Valencia - Real Madrid match thread

 And so arrives one of the most hyped games of the season. Usually this game would attract attention anyway, but last season's controversy involving Vini Jr overshadows this one.

Prior to the game Netflix announced they were making a documentary about Vini's return to Mestalla. After thinking it over, Valencia decided to deny them access to Mestalla, as well as an interview with Hugo Duro. Totally the right decision. A balanced documentary on Spain's problem of casual and not-so-casual racism would be interesting. That would naturally feature last season's game at Mestalla, but also provide context on why Vini almost uniquely gets targeted by the idiots (his constant obnoxious behaviour and goading of players and opposition fans) and also look at other clubs' incidences of this, including the many involving Real Madrid fans themselves. However, Netflix's documentary was never going to be that. It would have been a hatchet job on us for cheap views. Hopefully our fans ignore these provocations and focus on the game.

For the first time this season, Baraja has a full squad available with Andre Almeida finally back after his long-term injury and Thierry and Diego Lopez after shorter ones. Madrid have been strong this season with only 2 defeats in all competitions, both away to city rivals Atletico. Despite that, we do have form in springing surprises against them, so fingers crossed for tonight.

Las Palmas - Valencia

 Another placeholder for comments, since I'm still travelling and this game will be the middle of the night for me.

After a 6-season absence Las Palmas unfortunately returned to the top flight. I say unfortunately because, in their previous 3-season stint, they were nothing except a pain in the behind for us. In the first game of the 2016-17 season, Valencia suffered a devastating 2-4 defeat at Mestalla, an omen for the awful season still to come. The season after that, though we had a terrific first season with Marcelino, a defeat in Las Palmas, where we had 2 players sent off, kicked off a slump in form which saw us lose 6 games in a row in league and Copa. 

Before the season, we were expected to be rivals, though not as it's turned out. Many pre-season predictions had one or both of us relegated. Instead, like us, Las Palmas have had a relatively strong season, playing attractive football which has had them on the edge of the European places, though they've been off-form recently and come into the game with a 2-2-3 record, while Valencia has won 5 of the last 6.

Both Almeida and Diakhaby should be back soon for Valencia and Thierry's injury is not as bad as originally feared so he should be back to the team some time in March. 

Valencia - Almeria match thread

 This is mostly a placeholder to allow for comments, sorry to say, as I'm travelling this weekend to watch football in Germany and that game clashes with ours. 

The winter transfer window closes today and Valencia has another operation in play. The Rafa Mir move has been reactivated. Valencia made an offer yesterday to loan him for the rest of the season, paying 30% of his wages and having a buy option of 4m. Sevilla instantly rejected that but negotiations are ongoing. As I've said, I think Mir would be a good addition. Not because he'd score lots of goals, but because he'd keep Baraja happy and would fit Baraja's system well as a physically strong forward who could bully opposing defenders and help us to "defend from the front." While it's still in balance I'd say the deal is more likely than not as Sevilla want rid of Mir and Mir only has eyes for us. Meriton's penny pinching remains the stumbling block.

After 4 wins in a row, Valencia came crashing down, somewhat predictably, against our long time nemesis Simeone's Atletico. The team has a chance to make amends against the bottom club Almeria. The latter are chasing an unwelcome record. If they don't beat us they'll equal Sporting Gijon's record from 1997/98 of the most games at the start of the season without a win. Almeria, of course, actually played well at Real Madrid and dodgy refereeing decisions cost them at least a point. They also drew with us earlier in the season so this game is not one we should take for granted.

With Paulista now gone and Diakhaby still at Afcon it will be interesting to see what defence Baraja opts for. Mosquera is almost a given but his partner isn't. Yarek and Cenk are the main options, assuming Baraja doesn't want to push Guillamon back. 

EDIT/UPDATE
The Mir deal didn't happen. As in the summer, Valencia claimed that after agreeing a deal, Sevilla changed the conditions at the last minute. Sevilla claimed that they hadn't changed anything and the difference in asking prices was only 100,000 euros. With Meriton, both options are possible, including that Lim had no intention of re-signing Mir and just went through the motions. It's embarrassing and a poor look all round.

Worse, there was also the following rumour:

"Valencia’s owner Peter Lim was considering sacking their coach Ruben Baraja because he continued to play Gabriel Paulista despite the club's disapproval."

Given that they sacked Marcelino in part for taking the Copa seriously, nothing would surprise me. Sacking Baraja for non-sporting reasons would probably be the final straw for me. If something like that happened, I'd probably take a break from Valencia until Lim sold. There are rumours that Lim is in poor health and his son has no interest in inheriting Valencia, so while I actually wish Lim the best of health, I hope he does sell soon.

Atletico Madrid - Valencia match thread

 A tough one today after a good run. To illustrate what a tricky away game this is, when Valencia last won at Atletico Madrid, it was our first season without David Villa, Diego Simeone wasn't even manager and only 3 of the 14 who played for Valencia that day are still active (Tino Costa in the French second league, Guaita at Celta and Alba in Miami.) February 2011 is a long time ago and in the time in between we've found it one of our most barren grounds, losing 7 of the last 8 with only a Parejo free kick breaking that sequence. The team came frustratingly close 2 seasons ago, taking a 2-goal lead only for Atletico to score 2 in injury time to win 3-2.

In our favour, we've had more rest as Atletico played Sevilla in Copa on Thursday, winning 1-0. The scoreline is deceptive since it was easier for them, with Greizmann skying a penalty after slipping and 2 goals narrowly ruled out for offside. Valencia also scored a surprise 3-0 win over Atletico in Mestalla earlier this season with Duro scoring twice, same as he did 2 seasons ago. In team news, bad news for us, as Thierry has a long term injury and it's unlikely he'll play again this season. 

