Valencia CF preseason

Valencia CF will start off their preseason in Valencia, then move to Switzerland in the town of Nyon where the team will have preparations for about two weeks, with this Pako wants to recreate the same conditions that led to the La Liga winning year where Pako and Benitez were at the helm, and for the first match they will travel to Finland where they will match up against FC Ilves.

Valencia CF might also do a week of preparations in Austria as the team always does, but so far that is unclear.
After the first control match, Valencia CF will travel to England where it will face off against Crystal Palace and A.F.C. Bournemouth, which will be a decent test to see how the preparations are going, Valencia CF should do well in these matches, outright losses would put a little bit of a dampener on the preparations.

Usually Valencia CF finds more teams to play against before the Orange trophy match which Valencia CF will play on July 30th against FC Fiorentina, which will most likely be the final test before the new season starts.

Valencia CF to buy Marc Bartra

Valencia CF is interested in FC Barcelona central defender Marc Bartra, he's been surplus to requirements in Barcelona, only featuring in few match and is looking to move to another club with Valencia CF providing a good opportunity for the defender to prove himself.

Valencia CF is also looking at acquiring Raul Albiol, but they are having issues in the negotiations with Napoli, so they've moved their attention to Bartra as he is going to be the cheaper alternative. Marc Bartra is supposedly keep on a move to Valencia CF and is pressuring Barcelona to let him go, since he is seen as a reserve of the reserves and isn't going to get more chances at Barcelona.

Valencia CF wants to replace most of the backline this season and focus on a sturdy defense as the basis on the play, something which is a more traditional Valencian style, with strong defense and quick counter attacking football.

Valencia to sell Diego Alves, Enzo Perez and several others

Valencia CF will be getting rid of several dead wood players this season and possibly some more in order to reduce the wage expenditure and make space for new better arrivals. Rumors are that Valencia CF has so far put several players on the transfer list: Diego Alves, Aymen Abdenour, Aderlan Santos, Enzo Perez, Pablo Piatti and Alvaro Negredo.

Diego Alves is kind of a surprise if this report is true, I think he is by far the best keeper between him, Jaume and Ryan, but his sale would bring more money and significantly reduce the wage expenditure as he is one of the top paid players in the club.

Alvaro Negredo hasn't shown much in the two years he's been at Valencia CF, so its obvious he is put on the transfer list, also the highest paid players at Valencia CF, so huge saving on his salary. The question becomes how much can Valencia CF recoup as its unlikely clubs will be willing to pay more than 15 million euros for the form Negredo's been the past year or so.

Enzo Perez is too injury prone, so I guess the sporting director doesn't believe he could fully recover and stay fit and healthy to contribute, although I must say when he did play he was rather good on average, though nothing special either. I think ultimately by the contribution metrics another failure for us, came for 26 million and hasn't repaid that investment.

Aymen Abdenous another big arrival last season, came as a big reinforcement and a replacement for Nicolas Otamendi, but hasn't worked out, he's performed average for us and overall another big transfer failure, we've had plenty of those.

I guess he would still sell for a lot of money, especially since he did play most of the matches for us last season and you could excuse his performance due to new environment, language barrier and stuff like that, so he is likely to reach a good prize and Valencia CF should be able to recoup most of the money paid for him.

Pablo Piatti had a great season the one before last, but the last season he failed to recreate his best form and thus he's been put on the transfer list, the team top brass don't think he can contribute enough to the team and thus he'll be leaving us.

Sofiange Feghouli is a free agent at the end of next month, probably sooner as teams are likely to try and get him fast, question is which teams does he agree on joining. Valencia CF won't be getting a transfer fee, but the savings in salary expenditure will be big enough.

On the other hand Valencia CF has rejected several offers for both Andre Gomes and Joao Cancelo, both of whom are considered huge talents and great future players, so the big interest from clubs is not surprising. Juventus is really interested in Andre Gomes as they are preparing for the possible loss of Paul Pogba, they are willing to spend 30 million euros to get Gomes, but Valencia CF will only listen to offers in the 50 million range. Another suitor for Gomes is Arsenal, Arsene Wenger is a big fan of Gomes and would like to increase the creativity in the midfield.

Valencia CF really want to bring back Albiol from Napoli, but even though his contract expires next season and he would be able to leave for free, Napoli are desperate to keep the player for the next season as he was one of their best players last season.

