Nuno Santo spell at Valencia CF

Nuno Espirito Santo left Valencia CF on a low, but his tenure at Valencia CF wasn't all that bad as he lead the youngest team in La Liga to 4th place finish last season, securing the coveted Champions league spot that is crucial for a team like Valencia CF in both sporting and financial terms.

He arrived last season after Peter Lim bought the club and wanted to start fresh with a coach he personally trusted and with whom he had close relationship. Since Peter Lim and Jorge Mendes are close friend and Jorge and Nuno are very close friends as well, it was only natural for Nuno to become coach, even though he was a very inexperienced coach and a big unknown.

Peter Lim brought several new players and tasked to coach of making this new young group of players work, with the objective being Champions league football at the end of the season. Nuno did experiment the first few matches, but he very quickly settled on an established starting eleven team as the team was getting great results from start. Paco Alcacer was cemented as the main striker due to Negredo's injury and the forward trio of Paco, Rodrigo and Piatti worked wonders.

Nuno Santo obviously got quite lucky with the in form Jose Luis Gaya who's tireless runs from defense to attack and back were thing of wonder, contributing all over the pitch in immense ways. He was allowed to have this freedom by the rock solid Otamendi who covered with ease at the back and made short work of any potential counter attacks.

Nuno Santo focused on the counter attacking aspects of the play as he didn't have the most dominant midfield and he knew what he wanted, he knew his players strengths and played to them. The team would defend meticulously and when given the opportunity would start these super fast counter attacks with Piatti on the left who could outrun the opposition and Moreno on the right who could dribble past the opposition and Paco who always positioned well and got to the passes and crosses that were made towards him.
This style of play made Valencia CF extremely hard to beat as the defense seemed impenetrable and even the slightest mistake by the opposition could get punished. In fact Valencia CF has the biggest chance to goal ration in the league and in western Europe, scoring more goals with fewer chances than any other team in the big leagues.

Some of Nuno's accomplishments last season were the 3-1 victory at home over Atletico Madrid, the 2-1 win over Real Madrid who went undefeated for a record number of games before that, the 3-1 win over Sevilla at home and the draw against Real Madrid towards the end of the season. Ultimately his biggest accomplishment was leading this team full of new and young players who hadn't played with each other before and weren't really experienced and leading them to 4th position that led to Champions league football.

The second season for Nuno Espirito Santo kind of started in a bad light for Nuno, he didn't have to have any bad results for some of the Spanish Valencia CF fans to turn against him as they saw him as the main culprit that had Rufete and Amadeo Salvo leave the club. As some of you know and remember there was a big issue with some of the transfers and the perceived issues between the sporting director and some of the reinforcement decisions, which the fans took as Nuno's dealings since he was best friends with Jorge Mendes, Nuno's the coach and so he has to be pulling the strings on who gets to come.
Whether any of this is true and what really happened is completely unknown, we don't even know if there was bad blood between any of the parties and I'm of the train of thought that it was Peter Lim who was making all of the decisions, which he surely considered the best decisions, thus making them in the first place.

I think the hate towards Nuno that started in the summer from the perceived political and sporting issues in the club was unfounded. First of all even if there was issues about the transfers it was probably overblown way out of proportion, especially by the garbage Spanish sporting media who's one and only focus is to sell papers and/or get pageviews, so bombastic and controversial headlines is good for business. Even Valencia's sporting media superdeporte is 100% focused on views and profits, so the truth and level headed analysis can take a back seat for them.

But lets say nothing was overblown and that it was a major issue and that it was really bad, why would Nuno be the main culprit? He doesn't sign off on the transfers, he doesn't control the bank accounts, he doesn't negotiate with the players and teams! The only thing he can be blamed for is possibly working closely with his close friend and agent to suggest players to the management of the club, after then, with Rufete and Salvo gone it was up to Hoon and ultimately Peter Lim to make the decisions. Does this make Peter Lim a bad guy, is Peter Lim self hating and want to make it worse on his own investment? Absolutely not, I recommend reading my interview that I did with Daniel Owen about the transfer dealings and where I think Peter Lim was coming from on some of the decisions!

So with all of that Nuno's career at Valencia CF was doomed. The results are ultimately was finished him, but they were not what started this. Even when Valencia CF beat AS Monaco to continue to the Champuions League group stage a group of Spanish fans were calling for him to resign and booing the coach.

So it didn't take much for half of the fans to turn against him after a few poor results, if he was hated and booed before the season even started, few poor results are certainly going to make the issue big and prominent. One thing leads to another and hearing the fans boo you every game, regardless of results at some point can affect any person negatively and can affect Nuno's coaching abilities. When you feel like everyone is against you, you tend to form a shell around yourself, becoming angrier and closed up, so its no wonder that he started falling out with some of the players after the results weren't that great.

If I was being booed and attacked all the time, even if it was at first a minority of fans I'd get the hell away from there as soon as possible, not as a sign of cowardice, but as a sign that I don't want to have anything to do with people like that!

Was Nuno Santo skilled enough to lead Valencia CF, was he the right guy for the job? There are two tales about that, one is his first season in the club which was extremely successful and one is his second season at the club which is relatively unsuccessful. I still don't think in terms of raw data, in terms of points on the table and our standing that we are in a bad position, we are only 5 points away from Celta who are currently 4th position on the table, 8 points behind 3rd placed Real Madrid. So clearly in terms of numbers we are still in a good sporting position.

From a sporting position I think we are in a bad position, last season Valencia CF had a style, had a strategy and they played it to perfection. This season the team has no style, has no strategy and the execution of any of the different styles has been rather weak. The team doesn't create a lot of chances, something that rang true last season as well, but last season we conceded way less goals and tend to score at one point over 80% of a chance. So basically 1 chances pretty much equaled 1 goal for us, this season it takes us 7-8 chances and often times more to score even one goal.

Ultimately I think Nuno's stay at Valencia CF can't be judged as a whole, it can only be judged as two halves, two stories, one which was last season and one which is this season. Last season was a very successful one and this season a not so successful one. I think him resigning makes sense and is the right thing for him and Valencia CF, though I dread how it all started.

I dread that some Spanish fans could go so low as to boo him in the preseason presentation over perceived issues, something which I explain in this editorial how its all overblown out of proportion by the Spanish media who sole goal is to sell papers/ads. Something which even if 100% true, he has some control over, but is ultimately a very small part of the club operations and the fact that he got no respect for leading the team to 4th place last season even if he is guilty as charged!

I think emotions tend to ran rampant and reason and logic tend to take a back seat to it. It feels better to act on emotion, to let loose, after all its human nature.

Coaching options for Valencia CF

After Valencia's last nights defeat against Sevilla, Nuno Santo decided to resign from his position as coach of Valencia CF. He was under immense pressure and had already come under fire from fans and Spanish media, with last night's loss culminating in his resignation.

Now that he is out though Valencia CF turns its attention to find a new coach as quickly as possible, someone who can take this young group of players and build them up into a team.

Frank Rijkaard is one of the options that are being mentioned in the Spanish media, Barcelona FC  coach, he basically transformed Barcelona into the modern style that was later perfected by Pep. He became famous for his Barcelona coaching career, though he hasn't had any success since, though hasn't had any good options either, going to Turkey to coach Galatasaray and then just a year later joining Saudi Arabia national team.

David Moyes is another option for Valencia CF, he's an English manager who spent most of his coaching career at Everton before being appointed as the successor to Alex Ferguson, only to be quickly sacked after a not so great start to his career at Manchester United. He was then appointed to Spanish team Real Sociedad with whom he has had a decent first season, but was not so long ago sacked due to poor results this season. He will definitely be a big unknown for us, though not that bigger than Rijkaard who hasn't coached for almost 3 years.

Michael Laudrup is another option that is going around the press, he is extremely experienced as a coach, had a very successful playing career, but he hasn't celebrated himself as a coach and has often changed clubs or being forced out due to poor results. His most recent success was with Swansea City 2012-2014, though he was sacked in 2014 due to a run of poor results. He is going to be another unknown if we appoint him as Valencia's coach, though no more than the other two I've already wrote about.

Brendan Rodgers is another coach that is a potential option, he was just recently sacked from Liverpool after a string of poor results and overall unsatisfactory play from Liverpool after a second season of big summer spending. He because famous in Swansea City, leading them to the Premier league and keeping them there. His success with Swansea didn't go unnoticed and Liverpool came calling for his services in 2012. In his first season at Liverpool he led them to 7th place finish, his second season was his most successful one as he led Liverpool to 2nd place, just barely losing out the Premier league title to City.

