Valencia 1 - 3 Atletico Madrid

Not good enough, that is the lasting impression after the dust has settled.  Today we played a team with eleven good quality players, plus their subs,  whereby we had maybe six or seven and I will leave it to you all to argue who they are.

For 70 minutes we were doing fine and matching all that Athletico had to throw at us. They had numerous opportunities but so did Valencia.

It was the 24th minute when they went in front when Javi Fuego got himself in a tangle with the ball in a dangerous position in a situation normally reserved for Parejo. He was easily robbed and that man Greizman slammed the ball into the bottom corner to put the visitors in front,  This is a situation that as Valencia supporters we are well used to, going a goal behind in the league. But within 3 minutes we were back in the game. A great cross from the left from Siqueira found the head of Alcacer who cushioned a great header for Cheryshev to blast home putting us back on level terms.

Enzo Perez had to be replaced at the break by Danilo after suffering discomfort in a game that was pretty even at that time.  Athletico though continued to press for the winner but Valencia were giving a good account of themselves. Cheryshev was then replaced by Rodrigo in the 61st minute and with the inclusion of Fernando Torrres for the visitors the game changed against us. A corner from the right was headed on to the back post where Torres was left totally unmarked to poke the ball home.  The question is, where was Gomes, where was Cancelo.  both or either should have been covering but failed the simple test yet again.

Things got worse when 10 minutes from the end Santos was sent off for his second yellow card after a silly trip and then came a strange moment. As Fuego was being replaced it appeared that Abdennour was to come on. Then the crowd went crazy shouting fuera ! fuera !,  which roughly translated means,  "We don't wholeheartedly agree with this decision"  therefore Abdennour was told to sit back down again and Negredo, " the saviour "  was introduced to the proceedings. The crowd reaction was amazing as if the 'Messiah' had come to get the 2 goals in the final 10 minutes to save the day.  Unfortunately all he really contributed to the game was to give us all a few laughs by clumsily falling over like a Liverpool drunk on a Saturday night on Merseyside and then Carrasco put the game beyond reach with their third goal beating a very slow Alves.

So many more goal incidents to talk about but too many to mention really but the overall feling I have is that you cannot play Atletico Madrid when half the team are under performing or just not good enough. A right back is needed together with central defender, another striker and midfield playmaker of top quality. It will be up to the new manager to make a clean sweep and start again next season.

After seeing the game again on tele. We could have lost 2 more players with red cards.  The high foot from Siquiera on Vietto which nearly ripped his shirt off his back and left stud marks down his back was deserving of a red card in my opinion. Also the yellow card that Feghouli received could well have been a red on another day as his foot was very high and it was a dangerous tackle.  We complain about the refs giving us a hard time but we were a bit lucky for sure. Also watching the performance of Santos again  I think the 5 I gave him was generous and therefore I have adjusted it.  Also the three subs today were embarrassing in my opinion.
I thought the band at half time played well and I would like to award them with  8




Player Ratings

Alves 4.0  I never thought I would ever see him play so badly, he was awful and should have saved all the goals. .  Why is Jaume not in the team, he has never let us down and has to be reinstated soon, not soon, NOW!
Siquiera 6.5  After a shaky start I was really quite pleased with his performance, he put in the cross for the ball and gained confidence as the game progressed.
Mustafi 6.0  Too many bad passes for a higher mark but worked hard and needed to be on his toes with the tough opposition.
Santos 4.5  Not a good game today and the 2 yellows were costly to us. Also gave the ball away too many times when not under pressure.
Cancelo 5.5  As a defender he would have scored a 3 but his attacking was far better. We have needed right back for so long now, why are we playing him there when he cannot defend.
Fuego 5.0  Really awful performance tonight after a positive display in his last game and responsible for the first goal along with Alves.
Perez 6.0   Why can he not finish a game ?  he was looking ok and playing reasonably well and working hard as usual but needed to be replaced yet again.
Gomes 6.0  Had some great runs with the ball but as usual no real end result. I would really like to see more end result from him.
Feghouli 6.5  Had a good game and set up some chances for others but no real opportunities to score himself.
Cheryshev 7.5   Such a shame he went off as he looked a class apart tonight. Looked like he might score every time he went forward. He has to stay next season.
Alcacer 6.5  Laid on the goal with a nice header and worked hard but not too many opportunities as we was well shackle by the defenders.

Subs
Danilo 5     46th min  for Perez  gave the ball away too many times and really weekend the team.
Rodrigo 5  61st  min  for Cheryshev contributed totally zero to the cause.
Negredo 5  83rd minute for Fuego the third sub to come on and do nothing although he did nothing in less time.


Goals
Greizmann 24 mins 0.1
Cheryshev  27 mins 1.1  Assist Alcacer
Torres  71 mins       1.2
Carrasco 85 mins    1.3

Cards
Santos 2 yellows RED
Feghouli  Yellow

Valencia CF vs Atletico Madrid Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Atletico Madrid

Stadium: Mestalla
Date: 06.03.2016 20:30 CET
27th matchday, La Liga 

Coaches: Gary Neville and Diego Simeone

Valencia CF bounced back after the demoralizing 3-0 loss at the hands of Atletic Bilbao and barely squeezed a tight 2-1 win over Malaga CF in mid week, but a win is a win and Valencia CF would take it. Now the team has to up their game, they are facing Atletico Madrid the second team on the table who've been doing great this season. They are playing compact and aggressive football, they are a well organized team and have strong midfield and defense.

The only potential weakness for Atletico Madrid is that they don't generally score a lot of goals, most of their wins have been small, usually 1 goal wins, so if a team can minimize their chances and defend really well its possible to beat them. Their top goalscorer is Antoine Griezman with 14 goals, Fernando Torres is second with only 4 goals, so if Valencia CF can shut down Griezman they stand a chance to beating Atletico Madrid.

Defensively Atletico Madrid are really good, their central defensive pair have been playing together for a long time and overall their defense is really interlinked and defensing as a unit, but if they get caught out of position or if their is a quick counter attack they can be vulnerable as has been shown in the past. Valencia's chances would need to come through quick, but precise counter attacks in which our attackers would need to be really accurate and score with even the slightest chance. They can't afford the kind of misses they've been having. 

Valencia CF coach Gary Neville has been withholding the squad list basically until hours before the matches in recent times, so once again we don't have a list of which players are going to be featuring. Of course since most are fit and available, I'd assume its pretty much the same list from the last match.

So I'm expecting to see a similar squad to the one that played against Malaga, with maybe one or two changes. Enzo Perez is once again ready to play, but considering his situation with injuries I think he is just going to be left on the bench, maybe give him some time as a substitute in the second half if there is a need for it.

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego, Ryan
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Vezo, Siquiera, Gaya
Midfielders: Fuego, Danilo, Parejo, Gomes, Enzo, Feghouli, Piatti, Cherushev
Forwards: Negredo, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina, Moreno

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Diego; Cancelo, Mustafi, Santos, Gaya; Fuego, Parejo, Gomes; Feghouli, Paco, Cheryshev
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, high tempo pressing, man marking, mixed passing, winged attack

Malaga 1.2 Valencia

"Muchas Gracias Kameni  (Thank you Kameni") were the words being used by the Valencia supporters when his major gaf changed the game to our benefit.
It looked a harmless cross from the right from Paco Alcacer and with Cheyshev challenging the unfortunate keeper managed to pat the ball into his own net.  Cheryshev admitted accidentally standing on his foot but despite the keepers protestations to the referee the goal stood. So a bit of good fortune for us at long last.