Raul Albiol supposedly has an agreement with Valencia CF and is trying to push for the move to happen, but it looks like its going to be an uphill battle to bring him back to Valencia CF. At the age of 30 he is still young for a defender and Valencia CF are considering that he still has at least 3 more years left in him, while he does bring a lot of experience.

Pako Given 2 Year Contract

Pako Ayestaran is named as the ´new´ coach.  It was announced officially today that Pako will continue as coach for the following 2 years.  It has not come as too much of a surprise I suggest as he seemed to have been the favourite despite other names coming forward.  Some will be bitterly disappointed that we were not able to, or unwilling to, secure a bigger name, especially as a recent poll showed that 83% of supporters were against his appointment.

His two bad defeats at the end of the season to Villareal and Real Sociedad do not seem to have gone against him too much. However the results and performances against Real Madrid and Barcelona may have helped his cause somewhat.

It is certain that his appointment is going to split opinion amongst the supporters with many saying it is a good appointment and others hating it and being very disappointed that a bigger name was not secured.

I guess it is wait and see time now and my opinion is, that we do not know who else was approached and whether or not that even wanted to come here now with the fact that we are not in Europe and there are limited funds available due to the constraints of the fair play rules.  Therefore before we all start shouting that we will never support the team again we should just think in the bigger picture.

One positive is, that he knows the players now and hopefully he knows who we need to sell. A new face would have come in and taken a while to get to know we have players that need to be moved on.
 He has already, apparently stated how unfit the players were and will be making sure they will be well prepared for next season.  I just hope we can all get behind him and hope that he can put us back in the top four where we all feel we belong.

I am sure that if a list of alternative coaches was put forward the consensus would be greatly divided amongst the fans.
Pelegrini.  With all the money he was provided, in the final year the team looked aimless at times and failed to impress. Despite that he will have better offers than from us with more money, especially in the Premier Division.
Benitez.   Wants to stay in UK as he has a home there and will stay with Newcastle United.
Paco Jemez  Has managed to take his team Rayo in the second division.
Sanchez Flores  Lots of criticism from supporters in his final months at Watford for losing the dressing room and results faltered.

I am sure there are others I have not mentioned, but as I have said,  Just because we might want them to come doesn´t necessarily mean that they want to come here.

Pako Ayestarán appointed Valencia manager until 30 June 2018

VCF Official Statement

"Valencia Club de Fútbol wish to announce the appointment of Francisco Martín Ayestarán Baranadiarán -Pako Ayestarán- as head coach of the first team, on a deal running through to June 30th, 2018.

The squad were informed of the decision this morning by club Chairwoman, Lay Hoon Chan, and Sporting Director, Jesús García Pitarch at the Ciudad Deportiva de Paterna.
...

A press conference with Pako Ayestarán, Lay Hoon Chan and Jesús García Pitarch will be held at 6:30pm this Tuesday afternoon, in the VIP Box at Mestalla."

=================

All a bit of an anti-climax, after names like Mourinho and Pellegrini were thrown around. The former just seemed to be using us to force Manchester United's hand, however, the latter seemed a real possibility. Instead, we have yet another manager who's largely unproven at the top level. When will the club stop gambling this way and learn the lesson that a skilled squad needs a real leader to get the best from it? Pako's record towards the end of last season was not that impressive. 3 wins, a draw and 4 defeats. That did include a win at Barcelona, but we often seem to raise our game against the top teams, only for this to prove worthless as we squander points with defeats at Las Palmas or at home to Sociedad. Can Pako get a bit extra out of this underperforming squad? I remain to be convinced.

On the plus side, he does have the fans on his side...for now...so next season can start without the negativity that dogged last season. His priority will be to work alongside Suso and revamp the squad, throwing out some of the dead wood.

Lay Hoon Chan gave an interview recently (link here) where she did admit to mistakes made last season, specifically: "The key thing is to plan for a balanced squad. What we learnt from the last season was that our squad was a bit too young and inexperienced."

Talk is cheap, so the summer transfer window will show if words can become actions.

Valencia CF horrendous season ends

Valencia CF horrendous season has come to an end and it finished in the same terrible fashion that it started. I feel like now the team, the players and the fans need to reflect on what happened and learn from it, in order not to repeat the mistakes from the past.

