a fewer overall players than last season we are doing as well as last season and this time the Europa League might even turn out to be a blessing in disguise if we can reach the latter stages of it like the semi final or even final and dare I say win.

But on to another topic I want to say that I was right yet again about Parejo and wrote that it would be best for him to leave as he is not combining with the team and the fact that his character is standing in the way is an even bigger reason for him to have left. Now how was I right again? Well that is because first my rating of players is based in fact and statistics and not feel. I agree it has a lot of feel and subjectivity in it, but in all that it has an actual formula of how it works.
 
First off all the players start off with a score of 5 and at the end of the match I calculate with the points they lost or received and that creates the final score in the majority of cases.
For every goal, assist, penalty save and major block or perfect offside trap the player/s in question receive +1 point.
For every positive action in the game, say good through pass creating a chance or distributing the ball precisely in a positive way the player/s gets 0.5 points.
For every negative action like giving the ball few too many times, failed shots or blocks the player/s gets -0.5 points.
For major mistakes like giving/loosing the ball away close to own goal or in very dangerous position or a 5 meter clear goal miss or things of that nature player/s gets -1 points.

So ultimately I end up giving each player from 3-4 points up to 10-12 depending on his involvement.

Example: I give Albelda 4 0.5 points for positive actions and 1 negative 0.5 point so that is basically 2-0.5=1.5. So 5 starting point + 1.5=6.5 final rating.

Now every once and a while I'd increase or decrease the rating based on pure feel about how they played, but it mostly has some science behind it.

Second thing was the team play analysis. Sometimes you can have the best player, yet he not going to play well for example Messi for most of his Argentina performances. You got to see how he fits with other players, which role suits him and does not suit him and just the general feel of the game and how the player is part of it.

The fact that he has done pretty bad in both and coupled with his negative attitude about the situation was enough for me to write him off. And he is not going to improve this season. If we don't sell him next season and he also decides to stay and try and fight for a spot from the ground up and has a really good summer he may become a valuable asset to our team, but that is obviously a long shot.

/End discussion-rant.

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Valencia CF match report

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Valencia CF

Possesion: 48%-52%

Fouls: 22-21

Atletico Madrid and Valencia CF shared the spoils tonight and ended up both getting a point with a goalless draw. The match itself was interesting, although it didn't have many chances on both sides. Most of the play was in midfield and both teams were evenly matched. Both team would have good chances to score with both sides unable to convert their chances into goals.

Atletico Madrid would have the more direct chances including one towards the end and then one went through Rami legs, but deflected to a corner.

With so little chances most of the battle was in the midfield and both teams were at the same level with pretty much equal ball possession, with the latest statistic having Valencia 52% of the ball control vs the 48% for Atletico Madrid.

First chance would come for Atletico in the 8th minute with a shot by Arda, but Diego Alves saved the goal without too much trouble.

Then in the 28th minute Valencia had a chance through Piatti, who's shot was saved by Atletico goalkeeper.

The other interesting thing was when Diego gave Diego Godin a KO trying to punch the ball and hit Godin with his elbow.

79th minute Diego would fire a shot, but Diego saves again no big deal and then in the 88th minute a huge chance for Atletico Madrid after Rami made a big blunder and miss-kicked the ball, but luckilly nothing came out of it as Diego once again claimed the ball.

Player Ratings:
Diego 6.5 - Assured performance and when called upon made the saves.
Miguel 4.5 - Largely anonymous performance with few lapses of concentration.
Rami 5.5 - Started well making several interceptions and ruined a good performance with his late game mistake.
Ruiz 5 - Started shakier of the defensive duo, but improved as the game wore on and made few good blocks.
Alba 6 - Had a good defensive display and more offensive than Mathieu at times on the side there.
Albelda 6.5 - Great performance from the veteran who made some key interceptions and fouls at key moments to stem the Atletico Madrid attacks.
Tino 5 - Largely anonymous performance with more defensive play and wasn't very influential in midfield as the midfield was constantly bypassed from defense to offense.
Pablo 4 - One of those really bad performances where he did not do enough and what he did was all bad or didn't work.
Piatti 5.5 - Drifted on the left side and unable to link up play forward, but was active in trying and has few decent moments.
Mathieu 5.5 - Some good and some bad moments for Mathieu and while the left wing was a lot more dangerous than the right it doesn't say much as both Miguel and Pablo were bad tonight. Had few defensive lapses later in the match.
Soldado 5.5 - Did run channels and tried to position himself in a good position, but he lacked service tonight.
Subs:
Aduriz 5.5 - Did well after coming off for Soldado and found himself in few decent positions, but as Soldado really lacked service.
Jonas 5 - Did not have enough time and the match largely passed by him.
Bernat N/A - Not enough time.