In the first half we had looked a bit ragged at times and the home team had the upper hand but it was still a bit of a shock when on 13 minutes after a terrible mix up in our defence allowed Cop to scoop the ball over Alves to put Malaga a goal in front. The half continued with neither side really taking command but with Valencia playing some decent football at times.
The second period had hardly begun when Andre Gomes played a great ball from the right beating the retreating defenders to find Cheryshev on the far post.  He made no mistake with a great chip over the diving keeper to put us in front.
On 64 mins Rodrigo came on for Feghouli and he was gifted 2 great opportunities put put us further ahead but on trying to get the ball on to his stronger left foot spurned the chances.
On 77 mins Piatti came on for Cheryshev for some fresh legs and the game was getting quite physical and bad tempered. Feghouli was taken off after an altercation where he was accused  of lashing out out an opponent which also resulted in the home manager being sent to the stands for his protestations. Valencia were playing some better football in the second half an IMO looked like the team more likely to add to their goals with Malaga pushing forward looking to get back in the game.
The score remained 1.2 to Valencia and a very welcome and well deserved win was recorded.

Conclusion 
3 points that allays any horrible lingering fears of demotion. Is it enough to help us push for a Europa League place, time will tell.  But as I have said before would it be a disaster if we did not qualify. We would then be better able to compete for a higher league place without those Thursday night trips to far off places like Russia and Ukraine.  Also, how seriously do people take the Europa League ?  The attendances are low and the atmosphere a bit stunted OK apart from the game against Sevilla when we lost at the last minute, a game never to be forgotten.  A little like the Copa Del Rey they just don't excite people unless it is the semi finals.

Player Ratings
Alves 6  Had no chance with the goal but still looking a bit shaky when distributing the ball and almost gave away a goal when scuffing an easy clearance
Barragan 6  A typical average performance caught in possession a couple of times and did not contribute too much to the attack
Mustafi 8.5  To me he had a very good game tonight. He seemed to be on the end of everything and had a great run with the ball. His best game of the season and has answered a few of his critics on here tonight.
Santos 6,5  Had a reasonably good game tonight with his no nonsense approach and showed some ball skills on a couple of occasions.
Gaya 7  Getting back to his best with a good game and got forward well
Fuego 7  His best game for us this season and for a long time.  We really need a fit and on form Javi Fuego for his calmness and experience. Good to see him back playing well
Feghouli 6  Not a great influence on the game but did OK until replaced
Parejo 6.5  No major errors tonight and worked well in the midfield putting Sundays nightmare behind him
Gomes. 6.5  Nice ball for our second goal and worked well but has to stop giving away clumsy fouls in dangerous areas.
Cheryshev 7   A good goal and some good runs unlucky to be taken off but I can see that Gary wanted some fresh legs.
Alcacer 6  Always looks a danger but scored no goals and for a striker that is a fail. Good cross to cause the keeper to mess up and score OG

Subs
Rodrigo 5.5  for Feghouli   Should have scored. Needs to be played on the left side IMO
Piatti 5.5  for Cheryshev  did not provide much while he was on
Vezo for Alcacer  bought on to waste time in the last minute.

Goals
Cop                 13 mins   1.0
Kameni OG    41 mins  1.1
Cheryshev     49  mins  1.2

Yellow cards
Mustafi, Gaya, Cheryshev, Feghouli, Piatti.

I only saw the game in a noisy bar and it was a bit rushed today to post it so I await your comments

Malaga vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Valencia CF enjoyed a nice 4-0 winning streak, but all that came to a crushing stop last week at the hands or should I say legs of Atletic Bilbao. Truth be told Valencia CF wasn't playing terrible and the score was 0-0 until the 70th minute, but few big mistakes from individual players and Atletic Bilbao would punish those.

I talked about how Atletic Bilbao would be a sort of mini test, a sort of reality check for Valencia CF after a decent run of results and it was a rude awakening. The team still has tons of issues, individual mistakes are plentiful and our defense has been pretty much garbage. At this point I'd drop Mustafi, I'm serious, I think he's had the most time in defense and hasn't done anything with it. He is also very young and unable to be a leader, I'd try out combinations between Vezo, Santos and Aymen in training and see what works best.

I think our biggest problem is that inexperience and lack of leadership in defense that Mustafi can't provide and without it I feel our defense is suffering. I also think Mustafi more than the others needs to be led in defense, last year that was Otamendi, but this year Aymen is a new player who doesn't know Spanish so he is unable to lead the back line and its been left for the inexperienced Mustafi to fill the void which he can't do.

Bench him right now Gary, you have to bench him and try out the rest of the players in defense. Further down the field we are continuously having problems with Enzo and injuries, this season he is a magnet for injuries and the coaching staff needs to work more closely with the doctors to make sure he has longer recovery time and very slowly bring him back to fitness. I think he is being rushed into play and ends up getting injured again.

Daniel Parejo doesn't seem to be able to learn from his mistakes, how many times can you give out the ball away and cause so much issues and not learn? I think Gary needs to dish out some berating towards him, he needs to get it stamped in his head that he can not play so nonchalant and make stupid passes like that. It cost us the match against Bilbao, its cost us other matches and it will cost us in the future if he keeps on doing the same thing.

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego, Ryan
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Vezo, Siquiera, Gaya
Midfielders: Fuego, Danilo, Parejo, Gomes, Feghouli, Piatti, Cherushev
Forwards: Negredo, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina, Moreno

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Diego; Cancelo, Mustafi, Santos, Siquiera; Fuego, Parejo, Gomes; Feghouli, Paco, Cheryshev
Tactics: Medium defensive line, own half pressure, mixed passing, winged attacks, doubling down in attack

Valencia 0.3 Athletic Bilbao

It is difficult to say what went wrong today for anybody who didn't see the game.  Right from the start it was apparent that today was not going to be an easy with the experienced Athletic players showing absolutely no respect for Valencia.  They seemed just that bit quicker to the ball and their players were bossing the midfield. It was looking to be one of those 0.0 games with the lack of goal chances.  However, our man Negredo spurned a glorious chance in the first half when he found himself on the far post with the goal gaping.  Was this to be the opening goal, no such luck as he blasted the ball way over the bar when it would have been far easier to score.  Munier also had a chance in the first half for the visitors but shot wide from a good position.  A penalty appeal was also ignored by the referee when Gomes was sent sprawling after beating 3 men but the referee was having none of it. I have only seen it at the game so cannot comment as to whether it should have been allowed or not. Having now seen the Gomes penalty I can understand why the ref refused it as he seemed to be falling and there was little contact.  However, Negredo was unfortunate at the other end when his goal bound header was handled when the defender jumped up with his arms out to stop the ball.  That was probably ore of a penalty than the other one IMO.

Valencia started the second half much the same with some nice passing moves and there was nothing really between the two sides. Surely Athletic would start to tire now after their tough game on Thursday against Marseille but it was not to be.  Paco Alcacer having come on for Negredo had a good opportunity to put Valencia in front but the keeper made a good save to deny him.

Suddenly when a draw looked likely Merino slipped between our defenders after a mistake out wide by Mina to head home leaving Alves with no chance.  It's never good conceding so late as there is no time to get back but Munian prevented any chance of a fightback when he placed the ball between the legs of Alves after a ghastly mistake by Parejo.  Parejo has many times been guilty of casual play and causing our defence problems but today was the worst.  Trying to play the ball through his legs he lost possession in front of goal to stop any hope of a comeback.  Aduriz who had come on to a warm reception in the 68th minute repaid the Valencia fans by completing our misery heading home unchallenged in the 79th minute to make the third goal in 6 minutes to make some sort of record surely.

Opinion
The scoreline flattered Bilbao but they took their chances and we didn't which seems to be the story of the season. Parejo, who was whistled and jeered by his own supporters after his error has to learn not to be so casual, but of course he will not because that is the way he plays.  The referee had a game he will want to forget if he has any conscience, which of course he doesn't have.  Ignoring more serious fouls and our players being pulled back and booking our player for nothing. I reserve judgement on the penalty and leave that until I see it again.  To be fair, in my opinion we were slightly the better team until they scored but then we fell apart.  Let's be honest we won't get into Europe next season and we won't get relegated so lets just chill out and see the season out and start again next year.  Maybe we can do better in the Europa League and I still think we can turn it around against these in the cup.