I think its safe to say that the sacking of Nuno was a mistake, he technically left on his own accord, but he was forced out by the fans who were shouting and whistling at him at every moment. I've already written about this so there is no point to come back to it, but in terms of sporting results it was clearly a mistake to get rid of him and for that I blame a big portion of the Spanish fans, you guys are just as much at fault for our poor results this season as the whole team.

Now that mistake led to another in the appointment of Gary Neville, former players with no coaching experience, who's sole coaching job was an assistant coach of England, basically couple dozen games throughout the whole year, so essentially extremely little experience. He was looking to become a coach though and he is/was close friends with Peter Lim so he was appointed to the position at Valencia CF. The primary reason for Peter Lim was to get the English media to cover Valencia CF, to have that exposure and surely Gary couldn't do worse than Nuno, after all the team was playing rather poor and even though the results were there it was not good enough, Valencia CF needed to be in the top 4 to 5, not 8th place even though it was still early in the season.

This experiment failed and it failed miserably, sure Valencia CF got a lot of coverage, but it didn't bring them anymore fans, how would it have with the play and results under Gary Neville. I think the play improved in the first few matches under him, probably just because of the players being more relaxed, not having the fans at their throats, but the results were not there and they did not come at all, in fact it became so bad under him that there was a worry that Valencia CF would actually fight to avoid relegation and possibly even fall to the lower division, Peter Lim had to make sure that didn't happen and friend or not his hand was forced so he sacked Gary and appointed Pako who at the time was Gary's assistant.

I think the hope was that with Pako as Gary's assistant the team would improve, it would have one experienced manager and help save Gary's career and Valencia's performances, but that didn't happen, so Gary Neville was sacked and Pako was appointed temporary coach to steer the ship out of the murky waters and into the clear, avoid that relegation spot and bring some good results to the club.

Pako instantly did better, he had few wins in a row, the play seemed somewhat better, there was more organization it felt in the play, it wasn't just mindless play as before, so there was some organization and some improvement, enough to lead Valencia CF to the upper half of the table, but overall in terms of results it isn't good, especially if you look at our last match, back to old habits, back to the poor old play, back to losing to terrible teams which we should be easily disposing off.

Pako was poised to become Valencia CF next coach, but he did himself no favors and the last few matches gave us doubt about his ability to lead the team, his record isn't that good with the team, its decent, but decent for a bottom table team, not decent for a champions league teams, which Valencia CF is and should be.

So here we are now with all the options open about Valencia's next coach, the team had a BIG chance to sign Manuel Pellegrini, I wrote a whole editorial how and why Peter Lin should do it, how it would SAVE us money in the long term, I know Peter is a business man, so I know he understands that on an intellectual level, but I have a feeling he doesn't understand it at an basic human level, instinctual level and thus hasn't signed him as coach.

Valencia CF needs an experienced and proven coach someone who guarantees results, not some no name, not some third degree coach, not some friend of a friend coach, we need top level coach to put Valencia CF back into the champions league and paying more money for that coach initially would save us money later, because Valencia CF will be in the champions league, will have the results to find better sponsors and we won't have to be overpaying for absurdly expensive players to certain agents. Someone like Manuel Pellegrini would save Valencia CF a TON of money!

Unfortunately Peter Lim and the whole management are clueless, including the old/new sporting director Jesus Garcia, no one is thinking strategically, no one is thinking long term, no one is thinking in terms of the big picture, all of the decisions so far have been in the moment, blinded decisions for hopefully quick payout and its backfired and hasn't worked.

Sell a player if you must, we have Negredo, surely someone can give us 15-18 million on him, recuperate some of the money we spend on him and get rid of his salary payments, he is costing the team too much money and hasn't contributed anything. He's been terrible since coming to Valencia CF and if you didn't know who he is you'd think it was some mediocre player that came for just few million euros to be backup to Paco Alcacer, which is what he's been. He was supposed to be a leader, he was supposed to guarantee 15-20 goals per season, he was supposed to teach Paco and help elevate the player and bring his experience, but he's failed completely at everything.

Sell Negredo, recoup some of that wasted 30 million euros, get rid of his super high salary that he doesn't earn and hire Manuel Pellegrini, he's said personally he's like to come back to Spain, its one of the cities he can call home literally and has been, he'd like a more focused project where he can build a team and not not have to deal with Champions league, which he can do in Valencia CF and instead of choosing some English minnow that no one cares about, he could choose Valencia CF and keep his reputation. All we need to do is transfer Negredo's salary to Pellegrini, pitch him the project, pitch him long term support and I'm talking strong, but realistic time frame like 3 years.