Alejandro Sabella is yet another option for Valencia CF, he's an Argentinian coach who started his coaching career in 2009 at Estudiantes, before becoming Argentina's coach from 2011 to 2014. In his last year coaching the Argentinian national team he reached the final with them, losing out on the championship to Germany. He stepped down as coach even though he reached the final in the world cup and has been without a coaching job since.

Roberto Di Matteo who's been mentioned few times in the past as a potential coach for Valencia CF is available once again. He came to fame as an interim coach to Chelsea FC as he led them to Champions league glory. He was promptly sacked in his second season and just barely 8 months into his tenure at Chelsea after failing to advance the team through the Champions league group stage.
Since then he's worked at Schalke 04 for one season, resigning at the end of the season after failing to lead them to Champions league football.

Joaquín Caparrós is also available and a potential option for Valencia CF. As a long standing coach in Spanish football his name has been mentioned several times when looking at options for Valencia CF coach, but he's never quite entered into that short list for contention. He rose to prominence at Sevilla as he really developed them into a strong competitor team in his five years there. He left in 2005 to join Deportivo La Coruna who he led for two years before jumping board to Atletico Bilbao where he spend 4 relatively successful years. Since 2011 when he left Bilbao he hasn't found the same success he enjoyed earlier in his career and he's jumped between 4 teams since. He last coached Granada who were last place on the table when he was sacked.

Carlo Anceloti is the biggest name on this list and boy wouldn't it be amazing if he was to become Valencia's coach, but that is hugely unlikely as he's said he won't join any team in the winter and he's already in high demand as Bayern Munich, Manchester City and other teams are looking at securing his services next summer.

Who would you like to see become the next Valencia CF coach?

Sevilla FC 1-0 Valencia CF Match Report

Valencia CF was unfortunately defeated 1-0 by Sevilla earlier tonight, forcing Valencia CF coach Nuno Santo to resign.

I was going to write that this match can't be blamed on the coach in any big way, since we were left with only 10 players in the pitch early on in the first half, but even before the expulsion of Joao Cancelo the team was struggling to cope with Sevilla's attacks and midfield dominance, basically putting so much pressure on Valencia's defense!

As I said the match was pretty much decided when Joao Cancelo was shown his second yellow card following a careless high hand by Joao hitting the opponent in the face. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, but it was really careless and naive from him and he got punished.

After that it was all Sevilla FC, they kept on attacking and attacking with Valencia CF being unable to do anything about it and unable to even string couple of passes together. Even before the expulsion Valencia CF was playing pretty bad, even though Nuno decided to start with 4 midfielders we still couldn't control the midfield and were still on the back foot trying to defend against a very organized and aggressive Sevilla.

The first half fortunately finished 0-0 and there was a slight glimmer of optimism that we could end up drawing against them, but that was shattered early in the second half as Sergio Escudero latched to a piercing cross by Ever Banega and his show beat the goalkeeper as it went high into the corner of the net.

Even though Sevilla didn't have too much chances after that, well apart from one very dangerous header by Llorente, and few weaker opportunities, it didn't matter as Valencia CF seemed out of sorts and never looked like scoring a goal, we didn't have any counter attacking, we didn't have any midfield control, we didn't have anything.

Ultimately the match ended in a disapointing loss for Valencia CF, leaving the team in the middle of the table 14 points behind the leaders Barcelona and 5 points behind 4th place Celta.

Sevilla: Sergio Rico, Mariano, Rami, Kolodziejczak, Escudero (Krohn Deli, m. 84), Krychowiak, N'Zonzi, Vitolo, Banega, Konoplyanka (Reyes, m. 85), Llorente (Inmobile, m. 68).
Valencia CF: Ryan, Joao Cancelo, Santos, Abdennour, Gayà, Javi Fuego, Danilo, Enzo Pérez (Feghouli, m. 62), Dani Parejo, Santi Mina (Ruben Vezo, m. 46), Paco Alcácer (Bakkali, m. 78).

Goals:
Sergio Escudero 1-0, 50 min. Assist Ever Banega

Player Ratings:
Ryan 6 - Really hard to get get a hand to the ball for the goal, had two good saves after that to deny Sevilla more goals.
Joao Cancelo 3 - Naive yellow cards, especially for the second one. Let down the team.
Santos 6 - Was decent at the back, had few blocks and interceptions and generally solid positioning.
Aymen 5 - Was clumsy in some of the challenges and was beaten for speed on two occassions, clearly has a lot more to improve.
Gaya 6 - Was good defensively, intercepted few passes and was generally marking the opposition good, could hardly muster up anything going forward at no fault of his.
Fuego 5 - I think he was okay while he was on the field, didn't contribute in the midfield in any way, but helped out defensively and was a nuisance for Sevilla to deal with.
Danilo 4.5 - Mostly a passenger, had few defensive tackles, but other than that didn't contribute much at all. Another disappointing arrival for VCF.
Enzo 5 - Don't think it was a good performance, he's been really disappointing ever since he came to VCF and he still hasn't justified his massive price tag.
Parejo 5 - Similar performance to Enzo, that is to say quite bad overall. Got even worse after we went 1 man down.
Mina 4 - Isolated in the first half and just wasn't engaged in the play in any way, taken off in the second half for a defensive player.
Paco 4 - Alone and isolated at front, he didn't stand any chance to get anything going.
Subs:
Vezo 4 - Came in to reinforce the defense, but Sevilla scores just 10 minutes into the second half, making this substitution useless.
Feghouli N/A - Seems to be Nuno's "get out of jail card", but it didn't work tonight, he tried his best but couldn't do anything.
Bakkali 4.5 - Definitely ran more than Paco, you got to admire his passion and determination, but all his running was for nothing.

Valencia CF coach Nuno Santo Resigns

Nuno Espirito Santo resigns as Valencia CF coach following the defeat to Sevilla FC earlier tonight! The coach met with Peter Lim about a week ago and he was given few more matches to improve Valencia's standing in the table and tonight was supposed to be one of those matches, where a win would have been very important and a draw prolonging his stay under pressure.

After the loss though the coach has decided to resign amidst growing pressure from fans and club officials. Peter Lim now needs to find a replacement for him really quickly with limited options at this time!

Sevilla FC vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Sevilla FC vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Stadium: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán

Date: 29.11.2015 2030 CET

Match 13 - Liga BBVA

Coaches: Unai Emery and Nuno Santo

Coming from a bad game against FC Zenit, the morale of the players and the coach looks weak. In the last game we could see that a good Champions League team dominated us, though we had good amount of possession, we couldn't make much out of it. 

Now we are back to one of the toughest and most intense games Valencia CF will play this season. Back in the mid 90s, Villareal were seen as a direct rival and the derbies used to be a pleasure to watch, however, over the last several years Valencia CF's rivalry has shifted towards Sevilla. After being knocked out in the Europa League's Semi Final in 2014, the rivalry has gone up to the next level. Former Valencia CF players E. Banega, A. Rami play for Sevilla. Not to forget, Unai Emery manages Sevilla. The man who was pretty successful at Valencia, however, couldn't beat the Real Madrid, Barcelona duopoly. 

Sevilla, themselves haven't had a great start to the season with securing just 15 points out of the twelve games played. They have lost to rather weak opponents, however, they have performed well against Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively winning against both teams. Their UCL performance too has been terrible, standing at the bottom of the group and most likely to be eliminated from the group stages. Sevilla's team confidence is pretty low currently after losing to Monchengladbach in the UCL and to Las Palmas in their previous league game. 

Valencia CF too have had a shaky start to the season, with the last game ending up in a draw against a weak team on paper like Las Palmas. Valencia CF have always faced difficulties at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, they haven't won a single game in the last fifteen games played there. Eleven loses and four draws. So this will be a tricky fixture, where both the teams will try to clinch three very important points to stay in the hunt for that fourth UCL spot. 