Player Ratings
Alves 5.5  Distribution poor today and conceded 3 goals so not his best day. Had little else to do really other than collect the ball from the back of the net
Cancelo 6.5  Had a good game today and played his part in the attacks
Santos  6.5  Looked solid enough and is definitely challenging Abdennour for the position
Mustafi 6.5  A few wayward passes but solid enough in defence, Looked a bit static though for one of the goals.
Gaya 7  Getting back to his best with some good crosses.
Perez 7   Had a good game and didn't get booked.  We seemed to fall apart a bit after his withdrawal
Parejo 5.0  Terrible mistake to give away the ball but to be fair not a bad game up to then.
Gomes  6.5  Lots of great runs but too often without the end result, i.e. key pass or goal.
Mina 6.5  Reasonable performance and caused them a few problems out on the flank.
Negredo  5.5  The miss would have changed the game and could have resulted in a win. Too many of these easy chances being missed.
Cheryshev  6.5  A real hit and miss performance, at times really good at times really poor.

Subs
Alcacer  6.0  for Negredo Unlucky with the chance but not many other opportunities
Piatti  5.5  for Perez   Did not really provide much to improve our performance
Feghouli  6.0 For Cheryshev   Not one of his better games but not on long enough really

Yellow cards
Gomes and Cancelo

Goals
73, 77, 79 minutes

Valencia CF vs Atletic Bilbao Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Atletic Bilbao Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 28.02.2016 16:00 CET

26th matchday, La Liga

Coaches: Gary Neville and Ernesto Valverde

Valencia CF is on a decent 4 wins streak in two competitions, having won two matches in La Liga and two matches in Europa League. With this mid season win against Rapid Wien by a 4-0 margin Valencia CF moves on to the next round of the Europa league where incidentally they meet Athletic Bilbao with whom we have a match in the league. Of course this game will foreshadow how the matches in the Europa league might look, it will also give the teams a little bit of practical info about each other and have a little bit time to improve on their weaknesses.
At this point Valencia CF need to take the Europa league very seriously as it is a path to Champions league football, if by some chance they manage to win it, though of course that is going to be very hard and the first obstacle will be Athletic Bilbao.

Last time these two teams met in La Liga Athletic Bilbao won 3-1 at home in what was a comfortable win for them. Since then Valencia CF has changed its coach, so it would be interesting how Gary Neville copes and what he's done. It will be a sort of a mini test to see how much the team has improved if at all, I'd like to see good plays tomorrow and at the Mestalla it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a hard fought win.

Gary Neville has pretty much the whole squad available to him and he rested most of the first team in the Europa league match, so he has all of the players fresh and ready. It would be interesting to see who he opts out for at left back, Gaya played in the mid week, but will he get the nod over Siquiera?
Another question is whether Paco or Negredo would start, Negredo has had somewhat of a resurgence in recent times and has been relatively good.

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego, Ryan
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Vezo, Siquiera, Gaya
Midfielders: Fuego, Danilo, Parejo, Enzo Perez, Gomes, Feghouli, Piatti, Cherushev
Forwards: Negredo, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina, Moreno

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Diego; Cancelo, Mustafi, Santos, Siquiera; Enzo Perez, Parejo, Gomes; Mina, Paco, Cheryshev
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, mixed passing, winged attacks, doubling down in attack

Rapid Vienna 0.4 Valencia CF

It is easy to overplay a win like this and it is easy to underplay it. However we must not forget that Rapid beat Villareal 1.0 here then drew 1.1 in Spain a a few months ago and have also beaten Ajax this season and they were fighting to restore a bit of pride in front of their fervent fans.

I would imagine that both managers told the players not to go out and risk injuries in this game but to play for their pride and hopefully get a win.  This reflected in the first half with both teams seemingly intent on not going too mad to try to win.  There were very few chances made and little to excite the surprisingly large 38.000 crowd in the Austrian capital.


With Ryan surprisingly in goal when I would have expected to have seen Jaume play.  Gaya was left back because Siquiera, who would have played was ineligible. Negredo was recalled and Feghouli was playing a more central midfield role.  Mustafi and Vezo occupying the central defence.  A little surprised to see Mustafi play as it suggests he may not play against Bilbao at the weekend.

Tropi replaced Gaya at half time obviously for him to be fresh to play on Sunday. The scoring began when a delightful through ball from Javi Fuego found Rodrigo to cooly lob the out rushing goalkeeper to make it 1.0 in the 59th minute. It would be hard to see a better through ball than that anywhere.  Until then Rodrigo was having an awful time as is so often the case recently.  This seemed to liven the game and in the 64th minute Danilo obviously trying to prove my comment wrong also played a sublime defence splitting pass to set up Feghouli to make it a more respectable 2.0.   Then it was Feghouli, playing an unfamiliar central role, himself to also compete for the pass of the game after making ground through the middle before setting up Piati to make is 3.0 on the night.
Meanwhile  Mira had replaced Negredo on 65 mins and Tropi had come on for Feghouli in the 79 th minute.  Vezo rounded off an impressive night by heading home firmly a corner from Piati in the dying seconds to round off an impressive night for Valencia.

Conclusion.
 A very good performance, there will be those who say that Rapid are a rubbish  team but maybe we just made them look rubbish. We have set a record of the highest aggregate win in a Europa League game. I have to say though to be honest Rapid looked really rubbish on their two games against us and would definitely not survive in La Liga.  We will face a stiffer test on Sunday from hopefully a slightly tired Athletic Bilbao after their tough match against Marseille last night.  Good to see the new boys given a chance but none really stood out to me apart from Lato who looked a safe bet. Also very nice to see through balls being played resulting in goals. The previous time we played them we scored with low crosses and now defence splitting passes through the middle. That is really reassuring for the future.


ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO ARE OUR NEXT OPPONENTS IN THE EUROPA LEAGUE


Player Ratings
Ryan  6.5  Mainly for staying awake apart from a couple of saves from shots straight at him. Why didn't Jaume play ?
Gaya 6.5   A good performance and getting back to his old self a bit now, although was not pressured too much.
Mustafi 6.5  Bossed the back 4 well and was not troubled all night.
Vezo 6.5   Played well enough and scored a fine goal from the corner, Like to see him get a few more corner goals.
Barragan 6   Even Barragan looked good tonight and did what was needed.
Fuego 7  I thought he had a really good game tonight and nice to see him performing again after his dip this year. Also great ball for the goal.
Danilo 6.5   Nice set up for the goal and worked hard as usual in the midfield
Feghouli 7   Playing in an unusual central role scored a nice goal and made one and generally looked comfortable in the role he plays for his country
Piatti 6.5  Awful first half where he was pushed about too much but despite being fouled every time he got the ball he scored a nice goal.
Negredo 6   One of his best forgotten games really,  had a couple of half chances early on which he didn't make the best of.
Rodrigo 6   Nice goal but didn't do much else to prove his ridiculous price tag that seems to be hanging around his neck.

Subs
Lato 6.5 for Gaya 46 mins  Looks like a decent prospect
Mir 6  for Negredo 65 mins Seen him a few times now and he hasn't impressed me, yet.
Tropi N/A   Not enough time.

Goals
Rodrigo 59 mins from Fuego
Feghouli 64 mins from Danilo
Piatti 71 mins from Feghouli
Vezo 88 mins  from Piatti corner

No yellow cards for us whoooopee !

New Manager Gossip

 Lim ... OK, it is just between us for now, we will keep it quiet until the end of the season. 

    Jose .... Yes but do not tell Man Utd because  they think I am going there and I am only coming to Valencia because of our mutual friend who I have promised not to mention. Oh yes and the sun and because you have Barragan and Piatti.

Granada CF 1-2 Valencia CF Match Report

Valencia's 3rd win in a row, sure it isn't in the Spanish league, that would have meant 9 points, but the large win over Rapid Wien means that Valencia CF is practically qualified to the next round and once again Gary Neville can play with a more young squad and give them opportunities.

The first half of this match was quite uneventful, most of the play was around the midfield and when both teams attacked they were significantly away from the goal, so neither team was threatening too much. That said Granada did have one or technically two great chances, the cross found two players basically alone on goal, but Diego Alves saved both shots from close range and saved Valencia CF.