Sofiange Feghouli is also out this summer, his contract is ending and soon we'll get rid of his salary as well, which has been improved several times, and while he's played brilliantly on occasions, he hasn't been consistent and hasn't proven a difference maker, so sorry, but he has to go.

Pablo Piatti will also be leaving this summer if we can find a buyer for him, don't think we'll get much money on that sale, but just the saving on his salary would be huge, he was great for Valencia CF last season, but this season he couldn't repeat that and slowly but surely fell to the sideline.

We also have Rodrigo De Paul who will be back from his loan and he'll be available for that position, if we sign Cheryshev we'll also have another player for that position, though at this point I think it might be a mistake to sign him, if we could get him on loan again for one year I'd make the deal, but signing an injured player who will need at least 3 months of recovery is always a risk, he might not come back as strong.

We also have Fede Cartabia who will be coming back from loan, he can play both left and right wing, usually right wing though and I have high expectations from him, I think we should keep him in the team this season and give him a chance, let him prove himself, he is a good player and if he can develop at Valencia CF and learn the players, the system, the coach he can become great player, he just need to be given a chance helped into it, have a coach who would help him reach his potential.

There is a lot to do now that the season has ended, several players need to be sold and/or released, primarily though we need to find a great coach and then bring in some additions that the coach and sporting director Jesus can both agree on to strengthen the squad.

Also I would like to thank all our writers on the blog, especially Mick this year who's really stepped up in my absence and continued the write-ups of the matches. I've been extremely busy, plus the disappointment of this season and haven't been able to write anything really. Hopefully I can step up to the plate and do better again.

Valencia CF 0-1 Real Sociedad

The last game of the season and it is a game to forget just like the season.  Two new centre backs in Santos and Vezo and Danilo central midfield in place of Fuego. Most pleasing though was to see Jaume back in goal much to the delight of the home fans. 20,000 fans bothered to turn up and I guess the ones that didn't bother knew what was in store for us.

The first period was devoid of any excitement or incident except seeing Piatti helped off after appearing to pull a muscle chasing a ball from Gomes. He had been pretty awful it has to be said but hearing a certain section of the crowd whistling as he went down, in my opinion was a disgrace. Piatti has given this club some good years and some good performances and he did not deserve to be treated in that way. There appeared to be tears in his eyes as he was limping off, no doubt as a result of his injury, the jeering and even perhaps the thought that this may be his final game in a Valencia shirt.  Nobody deserves to end in that manner.
I was expecting whistles at half time but when Santos got his head to a corner and shaved the back post it at least postponed the protests to the final whistle.

The first half had been probably the most boring 45 minutes I have spent at the Mestalla apart from the time when me and the wife got the kick off time wrong earlier in the season against Rapid Vienna and arrived an hour and half early and wondered why we were almost the only ones there. However this comes as a close second.  It looked, as it was, and end of the season game with nothing for either team to play for apart from extra TV money which was quite a lot apparently. However, as it wasn't going into the players pockets, they obviously weren't bothered.  While we were still awaiting the first shot at goal from Valencia,  Real went and stole it right at the end. A mix up in our goal allowed Oyarzabel to fire home a minute from time.  We should really have been a goal up when a few minutes earlier Alcacer was barged over in the area but the referee, who was having his last La Liga game, ignored the shout for a penalty. Negredo, who had just come on managed to fire the loose ball wide and high.  He also missed a good opportunity a minute earlier when heading just over, a loose ball, but it wasn't to be our night yet again. Yellow cards to Vezo and Gomes which were not deserved makes me feel that I wish this ref had retired last week especially after turning down our blatant penalty against Alcacer.
This is the first time ever I have left the ground before the final whistle and my feelings are that I am glad to see the back of this season and hope things will improve next year, which I am sure they will.