Negredo and Mustafi have been left out of the squad due to injuries. Most likely Santos will take Mustafi's position teaming up with Abdennour. Abdennour still hasn't come to full form, which he showed with AS Monaco. He hasn't really got the time to pair up with a regular defensive partner, the way Otamendi did with Mustafi. Parejo has been inconsistent as always, he put up a great performance against Celta Vigo but again was lost in the midfield with Las Palmas and Zenit, he really needs to play well if we need to control the ball in the midfield. Paco Alcácer is regaining his form, if we need to win against Sevilla, his part is the most crucial. It would be interesting to see who Nuno selects to start on the left wing, Valencia CF haven't had a regular starter for this position, Santi Mina, Bakkali and Piatti, all being rotated for this position. 

Sevilla Players to look out for - Vitolo, Gameiro, Llorente and Konoplyanka

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Doménech, Ryan
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Abdennour, Santos, Vezo, Gaya, Orban
Midfielders: Javi Fuego, Danilo, Enzo Perez, Parejo, Andre Gomes, Feghouli, De Paul, Bakkali

Forwards: Piatti, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina 

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Jaume; Cancelo, Santos, Abdennour, Gaya; Perez, Parejo, Gomes; Feghouli, Paco, Bakkali.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, mixed passing, counter attacks

Prediction: 1-1

Interview I did and blog news

Hey there. So some news on various fronts. I've had quite a bit of emails sent to me with offers to help around the blog and I've already accepted few, you've all read the latest match preview by our newest writer Adi Sids. I've also finally updated the player ratings and they are completely up to date, after missing 6 matches of ratings. I've also updated the fixtures list with the latest results.

I was interviewed by Daniel Owen over at tacticalworld.wordpress.com about Valencia CF and that article is up if anyone wants to read what I had to say: https://tacticaworld.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/uno-to-uno-mestalla-terrace-talk/

I'll be updating the goals and assists stats next and bringing those up to speed, before I have to seriously sit down and spend a lot of time updating the overall stat for the players.

Possible Winter Transfers

Alvaro Negredo  Bought for 28 million euros from Man City August 2014.
In my opinion at the time it was an exciting purchase even though the price seemed high for a player of that age, however, if he was going to start getting goals for us it may have turned into a wise investment. Unfortunately as we all now know it has been a disastrous waste of money.  Now he is out of favour and looking to be offloaded in the winter, the worst possible thing  has to happen is that he has had to go to hospital for an operation and is now sidelined for a couple of months. Will anybody shell out any decent money for him in January ?  It remains to be seen.  Anyhow, I see the club losing a lot of money over this deal but in the long term good for both sides if he goes as I feel that at the moment he has no future here with the current set up.  Of course in the event of Nuno himself going that could all change and who would bet against that at the moment. The latest is that Olympic Marseille may be interested in him and that a possible move for us to take Michy Batshuayi, although there would be a big payment for us as apparently they are looking for a ridiculous 50 million for him and I don't think we will get that for Negredo.

Rodrigo De Paul  Bought from Racing Club for 4.5 million euros in July 2014.
A player who, in my opinion, and I know many others, has just not been given enough time in the team. We are a team devoid of strong powerful players who are willing to go and do the unexpected and here is a player who can do that. How Piatti is being chosen before De Paul has left many of us perplexed.  What is the reason for his exclusion ?  We have to appreciate that even though we all want to know, the manager cannot go to the press and criticize the players and say why they are not playing.  That would be the easy way out but it is a thing that managers are often reluctant to do.  The latest is that Villareal and Marseille are interested in his purchase so we will have to wait and see on that one.  I really hope he is given time and stays.

Nicolas Orban  signed from Bordeaux for 3.5 million euros August 2014.
A player I have always liked despite being error prone on occasions. He is a player who wants to win and who gives his all on the pitch. Versatile, in that he could be used as left back or central defence if needed and I am sure would also be comfortable as a defensive midfield player.  It is no surprise that teams like Celta Vigo, River Plate, Boca Juniors and Borussia Monchengladbach have taken an interest in signing him.  I wonder if Nuno has stopped to think that he might have missed something. Of course if he does go he will need to be replaced by another quality left back to cover for Gaya.  I do not understand why Gaya has not been given a rest recently and Orban used, I foresee Gaya getting another injury soon by being overplayed.

If it was down to me, players that would be leaving in the winter providing we could find somebody to buy them, would be  Piatti and Barragan.  I think we need a replacement right back to cover or replace Cancello and maybe another left midfield player.

Many players have been mentioned as possible signings but I think that is all just down to paper talk. Of course there will be new faces but I think they may be surprise purchases and may depend on us getting into the next round of the Champions League as to how much we spend.

Zenit St Petersburg 2 - 0 Valencia CF Champions League

Another disappointing night for Valencia in a freezing St Petersburg.  The big story of the night was the surprising inclusion of youngster Rafa Mir making his debut first the first team. Was this going to be a master move or a reckless gamble, well, although he tried hard and was willing, he failed to score or make any impact on the game therefore we can all make our own minds up on that one.

With Vezo stepping in for the injured Mustafi Valencia were enjoying slightly more of the possession without causing the home side any real problems. After his late inclusion on Saturday for the injured Vezo I was expecting good things from the young Portuguese however it was going to be one of those nights he and the rest of the team will want to soon forget, twice being at fault for failing to clear the ball gave Zenit the lead after 15 minutes.

Things went from bad to worse in the second half when Zenit got their second goal after 74 minutes waltzing through the Valencia defence to put the game out of reach. Despite the dominance of the home team Valencia had more of the ball possession but were unable to make many chances of note with Hulk again running the show with his strength and power.

Just to cap a bad night Vezo gets himself a red card for ploughing into Shatov, who the ref adjudged was through on goal when he had his legs taken away on the edge of the penalty box in the 80th minute.  To be fair Zenit deserved the win which gives them 5 out of 5 now.

Conclusion    We were well beaten by a far better side on the night. Zenit had the experience with age and they also had Hulk, who made all the difference.  The Valencia side are a team for the future and it showed tonight up against the big boys. There will need to be changes in the playing staff and probably the manager. With Gent winning tonight it puts our chance of proceeding in the competition on a knife edge now.  It also means we have only two central defenders for the next game against Lyon which we must win and hope that Zenit beat Gent.

Players
Jaume 6.5   Not at fault with either goal and had a reasonably quiet night although made a couple of good saves
Cancello 6.5  Had a decent performance but the whole defence looked a bit like strangers for the goals.
Vezo  4  Really disappointing evening after his good late performance on Saturday. A night to forget for him.
Abdenour 6.5  Looks a bit off the pace after his long lay off but still a class player in my opinion. We need him back to speed soon.
Gaya 6.0  The guy needs a break, he is looking off the pace and not up to his old high standard. Have we given up on Orban, I thought he might have played tonight.
Perez  7  I thought he had a good game and was busy all over the pitch and failed to get a yellow card so that is a huge plus.
Parejo 7  Was busy and a major improvement on his dismal performance against Las Palmas but no telling shots or decent through balls
Gomez 6.5  Is really grafting hard to try to get the team going but failed to make much impact tonight.
Feghouli 6  I am sure he should not be playing with his injury. I think the problem is lack of quality depth in the squad. Tried hard but with little impact
Alcacer  6  Not his fault but looked isolated yet again but tried to link up with new boy Mir but it didn't really work.
Mir  6  I guess this one is a player for the future. Tonights game would have been a great experience for him as not many players debut in the Champions League, for obvious reasons.
Subs
Santi Mina 6.5 for Mir 56 mins     Had a good game for the short time he was on
Barbosa for Perez  73 mins   N/A
De Paul  for Cancello 78 mins   N/A

We need writers and people who can contribute!

Hi there ladies and gentleman, I've read the comments and I understand we are slacking a lot lately, but the facts are that we need more man power. Its just me and Mick for 99% of the time currently, with Amunt.Valencia focusing on his studies and we just can't do everything.

I wish I could write more and be more active, but I have like 20 things to do on the back end, but I can't just never write anything, so I decide to juggle the work and I end up failing on both ends. There is so much work that needs to be done for the statistics, player ratings, goals/assists, I was working on new design for the New Year, but ultimately everything overwhelmed me.

So we need people to help us, writers, people to help me with social media and contribute on our twitter and facebook(which Shakhawathas been doing a good job) and also back end stuff with updating a lot of the stats for the blog.

We can't do it all with just two people, if you want to contribute, if you want to write for your favorite team and help us this is your chance! I've been continuously doing this for over 5 years, I can't be active all the time and if you want a place to read and discuss about VCF you are going to have to step up and help us.