On the winter transfer front, it's very much a case of "move along, nothing to see." Valencia was linked with deals for Rafa Mir and Peter Federico of Real Madrid, but nothing has come of those. The hold up seems mostly because the Koba deal hasn't happened, but also because Meriton are too dumb to see with a couple of additional bodies on loan with buy options we could qualify for Europe and that would repay the loan fees with a nice profit.

Half-Time.
That was painful to watch. Atleti totally dominated us and apart from a half chance at a corner we did nothing in an attacking sense while they missed at least 3 good chances. One of the biggest weaknesses is on the right where we really miss Thierry, as Fran Perez and Foulquier have struggled. Getting in at half-time would have been a good result but I've no idea what we were doing at the end. Lino was in acres of space and scored the opener. Annoyingly, he even celebrated. As it's late here I'm probably going to switch off, so use this to comment.

Valencia 1-0 Athletic Bilbao match thread

 Which Valencia manager has the highest win % this century? The answer is not an obvious one. Ernesto Valverde won nearly 55% of his games in charge, beating Rafa and the 3rd place: Quique Sanchez Flores. Now at Bilbao and doing well that indicates what a tough game today will be.

After a morale-boosting comfortable win at Cadiz last time, Valencia came crashing down to earth with a tame Copa exit against Celta. After the game a few idiots in our fanbase ganged up on Javi Guerra on social media leading to him deleting his Twitter account. We need to be patient with these young guys.

Apart from the Afcon absences and Andre Almeida, Valencia had a more or less full squad for this one and has gone for what likes a 4-4-2 with Diego Lopez in a supporting striker role.

Bilbao come into this game in excellent form with 6 wins in a row in all competitions. They haven't lost in La Liga since conceding a late goal at Nou Camp on 21st October and have gone 7-3-0 since then including wins over Atletico Madrid, Sociedad and Las Palmas in recent games. Both Inaki Williams and Guruzeta have been on form for them and our defence will need to be on their toes tonight. A win would be golden, but a draw wouldn't be the worst result for us considering the context.

HALF-TIME
An intense first half. Bilbao have set up very well with their front four cutting off our passing lanes and showing strong defence. With a possible exception at the end of the half I don't think we've been on target. Bad news for Valencia in the 13th minute when Canos pulled up and had to be replaced by Yaremchuk. Bilbao had the better chances, a pull back in the 3rd minute creating danger and twice Foulquier being beaten for pace by Nico Williams but the latter's shots were easily handled by Mamardashvili. Foulquier overall had a very good game, I think that's 3 in a row. For us, Fran Perez messed up a couple of half chances but made amends near the end with a recovery and a pass which found Duro, but his lay-off was to Guillamon who shot wide. Valencia finished the half well forcing a succession of corners. Bilbao still have the edge so it's important our defence stays switched on. This is a game that a single goal could decide.

FULL-TIME
It was indeed a game that a single goal decided and happily it was ours. Bilbao missed a good chance early in the 2nd half but Valencia then continued where we'd left off at the end of the 1st half, edging Bilbao. Duro missed a good chance, trying to brush it in. Just as we were all cursing him, Gaya put a great cross to the back post and Duro, not the tallest striker, headed home at the back post. Thereafter we managed to stalemate them well in both defence and midfield. Baraja played it safe with the subs, effectively switching to double full backs. This meant taking off Yaremchuk, it's very unusual to see a sub who's not injured being taken off. The changes worked and we neutralised them for a hard fought 3 points. 

At the start of the season, with Rafa Mir strongly linked many of us were worried about what would happen if we were reliant on Duro all season. How wrong we were. The only players who have scored more penalty goals this season than Duro are Bellingham and Morata. An addition we do have to thank Bordalas for.

This is the first time since 8th April 2018 that Valencia have won 4 league games in a row. Baraja overtook Voro's 40 games in charge in the game versus Celta and overtook Celades' 41 games in charge with this game. In the Lim era only Bordalas (46), Nuno (63) and Marcelino (110) have managed more. Both he and the team deserve big credit for punching above their weight this season.   

Cadiz 1-4 Valencia match thread

Valencia come into this game in more optimistic shape than we've been in a while. The expected relegation fight hasn't materialised. The team has 26 points and is 11 points ahead of the relegation zone. With the bottom 3 performing much worse than last season, 37 points would probably be enough to stay up this year. In other words, barring a late collapse, we can expect a more relaxed second half of the season than last year and if we can put a few good results together, we can even dream of European qualification.

Today's game is crucial in that. Cadiz come into the game in terrible form, just 2 wins all season, 1 of which came on the opening day with the other over 4 months ago on 1st September when they beat Villarreal. Since then they've drawn 8 and lost 7. A defeat at fellow strugglers Granada in the last game piles the pressure on more. In many ways they're turning into draw specialists with 5 draws from the last 6. Their biggest problem has been scoring: just 4 in the last 8 games and 14 overall, easily the worst in the division. Valencia fans will joke that that's not a surprise as their forward line is like a list of Valencia has-beens: Negredo, Maxi Gomez and Sobrino. They've played 8, 17 and 16 games respectively and scored... none. Negredo has only played a total of 44 minutes and as he'll be 39 this summer is surely in his last season. Sobrino is unavailable for this game due to a red card in the last game. Ex-Levante player Roger Marti is also out. Cadiz' main (only?) danger man is Chris Ramos who's scored a respectable 5 goals.

If we have any hopes of finishing higher, this is exactly the type of away game we need to win. That's part of the problem. While Valencia have been solid at Mestalla, with 5-2-2, the opposite is true on the road, with a dismal 2-3-5 record. Our absences include Almeida and Thierry. Pepelu is also probably out for this one, while Diakhaby and Amallah are at AfCon. Yaremchuk has had flu and is also under question so if Baraja continues with the recent 4-4-2 we may see Duro-Mari up front, although Diego Lopez is possible there as well. In the last game Valencia managed 3 wins in a row for the first time since early March 2022, I'm hopeful we can continue this run as a draw would be a letdown and a defeat a disaster.