On the other side Andre Gomes came closest to scoring as he headed a great cross by Cancelo towards the goal, but Granada's keeper Fernandez had a great save and kept the score 0-0. Cancelo also had a pretty good run, so did Andre Gomes, but didn't result in chances.

The second half of this match is when pretty much most of the action happened. The second half started much like the first, really slow and basic, but that all changed when Valencia CF took the lead thanks to a goal by Daniel Parejo. I think it was Gomes who passed the ball to Paco, who selflessly passed the ball into the oncoming Parejo who's shot would find the back of the net in the 56th minute.

It would take Granada CF about 15 minutes to react, Valencia CF was losing steam and Granada took advantage of that starting to significantly threaten Valencia CF. They had the ball possession and kept penetrating out left side time and time again, placing dangerous crosses and passes.

In fact Valencia CF was very lucky on several occasions as Granada came close to scoring, most of the chances coming from the left side, in fact Diego Alves was literally solo two times against Granada players, it was pure fortune they couldn't score a goal. Gary Neville tried to remedy things by taking off Siquiera and bringing on Barragan, but I would have preferred to take out Gomes. Even with the arrival of Barragan it didn't stop the leaking at the back, then Gary had Santi Mina transfer to the left side as well to better cover the side.

The last 15 minutes of the match were just constant pressure and attacks on Valencia CF goal, it was barely watchable, I was thinking they are going to score any minute now. Thankfully Valencia CF would get a huge break, a cross by Cancelo was badly cleared and the ball actually ended up moving forward to Paco Alcacer who was alone on goal, he ran forward and tried to beat the keeper by placing a high shot, but Fernandez read the situation perfectly and was able to block the shot, fortunately for Valencia CF the rebound found its way to Santi Mina who's shot did beat the keeper and made the score 2-0 for Valencia CF.

The second goal ended up being crucial as Granada CF scored a goal on their own basically less than a minute after Valencia's second goal. Their goal came after a free kick from the right side and the cross found  Mendez who's header went into the goal.

Ultimately it was a lucky win for Valencia CF, we didn't have many chances and the several we had we scored from just 2. Granada CF were also very unlucky on several occasions and this match could have easily been a draw or even a loss. We got lucky and its clear that the team has a ton more to improve. The players need to be better in possession, stop losing or giving away the ball so much, perform better under pressure, improve their off ball movement and just improve the defense.

Today showed how easy it is to create chances against us, even by a relegation battle team like Granada CF, so a better team would have no problems scoring against us. The defense needs to be better coordinated and just more reliable and more secure. The midfield needs to learn to retain possession, keep the ball, circle it around, recycle possession, these are basic things that the team is failing to do.

Important win, it continues the trend of winning and that is always great, but this game shows us that this team need to improve a lot more, we played two of the weakest teams in La Liga the past two weeks and barely won, there is still a lot more work to be done.

Match Details:
Granada CF: Andrés Fernández, Lombán, Costa, Foulquier, Miguel Lopes, Fran Rico, Rubén Pérez (Isaac Cuenca, m. 68), Rochina, Barral (El Arabi, m. 61), Success, Peñaranda (Edgar, m. 46).
Valencia CF: Diego Álves, Siqueira (Barragán, m. 84), Santos, Mustafi, Cancelo, Enzo Pérez, André Gomes, Dani Parejo, Cheryshev (Piatti, m. 68), Feghouli (Santi Mina, m. 78), Paco Alcácer.

Goals:
0-1 Daniel Parejo 56 min. Assist Paco Alcacer
0-2 Santi Mina 92 min.
1-2 Edgar Antonio Mendez 93 min. Assist Ruben Rochina

Player Ratings:
Alves 6.5 - Had few good saves, a bit shaky when coming off his goal on crosses, but overall a good performance.
Cancelo 7 - Great forward runs, provided some good passes and crosses forward and dealt nicely with Granada's attacks at the back.
Mustafi 4 - Out of position on three occasions and was generally found lacking in defense. His cover and marking were also suspect.
Santos 4.5 - I guess slightly better than Mustafi, had few good blocks, but was also beaten few times and found it really hard to cover against Granada's attackers.
Siquiera 4 - Faltered when under pressure and got beaten time and time again in the second half. He was so bad he had to be replaced by Barragan.
Enzo 5.5 - Good defensive contribution, was moving the ball from defense to midfield and provided some reliable and accurate passes.
Parejo 6 - Scored the leading goal for Valencia CF, was important in the spreading of the ball and was a constant outlet, but he did gave away possession on several occasions, once in quite a dangerous position.
Gomes 5 - Had some great solo runs, but should have released the ball before he lost it. Found himself in a good position in the first half, could have made a great pass and create a chance, but decided to shoot and waste the opportunity. That there summed up his performance.
Feghouli 5 - Relatively quiet performance, had some decent passes with Cancelo, but it was mostly Cancelo doing the attacking.
Paco 6 - Provided the assist for the leading goal, could have score a second goal at the end, but his shot was blocked by the keeper. Other than that some decent movement off the ball.
Cheryshev 6 - Was always attacking on the left wing, attempted to go through numerous times and generally a positive influence in the team.
Subs:
Piatti 4.5 - Lost the ball numerous times or was tackled off of it, had bad defensive cover as well and generally a poor performance.
Mina 6 - Came in and was mostly relegated to defending, but found himself at the right place at the right time and scored the 2nd goal for Valencia CF.
Barragan N/A - Not enough time

Granada CF vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Granada CF vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 21.02.2016 18:15 CET

25th matchday, La Liga

Coaches: José Ramón Sandoval and Gary Neville

Valencia CF is coming to this match off of a big victory in the Europa league over Rapid Wien, the "turning" point was the hard fought 2-1 win against Espanyol which seems to have given the team the required confidence to play their game. Gary Neville was on the brink of sacking and Valencia CF was on the brink of fighting for relegation, but the team mustered a 2-1 win over Espanyol and then securely disposed of Rapid Wien, so it has me really excited to see how the team plays today and if Valencia CF can continue the winning "streak".

Of course the team has to show consistency, winning just two games in two different competitions doesn't count for anything, the team has to continue winning and getting 3 points against Granada CF would be crucial for Valencia CF. Granada CF are last place on the table and they desperately need a win, but they should be looking for it against other teams, Valencia CF should and must win this match, its very crucial to continue to climb and get these relatively easy points like other big clubs do.

Valencia CF coach Gary Neville can't count on Aymen who is still injured, Bakkali who is injured and Jose Gaya who's suspension should be over, but maybe he has been injured in training, anyways the good news is that he has Mustafi back to the team. Due to technical reasons he's left out Ryan, and Fuego out of the team to face Granada CF, Fuego recently returned from injury and he might not be in full form and fitness, though it could be a technical reason as he hasn't been particularly beneficial to the team this season.

I think we are probably finally going to see Enzo Perez start the match, he's been really injury prone this season and has been on and off the field for a long time, not to mention he hasn't finished most of his games. Hopefully he won't be getting injured anymore and would have a bit more consistency there. I think Paco Alcacer is going to return to the starting eleven, even though Negredo has been good these past few matches, it still doesn't mean he is better than Paco and his contributions are still lacking overall. So I'm expecting Paco to start with Feghouli and Cheryshev on the sides.

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego, Doménech
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Mustafi, Santos, Vezo, Siquiera
Midfielders: Zahibo, Danilo, Parejo, Enzo Perez, Gomes, Feghouli, Piatti, Cherushev
Forwards: Negredo, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina, Moreno

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Diego; Barragan, Santos, Vezo, Siquiera; Enzo Perez, Parejo, Gomes; Feghouli, Paco, Cheryshev
Tactics: Medium defensive line, own third pressure, short passing, winged attacks, attacking triangle

Valencia CF 6-0 Rapid Vienna Europa League

I read that Rapid Vienna prepare with statistics very thoroughly before each match to give them the maximum benefit to enable them to win.  Well, they didn't account for a young player having a very hit and miss season to destroy them like Santi Mina did last night. No statistics, thankfully,  could have predicted the way he would destroy the Vienna team.  They had already given Villareal 2 good games with a 2.2 aggregate score in the earlier round of the Europa League so they were no mugs. However, things were to change at the Mestallla.