I know we lose a lot of readers when the blog is not constantly active and the discussions get lost, but I'm afraid there is nothing I can do. Its up to you guys and gals to volunteer and become a writer for this blog or help me with the statistics or social media.

If you are interested in contributing to this blog email me at: slickr12345@yahoo[dot]com

Time To Step It Up

                                                                   RAFA MIR


I think like most other people we will be glad to be back to La Liga football after the international break.
I think what is on my mind is that the time has come for the players to forget about all the hype about 'Nuno Out' and all that stuff and get on with doing what they do best and that is play some good football, give maximum effort and get 3 more points.

We proved last time out with the 5.1 win against Celta Vigo, that we can give anybody a good game but now it is time for the players to up their game tonight and give us the maximum points.

It looks like Barragan and Piatti are out so that is a positive in my opinion and maybe the new boy Rafa Mir will get a runout.  Also Orban should get a run to give Gaya a rest so he is fit for the trip to Zenit on Tuesday.  Also Adbenour will return to partner Mustafi in defence which I am looking forward to seeing again as they are by far our best 2 central defenders.

Yoel loaned out to Rayo Vallecano

Valencia CF goalkeeper Yoel Rodriguez is officially loaned out to Rayo Vallecano until the rest of the season. He arrived as a backup to Diego Alves and possibly even challenge for the spot, but since his first game where he conceded 3 goals if I remember correctly he was basically doomed.

Every other time he played after that he didn't show much either and ultimately this season he fell even more down the ranks, losing out to B team goalkeeper Jaume. With Jaume, Ryan and Diego he wasn't going to get any playing time and Diego could return to play in two months time, leaving Valencia CF with 4 goalkeepers.

Its going to be interesting to see though if Valencia CF continue with 3 goalkeepers once Diego Alves returns. Of course we'll have to wait and see if Diego gets back in full form and is reliable as he used to be, but it will be interesting to see how we manage 3 goalkeepers.

Celta Vigo 1-5 Valencia CF Match Report

Valencia CF reacted after the extremely poor showing against KAA Gent in the Champions league and managed to comfortably beat Celta Vigo by five goals to one on their home ground. Celta Vigo were in superb form coming to this match, they were the favorites to win and they've generally shows really great football so far in the season, but Valencia CF managed to overcome them and secure a big win over Celta who are a direct rival for the Champions league this season.

While the score is great and shows a level of dominance by Valencia CF, the reality of the match wasn't quite that. Truth be told Valencia CF only had 5 shots on goal and scored from all 5 of those. Basically one chance, one goal for Valencia CF today, but that won't always be the case and Valencia CF need to create more chances and have more ball possession. Celta Vigo had most of the ball possession, in fact about 60% of the possession, they had more overall shots, created about equal amount of chances I'd say, but they didn't manage to score from them.

I wouldn't say Valencia CF were just lucky and that is how they won, the defending was overall good, though with big room for improvement, the team pressured higher and more aggressively so that made Celta lost the ball more often than usual for them and we had Paco Alcacer and Daniel Parejo who just had amazing contributions. These two players won the match for Valencia CF, the others contributed and played okay, but it was Paco and Parejo who won this match for Valencia CF no doubt about it. Of course we need these type of wins and these type of players, Barcelona have Messi, Real Madrid have Ronaldo, Bayern have historically relied on Robben and Ribbery a lot, most quality teams have one or two players who do make the difference in a lot of the matches and Valencia CF needs more of it and I can only hope that Paco and Parejo have such great games every time, I wouldn't care if we rely too much on them as long as we are winning comfortably.

I won't go into detail about the goals and play as I normally do, you can watch highlights for that, I'll talk about some of the things that Valencia CF could improve. One of these things is mobility, a lot of the times players are just way too fixated to their positions and way too static, in many cases against many teams it feels like we are playing with 9 or 10 players against 11 players of theirs and this is because the players are not mobile and flexible enough. They also don't move as a team, they are not synchronized, so when one or two players are more forward, everyone else is still way back, instead of the whole team moving forward and being available to play and receive the ball.

Another issue is that we are not covering the defensive flanks fast enough, there is always space on the flanks for the opposition to exploit, there needs to be faster cover, especially since the team is generally sitting quite deep even when attacking, so it should be easier and simpler to get cover to the flanks and prevent the sort of easy penetrations we see very often.

Finally Nuno should stick more with one team and not make any changes, we should have a stable starting eleven that is rarely changed, we shouldn't be seeing Piatti start one game on the left, another one Bakkali, another one Mina, another one Moreno, etc... We shouldn't be seeing changed in the midfield either, keep the same trio game in and out and only make changed when tactically required or when injuries strike. We need more consistency in the starting eleven and then give chances to the rest in the upcoming cup games and games with weaker opponents when there is a Champions league match ahead.

Finally the team should work on improving build-up play and just team movement, the team needs to feel as a whole, as one unit, more cohesive defensive movement, midfield movement and attack movement,  the whole team should move and add numbers in a smaller area of field, this will give us more ball possession, more control and allow the players to pressure faster and recover the ball faster. From this match on the team should look to improve and become better, this should be a minimum performance, performance that wins us matches even without a great play, but there should be a better play overall, there should be more dominating performance.

Player Ratings:
Jaume 6.5 - Very good goalkeeping, stopped few shots at goal and was generally very secure.
Barragan 6.5 - Some good defending, found himself in good positions several times to clear danger.
Mustafi 6.5 - Mixed play, some good movement and marking, but wasn't always 100% secure. Scored the 5th goal for VCF though.
Vezo 6 - Similar to Mustafi, was generally positioned well and made few interceptions, but not feeling 100% confident in his skills.
Gaya 5.5 - At fault for the Celta goal, he played Vigo onside as all VCF players were setting up offside position. Was overall decent after that, though quite a few attacks came from his side.
Fuego 6 - Generally good play, was solid defensively and made one key tackle to stop Celta's attack.
Parejo 9 - Perfect game by Parejo, provided the assist for the first goal, scored the second from a free kick and basically secured the game with his third, before providing the assist for the 5th goal.
Gomes 6 - Had an okay game, made some decent forward runs and contributed a lot defensively, but it wasn't some accomplished performance, an okay one.
Cancelo 6 - Was okay in an attacking sense, managed to beat his marker few times, lost the ball quite a few times as well, wasn't particularly dangerous going forward.
Paco 8.5 - Paco was in full form today, scored the first goal, scored the third goal and provided the assist for Parejo's 4th goal. Was very active and combative throughout the match.
Bakkali 6 - Okay match, did well defensively and was very active throughout the pitch. Taken off early in the second half.
Subs:
Santi Mina 5.5 - Didn't contribute much, today was mostly the Parejo and Paco show and those two pretty much won us the game.
Piatti 5 - Didn't see much of the ball, but was running channels when in attack and being a nuisance to Celta's defense.
Danilo N/A - Not enough time

KAA Gent 1-0 Valencia CF Match Report

This was one of the worst games Valencia CF has ever played, at least in the past year or so, in fact the play was so bad that I think the first half ended without any sort of shots towards Gent's goal. The first half was completely dominated by KAA Gent, they had absolute control, they were the ones attacking all the time and Valencia CF could not even reach their goal.

KAA Gent had few chances to score, they had one early powerful shot that Jaume impressively saved, though the shot ultimately didn't matter as there was a foul called against them or something, don't understand what the call exactly was. Later on they had few shots in a row where they hit the post once and Jaume saving twice.

There is not much else to say, it was basically pure luck that Valencia CF didn't concede any goals in the first half and went on to half time with the scoreline of 0-0. Realistically though Valencia CF deserved to lose at that point, every metric, every statistic showed how dominant and better Gent were.

As soon as the second half started Gent would get their goal and it was thanks to a penalty that Barragan conceded. Sven Kums would step on to take it and his shot would find the back of the net.

Valencia CF coach Nuno had made a substitution to replace Santi Mina for Pablo Piatti, but that change had little difference and it wasn't until Nuno brought on Andre Gomes that Valencia CF started playing better and having a little bit more control and initiation in the midfield.

Valencia CF would manage two shots at goal in the second half, both of them blocked, one by Parejo and one by Paco. Those were the only chances that Valencia CF could muster up in basically 90 minutes. Sure the play was better in the second half once Gomes came in for Fuego, but it wasn't leaps and bounds better, it was a little bit better and chances were still at a premium.