Player Ratings
Jaume  6.5   Not too much to do but made a few very good saves to keep us in the game. Had no chance with the goal.  He has to stay surely.
Barragan 4.5  Keeps forgetting he is a defender and ploughs forward recklessly and far too casual in getting back.  Needs to be replaced.
Santos 5.5   I thought he had a good game and is big strong presence in the defence. Made one bad error to get caught with the ball but won it back well to clear.  He can stay with us
Vezo 5.5  Another good performance and looks really confident now again. Sometimes passes a bit wild but he is a defender.  Has to stay for next season
Siqueira 5.0  Had a good game going forward and made some good tackles when defending. Always looking to get in on the attacking action.  Has to stay to share the spot with Gaya
Danilo  4.5  I do not think this guy is good enough for this team. He is not rubbish but he is not good. I think if we can get him cheap, I mean, under 4 mill. we should take him and loan him out.
Parejo 6.5  Kept things going while others looked disinterested. He would be badly missed and we need a similar player to cover for him in event of injury or suspension.
Gomes 5.0  Too many balls lost again but works hard for the team. Made some nice surging runs as usual but sometimes seems on a different wave length to others except Parejo.
Mina 5.5  Always gives his heart to the play. Took a nasty cut on the lip when fell into the keeper but got back up and continued.
Piatti 4.0  Another really poor game.  It is such a shame but I think for him and the club he has to go and start afresh with another team. The fans have lost confidence in him now and it shows in his play.
Alcacer 5.0  Left on his own up front and I do not understand why Negredo wasn't brought on at half time or even from the start.  As soon as he did come on we started making chances. A real error from Pako I.M.O.

Subs
Cancello 4.5 Replaced Barragan.  What has happened to him, he seems to have lost his way.
Negredo  N/A   Unfair to score him, he was on 10 mins, made and missed 2 good chances but livened up the attack.
Sito  5  Replaced Piatti.  has a good turn of speed and gets out of corners well. Looks a good prospect but did not impress me too much in this game.

Coach  Pako  4.5  I thought tonight he got it all wrong and it appears to me that if the players wanted him to be the manager next season they might have played with a bit more enthusiasm for him. I can only think they do not rate him because if they did they would have shown it on the pitch.

Cards
Vezo
Gomes

Real Madrid 3-2 Valencia CF

OK lets get straight to the point here. We were totally robbed in this game by corrupt or just plain pathetic officials. It happens so many times and fortunately it was not an important game for us but It could have an effect on the winners of La  Liga this season. OK that is the down side of today but the plus is that we played an amazing game against one of the strongest and richest teams in the world.

No major surprises with Abdennour slotting back in the defense in place of the unfortunate Santos, one of the few pluses after the previous game, and Perez back in defensive midfield. The news is going to be all about the title race and our performance will soon be forgotten apart from the Valencia fans. However we started really well and were very compact. Of course RM were making chances, That is to be expected but we were looking comfortable but for long periods passing the ball with confidence. Cancello had a great chance but chipped over with the goal gaping . This all changed after 26 minutes however when Ronaldo picked up the ball in front of goal before sidestepping Abdennour to beat Alves at the far post with a low drive. No complaints so far as it was a well taken goal from a top player. Just before the break it all changed and the officials started to get in on the action. A ball played across goal  finds Benzema a metre offside and in front of the ball fumbled His shot was pushed out by Alves but Cancello played it back into the danger zone whilst making a tackle. The ball went straight back to Benzema who couldn't believe his luck to slide it home. The problem was he should have been flagged offside on the first attempt and the goal should not have. stood Abdennour was injured in the melee and would be replaced at the break.

So down to 2.0 RM They will now surely go on and get some more goals to humiliate us. Something must have seen said at half time or was it the changes. Abdennour off injured replaced by Mina and Gomez on for Cancello who was having an awful time today. It was a brave attacking line up and Changes seem to take the RM by surprise as all of a sudden the game was open again. Valencia Were enjoying loads of possession, as they had done in the first period, and the chances were coming. Alcacer had a great chance from close in a cross from Mina. Gomes with should have done better but fired over an almost open goal. Mustaffi clipped a post with a low shot and Parejo hit the bar from a free kick. We were having more chances than than the last three or four games combined. 

Rodrigo got us back in the game after another great run from Mina to the ball was cleared just outside the area for Rodrigo to blast it home. Unfortunately pushing forward with us it left a huge gap in defense That was reliable to exploit Ronaldo when he outrun  Barragan esily to beat Alves with a powerful shot. There was more to come when Gomes had a shot from ouside the area after a corner to blast the ball home to make it short 3.2. The game had an exciting edge and looked to be going either way with many chances until! This is where the ref wanted to make a name for himself. For some inexplicable  reason he shows Rodrigo a red card. As there was no tackle or contact we have to assume it was something he said. Come on referee this is a decider in the La Liga title race and you have sent off a player with a straight red for saying something out of place. How many players have had a red card this season for swearing or being offensive. This is a good time to stamp your authority as if it was not enough to deny us a perfectly legal goal you have to hand the game to Real Madrid just when it was looking like Valencia would get back in the game.