So in the end, Pepelu made it with Diego Lopez the second striker.

FIRST HALF
Valencia started well, dealing with Cadiz' press and got the opener on 7 minutes. A decent team goal with Foulquier hitting a nice through pass, Diego Lopez beating the left back for pace and his cut back was touched past the keeper for the opener. Unfortunately after that, Valencia were wasteful and inconsistent in possession and gave away a stupid free kick on the edge of the area. It hit Pepelu's arms when jumping, penalty for me sorry to say and they equalised. Our only other chance came when we recovered and Canos shot was blocked by the defender. There was a dubious call when Hugo Duro got elbowed in the face and pushed over.

Looked a red to me, but was only given as a yellow. A frustrating first half. 

SECOND HALF
It got better. First Canos hit a super pass through for Diego Lopez who again used his pace to get into the area. Duro looked better placed but instead of passing, Diego slotted it nicely past Ledesma.

Much of the rest of the half was, as our games with them often are, very scrappy with Cadiz looking like a poor man's Getafe. Luckily, they lived up to their recent form and created little. We missed a golden chance to make it three when Mari was found at the far post, but fumbled the ball between his feet and the chance went. With Cadiz piling forward near the end and even their keeper joining the attack, but we broke out and the ever lively Diego Lopez found himself on a 2-on-1. Again, he made the right decision, finding Guerra and Javi also stayed cool to beat the keeper in a one-on-one. Game over then? Not quite. Cadiz switched off at the end and from a throw-in we got to the by-line and Mari made up for his earlier miss by putting the ball across for Jesus Vazquez to score his first senior goal.

As I said, we've messed up so often against teams like this but today we were clinical when we had to be with the pace of our young players making the difference. Diego Lopez had gone through a period of poor form but he was brilliant today. That's 4 wins in a row and the first time since December 2021 that we've both won 3 in a row in the league and scored 4 away from home. Baraja now has the 3rd highest win % of any Valencia manager in the Lim era. Now only 2 points off 7th and 3 points off 6th. Job well done.

Valencia 2-0 Cadiz match thread

 I'm off to Mestalla soon for this one and hoping for a win. After a positive start it's been a struggle for Valencia since beating Atletico Madrid with 2 draws and 2 defeats. On the positive side, we do have Gaya back for this one but Canos, Diakhaby, Almeida are all out to add to the longer term absences of Mari and Jesus Vazquez. For Cadiz' part, their strike force looks like a who's who of recent Valencia striker flops: Negredo, Sobrino and Maxi Gomez. They're also coming in with 2 draws and 2 defeats. This game marks a quarter of the season already gone. A win would take Valencia up to 8th place and mark a better than expected start. Lose and question marks about the team start afresh.

One major piece of football news affecting Valencia was the choice of 2030 World Cup hosts. To my surprise (I thought South America would get it for centenary reasons) it's going to Spain, Portugal, Morocco, with an insulting and awkward token game each played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. This looks more like a way to clear the path for Saudi Arabia to host 2034 than anything. As Nou Mestalla is one of the bid venues, this puts extra pressure on the club to finally get the stadium done.

I'll be back later from this one, so please use this as a placeholder for comments. I'll be back to normal service around the middle of November.

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Well, quickly, that was a fairly comfortable win. Amallah was impressive and linked well with Gaya for the first goal. Thierry always a threat and provided for Duro for the second. We were greatly helped by Cadiz having a man sent off in the 22nd minute. There was a huge downpour at the start but that didn't stop it being a good win. We had 3 good breakaway chances to make it 3 but squandered all of them, with Fran Perez the main culprit. They did little. The game marked the return of Maxi Gomez to Mestalla with Sobrino also featuring. Cadiz seem to have a thing for Valencia flop strikers as Negredo was also in their squad. Both Maxi and Sobrino did what they did best at Mestalla: run around a bit uselessly. Foulquier for Thierry was where the problems started. Stupid mistakes from him and fellow sub Guillamon gave them golden chances which they thankfully didn't take. 8th at the quarter point of the season is a solid start.

Valencia - Real Sociedad match thread

 I'm going to Mestalla for this one so another short thread.

After the high of the win over Atletico Madrid, Valencia returned to the usual inconsistency with a shaky performance against the league's bottom club, Almeria. We could easily have lost that game. Why do the team always do this?

For tonight, we do at least have Paulista and Yaremchuk available. Baraja has effectively said that Yaremchuk will get at least some minutes, so we should see his debut. Foulquier, Sergi Canos, Jesus Vazquez and Alberto Mari remain injured. 

Tonight's opponents Sociedad have made a solid enough start 2-3-1 with the defeat by 1 goal away to Real Madrid and with a midfield and attack including people like Oyarzabal, Kubo, Brais Mendes and Zubimendi and 12 goals scored so far, our defence will really have to be on their toes. Previous results against them have been all over the place. We beat them when we're weak then throw away points in good seasons, so I won't make any prediction for this, but I'm hoping for a good home win.

========
Well, I just got back from the stadium and have mixed feelings. For the first 30 minutes I thought we were the better team but then we conceded a dumb goal from a stupid mistake by Diakhaby. He's like Valencia in miniature: has a couple of good games, makes you think he's turned the corner and it will get better from now on and then reverts to business as usual. The second killer was the sending off of Amallah, which seemed harsh from where I was sitting. He'd been looking good up to then and almost playing as a second striker. That killed us off. I thought we'd fold in the second half but we fought well and a draw would have been a fairer result. I thought we were weak on the left, Diego Lopez did little, Gaya not much more. Thierry did well handling their winger and Fran Perez was lively. Duro was active but had very little service. Guerra is obviously a good prospect but his decision making tonight was off and Mamardashvili's distribution could have been better. I liked the little I saw of Yaremchuk's debut. He was active and a physical presence.