Gary Neville said he would play one team tonight and a totally different team on Sunday against Granada which is great to give some players a breather.  So with Ryan in goal and a back 4 of  Cancello and Gaya fullbacks and Vezo and Santos centre backs. Danilo Parejo and Gomes. and Mina and Piatti out wide with Negredo as striker.

With a massive following of supporters cheering them on Rapid tried for an early goal. But it was not to be their night as Valencia went ahead when a great cross from Gomes found Santi Mina to slot the ball home to make it 1.0 in the 3rd minute. As if that wasn't enough, in the 9th minute he played a beautiful ball through for Parejo to easily score to make it 2.0.

Piatti got in on the act in the 24th minute when another great cross from the left again set up Mina for his second goal of the night.  He wasn't finished there, after a great run down the right wing leaving a defender flat footed he put in a great cross to give Negredo a chance that he was not going to miss to make it an incredible 4.0.  Then another great cross from the right saw Andrew Gomes drifting in on the far post to make the score 5.0 in 32 minutes. You had to feel a bit sorry for the large contingent of Austrians sitting high up in the stands after their long journey seeing their team totally taken to pieces, they looked stunned. They even had their captain substituted a few seconds before half time in a strange way, I guess it was a sign of the managers anger.

The teams went in at  half time and I suddenly realised why many people around me were being extra friendly and giving me the thumbs up. Now it was cool again to be English, thanks Gary.
Five goals in the first half,  Austrian statistics would now suggest a 10.0 win but we all know that isn't going to happen.  Valencia naturally took their foot off the gas after the break and practiced their passing in a game situation.  This was certainly an improvement and even Ryan had to come to the rescue at one time with a great save.

Barragan replaced Cancelo in the second half and even Javi Fuego came back to replace Dani Parejo with Rodrigo coming on for Gomes.   Rodrigo was to have the last word when slipping home the ball under the hapless keeper after a great forward play from Vezo to make it a fantastic 6.0 on the night. Surely this round has been won and we can look forward to hopefully IMO an English Premier side or Italian team.

So how did we win 6.0 ?   Easy,  we passed the ball well and when we put over crosses they were ACCURATE  and they were ON THE GROUND  and not in the air.  Also getting the early goal was important to help the team regain some confidence. I believe we have fantastic players who just need that guidance to make them a top team again. Gary said he is not getting over excited about this win and I totally agree but I see the team going in the right direction now.  Happy 41st birthday Gary.


Player Ratings

Ryan 6.5  Good save near the end and good ball distribution. Hard to score when he had so little to do.
Gaya 7  Had a good game and got forward a lot without compromising his defensive responsibility.
Santos  7  Looked solid and was never troubled by the Rapid forwards.  Getting back to his old self now.
Vezo 7  This is his position, centre back.  He is definitely not a right back and never will be. Had a couple of good runs forward and is gaining confidence again.
Cancelo  6.5 Had a good game but still looks a bit suspect in defence he was not really called upon to defend much tonight.
Parejo 7 Nice goal and together with Gomes bossed the midfield.  wasn't really troubled too much
Gomes  7.5  Had some good defence splitting runs and scored a good goal.
Danilo 6.5  At times shows signs of a really top player but too many loose balls given away. He will gradually improve, I am sure.
Piatti 6.5  Showing some improvement on occasions recently and had a good game tonight making one goal.
Negredo 7  Worked hard again and got his 3rd goal in 3 games. A good player to have on your side with his strength height and experience.
Mina  10   I have to give him the top marks tonight for scoring 2 and making 3 goals. The best individual performance for the team since Cancelo scored a 10 a couple of months ago. The press are calling his performance the best in Europe this week and you can't say better than that.

Subs
Fuego 6.5 for Parejo 59 mins   Did Ok but almost gave away a silly ball
Rodrigo 6.5 for Gomes 68 mins  got the goal but not too much else.  Needs to be on the left wing in my opinion.
Barragan 2 for Cancelo   The only negative of the night,  a truly terrible performance for the short time he was on. almost all his passes and throw ins went astray.


 Gary Neville 8   Great team selection and substitutions and great way to celebrate your birthday. The team seems to be playing better now.  Maybe also the new guy Pako is also  helping the improvement.  Look forward to Sunday's game and 3 more points.

Goals 
Mina  4 mins  Assist Gomes
Parejo  9 mins  Assist Mina
Mina  25 mins   Assist Piatti
Negredo  29 mins  Assist Mina
Gomes 35 mins    Assist Mina
Rodrigo 89 mins   Assist Vezo

Yellow Card  Cancelo
Attendence 20,000

Valencia CF vs Rapid Wien Match Preview

Valencia CF will be hosting Rapid Wien at the Mestalla tonight in the first match of the Europa league. Valencia CF was competing in the Champions league in one of the weakest groups it could have gotten, but unfortunately it blew its chance to go further in the Champions league, but finishing 3rd place meant that the team gets to play in the Europa league, a league that close to the teams abilities it seems and one where its a bit more realistic to think of better placement.

That said Valencia CF is coming off a scrappy win against Espanyol, who are one of the weakest teams this season in La Liga, so not the form we would like them to be in, so the question now looms just how bad is Valencia CF right now? I think we are going to get our answer tonight against Rapid Wien, if we get trashed by them we'd know Valencia's team sucks quite a lot right now, while on the other hand a surprise victory would lift spirits up and tell us the team is not that bad after all.

Rapid Wien on the other hand are doing really well in the Austrian league, they are sharing 1st position on the table with Salzburg with 40 points and have obviously been doing quite well in the Europa league so far.

Their team is a compact one, really playing well as a team, as a unit and every single player is contributing to their wins. If you look at the statistics most of their players have actually scored goals from defensive players to the attackers. In fact there are several players who've scored 4 or more goals each. This also means there is no danger man in their team, so you can't just more strictly mark that player and know that their threat has been diminished, every single player is a threat and they can all score goals.

Gary Neville can't count on Mustafi and Aymen for this match, so the defense will be "weakened", though considering none of the defenders have really performed this season, it probably would remain at the same level its been this whole season. Good thing is that pretty much every other player is available and Gary can field what he considers the strongest starting eleven.

With Diego Alves back its going to be interesting who Gary Neville gives the nod to, we have 3 goalkeepers right now, meaning there will be a lot of frustration due to the lack of playing time by at least 1 of them, which means in the summer someone is probably going to leave, either Ryan or Jaume.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Doménech, Ryan
Defenders: Cancelo, Barragan, Santos, Vezo, Gaya
Midfielders: Zahibo, Fuego, Danilo, Parejo, Enzo Perez, Piatti, Cherushev
Forwards: Negredo, Paco Alcácer, Santi Mina, Moreno

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Ryan; Barragan, Santos, Vezo, Gaya; Zahibo, Parejo, Gomes; Mina, Paco, Cheryshev
Tactics: High defensive line, own third pressure, mixed passing, counter attacks, winged attacks

Valencia CF 2-1 Espanol La Liga

At last Gary Neville has been able to savour his first win in La Liga.  It was far from an easy win but the most important thing is that we have the 3 points to take us a little further away from the drop zone.

With a near capacity crowd Valencia started well with Perez pushing the team forward from the midfield.  Chances came at both ends and recalled Diego Alves kept Valencia level with one of his magic saves.  Parejo had a great chance from a freekick well saved and Cancelo  Santos and Cheychev had chances but could not put the ball away.

Alves had been surprisingly recalled for the game by Gary Neville for his first game this season much to the delight of the Valencia fans who gave him a hero's welcome when he appeared on the pitch.
Things didn't go all to plan though when Abdennour had to be replaced in the 7th minute when he appeared to have suffered a recurrence of his thigh strain which has kept him low this week and he was replaced by Vezo.