Player Ratings

Alves 6-0 Made some good stops and not really at fault for the goals
Siquiera 6.0 Had a good game and got forward to support well
Mustafi 6.5 Had his usual game winning the ball  dependent in the air, on the ground and passing out well  
Abdennour 6.0 Could not be blamed for the Ronaldo goal as I think any defender would have struggled to stop him.
Barragan 5.5 Still not convinced and I feel he will have to be replaced in the summer
Fuego 5.5 Worked hard in the middle but maybe his past better days and needs replacing.  
7.0 The good Parejo was on show again today with his passing and ball winning
Perez 7.0  worked really hard for the team, lets hope he stays fit next season
 Cancello 5.0 A game to forget and was replaced at half time. Should have scored and was partly at fault for the offside goal
Rodrigo 6.5  A great goal and a great game, really improving with his confidence now
Alcacer 6.0  Unlucky with his close in effort that was well saved but no goals to show.

Subs  Gomes 6.5  Great goal and great game. Needs to stay with us
          Mina    6.5  A good performance again
          Patti   No time.


Pako  7.0  Has to stay now I would suggest

Valencia CF 0-2 Villareal

The Valencia Tugboat Sunk By The Villareal Yellow Submarine

This was a game I really believed that we would win. Villareal, having played on Thursday against Liverpool must have been feeling a little jaded especially  knowing they had the return leg next week However, as the case is so often our 'heroes' let us down yet again this season.

The game started well enough for us and we seemed for a while to be in control. Unfortunately, a throw in from Cancello was totally miscontrolled on the chest of Rodrigo, the ball bounced away to Soldado to cross for Samuel to make a mug of Siqueira and place the ball to the left of Alves. there were there enough defenders to prevent the goal but they seemed all over the place and not at all organised as has been the case too often this season. So, 14 minutes and a goal down, not a great start but plenty of time to get back in the game. Santos had stepped in for Abdennour and Negredo was given an opportunity in place of Alcacer. Fuego being preferred to Perez and Cancello instead of Barragan.

 Villareal's Rodrigo had a chance to add to their score but narrowly missed when a long shot scraped the post. In the 33rd minute we were two goals down. The defense had all inexplicably pushed forward leaving Adrian alone on the left wing. A long ball found him and after a long run unopposed through the Valencia half, easily beat the out rushing Alves in the home goal to make it 0-2. The chances now seemed to be falling all the way of Villareal with Valencia finding it difficult to make any impression on the team in yellow.

In the second half Cancello was making plenty of runs and crosses but nobody seemed to be getting on the end of them and we nearly lost another goal when Siqueira deflected to cross onto the post.
Soldado had been causing all sorts of problems for Valencia and what a pity we did not take the risk on buying him from Spurs as he still looks as good as ever and has added to his game after his spell in the Premier Division in England. His deft flicks and lay offs caused us problems every time.

Cheryshev was introduced in place of Mina but unfortunately soon went down holding his leg  and it appears that his old injury has been aggravated and it may be the end of  his season for us. Maybe we can get him a bit cheaper if he is injured. Perez was on for Fuego and Alcacer for Gomez. None of the changes made much difference because we were outplayed for most of it the game by all round better and a more organised team. It is no surprise they have qualified for the Champions League and they are class team in my opinion.

There were spells in the second half when we played some good football and retained the ball well for long periods. Unfortunately we were lacking penetration and Villareal were  content to let us have the ball in our own half and sit back to soak up the pressure what little we had to offer. They packed their defense and even though Cancello was making good runs there was nobody there to finish them off. We had to play ten minutes until the end with only ten men after Cheryshev went off as all the subs had Been used.

Conclusion
When you play Villareal you need all players playing well. Unfortunately, Javi Fuego, Andre Gomes, Negredo, Rodrigo and Santi Mina, were all below what should be expected. Good games for Santos and Parejo and of course Mustafi. There was nothing in the game for us to play for other than local pride and rewarding the fans for an awful season but it was not to be. I was at the game and saw no lack of effort or will to win I think that we were just not good enough on the day.
There will have to be major changes in the playing staff next season, we really need to bring in some new blood to invigorate the team and the fans, we definitely can not continue like this or the stadium will be empty.