Overall, Sociedad clearly had a better squad than us. (Qualifying for Champions League gets you money you can use to buy better players... someone should tell our owner. ) But we mostly held our own. If it hadn't been for the sending off we could have got a draw. The big problem remains the squad depth as evidenced by the fact that our final defence consisted of 4 central defenders. With Vazquez out and Gaya often injured, that's a problem. On to the next game.

Almeria - Valencia match thread

 I'm off to Valencia tomorrow so with apologies and unless anyone else wants to do them, these will be shorter than usual until November, but a placeholder for comments is better than nothing.

Valencia produced a strong and convincing performance in the previous game to earn the first win over Atletico Madrid in nearly a decade. Nevertheless, the team remains an enigma. Doing well against bigger teams but not so well against smaller clubs. At least that's an improvement on last season when we were rubbish against everyone. So which Valencia will show up tomorrow? 

In team news, there are several absences which highlight the problems of a thin squad. Paulista is out likely for the next 2 games. He started the season well, so this is unfortunate. Foulquier similarly should be back soon. Not such a loss some fans will say, but with barely anyone else who can play as right back, it's better to have him for the last 20-25 minutes to give Thierry a rest than playing someone out of position. The case of Vazquez is similar, though he's more promising than Foulquier and his absence is sorely missed as Gaya needs the rest. Canos unfortunately got injured last game and should be out for several to come. I'd expect Diego Lopez to cover for him, with Amallah saved for the Sociedad game, though it could be the reverse. Lastly, there's the long term injury to Mari, a player who was showing promise and problematic with the team so thin up front.

Our rivals Almeria sit bottom of the table. (Useless fact: they're the most recently formed La Liga team, formed in 1989.) Like us, they narrowly escaped relegation last season An 87th minute penalty to equalise in the final game against already relegated Espanyol was all that kept them up. They did take 4 points from us last season and only a missed penalty at Mestalla prevented them from taking all 6. This season their start has been terrible: losing the first two games at home to R Madrid and Rayo and then drawing at Cadiz. Their home game vs Celta was mixed. They went 2 down, fought back to equalise, squandered 2 one-on-one chances with the goalkeeper and then lost to an 87th minute goal. In their last game at Villarreal they took the lead, but eventually lost to a 94th minute goal. On paper, this is a team we should beat easily and the type of game we must win if we have any dreams of a top half finish. In reality? We've thrown away points in so many such games before, so I hope for a win, but don't know what to expect.

The mood around Valencia now is weird. On the one hand, expectations have never been lower. Most of us would be happy with a comfortable 9th or 10th place finish, something that would have been seen as a disaster a few seasons ago. On the other hand, there seems to be a buoyancy and excitement around the team. Attendances for this season so far (obviously early days with only 3 home games) have been nearly 43,000, the highest since 14/15 under Nuno. (We haven't exceeded 43,000 since 2006/7.)

The attitude seems to be that even though the team is much diminished and one of the weakest Valencia squads this century, we at least have an exciting crop of young players from our academy to cheer for. Mosquerra, Guerra, Fran Perez, Diego Lopez and Mari might be raw in most cases, but they're our guys who've come through the youth system and will bleed for the club badge. 

It's hard to say what line-up Baraja will go for, especially with rotation and a midweek game against Sociedad to think about, but I'd expect something like Mamardashvili; Gaya, Diakhaby, Mosquerra, Thierry; Pepelu, Guerra, Almeida; Diego Lopez, Duro, Fran Perez. I would hope Guillamon can be eased back into the squad, Cenk will almost certainly play some of the game (it wouldn't surprise me to see him start instead of Mosquerra) and we may finally see some minutes for Yaremchuk.

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Unfortunately, I think it was the weaker version of Valencia that showed up tonight. We're lucky to come away from that with a point as Mamardashvili saved us a few times. Our goals were great, super pace and finish from Diego Lopez after a link-up with Javi Guerra. It was Guerra who got our second as well with solid play from Fran Perez to create the chance. Sadly both times we couldn't hold the lead and the defending and marking was really poor in this game. Next up: Sociedad at home.

Valencia vs Atletico Madrid

 Valencia tomorrow comes up against one of their most annoying opponents. 

It's been nearly 9 years since we blitzed them on 4th October 2014, scoring 3 goals in the first 13 minutes and having Alves save a penalty for a 3-1 win in the early part of Nuno's first season.

Sadly, it's been a story of massive frustration since then. Even though we've beaten every other team, including Barcelona and Real Madrid, this fixture has been an awful one for us. 17 games. 6 draws and 11 defeats. We thought we'd done it early last year, taking a 2-goal lead away only for them to score in the 64th, 91st and 94th minutes. Sorry to say I don't expect to see this change tomorrow and think we'll lose by a couple.

I'll be out all day, so will miss this game and putting this post up as a "placeholder" for comments during and after the game.

Alaves - Valencia match thread

So it's a tricky opponent today in Vitoria. Valencia have Almeida back in the line-up but again we see the problem with not doing transfer business in time. None of the 3 latest additions are judged ready yet.

10 minutes in and it's a ludicrous start. Valencia gave away a penalty in the first minute when Mamardashvili fouled after a poor back pass. He saved the penalty but then it was retaken for encroachment. He saved yet again! I guess Mamar penalty saves are like buses, you wait a while and then 2 come at once. A fat lot of good it did us: poor defending with Diakhaby failing to clear and it goes in off Cenk. The stupidity of not adding a central defender in the window comes back to kill us, with Diakhaby back in defence and back to mischief, costing us with mistakes.

FULL-TIME
Pathetic. Anyone still want to disagree that we're fighting to stay up this year after a poor transfer window? The squad is weaker than last year and we saw today how just 1 injury, to Paulista, messes everything up. The squad is paper thin as shown by subbing off Duro for an unknown youth player. Both teams squandered a few chances, but I don't think this result was undeserved at all. If anything, we deserved to lose by more. Only bright spot was that Mosquera did well.