The first half was a frustrating affair with Espanol playing better than they have done recently or were we allowing them to play better. Alcacer could and should have done better with 2 chances, once when close in he missed the near post and then a long shot was screwed wide with a clear view of the goal.  It has to be said that Cherychev operating on the left wing was certainly looking like a good signing and was causing all sorts of problems for the visitors.

The teams came out for the second half with the score still 0-0 but as is the norm we were soon a goal down.  A corner from the left was headed in when Alves should really have done better as the ball seemed to have been his to collect but was headed out of his hands.

Negredo came on for Rodrigo in the 59th minute who contribution was very poor and the change seemed to improve Valencia. In the 71st minute Cancelo had a great run into the area before laying the ball off to Negredo, who's deflected shot found the net. This was called our cup final before the game and the goal was celebrated like it was a final goal.

Was this going to be yet another draw, were we going to be denied our long awaited win.  Our new man Cheryshev was going to answer that question in the 76th minute when he put us in front for the first time with a powerful header after a great cross from Fehgouli after being put through from a lovely pass from Cancelo.  It has been a long time since I witnessed such a great reaction from the Mestalla crowd who had remained patient throughout and got behind the team. Barragan replaced the tiring Cheryshev in the 84th minute to tighten the right side defence  The final minutes were as tense as any I can remember for a long time at Mestalla but we held on to claim the much needed and well earned points. However, a mix up between Alves and Santos nearly spoiled the night when they left a ball for each other but fortunately a bewildered looking Cancelo managed to hook the ball away in what was the longest 2 seconds of my life to date.

Conclusion.  
A well earned 3 points from an improved performance. We really made hard work of it but kept on going right to the end to claim  the first win since the beginning of November.  Good to see the crowd back onside and the reception to the players before and after the game.  Cheryshev will have enjoyed the passion which he will have missed playing or watching with Madrid. Hopefully we can continue from here and get a few more wins. Yes the defence looked vulnerable at times but with the age of the defenders it is not too surprising.  Vezo, Santos, Cancelo.

Players Ratings
Alves 6.0   Great to see him back and making his amazing saves. At fault for the goal but we can forgive him for that, because he is Diego Alves.
Cancelo 7   A poor first half but really came to life after the break and had a big say in both goals causing all sorts of problems for the defenders of Espanol.
Vezo 6  Thrust in after the injury to Abdennour but settled to have a good game with one particular great run to set up a goal scoring opportunity.
Santos  6.0  Coped well and had a good game with his height and strength.
Siquiera  6  made a couple of bad errors but linked up well with the other new boy Cheyshev and looks like a good prospect once he settles into the team more.
Perez 6.5  Powerhouse in the midfield and really gets the team going with his energy.  Managed to pick up another stupid yellow though for back chatting the ref.  He really needs to calm his temper in his tackles and anger,  but I guess that makes him what he is.
Parejo  6.0 Some great passes as always but also still getting caught in possession too many times and giving away silly passes, I think he will never change.
Rodrigo 5.5  Still not living up to his hype and just gives the ball away and loses possession too many times. How long will Gary persevere with him, he has had so many chances to prove himself.
Feghouli 6  Poor first half like Cancelo but the both came to life after the break to look like their old selves.
Cheryshev 7.5  My man of the match proving today that we have a bit of a gem with a great headed goal and some mazy runs until he tired a bit later on.  I think he will do really well for us this season.
Alcacer 6   Not one of his better games and did not make the best of the few chances he had. I am sure he will be a little frustrated with his evening but will certainly come good again soon.

Subs
Negredo 6.5  for Rodrigo   Back in favour again with the fans with his second goal in 2 games. A little lucky with the shot being deflected but who cares, it was a goal.
Abdennour  Replaced by Vezo in 7th minute  Not on long enough.
Barragan  on for Cheryshev  not on long enough.

QUIZ.  What did Chelsea have in common with Valencia in their games yesterday and it has nothing to do with Nuno becoming the new Chelsea manager as stated in the ever reliable Superdeporte newspaper. ?

###  Clue 1  It involves 2 players from each team  ###


Goals
53 mins 0.1
71 mins 1.1 Negredo
76 mins 2.1 Cheryshev

Yellow cards
Perez for dissent

Pako Ayestarán to join Valencia CF

Pako Ayestarán is going to join Valencia CF coaching staff, he will not be replacing anyone of the coaching stuff, he will just be an additional staff focusing on the physical training of the players.

As most of you probably know Pako Ayestarán was assistant to Rafa Benitez at Valencia CF from 2001 to 2004 in which Valencia CF had huge success and won several titles. He then followed Rafa Benitez to Liverpool and was assistant manager there from 2004 to 2007.

He's also tried to coach himself as well with mixed results at best and he's been out of work for several months now after he was sacked as manager of Santos Laguna. He joins Gary Neville's coaching team and will look to improve the players physical condition and stamina, something which many of the players have been lacking.

Valencia CF vs RCD Espanyol Match Preview

Valencia CF vs RDC Espanyol Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 13.02.2016 20:30 CET

24th matchday, La Liga

Coaches: Gary Neville and Constantin Gâlcă

This match is make it or break it for Valencia CF and Gary Neville tomorrow night, anything but a win here would mean Valencia CF is officially in relegation battle and for Gary Neville would hopefully mean a well deserved sack. He's not managed to win one single match in La Liga and while the result in the cup was decent before the FC Barcelona fiasco, its still not nearly enough to atone for the bad results in the league.

There is enough blame to go around for who is responsible for the bad results and the position Valencia CF find itself into right now, but tomorrow night everyone needs to come together and win. The players need to play great football, they need to give 200% percent, drop everything on that field, fight for every single ball, cover more ground than your opposition, outrun them, outplay them, outdesire them for the win.

We know the team is capable of winning, we know that the team can do much better than they are doing, last season showed us that, but they need to find the motivation and consistency and give it their all every single time. They can't fall back on what they did last season, they can't feel like they are great players when they are losing matches left and right. Their heads need to be clear and focused purely on winning, nothing else should matter and they should do everything to achieve that victory.

RCD Espanyol are not a great team, they've had few very good season in La Liga where they were in the Europa league spots and always presenting a challenge, but the past few season and especially this one they've been a poor team, they are playing badly this season, they are in a relegation battle, they've lost most of their matches, their goal difference is atrocious, so it shouldn't be hard at all to beat them. Real Sociedad gave them a beating last week, crushing them 5-0 at their home terrain, Real Madrid crushed them before that 6-0, so in the past two matches they conceded 11 goals, in the past 5 matches they've conceded 18 goals. That's right, in their last 5 matches they've conceded 18 goals, that is 3.6 goals on average per game, so basically they concede 4 goals per game. 

If Valencia CF can't score against the current Espanyol team they can't score against anyone, it shouldn't present any problem to score against them and if the team can score first and gain that initial boost of confidence they can probably score more and should score more. 

That said our defense has been leaky as well, Valencia CF has conceded at least one goal in the last 15+ matches, probably more. The last time Valencia CF managed to keep a clean sheet was on 31st of October in 2015 against Levante. So the team has to perform significantly better in defense as well and it has to start from tomorrow. 

Valencia CF coach Gary Neville is on the brink here, a loss against Espanyol and personally I don't think he should continue, think Peter Lim would still want to keep him, but even he'd have problems finding justification as to why. If Gary Neville can't win even one match with Valencia CF even against terrible opposition, I don't see how we can't do better than him?!

With all that said he will have the welcome return of Paco Alcacer and Enzo Perez who are both healthy again and will be able to play tomorrow, they've been training for a whole week and should be fix at well. He is missing the suspended Gaya and some of the longer term injuries, but tomorrow he will be with as close to the strongest squad as he'll get as ever. He must make it work tomorrow, he must pick the best, most in form, most fit squad to start tomorrow who will be able to defeat Espanyol.