Most of the play until the final whistle was sort of midfield battle and both teams losing the ball after few passes when trying to attack and back and forth like that until basically the end.

Normally I'm very supportive of the coach and coaches in the past as well, but this type of play is hard to watch and I can understand why so many fans want the coach out. It really looked like the team had no plan, no strategy, no tactics, no understanding on how to play, how to deal with Gent, how to approach the game. They all relied on individual skill and sort of basic instinctual football, but I did not sense any organized football, any tactical play. It seemed to me that Nuno fielded a squad to basically challenge Gent in an attacking sense, try and create as many chances, but once that failed there was no plan B to go to.

KAA Gent played way too aggressively and I think the referee was atrocious, I never mention referees unless they are obviously paid to make VCF lose and I've called out those referees all the time, but other than those cases I never mention it, its never been big enough deal, but tonight it was a big deal. KAA Gent were allowed to be as aggressive as they wanted, no warnings, no yellow cards, heck most of the challenges even went unpunished, as if that is normal football.

I love free flow and combative football, I find it most exciting, most interesting, most skill realistic and hate it when every touch is given as foul as if players are playing ballet and not football, but Gent players were playing Rugby tonight, they weren't playing football and the referee couldn't care less. They just rammed in all of the Valencia players and got away with it, but on the opposite side Valencia CF players were punished for just looking at the Gent players in an aggressive way. It was one of the most atrocious refereeing I have ever seen, paid referees aren't this terrible, that is how bad this referee was.

Ultimately instead of guaranteeing our move to the next round of the Champions league the team made it 10x times more difficult and actually gave Gent of all teams a chance to be the team that can move forward. Its just unbelievable how big of a failure this match was.

Player Ratings:
Jaume 6 - The only decent player tonight
Barragan 4 - Conceded the penalty and was seriously tested at the back, having quite a bad night.
Mustafi 5 - Had some good interceptions, but was beaten once for a header and once in a challenge, lucky they didn't result in goals.
Santos 6 - Marginally better than Mustafi and actually bailed him and his other defensive partners few times with good blocks and interceptions.
Gaya 5.5 - Relegated mostly to defending and coped okay, was caught out of position few times as he tried to push forward at times, though was dangerous when moving forward.
Fuego 3.5 - Don't really see his contribution in this match. Gent had several chances besides him and didn't provide any sort of attacking outlet at all.
Parejo 5 - Not really effective at controlling the midfield, had little help from any of the players though and the only other players he could find relatively frequent were Feghouli and Barragan.
Enzo 4 - Zero control in midfield, almost never available to receive a pass, didn't contribute anything of value.
Feghouli 6 - One of the few decent players this match, interplayed well enough with Parejo and Barragan, but was basically alone most of the time trying to penetrate the Gent midfield and defense.
Paco 5.5 - Can't fault him when he literally had zero opportunities created for him, the one shot he had he created for himself. 
Mina 4 - Added nothing of value.
Subs:
Piatti 4.5 - Maybe slightly better than Mina since he was able to hold to the ball better, but didn't add much more than that.
Gomes 6 - Added a bit more ruggedness and drive in the midfield, was able to better play with Parejo and the others and in general a big improvement over Fuego.
Cancelo N/A - Not enough time.

KAA Gent vs Valencia CF Match Preveiw

KAA Gent vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Stadium: Ghelamco Arena

Date: 04.11.2015 20:45 CET

4th fixture, Champions League group stage

Coaches: Hein Vanhaezebrouck and Nuno Santo

Valencia CF had a good week, they managed to beat Levante 3-0 and climb on the table in La Liga. This was the only the third time this season the team had scored 3 goals and only second time in La Liga, so the coach and players will be satisfied with the win.

Now Valencia CF is shifting the focus to the Champions league where they'll be facing KAA Gent, the opponent from the last fixture in which Valencia CF won 2-1 and they will be looking for a repeat of that outcome. KAA Gent turned out to be a way stronger opponent than anticipated and it took a lot of effort to beat them at the Mestalla, playing at their home turf is probably going to be even harder, but this is a must win for Valencia CF as it is possible to guarantee qualification for the next round if results go in Valencia's way.

KAA Gent right now has only 1 point from 3 matches, same with Lyon and a loss today would definitely put them out of contention for the next round, the same would happen with Lyon if they lose as well, so Valencia CF doing all they can and winning the match is key in order to possibly qualify for the next round with two matches to spare and then the team can focus more on the Spanish league and play some of the more fringe players in the squad in the next CL matches.

Valencia CF coach has finally recalled Alvaro Negredo and Rodrigo De Paul to the squad, after a longer absence due to "technical" reasons, but with Rodrigo Moreno injured he has no option but to return Negredo to the squad. It will be interesting who starts, if Nuno decides to rest Paco and give Negredo the starting nod or if he'll continue using Paco as he still has a rocky relationship with Negredo and doesn't want him to play just yet.

Another interesting decision is whether he plays Daniel Parejo or not, he's benched Parejo for the last match and has been taking him off in the previous two games as well, as he is not fully pleased with Parejo's performances, so it will be interesting who starts, especially now that Enzo Perez is back from injury and we have 4 central midfield players that are going to compete, with Danilo more of a back-up when someone gets injured.

Valencia CF Squad:
Goalkeepers: Doménech, Yoel
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Vezo, Gaya, Orban
Midfielders: Javi Fuego, Danilo, Enzo Perez, Parejo, Andre Gomes, Feghouli, Piatti, De Paul
Forwards: Negredo, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Jaume; Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Gaya; Fuego, Parejo, Gomes; Feghouli, Paco, Piatti.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, own half pressure, mixed passing, counter attacks, frequent through balls

Valencia 3-0 Levante La Liga 31/10/15

Every game we play this season is the most important match of the season and a 'must win' and I suggest that will continue for a long time yet starting again on Wednesday when we to to Ghent in the Champions League.  Unfortunately instead of this game being billed as a local derby it was all about other issues. 1. Why was Negredo and De Paul not included in the squad.  2. If Nuno does not win this game he will surely be out of a job (like Mourinho at Chelsea )  3.  Will the fans all shout for Nuno out during play. 4. Are we going to be humiliated by our neighbours.

Well the game started at a fast pace with Levante throwing players forward to disrupt the Valencia defence, particularly Santos and Vezo who had not played together before. In fact it was the visitors lying bottom of the league who were making the best openings in the first minutes of the game.  Jaume coming to the rescue like he has done many times this season to keep the rampant Levante at bay. The half was a tedious scrappy affair with only 2 disallowed goals by Valencia to mention.  First Feghouli was ruled offside when he blasted home and then it was the turn of Alcacer to be denied by the same linesman. Both times the official made the correct call it has to be said.

Half time was welcomed by the home supporters to ease the tedium and be entertained for the first time in the evening by the local band marching onto the field and the second half began just as badly.
Bakkali was bought on to replace the pathetic Piatti but began looking eager but a little out of his depth. However, before you all start shouting at me, he gradually got into the game more and really livened up the home side.  In the 64th minute Andre Gomez stung the palms of Ruben in the Levante goal and when Feghouli went for the rebound he was tripped by the keeper. Alcacer stepped up and made no mistake from the spot.  Then we began to see the real Valencia of old.  It was like the confidence pouring back into the team and after Parejo replaced Perez we really came to life.  A few minutes later Alcacer chipped the keeper after a mistake in the Levante defence and Feghouli racing in slid the ball home to deny him his goal. It matters not who finishes, the important thing is it is now 2.0 and Valencia and the crowd have come to life.

During the last 20 minutes Levante could not get near the ball with Valencia going from absolute rubbish in the first hour to playing with fresh confidence and showing what they can do. Bakkali seemed to be involved in everything and although looking clumsy at times was really causing problems.  It was a fitting finale when he cut in from the left side and unleashed a tremendous shot into the far top corner.  He seemed pretty pleased with himself and so he should be for a fantastic first goal for the club.  The club is in desperate need of a new hero and OK it is a bit early but who knows.

Conclusion  A totally pathetic first hour with a total transformation after the first goal. It is obvious the problem is with the players confidence and the pressure coming from the fans and the media. A young team and a young manager deserve support. I have to give credit the the fans behind the goal and around the ground for their non stop encouragement for the team throughout the match but I have never heard in all my years of watching football, fans calling for the manager to be sacked after winning a local derby 3-0.  He has to be given at least until the end of this year to put things right and I am sure that a replacement is being sought right now.  However sacking him now would be totally pointless unless we want Phil Neville to take over until  replacement is found.