Valencia 1-2 Osasuna match thread

Valencia's transfer dealings continue to move at a glacial pace. The Rafa Mir transfer looks doubtful, a plan B, Lucas Boye looks like he's going to Granada instead, Borja Mayoral looks dubious and we're left with names like Martin Braithwaite to fill the void. Mir still seems the best of an average bunch as all the other names have very poor scoring records. If we want a forward who doesn't score much, we already have Hugo Duro. The addition of Selim Amallah is said to be closer, but how many times have we heard that?

Negativity aside and out of the way, Valencia have a great chance to extend their positive start today. Under Baraja, we're 5-3-1 at Mestalla and today's opponents Osasuna are one of only 2 teams (Celta is the other) who we got all 6 points against last season.

Osasuna started well, winning at Celta 2-0 with our former youth player Ruben Garcia netting. In the follow-up, they came unstuck at home, losing to Bilbao 2-0 with some poor defending gifting the goals. They look a solid team without any standout players, just a good range of La Liga experience with guys like Moi Gomez, Ruben Pena etc. What will benefit us is that Chimy Avila, their top scorer last season, got sent off last game and is suspended for today. I'll post the line-up when available, but I'd expect more or less the same as last game with the only question being whether Javi Guerra will start. Canos is of course available but I'd be very surprised to see him feature for more than a few minutes as a late sub as he hasn't trained much with the team.

Guerra, as predicted is the only change. 23 minutes in and Valencia are 1-0 down. Thierry mistimed the tackle and they scored from the penalty.

FULL-TIME
We lost 2-1. A disappointing result in a game that we deserved at least a draw from. I didn't think we played badly but the issue is the obvious one that everyone that apparently Meriton can see. We needed a striker BEFORE the season started given the clear issues up front in the 2nd half of last season. Good to see Duro score but he struggles as lone forward (I think he could have uses as a supporting forward.)

Did you all see the joke at the end where they gave him man of the match?

Valencia 1-0 Las Palmas match thread

This week has produced nothing except rumour on the transfer front. None of the rumoured signings like Canós have materialised yet. After a winning start it's crucial that we keep the momentum going and get as many points as possible while the team is still fresh.

Today's opponents are Las Palmas, back in La Liga after 5 seasons in Segunda and of all teams, they are the one I most didn't want to see again as they were nothing other than a pain in the a$$ for us in their previous 3-season stint. They got a draw against us in Mestalla in Nuno's last game in charge there (a sacking that never should have happened) and the return leg the same season was Pako Ayestaran's first in charge. It started well with Rodrigo scoring in the 3rd minute, but a penalty and then the most comical own goal you'll ever see, with Aderllan Santos (who else) trying to clear but the ball bouncing off the back of Mustafi and in for the winner (enjoy it here!). We played them the 1st game of the 2016-17 season and it was a devastating start which showed how the season was going to go as they beat us 4-2 at Mestalla. Though we beat them in Marcelino's first game, their jinx struck again in the return fixture with them coming from behind to beat us 2-1, helped in big part by Vezo and Paulista getting sent off. 1-1-4 against them and interestingly, ex-Valencia player Jonathan Viera scored in 5 of those 6. He's one of the only survivors from that era, back in Las Palmas for the 3rd time after a spell in China. He scored their equaliser last week so remains a threat.

For Valencia, it's the same line-up as last week. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Las Palmas also have ex-Valencia loanee Munir.

Cooling break. We started well and created a couple of good chances with Duro having the best one. We've been a bit sloppy in possession and Mamardashvili's clearances have put is in trouble couple of times. We've had a slight edge but that counts for nothing unless we score.

Second half. Guerra comes on for Almeida and looks very good, clearly the best next talent from the academy. We almost score when he puts Lopez through but the ricochet goes just wide. They have a couple of good chances for Viera and Munir but waste them. We got a penalty when their player carelessly handles, Pepelu sends it right down the middle for 1-0!

FULL-TIME: not the prettiest or most exciting of wins but I'll take it. The team, despite the odd sloppiness and misplaced pass, looks more comfortable and composed on the ball. The defence largely functions and shuts down danger. The biggest problem remains up front. Duro works hard, but he isn't a target man and the team badly needs more bite there. Osasuna at home next.

Sevilla 1-2 Valencia

 Well, I didn't expect that. I expected to lose by a couple and my best hope was that we could somehow park the bus and get a dour draw. The line-up looked like a 5-3-2, but that was deceptive as Diakhaby was actually in midfield and the set-up was more like a 4-3-1-2 with Almeida more advanced. The team started well though on the front foot but were not able to capitalise on a couple of half chances for Diego Lopez and Duro. Sevilla grew more into it and had a few better chances, but few on target. They looked off the pace a bit, surprising for a team that just won a European trophy. The closest we came was a backheel flick by Lopez which nearly deceived Bono.

In the second half Valencia took the lead through Diakhaby, even though it looked like he may have mishit it. Either way, we led and Diakhaby was actually having a great game in his new position. 

Sevilla equalised 10 minutes later when En Nesyri got ahead of Cenk to head home a cross. Where we going to throw this away? No, as it turned out. Sevilla had a player sent off and then a Sevilla player made a mess of clearing and was closed down by Duro, who made up for earlier misses by squaring for Guerra, who finished well inside the near post. 

This makes up somewhat for the painful game in Seville last season when Gaya missed an injury time penalty and ends a miserable run of 3 draws and 6 defeats against them, with the last win coming in March 2019. I am still not optimistic about this season as the squad, despite some promising youth, looks threadbare and the inevitable injuries will kill us if we don't have reinforcements. My main worry from this result is that Meriton will draw the wrong conclusion and decide we don't need additions. For now, I'm still expecting a tough season, but it's 3 points gained, 40 more needed. If the club would see sense and bring in reinforcements, at least a striker, midfielder and winger as minimum, I'd be a bit more confident of the season.