Valencia CF Squad:

TBA

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Ryan; Barragan, Santos, Aymen, Cancelo; Feghouli, Enzo Perez, Parejo, Cheryshev; Paco, Moreno
Tactics: High defensive line, own third pressure, mixed passing, counter attacks, winged attacks

Valencia CF vs FC Barcelona Match Preview

Valencia CF got severely destroyed last match against FC Barcelona in the Copa del Rey in what was supposed to be a turnaround match for the club and coach Gary Neville. Unfortunately for him and the team FC Barcelona ran roughshot over Valencia CF scoring 3 goals in the span of 15 minutes and then going on to beat them 7-0.

Its probably one of the biggest losses Valencia CF has endured in the past several decades, after that fiasco Gary Neville's head was wanted by fans and it seemed as Real Betis would be judgement day for the inexperienced coach with a loss to Betis guaranteeing Gary's sack. That match came, Valencia CF lost and Gary survived and got the complete support of Peter Lim.

Now this match won't really count for anything, Valencia CF are for all intense and purpose out of the copa and FC Barcelona might want to rest their key players and just field a team of their B team player and give them a chance, but a loss against a B team Barcelona might frustrate fans even more, so even though technically this is a worthless game for both teams, it can cement the bad feeling for Gary Neville as a coach if he loses yet another match.

Valencia CF is also without most of its first team players for tomorrow and Gary would rely on a lot of youth players from the B team to cover, good news is that Paco Alcacer and Enzo Perez are recovering and look to be ready for the match against Espanyol who lost 5-0 at home against Real Sociedad. Espanyol are also in a relegation battle with only 22 points, something Valencia CF is close to as well. Anything but a strong and comfortable victory against Espanyol would for me mark the end of Gary Neville.

Espanyol are a terrible team this season, they've lost most of their matches and barely have several victories, having trouble winning against them would mean Valencia's team this season is complete and utter garbage.

I've read that some of the players have bad feelings because of the fans and the sort of negativity that is going around, but they need to look in the mirror and shut the hell up. They are getting paid millions of euros, some of them have arrived for 20 or 30 million euros and their contribution this season has been to frustrate everyone with piss poor playing and results.

So they need to shut the hell up, stop feeling as special little princesses playing ballet, accept their responsibility for being GARBAGE this season, accept that they are worthless nobody's right now and work at 200% percent, break their bones if they must to try and reverse this situation and start freaking playing well again!

I know that few of the players actually read this blog, I hope they read this right now and share it with the rest of the team and learn to freaking take responsibility, stop being little special princesses and start fighting for the club, start working at 200% percent, start giving everything on the pitch, comprende?

Gary Neville to remain Valencia CF coach

Valencia CF have found themselves in a big crisis since the arrival of Gary Neville as they haven't been able to win even one league game since Gary Neville took over. The team has had some success in the Copa del rey and they reached the semi final in which Valencia CF were embarrassed by a brilliant Barcelona who easily beat Valencia CF 7-0.

After the latest embarrassment a 1-0 loss to Real Betis Gary Neville position came into question, as sporting director Jesús García Pitarch suggested that the coach be removed and a new temporary solution brought in till the end of the season. The decision was then left to Valencia CF majority owner Peter Lim who decided that Gary Neville is going to stay.

In fact Peter Lim still wants Gary Neville to continue through the rest of the season and gave the impression that nothing would be able to change his mind about Gary Neville being Valencia CF coach, of course his position might easily change if Valencia CF lose the next match and actually start fighting for relegation. I'm sure playing second league isn't something even Peter Lim can accept, no matter how close friends he is with Gary Neville.

Hopefully this will teach Peter Lim a lesson to NOT run the club as a family party or something, where you just put family and friends to run things and expect good results. I'm sure he isn't running his oil and other businesses by putting friends and family in charge, but by putting qualified and experienced people to run things.

If Gary Neville loses the next La Liga match against Espanyol he should go, in fact he should resign personally and admit that he isn't ready to be first coach in a big team. Maybe if he gains more experience and coaches some small 3rd division team first he can become a quality coach, but right now he doesn't seem suited to coach a team like Valencia CF.

I don't think Gary Neville should be blamed for where Valencia CF is right now, but its clear that he isn't helping the situation and unless we get a comfortable 2-0 or 3-0 win against Espanyol I don't think he should continue as coach. Another loss and I will be calling for his resignation personally, I don't think we can afford to play with relegation at this point and we are close to fighting relegation.

Personally I didn't like Nuno to be sacked, I think he got the blame for everything that didn't went according to the Spanish fans liking and he paid the price. Sure the results weren't that great under him either and the play was poor, but we were still getting some results, we were still in the top 8 positions and just 5 or 6 points away from 4th position, now we are 20 points behind 4th position, even 5th or 6th position seem almost imposiible.

Unfortunately he got sacked and the new coach has done even worse. Everyone I know knew this was a very risky appointment and even just casual football observers questioned the move, it was one that didn't make a lot of sense, high risk and low reward type of deal. Personally I didn't really like the appointment, but remained optimistic, after all Gary Neville worked under a legend like Alex Ferguson so he knows how one of the best managers in history of football works, he's been a successful football player, defender nonetheless and he is England's assistant coach, so he did have some small experience working and training with the players.

Unfortunately all of that didn't contribute to much, while I do agree that the players must take huge portion of the blame, its the coach/manager job to get the most out of the players, to get them to the proper physical and mental level and even acquire help from a professional psychologist to work with some of the players and resolve their issues.

Ultimately for me he is on a deadline and an ultimatum, if he can't win against Espanyol at the Mestalla after working for over 7 weeks with the team it will prove that he is not the right man for the job and that its futile to continue sticking with him and magically expecting better results.

Real Betis 1-0 Valencia CF Match Report

Valencia CF coach Gary Neville decided to field the two new arrivals to the team, Siqueira and Cheryshev, so a new look on that left side, but it didn't change much in terms of play. Cheryshev did have a lot of forward runs and he always found himself in dangerous positions, but he just didn't have enough of the ball and couldn't do much when he got it. Off the ball movement was better than the movement with the ball.

Siquiera did well for the time he was on the pitch, though towards the end he left his position and allowed a dangerous chance for Real Betis, forcing his to rush and slide to cover, resulting in tearing a muscle and being replaced two minuted before the end of the first half by Jose Gaya.

Overall both teams played slow football and both teams lost the ball a lot of times. Real Betis did have the better chances though, as Ryan had a good save in the 43rd minute to keep the score level, before that Abdenoyr did have to make two tackles to clear dangerous situations.

With the type of play by Valencia CF I didn't get the feeling that we can win, the players lost the ball very often and created very little chances. There were few good tries to create chances, most of them going through Andre Gomes, but the final ball was always lacking. Feghouli did have one or two good runs, but again the final ball was lacking. His passes were not accurate enough to find a Valencia CF player in the penalty field.

Ultimately the first half ended 0-0 and neither team had created enough chances to score a goal.

Just three minutes into the second half though and Valencia's terrible defense was on show as it allowed Real Betis to score a goal from nothing. The defensive cover was so terrible by all of the players its just absurd. Ricky received the ball into the penalty area who was left unmarked, Gaya tried to mark him, but he was too late and his pass found Ruben Castro who easily slotted the ball into the net. It was a complete and utter failure of the defense where everyone failed.

Valencia CF reacted through Andre Gomes as he brought the ball forward, passed to Cheryshev who was alone and clear on goal, but instead of shooting he decided to pass to Negredo who's shot at goal was blocked. Ultimately a good chance for Valencia CF wasted, what could have been at least 1-1 ended up being nothing for Valencia CF.

After the last chance the next 15 minutes would be non eventful, especially for Valencia CF who needed to to score a goal, but it would be Real Betis with the control of the match and initiative.  Gary Neville brought on Moreno for Feghouli in order to spur something up, but the result was not what he wanted and expected, the change did not result in more attacks for Valencia CF.

The only player who was actually useful and doing something for Valencia CF was Andre Gomes, everyone else was sort of on the periphery of the match and didn't really contribute anything. Every action and every forward move for Valencia CF was started by Andre Gomes, unfortunately he did not have any other players to combine with.

This whole season and its pretty much continued under Gary Neville I have the feeling like every single player on our team is playing individually, they are not playing together as a team, its all about individual moves and plays, it never feels like an organized team with clear understanding and goal trying to finish its objective. It always feels like the players are always improvising and making stuff up as they go along.