Player Ratings:
Jaume  7  Yet again called on to make the saves at the right time to keep us in the game and help secure the points. I wonder how Alves and Ryan are thinking right now
Cancello 6.0  Another good game and never lacking in confidence
Santos  5.0   OK they didn't score against us but he doesn't always look the safest of central defenders and his heading directions look a bit suspect at times
Vezo  5.5 Again, helped keep a clean sheet and did OK but whether he is top class is still in doubt. However can be relied on to come in and do a job when needed,
Gaya  6.5  Had a reasonable game but need to improve his crossing as he seems to lost the way a bit recently.
Fuego 5.5  An experienced player who is capable of better but was reasonable compared to the others.
Perez 6.5  Worked really hard as usual but picked up his weekly yellow card for another needless foul. I do not think he will ever change and has to curb his temper and frustrations.
Gomez 6.0  Made the first goal with his powerful shot and was involved but gave the ball away a little too often
Feghouli 6.5  Not his usual menacing self but worked hard and made the penalty and stole Paco's goal. But I am not blaming him for that, but luckily he got the benefit of the offside flag or he could have lost us the goal.
Alcacer 7.0  just manages the top mark for the penalty and  making the second goal possible for Feghouli.
Piatti 4.0  I am not an anti Piatti but he was like a kid running onto the pitch and chasing around after the players and falling over.

Please if you bother to read this leave a message that can add something to the discussion. I mean a bit more than Nuno out

Subs
Bakkali  7.0  For Piatti 45  mins.  Deserves the score for the work effort, crosses and the spectacular goal to liven us all up.
Parejo 6.5  Not on for long but I like to see him play when he is playing well. He brings something to our play that nobody else is able to in my opinion.
Barragan  N/A   Not on long but needs to get some play time for when he is needed, which could be any time if Cancello is injured, he did OK.

Goals
Alcacer  P  1.0   64 mins
Feghouli 2.0   72 mins
Bakkali   3.0   78 mins

Yellow Cards   Perez and Gomez

Attendance  37,000

Valencia CF vs Levante UD Match Preview

 Valencia CF vs Levante UD Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 31.10.2015 18:15 CET

10th matchday, La Liga

Coaches: Nuno Santo and Lucas Alcaraz

After 9 matches played its safe to say that Valencia CF hasn't had a great start to the season with early warning signs showing up instantly as Valencia CF drew the first games of the season, but that was attributed to the lack of match fitness and form since its the start of the season, but the results never really came for Valencia CF with few lucky wins and more bad results.

Valencia CF is currently 9th position on the table with only 12 points from a possible 27 from 9 matches. Some of the results have been reasonable like the last week's loss to Atletico Madrid, though last season we won the first game and drew the second game, but its understandable to lose to a very good team, but other results like the big loss to Bilbao, like the missed points against Espanyol, etc... are less reasonable and paint a troubling picture.

We are still early in the season and the league is most certainly a lot stronger than last season, overall all of the teams are closer in terms of performance and we see this in the table, more teams are clumped up and the difference even against the leaders is still relatively small. That said Valencia CF can't afford more bad results and more mishaps and the team needs to look to win even against teams like Atletico Madrid, small loss even on an away trip shouldn't satisfy anyone, at least we need to see draws in these key matches that slowly inch us forward.

In other matches against weaker teams we need definite wins and we need to secure these matches early and with better scores, our teams just hasn't been firing on all cylinders in any position, whether it be defense, midfield or attack. While at times the play has been better, it hasn't usually lasted.

Valencia CF coach Nuno Santo decided to omit Alvaro Negredo and Rodrigo De Paul once again from the squad even though they are fully fit and its more than clear that he doesn't count on them and the team will be looking to offload them in the winter transfer market. Negredo arrived to Valencia CF as a huge addition, someone to make Valencia CF a top team and guarantee goals, but he's been a shadow of his former self, in fact his offensive contributions are weaker than some of the central defenders who've scored more goals than him and while he hasn't had too much chances, he hasn't created anything for himself, at Sevilla he used to create chances for himself, if not cause so much havoc in the opposition defense that it would create spaces and openings for his team mates to create goal scoring opportunities, but at Valencia CF we haven't seen that.

Anyways its clear that some players are going to be leaving soon if there are offers for them of course and Peter Lim plans to invest around 100 million euros in the winter transfer market to strengthen the team.

I think some of the blame has to be attributed to Nuno Santo though, he's had one tactic last season and that is play counter attacking football all the time. He relied on our great defense with Otamendi and Mustafi last season to not concede goals, play a defensive football deep into our own half and rely on individual talent on our forwards to score. This obviously worked really well since Valencia CF were kind of the underdogs last season, no one was really focusing on us and studying our play, but you can't keep on playing the same exact style year after year and this year we've been caught in this position where we only know counter attacking football, but teams have figured us out we can't be effective as we were last season, so we are forced to play different style of football, but don't know how and we end up dropping points.

Valencia CF Squad:
Goalkeepers: Doménech, Yoel
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Vezo, Gaya, Orban
Midfielders: Javi Fuego, Danilo, Enzo Perez, Parejo, Andre Gomes, Piatti, Bakkali, Feghouli
Forwards: Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Jaume; Cancelo, Mustafi, Santos, Gaya; Enzo, Parejo, Gomes; Feghouli, Paco, Bakkali.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, own third pressure, mixed passing, counter attacks, interchanging wings.

Bayern Munich want Shkodran Mustafi

Bayern Munich want Valencia's Shkodran Mustafi to reinforce their squad this winter transfer window. The Germans have a quality squad with a lot of depth to it, but they've been exposed at the back this season and last for that matter and are looking to make some improvements there, with Shkodran Mustafi identified as the defender that can help improve their back line.

Pep Guardiola is reported to favor the player as he is still very young and has room and time to grow and develop into an even better player, someone who could become a cornerstone player for Bayern for the next decade.

Shkodran Mustafi has already garnered interest from other clubs as well, with FC Barcelona, Manchester United and Chealsea FC all interested in the player. With the market being short on high quality central defenders, Mustafi is seen as one of the best defenders right now with even bigger potential for the future.

Arsenal FC interested in Sofiane Feghouli

Arsenal FC are monitoring Sofiange Feghouli closely, it seems as Arsene Wenger is a fan of the player and would like to reinforce his squad in the winter transfer window and add some depth to it as well in order to fight on 4 fronts this season and continue the challenge for the premier league title.

Sofiange Feghouli has had a great season so far, he's been one of the best players for Valencia CF and with his contract expiring soon and no new deal signed yet, several clubs have begun inquiring about the player.

While back there were reports than FC Barcelona and Inter are also interested in him, as well as few other English clubs. Most English teams are very rich, since their league TV money is spread rather equally and they got one of the biggest money deals this year, so they have a lot of money to purchase players and give them big salaries.

Atletico Madrid 2-1 Valencia CF Match Report

Valencia CF failed at their first major test this season and although I expected a loss, I didn't expect Atletico Madrid to be so much better and pretty much control the game and at almost all times have the upper hand.

I was expecting a slow start and expecting Nuno to focus on a slow and meticulous game and he had the players for such a game, but the opening moments of the match were really fast paced and back and forth. In fact the first big chance came for Valencia CF, but Cancelo's shot was stopped by Atletico's goalkeeper and ultimately nothing came from that chance. Maybe better finishing would have completely changed the match if Valencia CF were to score early, but that wasn't the case and as usual Valencia CF was punished.

Nuno Santo had setup 4 midfielders in order to control the midfield, but that failed miserable and even though the ball possession was similar, it felt like Atletico Madrid were doing so much more with their possession and being a lot more threatening than Valencia CF.

So it didn't took long for Atletico to take advantage of Valencia's poor play, especially in the defense as Martinez was running into space following a clearance at the back of Atletico's side and a simple long ball was failed to be cleared by BOTH Mustafi and Santos. Jackson Martinez basically got a gift and alone on goal he easily slotted past Jaume who stood no chance. One of the worst defending I have ever seen, its so bad to have it placed in highlight of terrible plays.

Anyways Valencia CF couldn't fight back after that goal and such a weird goal as well, its surely to demoralize anyone, its something that should never happen, but it did.