Valencia finish 16th

 So, the season ends with Valencia safe. As always we didn't make it easy for ourselves, conceding a stupid goal in the first minute, but luckily Betis had nothing to play for and were more interested in giving Joaquin a well-deserved send off than turning the screw on us. We had a lengthy wait for a penalty which wasn't given but after that Diego Lopez's goal put us level. That's his 3rd goal in 4 games. Baraja's faith in the youngsters really paid off with people like Mari and Guerra scoring crucial goals. Indeed, if it hadn't been for Guerra's 93rd minute winner against Valladolid, we'd be going down instead of them.

The fact still remains, this was an awful season, especially after the World Cup break. The failure to bring anyone in during the winter transfer window really hurt. 16th is our worst league position since 1987, when we returned to the top flight. From 1988 until Lim took over, we'd never been lower than 10th, now we've managed two 12th-places, one 13th and now this. Unless things change, this is a temporary reprieve under this ownership.

Soon we'll start the usual summer turmoil where we'll be linked with everyone only to see them signed for rival clubs. I expect Musah to go. After a bright start he's regressed in the last 2 seasons and the stupid red card tonight summed up his season. Sadly Mamardashvili will probably be out the door and I'd be surprised if Cavani stayed at this horror show. Ultimately, I'd like to keep Thierry, Almeida, Gaya and some of the canteros who've shown their worth.

Baraja will probably stay too. Saving us adds to his legend status. In normal circumstances, we could do better but which decent or ambitious manager would come to Valencia, where we've had FOUR people in charge in the last year? I'm not optimistic about us under Baraja, but in the end I expect whoever is in charge in August to be sacked during the season. A pessimist is never disappointed.

So for now, let's enjoy the fact we live to fight another day.

The final day permutations, almost safe, but...!

 Valencia nearly screwed it up against Espanyol. Despite dominating the first half hour, Valencia as usual were unable to put away good chances and the game went like so many others this season. Eventually, the other team got some half chances and scored.

The English commentator reckoned we were safe. By my calculation we're not. We survive next week in any of the following situations:

1 we get a point
2 Cadiz don't LOSE (away to Elche, there's a very unlikely scenario where Cadiz could still relegate)
3 Valladolid don't win (they are at home to Getafe, who are not safe)
4 Almeria lose (they are away to already relegated Espanyol)
5 Celta don't win (they're at home to Barcelona.)

If we lose and Valladolid win, then there's the possibility of a messy tie on 41 points, which is broken by head-to-head points, then head-to-head goal difference between *ALL* the teams in question. The all is important since, although we win a head-to-head against Getafe, the inclusion of other teams could screw us up.

Here are all the possible head-to-heads involving us and Getafe:

5-WAY
Almeria 16, Cadiz 13, Valencia 10, Getafe 9, Celta 5

4-WAY
Cadiz 11, Valencia 9, Getafe 9, Celta 4
Almeria 14, Valencia 10, Getafe 7, Celta 2
Almeria 12, Cadiz 10, Getafe 5, Valencia 4***

3-WAY
Almeria 10, Valencia 4, Getafe 3
Valencia 9, Getafe 7, Celta 1
Cadiz 8, Getafe 5, Valencia 3***

2-WAY
Valencia 3-3 Getafe (Valencia wins 5-2 on head-to-head goals scored.)

Only the ones with the asterixes relegate us. Oddly, since both of them involve Cadiz, that means we need Cadiz to get a draw or win at Elche. If Cadiz get at least a point, we're guaranteed safety.

----------
It's really frustrating that we have spent so many months surviving not through our own efforts, but more hoping that other teams will be worse than us and throwing away points in crunch games against virtually every relegation rival. (Celta the only exception since the world cup!) 

So while it's 99% sure we'll survive this season, the prospects for next do not look so good. Mamardashvili has saved us on a number of occasions this season, the mistake tonight aside. With our own attacking players so often toothless, we've relied on the goals of Lino and Kluivert to dig us out of trouble. The continuity of all those 3 at Mestalla is in serious doubt. Losing Guedes and Soler last summer removed our 2 biggest threats and although Almeida looks a solid prospect, he's a season away from fully filling Soler's boots. Apart from him, Gaya, Mamardashvili, Kluivert, Lino and some of the promising canteranos, there are very few guys in this squad I'd shed tears over if they left.

Sadly, I expect another relegation struggle next season even if we do survive on the last day.

Valencia are safe, but have a bigger problem to fix

I decided to wait a few days before writing this blogpost until the situation settled a little bit. Firstly, let’s deal with the elephant in the room. This week should have been a joyous one for Valencia. A first win over Real Madrid in front of our own fans since 2019 (we, of course, beat them due to the Soler penalty hat-trick during Covid.) But not only that: a win which effectively guarantees Valencia’s place in the top flight, which looked seriously under threat.

Of course, what should have been a great week is now one of the worst for our club and the city in ages. The racist idiocy of a few fools has dragged the name of the club and city and fanbase through the mud and tarnished the result. I’ve seen quite a few of our fans giving the other side of the coin: certain players aren’t punished for provocation due to the club they play for, Valencia are being treated harshly compared to other clubs etc etc. Those views have merit but there is a time and place for such discussions and NOW IS NOT THE TIME. Our focus should be on one thing and one thing only: any racist in our fanbase, in our stadium or near our stadium is one racist too many. It doesn’t matter what provocations, true or not, happen. Abusing any player on the grounds of race, nationality, religion, sexuality etc is 100% unacceptable. It is wrong. Full stop.

Now, as far as what’s been done, that only goes part of the way. There should a zero tolerance policy to it. It shouldn’t have to get to the point where protocols are enacted and games paused. Ground security should immediately eject any offenders and they should be banned. A tough example would cut this out.