Real Betis would score another goal in the 76th minute, but fortunately for Valencia CF the goal was disallowed and kept the hope for Valencia CF to be able to come back.

All this terrible play was frustrating the players as they couldn't muster up any decent chance or good build-up play, so they lashed out with terrible fouls and Gaya paid for his naivete in the 86th minutes when he committed a silly foul and got himself sent off. Sure the referee was terrible and was giving out yellow cards left and right seemingly even for the smallest of fouls, but Gaya should have been smarter and know to be more subtle when he fouls. Anyways he earned himself a second yellow card and automatic red to make the teams bad situation even worse.

Valencia CF did end up scoring a goal through Mustafi, but the goal was disallowed. I didn't quite see what it was disallowed for, it could have been for a foul, but who knows. Valencia CF tried as best as they could to make something towards the end, but it was too little too late and Real Betis won fair and square.

Technical details:
Real Betis: Adán, Montoya, Pezzella, Bruno, Vargas, Petros, N'Diaye, Musonda, Ceballos (Portillo, m. 70), Van Wolfswinkel (Molina, m. 63), Rubén Castro (Digard, m. 90).

Valencia CF: Ryan, Barragán, Mustafi, Abdennour, Siqueira (Gayà, m. 44), Zahibo (Santi Mina, m. 75), Parejo, André Gomes, Feghouli (Rodrigo, m. 59), Cheryshev, Negredo.

Goals:
Ruben Castro 49 min. Assist Ricky van Wolfswinkel

Player Ratings:
Ryan 5.5 - Had one good save, but other than that wasn't really tested and couldn't do anything about the goal.
Barragan 5 - Terrible marking feels like he just woke up and was thrown in to play. Needs to do better defensively.
Mustafi 5.5 - Doesn't ooze confidence and never feels adequate to defend.
Abdennour 4 - Had two tackles in the first half, but then terrible positioning for the goal twice and failed to block a simple pass.
Siquiera 4.5 - Decent start, but failed at the end of the first half, resulting in getting himself injured.
Zahibo 5 - Good defensively, made few good blocks at the back, but useless in the center of the midfield and didn't contribute anything offensively.
Parejo 4.5 - Poor showing from Parejo, failed to control the midfield and his contribution ended up being basic passes with poor accuracy rate.
Gomes 5.5 - Was the only decent player on the field, started few actions and was pushing the ball forward, but didn't have anyone else to play with, no one was open to receive the ball.
Feghouli 5 - Had some decent runs forward in the first half, found himself in a good position in one particular and was completely free, but his pass in the penalty area was inaccurate and gave the ball away.
Negredo 4 - Had one good chance as he was given a good pass by Chyrishev with the goalkeeper out of his line with the goal basically empty, but his shot was blocked by a Betis defender.
Cheryshev 5 - Had some good movement off the ball and was dangerous on occasions, but unfortunately did not see the ball too much and when he did he couldn't muster up a chance.
Subs:
Gaya 3 - Entered the match and quickly got himself a yellow card, was positioned poor for the Betis goal and then made a silly foul towards the end and earned himself a second yellow card.
Moreno 5 - Not very effective, got the ball few times and did have few runs, but nothing really threatning.
Mina N/A - Not enough time, but even if he had more time it didn't seem as he would change things.

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With the results being terrible Gary Neville has been given an ultimatum, he needs to win today against Real Betis if he is to stay as the manager.

I don't think fans should blame Gary or the players, I think its the circumstances. Instead of strengthening and adding depth this season, Peter Lim's naivete brought more young and inexperienced players, so now we are suffering because we can't rely on a good mix of experience and youth and have to play with inexperienced and inconsistent young players.

To make matters worse the coach to replace Nuno was Gary who is extremely inexperienced, doesn't speak Spanish and is essentially his first coaching job. So you can't blame the players or the coach. I think Peter Lim is realizing that he can't run a football club like a family, so he's hired a sporting director and he is possibly looking of adding a club president as well. He is finally realizing he can't just appoint few of his friends and run the club successfully, it needs experienced and successful people.

There is speculation that Valencia CF are talking to Rafa Benitez and he would be a great appointment for us, but if we can get Pellegrini in the summer that would be even greater. Issue is if we get rid of Gary Neville now, we have to appoint either a good coach or rely on Voro to lead the team till the end of the season, which we know he is a good interim manager for a while, but can he lead the team for months?

Anyways the match today against Real Betis will tell us what happens next. I'm sure Peter Lim would want to keep Gary Neville regardless of results, but he risks losing support of the fans as an owner and that would be really bad for him.

So Where Do We Go From Here ???

I have been busy these last few days so no time to write up about  the debacle at the Nou Camp and was hoping somebody else might do it.

I think they are all feeling the same way as I, total shock at what was on offer Wednesday night. So why was it and how did it all come about ?

I have only seen the highlights and from my point of view there are a number of glaring problems with the way we are playing.

Why do we always give the opposition wide players so much space to receive the ball, bring it under control and then attack our defence or put in a cross ?

Why did we stand around like practice cones while Barcelona played the ball around us, through us and over us at will ?

Why didn't we give our players specific responsibilities to mark certain players and stay with them wherever they went.  It didn't seem as if we did that. We seemed to just stand around watching the game go by ?

Wan't enough importance put on this game as our league position is so dire and what about next Wednesday.  Do we go out with a weakened team as the game is of no consequence apart from our pride. Will it be 7.0 again if the play their first team ?

Why did players look totally lost and seemed to have no idea what they were supposed to be doing ?
I know that there is a language problem but other people are there to translate.

I don't profess to be and expert on match tactics by the way, this is just my humble opinion.

I was at the last league match against Sporting Gijon and in my personal opinion, despite the fact we were beaten I could definitely see many signs of improvement in the team apart from the glaring misses by Negredo.

When Nevillle was appointed he had backing from a large majority of the supporters in a poll. Now it is  90%  saying he should go.  The latest news is that Rafel Benitez may step in and take over. What do we think of that.  I think he should come, if not now, then next week.

Looking at the league standings, I cannot believe how low we are now. It seems only recently we were talking about an outside chance of Champions League. Now it will be a relegation fight, that is for sure.  We are now looking at the other results of Las Palmas and Levante instead of Sevilla and Villareal.

Sunday's game at relegation threatened Real Betis is a massive game for Neville but more important a massive game for Valencia CF and it's supporters and our future.

De Paul out Cheryshev in

Rodrigo De Paul today moved on loan to Racing De Avalando of Argentina until the end of the season, it was announced today.

Is this one of the reasons his form has been a bit hit and miss and that he has been overlooked a many times.  Perhaps it was because he has missed  his home town having turned down loan options to Getafe and Levante.

Probably a good move for all involved and I am sure we all wish him the best of luck for the future.  I do not see him returning even though the loan is only till the end of the season.

The good news is that we will be strengthened by Denis Chevyshev until the end of the season.  This long talked about move is in the final stage and as I write this he is having a medical with the club.

He should give us that extra option on the left wing and with our other new signing at left back should give us some power down the left flank. Bienvenido Denis. Apologies for the Real Madrid shirt being put on the blog but he is our man now and maybe it can be changed soon

Lucas Orban to Levante and Siquiera joins us

Lucas Orban has been transferred is to Levante until the end of this season on loan.
Good luck to you Lucas and it is a pity it did not work out here but maybe you will come back. The ever present Gaya being the main reason he was not given enough game time but hopefully he can show what he is capable of with Levante and help keep them in La Liga.  I think they have got a good player and look forward to seeing him play for them.

Guilherne Siquiera joins Valencia on loan from Athletico Madrid until June 2017.
He has had  spells with Udinese  Benfica and Granada and comes here as a left back with the intention of pushing Gaya  forward to wide left midfield.  He has been with Athletico Madrid so I would suggest he has had good training and attitude and also plenty of La Liga experience which is vital in my opinion.



There will be more tomorrow