The second goal was once again a result of terrible play by Valencia CF players, its like all the players are in 3rd league or lower, its like watching under 16 team play, the memo was similar, Atletico Madrid clear from their back, one of Atletico players so easily went past Cancelo as he sort of fall on his own and basically allowed a very dangerous situation, Danilo was fast to react and track back though, but if he had any defensive credentials before, he won't and can't have now, he was tricked so easily by Carrasco as he was barreling down towards him, he didn't think to actually stop and position himself in front of him, he went diving for the ball, but Carrasco just moved to the other side, went a bit forward, no one was marking him and his shot ended up in the back of the net. Jaume should have done better personally and I think he is a good goalkeeper, but not world class like Diego Alves and losing him last season was horrendous and we are seeing how important a goalkeeper like Diego was to Valencia CF.

In the second half Valencia CF just couldn't react, the team pushed forward, but quickly lost the ball and the chances were at a premium as always with Valencia CF managing only 6 shots, and only one on target which was basically the first half save from Oblak.

You can't score goals when you can't create chances and you can't keep a clean sheet when you make such amateur mistakes in defense, those were amateur level mistakes and I can understand if the team is playing a very weak opponent and not taking it seriously and not concentrating hard, but they are playing one of the best opponents in Spain and Europe and making those mistakes, they are going to punish you and they did and realistically we should be lucky that they didn't score more goals, they certainly had the chances to do so.

Paco Alcacer made it more interesting in the 72 minute after converting from the penalty spot. Mustafi got the ball in the penalty area and even though he wasn't a threat at all Atletico defense made the mistake on going to aggressively on him and brought him down, making for an easy penalty call. 

Overall the result is not that bad, I mean a 2-1 loss at the Vicente Calderon is okay, but what is more worrying was the play, the mistakes the players were making, the lack of chances created, the lack of cohesion in the midfield, even with 4 classical midfielders Valencia CF was still unable to control the tempo and flow of the match, still didn't have higher possession, it was just a complete fail. Sure the midfield was not at fault in general for the goals, with the exception of Danilo for the second one, but it didn't create anything.

At this rate the winter transfer market can't come soon enough so that Valencia CF can offload some of the extra personnel and bring in some quality reinforcements. 

Technical Details:
Atlético Madrid: Oblak; Juanfran, Giménez, Godín, Filipe; Carrasco (Oliver, m. 67), Gabi, Tiago, Koke; Griezmann (Correa, m. 81), Jackson (Fernando Torres, m. 57). 
Valencia CF: Domenech; Cancelo, Mustafi, Santos, Gayà; Parejo (Bakkali, m. 55), Danilo, Enzo Pérez (Piatti, m. 80), André Gomes; Rodrigo (Paco Alcácer, m. 23), Santi Mina.

Goals:
Jackson Martinez 1-0, 32 min. Assist Felipe Luis
Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco 2-0, 40 min.
Paco Alcacer 2-1(p.g), 72 min.

Player Ratings:
Jaume 6 - Did well overall, was kept busy on the night and had no chance for the first goal, but could have done better for the second one.
Cancelo 5 - Went forward to a great extent and was decent overall in defense, but his mistake for the second goal was too big, you can't make such mistakes on this level.
Mustafi 2 - What was that? At fault for the first goal and was suspect the whole match, often times beaten and ran jagged.
Santos 2 - As if he didn't want to be outdone by Mustafi in absurdness he flaunted at clearing a basic long ball. Was weak all match long.
Gaya 6 - Did well overall, went forward to a good extent and defended well, considering some of the mistakes that were made on the night.
Danilo 3 - Failed to protect the defense, partially at fault for the second goal and didn't add much to the midfield, he was just floating around as an extra player.
Enzo 5 - Back in the squad after a long injury and did okay, was fit enough, but even when fit he falls off significantly in the second half. Did have some good movement forward and was aggressive off the ball, but didn't create anything of note.
Parejo 5 - Pulled the strings in midfield as best as he could, though really lacks other players to exchange the ball with, so he is forced to do too much sometimes and takes on dribbles that end up in lost balls.
Gomes 4 - He is supposed to be the creative midfielder, someone that runs the channels, pops up everywhere and causes chaos in the opposition ranks, but was completely shut down tonight and didn't leave a big mark.
Mina 4.5 - Was not very effective and one can't blame him as the whole team was lethargic in attack and lacked ideas. Didn't have anyone to target in the penalty box.
Moreno N/A - Had to be replaced with an injury and preliminary reports say that he is going to be missing at least few months.
Subs:
Paco 5.5 - Introduced for the injured Moreno and did okay, ran into space and tried to get on the back of defenders, but he was starved for chances and he didn't help himself either. Well placed penalty shot though to make it 2-1.
Bakkali 5.5 - Introduced for Parejo and he did add some urgency to Valencia's attacks, did add some pace and bigger threat, but the way the game was going he didn't have a big impact.
Piatti N/A - Late addition and not enough time to make an impact,

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Stadium: Vicente Calderon

Date: 25.10.2015 20:30 CET

9th matchday, La Liga

Coaches: Diego Simeone and Nuno Santo

Valencia CF achieved an important win over Gent in the Champions league and that puts the team in a good position to qualify for the next round if they beat Gent again and Lyon loses to Zenit. Gent proved a lot tougher than expected and Valencia CF barely scrapped a win in total, even though the team had several great chances in the first half, not being precise in front of goal has hurt the team.

Anyways the team focus will be shifted to the Spanish league again and this time its a really tough trip to Vicente Calderon where Valencia CF will face off against the in form Atletico Madrid who are playing some superb football this season and their strength is reflected in the table where they have 16 points and will be looking to make it 19 points and keep up with the top teams in the fight for the championship.

Atletico Madrid have stayed mostly the same from last season, few players left, but in my assessment even better ones arrived and with Diego Simeone at the help he is going to get the best out of any player. Their core team is absolutely the same and these players have been playing together for several years now, they know the system, the tactics, the play style and they are able to win in the toughest of situations.

Valencia CF has been more of a letdown this season compared to last, technically the team "improved" in the summer transfer market since essentially none of the core players left, only Otamendi which was a big loss, but we've brought in defensive reinforcements and the defense was the least problematic area from last season. Even with the core team still in place and some new reinforcements the team has started a lot slower than last season and losing points in some crucial early matches against significantly weaker opposition, teams just promoted to the league and so on.

One would think with the second season with the same coach and core players and having a lot of talented players at disposal the team would be performing better, but that has not been the case and the team is yet to fully click together. Admittedly the league is a bit tougher this season than last and we are seeing a more compact table with teams relatively close to each other in the points, another bonus is that Barcelona haven't been really strong, I've watched few of their matches and they do seem quite weaker from last season, while the small teams are also stepping up and fighting back against Real Madrid and Barcelona. 

I haven't been able to write any news articles, though I wish I would of, since there is so much news and for one Peterm Lim wants to inject around 100 million euros into the club for winter reinforcements, he's seen the team struggling a bit this season and wants the team to have the best chance of qualifying against for the Champions league so he is planning a big reshufle in the winter transfer market.

Some of the players that are on the exit door are goalkeeper Yoel, he hasn't been able to find a spot in the team for over a year and a half now and with him even losing out against Jaume, the team wants to sell him. Another players who hasn't convinced and the coach has deemed surplus to requirements in Rodrigo De Paul, he hasn't features in a match for quite a while now and the coach just doesn't really trust him, he is going to be sold in the winter.

Another player that might leave if there is a good replacement found is Danilo Barbosa, he came in on a loan deal from SC Braga, but has so far failed to impress the coach and doesn't provide good enough cover for Javi Fuego who is still the undisputed starter. Another player that might leave in Alvaro Negredo, he came in as a big reinforcement, the coach even called him "the bomb" when talking about a new reinforcement, but he's turned out to be a complete disappointment. With only 1 goal in the league he has been disappointing, last season he had the excuse of coming back from a long term injury and obviously needing a lot of time to get fit, settle down and get in form, but this season there is no such excuse.

Valencia CF coach Nuno wants to bring in a more tactical player, one that runs channels and one that can make things happen on his own and one that is basically different than the poaching style of Paco.

I'll write more about the possible new arrivals in news articles after the match against Atletico Madrid, which I'm 95% sure I'll watch and write down a report of it as soon as the match ends.