“But it was only a handful of people in the stadium! Our fans are no worse than others” I’ve been in Mestalla enough times to know this is true, but there were a group outside the stadium chanting racist slogans. Those people are banned, rightly from the stadium, but they’re still allowed to crawl around outside, engaging in abuse which sometimes veers into bigotry and damaging our reputation. It’s on the police to deal with them, so Valencia need to liaise with local authorities and tell them in no uncertain terms that their payment for policing also includes keeping these fools from gathering and arresting them if they do gather and break into racist chants. Do these clowns not see that we have Diakhaby, that we have Musah, that we have Thierry, that we have Kluivert and Moriba etc?

Finally, our fans in and around the stadium need to make it clear through banners and counter protests, that these Yomus groups are not welcome. We can easily criticise wider authorities for not doing enough to deal with the problem but we should set a proactive example.

-----
Let’s move on to the positive that we would have been talking about if all that hadn’t happened. Valencia are now effectively safe. I’ve been looking at the table and the remaining games and I believe that even if we lost the 3 remaining games we’d still stay up as it would take a very unlikely combination of results to relegate us.

As things stand, we are ahead of Celta, Cadiz, Almeria, Valladolid, Getafe and Espanyol and 2 of those 7, including us, could go down.

If level on points, we have the better head-to-head against Celta and Getafe and effectively Valladolid due to goal difference. We drew with Espanyol earlier in the season so the head-to-head depends on that. Cadiz and Almeria will finish above us if we’re level on points.

Let’s take the worst case scenario. We lose all 3 remaining games. The other teams then get perfect results, all winning, against teams not in the relegation fight. So the teams in capital letters win

Villarreal – CADIZ
Elche – CADIZ
Betis – GETAFE
CELTA – Barcelona
ESPANYOL – Atletico Madrid

Just to start with, I think all those results happening are very, very unlikely, but if anyone disagrees, I’m sure there’s a bookmaker who’ll happily give you good odds. (You’ll lose your money.)

However, that situation would leave La Liga as:

Cadiz 44
Celta 43
Getafe 41
Espanyol 40
Valencia 40
Almeria 39
Valladolid 38
(bottom two go down)

So that’s the situation if we lose and all other teams get perfect results. We’d still not be in a relegation position. There would be remaining games not included above:

Cadiz vs Celta,
Almeria vs Valladolid,
Espanyol vs Almeria,
Valladolid vs Getafe

Almeria-Valladolid would be key.
If there was a draw or Almeria won Valladolid would need to beat Getafe on the last day.
If Valladolid won, Almeria would need to win away at Espanyol on the last day.
In both those cases, Getafe and Espanyol would also be fighting for survival, so wouldn’t lose easily.

So I think even on 40 points and no more wins, we’re safe.
---------------------------------------------

Staying up when confirmed leads us into the familiar discussions of the manager and transfer window, usually disappointing though they are. Baraja has stepped up to the plate and delivered the safety he was hired for. Should he stay on? I’m on the fence. I certainly think we can do better but there’s the problem of who would come to Valencia now with all the instability (and this week’s controversy doesn’t help either.) On the other hand, he’s shaken things up, given the academy players a chance and they’ve delivered. It would also look bad to reward him for saving us by firing him.

Let’s hope for a win at Mallorca to end this nasty week on a more positive note.

Valencia CF 0-1 Cadiz Match Report

What a bad start to the second half of the season and to the new year, with back to back loses for Valencia CF. This team can be so frustrating to watch sometimes, as we can often lose even against the worst opposition with the worst stats in La Liga, but then two matches down the line we manage to beat a Real Madrid or a Barcelona. 

Just 8 minutes into the game and Valencia CF was already losing at home against one of the worst teams in La Liga with one of the lowest scoring records in the league. Someone needs to explain this to me as I just don't get it.

Valencia CF started attacking from the get-go with them controlling possession and looking to go forward and attack, but this also left spaces at the back and opportunities for Cadiz to counterattack. This is exactly how Cadiz managed to take the lead, as they intercepted a pass from Valencia CF, passed the ball to R. Sobrino who ran from his side's own third to Valencia's own third, managed to outrun and get past Ilaix Moriba and assisted the ball to R. Alcaraz who was just outside of the penalty area, took a long range shot and managed to score. 

Valencia CF 0-1 Cadiz CF

As the game progressed Valencia CF controlled most of the possession at around 75% percent, but most of it was in our own third, just passing the ball in circles, instead of forward and when they did manage to pass forward it was often blocked or intercepted by the opposition. Hugo Guiliamon was the most responsible for this as time and time again he passed inaccurately and straight into the opposition players, no forced errors or anything of the sort, just terrible passing. 

The best Valencia CF came to scoring in the first half was a claim for penalty, other than that it was mostly ineffective attacks with no finish. 

Gennaro Gattuso decided to change things up for the second half and introduced Andre Almeida for Hugo Guillamon and Justin Kluivert for Ilaix Moriba. An obvious and right decision, considering they were the weakest link in the squad. Hugo misplaced so many passes and put Valencia CF in bad situations and Ilaix was just completely ineffective in doing anything, the game passed by him as he was a spectator.

The changes brought some much-needed energy and urgency in Valencia's play, with Almeida doing a much better job in bringing the ball forward and spreading it around with precision! Its baffling since stats wise Hugo Guillamon is one of Valencia's most accurate passers with a high rate of passing, but tonight most of his passes were inaccurate and back to the defense. 

Valencia CF did play much better in the second half as a result and created more opportunities and chances, forcing Jeremias Ledesma to react and save his team on few occasions. While the effort was there, and more chances were created it just wasn't quality enough. There were barely any goal scoring opportunities, with most of the threat towards Cadiz goal being from low probability opportunistic shots, rather than clear cut goalscoring opportunities. 

The best chance for Valencia CF was probably Gaya's long range effort on goal that was saved by their goalkeeper. Valencia CF also had few claims for a penalty, but the referee wasn't having it and wasn't going to serve them a goal opportunity on a platter. The claims were realistically farfetched, and most referees wouldn't entertain them! 

Player Ratings:

Giorgi 6 - Questionable positioning for the goal, seemed a bit out of position and thus couldn't quite reach the ball, but barely at fault here. Had few other saves that make up for that suspect positioning.

Correia 5.5 - Defense wise it was an okay performance but going forward he was lackluster and scrambled few good opportunities. Overall, not an impressive performance.

Diakhaby 6 - It was an average performance by his standards, industrial performance with few clumsy moments, classic Diakhaby stuff.

Comert 6 - Not a great defensive showing considering he was playing against one of the weakest attacking teams but did not make any sort of big mistakes.

Gaya 7 - He was mostly absent in defense, but he was always on the other side of the field and attacking. Most of the attacks came through him and he had the best chance of the night to score. 

Yunus Musah 6 - Better than the other two midfielders in the first half, but that is not saying much. He was mostly accurate with his passes and did try to create something on that right flank but was hardly effective and didn't cause Cadiz many problems!

Hugo Guillamon 3 - One of the worst performances I've seen from him, inexplicable passing errors and lazy mundane passing. He was also lackluster in tracking opposing players and breaking up their play.

Illaix Moriba 3 - Possibly the guiltiest player for the goal, got overrun so easily, but he could have made a foul and stop the attack, back in the days an Albelda or Topal or Fuego type if they lost the duel, they would foul out the opposing player to prevent a dangerous counterattack. 

Samu Castellijo 5.5 - Was lively during his time on the pitch and had some good movement and dribbles but was unable to make a difference.

Edinson Cavani 5 - Not given much to play with, had few penalty claims and arguments with the opposing players, but did not contribute much to this match and was left without any goal scoring chances. Not to blame, but clearly not a game in which he can be a threat! 

Lino 6 - Combined well with Gaya on the left flank and was generally very active in attack, had some good movements and passes, but like the whole team he just could not muster up an end product.

Subs:

Andre Almeida 7 - Justified substitution as he brough in better quality over Hugo and was key in moving the ball forward and spreading it around with precision. He has good playmaking abilities and seems to have huge potential for the future. I was impressed by his performance even if VCF lost and overall played poorly.

Justin Kluivert 6 - An upgrade over Illaix Moriba as he was much snappier and often run channels, something we lacked before his introduction, but like all others was unable to provide something concrete, to really change the course of the match. Decent effort but fell short. 

Hugo Duro 5.5 - Came on for the injured Samu and played decently, I liked his energy and combativeness, he wants to win, he wants to do good, so points for that, but in terms of finding himself in goal scoring positions or providing the key pass he was lacking.

Foulquier N/A - Not enough time 

Valencia - Betis match thread

Apologies for such a short thread. Valencia's last game before the World Cup break sees a chance of revenge for the cup final in a tough game against high flying Betis. It's also a chance for us to break a run of negative results.

There are some variations in the line-up due to injuries, with Hugo Duro finally getting his chance up front, an all-Turkish centre back pairing of Comert and Cenk in defence for the first time and Castillejo finally starting after weeks of absence. The absence of Borja Iglesias gives us hope but goals, not possession, are needed to reverse the negative run.

==FULL TIME/SEASON BREAK==
Valencia finally turn possession into points with a solid win. The team played well in the first half albeit without creating many chances. I thought this may have ended one of those games where we did well in 1st half but went in with nothing to show and then blew it in the 2nd, luckily it wasn't to be. The turning point was the sending off of Edgar for 2 clear yellow cards. The first could even have been a straight red. Almeida hit a great free kick to open up the scoring. The penalty we got was dubious, I thought, but Guillamon placed it well and then Kluivert, put through one on one as in a previous game showed great finishing instincts. I do wonder if he's wasted on the wing? He's very dangerous around the box.

The 2 guys who really made a difference today were Castillejo and Almeida. The 1st is always a busy presence on the right, passing and recovering the ball well and he came close to scoring in the 1st half. Almeida is steadily growing into the number 10 role vacated by Soler and has shown signs of being a solid replacement. 

So Valencia go into the break on 19 points and 10th place. It could easily have been 3 to 5 more which would have put us in European places. The team needs stronger second half and late game performances. Maybe a change of formation to 4-4-2 might work in some games? People like Duro, Kluivert and Marcos Andre would do better with Cavani to play off. Work to do in the 2nd part of the season but it's not a lost cause.

I'll try and put some posts up in the coming weeks. Enjoy the world cup!

Real Sociedad - Valencia match thread

 Valencia come into this game after a mostly poor run of results, with just 1 win in the last six and disappointing outcomes against Elche, Mallorca, Sevilla and Barcelona in the last 4.

It's Anoeta tomorrow, a ground which sounds intimidating but is actually a place where we've had good results in recent times. In the previous 5 seasons, we've won 3, drawn 1 and lost 1. A very good return for such an away fixture. Sociedad have also hit their own mini-slump, losing their last 2 league games in Valladolid and at home to Betis. 

Valencia mostly have a full squad to draw on with longer term absentees Jaume, Diakhaby and Ilaix unavailable. The big question mark is over Cavani, with Andre likely to start instead. 

HALF-TIME 

Valencia went behind to a comical goal. 1st Thierry slipped while in possession. Sociedad still had work to do but Guillamon did it for them sticking out a leg to deflect it past Mamardashvili. 5 minutes later Sociedad had a man sent off for a dangerous foul and that tilted the balance with Lino scoring, nutmegging 2 guys with his shot. Despite the man advantage it's an even game with Sociedad coming closest to scoring.

FULL-TIME
1-1. Really negative emotions. Same vibes as the Sevilla game. Before the season I'd have happily taken a point from this one but in the end feels more like a defeat. To have a man advantage for 75 minutes and 64% possession but look at best equal is not acceptable. If anything it was Sociedad who looked likeliest to win despite only having 10 men. We got a little better when Castillejo and Duro came on, but not good enough.