Valencia CF Squad:
Goalkeepers: Doménech, Yoel
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Gaya, Orban
Midfielders: Javi Fuego, Danilo, Enzo Perez, Parejo, Andre Gomes, Piatti, Bakkali
Forwards: Rodrigo, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Jaume; Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Gaya; Fuego, Parejo, Gomes; Bakkali, Paco, Mina.
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, mixed passing, counter attacks, attacking triangle.

Result Prediction:
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Valencia CF
I think Nuno is going to focus on defense in this game, he knows he won't be able to outplay Atletico Madrid especially at their own stadium and he knows how dangerous they are from counters and those scrappy opportunities so he'll want the team to be really disciplined and meticulous, slowly building up play from the back and not losing the ball in midfield, Atletico Madrid are a team that is also really rigid and defensively compact so I don't expect a lot of goals. I think we are going to see mostly counter attack from both teams and I think the key to winning would be capitalizing on mistakes the opposition makes. I think overall Atletico Madrid are better at getting something out of scrappy situations and they'll win minimally over Valencia CF by 1 goal to 0.

Spanish match fixing unraveling

I've written about plenty of times here about the corruption that goes on in the Spanish league and the administration and referees, how could I not when Valencia CF have been robbed so many times. In fact even David Albelda had spoken publicly about calls being made against Valencia CF every time they've faced Real Madrid.

Now its all unraveling, but it pained in the media and football fans like Barcelona is the victim, but Barcelona and Real Madrid have both benefited from refereeing decisions, in fact I know for a fact that Real Madrid and Barcelona are equally involved in match fixing and influencing and/or buying referees.

But the latest news that is going around is just scratching the surface, if you go deep inside the rabbit hole you'll see corruption and match fixing beyond any simple refereeing calls, there are literal match fixes where team don't play to their fullest and play with worst tactics in order to purposefully lose to give Real Madrid and Barcelona easy wins.

Spanish football is about 5x times more corrupt than Italian football as the heights of the corruption and match fixing in Italy, Spanish football is systematically corrupt, run by corrupt and biased officials who are intentionally and willingly engaged in corruption.

Valencia CF 2 v 1 Ghent Champions League 20/10/2015

To look at the scoreline would suggest this was a close and fortunate result for Valencia but the truth is we were far the better side.  The manager describes the first half as the best we have played this season and although I would suggest we have played better at times it doesn't take away from a very good performance.

With Negredo sitting in the stands for the second successive game the team had a very young look and it was apparent that Nuno wanted that extra pace in the forward line with Santi Mina coming in for his second consecutive game.  I have to admit I was very disappointed with Mina in the previous game but fair play to the manager he kept faith in him and it proved to be a good decision.

Valencia, playing with Alcacer as a lone striker started well and so many chances were being made that it was inevitable when the first goal was scored.  A great ball in from the right from Cancello was flicked towards goal by Feghouli to open the scoring in the 15th minute.   Unfortunately for the Algerian the goal has since been strangely awarded to the defender as an own goal. However, the important thing is that we are one goal in front.

The first half saw Valencia taking control and making many chances. But, as we know in football things happen and in the 40th minute Ghent were level.
A long ball found the unfortunately named Foket after Mina inexplicably tried an overhead kick to clear and totally missed the ball. Foket then still had lots to do and fired in a long range shot from the right and beat Jaume in the top corner, who had no chance.  I think the scorer is really well known because I heard a number of English speaking people shout out his name when he scored.
This was one game when I envied those sitting at home in the warm watching with a beer in hand as the rain was relentless and we were all soaked to the skin.  Fortunately the conditions didn't seem to affect the players and the football was of a good quality.

The second period became a little more even as the late goal seemed to have given the visitors and their large number of supporters fresh hope of salvaging something from the game.  Fortunately in the 72nd minute justice was done albeit in another slightly fortunate way. Cancello chipped a high ball over to the far post from the right which seemed to be going out it hit the crossbar and dropped to Gaya.  The young defender then cleverly blasted the ball in off  a defenders chest to put us back in front.  Jaume was called upon once more to save us with a great save near the end but the result was justified as we had so many chances that the game could easily have been over by half time.  However Rodrigo had a good opportunity  near the end when put through by Feghouli but fired straight at the keeper from a difficult angle.

LATEST   Feghouli has now been officially credited with the first goal.

Conclusion.  The result is the most important thing at the end of the day and this leaves us in a great position now to go on through to the next round. Not only that but the confidence seems to have been restored in the team and in the fans and the future looks good.

Player Ratings:
Jaume  6.5  Wasn't called upon to do too much but when called upon did what we all now know he is capable of and kept us in the game.
Gaya  6.5  Had a good game again and made the winning goal also put in some nice crosses and defended well.
Santos  7.5   I really like this guy, apart from one little slip when the wet ball skidded off his boot he really looks the part and is going to cause Nuno a headache now when deciding who to leave out, but what a great position to be in having too many quality centre backs.
Mustafi 7.5   Another great game and it is not surprising that top clubs are looking at him. Mr reliable is always there to clear up and start the attacks from the back.
Cancello  7.0  Another solid performance and it's hard to see Barragan getting back into the team while he is playing like this barring injury or Copa Del Rey.
Fuego 6.0  Not one of his better games in my opinion as he game away a few silly passes but not too bad.
Parejo 6.0  Like Fuego  his passing was a bit lazy and wayward at times maybe the conditions didn't help but not to his normal standard
Gomes 8.0   I have given him the higher mark for his nonstop efforts and running right from the start to the end. His vision and skills are amazing at times and to have come back from injury and hit top form again so quickly he deserves the credit.
Fehouli 7.0  Unlucky not to be awarded the goal as he deserved the credit for being there. Had a great game and caused the Ghent defence so many problems.
Mina 6.0  Really impressed with Mina, maybe should have scored when given a good opportunity but really surprised me with his skills and confidence.  He played many balls that less confident players would not have tried and he is only 19yrs a great future for this guy. At fault for their goal when should have headed it away instead of the overhead kick attempt
Alcacer 6.5  Playing as a lone striker he was tightly marked for much of the game but really worked hard to make things happen for himself for a change.  I think he must have been spoken to and told to stop waiting for that perfect pass and go out and make things happen for yourself, which he did.

Subs
Piatti   5        for Mina    60 mins
Rodrigo  5    for Parejo  67 mins
Danillo   6    for Alcacer  82 mins

Attendence  37,000

Goals
15 mins  1.0  Feghouli
40 mins  1.1  Foket
72 mins  2.1  O.G

Cards  Parejo,  Mina,  Cancello and Gaya

Mustafi tries to remove beer bottle, is stopped by club official

Shkodran Mustafi has a little incident if you can call it that with the club, he was in a press conference and there was a beer bottle in front of him, which he as a devout Muslim removed since he doesn't want to promote alcohol, but a club official rushed in and told him he can't do that as its part of the sponsorship deal. Ultimately the bottle was moved further away from him and the press conference continued.

For those wondering where I stand on this, I stand with the club. Any person beliefs are his own and he can practice as he liked in his own home and on a personal level not engage in certain things, but the club is a private institution and has to follow deals and contracts and the way it operates can't be subject to outside interfirence.

So in this case the club has the right to put those beer bottle anywhere they want as long as they do not ask Mustafi to engage in some sort of interaction or engagement with them or to promote them.

Anyways I wasn't able to find a stream until later on for the match so I missed it, I'll try to download the match and watch it so I can post a match report.

FC Barcelona interested in Shkodran Mustafi

FC Barcelona plan a big wave of reinforcements in the winter transfer window in order to strengthen and deepen their squad and be able to stay competitive even with major injuries to Lionel Messi, Iniesta and others.

FC Barcelona are not pleased with their defense, as Pique is inconsistent, Mathieu is not good enough for that level of play, and Vermaelen is too injury prone to be a reliable choice so they have identified Valencia's Shkodran Mustafi as their defensive reinforcement in the winter transfer window.

Shkodran Mustafi has a buyout clause of about 45 million euros, something that FC Barcelona will avoid paying, but they are reported  to be willing to pay as much as 30 million euros for the German international.

Shkodran Mustafi has a long term contract with Valencia CF and just recently publicly spoke that he is happy at Valencia CF and he is not interested in other clubs. That could change though as FC Barcelona have deep pockets and the real possibility of trophies can sway everyone to join FC Barcelona.