Player Ratings

Alves 5.5   Not really at fault for the goals as I was left exposed but maybe could have done better and had no other shots to save.
Siqueira 5.5   Made some good attacking runs especially in the first half but maybe could have done more on the second goal
Santos 6.5   Replaced Abdennour and looked a really good player tonight, in my opinion. always strong in the tackle and no errors that I can recall
7.0 Mustafi   Won everything in the air and looked as good as ever. worked well with Santos with better understanding.
6.5 Cancello   Went missing a few times in defense and was rebuffed by the coach for it but very effective in attack. Surely his place is right midfield and we need to get a more defensive right back to cover .  With Feghouli probably going he is the man to replace him.
Parejo 7.0   This is the Parejo I like to see, despite things going wrong around him he was always involved and spreading the ball well. Deserves better players around him.
Gomes 5.0   A great footballer with amazing skills but as I have always been saying, where is the end  ball? where is the goal?. They are just not coming and that is what you have to be judged on and he is just not doing it for me.
Fuego 5.0  Another flop of the day. Just when he has had a couple of decent performances recently I believe he is back to his worst self. Giving away too many balls and should have been replaced by Perez earlier.
Rodrigo 5.5   Can never be accused of not running and not trying but missed a good chance to score and did nothing to convince me that he has a future here at the moment. Maybe needs a loan out somewhere to improve his game.
Mina 5.5   I am honestly trying to remember if he did anything to comment on either good or bad but can not remember what I did do, therefoe the low score.
Negredo 5.5   A real enigma, tonight laid off some nice balls at times then fell over on other occasions. To me I still think he looks overweight and lethargic and I can not understand why Alcacer did not start the game. Maybe as decisions will be made ​​soon, it was another opportunity for him to prove himself. Well, I think he failed tonight.

Subs
Cheryshev 59 mins for Mina
Perez 70 mins for Fuego
Alcacer 76mins for Gomez

Goals Samuel 14mins - 33mins Adrian

Yellow card Fuego

Attendance 40,000 (39,000 of them disappointed people)

Getafe 2-2 Valencia post match thread

After a run of good results, it was almost back to the drawing board for Valencia with a very lacklustre and iffy performance against one of the division's worst teams. There was little to separate the teams in the first half, with, if anything, Getafe having the better chances and rattling the crossbar with a shot which had Alves beaten. In the second half, Parejo produced one of his trademark free kicks, beating Guaita with a brilliant dipping shot. Unfortunately, that was mostly as good as it got for Valencia, as we were under the cosh from then on, with Getafe looking much the better side. It was only poor finishing from their players that prevented them from putting the game out of sight. Nonetheless, they established a 2-1 lead, first after a goalmouth scramble when a lot of our defenders were standing around like dummies and secondly, after Abdennour, who had been in better form of late, produced yet another howler. Only Negredo has cost us more points this season. Speaking of which, against the run of play, Negredo, on as a sub to make a rare appearance alongside Paco, produced a brilliant assist, dribbling past 3 defenders before laying it off for Paco to equalise. 1 point gained more than 2 points lost as a Getafe win would have been a fairer result.

The team selection in this game was very questionable. Why was Barragan playing instead of Cancelo? Didn't Mina deserve his chance up front more than Rodrigo? While the defence had a day to forget, the main problem seemed to lie in midfield, with 4 midfielders seeming unsure of who was supposed to be doing what. It was almost like Gary Neville had never gone away. The result leaves us 8 points behind Sevilla with 3 games left and, while it's still mathematically possible, only a fanatical optimist would believe we could steal 7th from this position.

Valencia 4-0 Eibar post-match thread

As none of the regulars have done a write up, I'm putting this up as a placeholder for post-match comments. Unfortunately, I missed the game, but from what I've seen from the highlights, it was another solid performance, with Paco doing well and Cancelo and Rodrigo combining on the right. Also of note, this was the first time since 1 November (!) during the Nuno era, that we kept a clean sheet in La Liga.

Just some thoughts for discussion: has Pako Ayerastan done enough to get the job on a permanent basis? Is Paco Alcacer finally back to form after a goal drought? Was this Rodrigo's best game in a Valencia shirt? Has Diego Alves re-established himself as the number one choice keeper? Enzo Perez has played well recently, but should we keep him given how injury prone he is?

We're 6 points behind Sevilla, who have the better head-to-head, can we really overtake them in 4 games, as unlikely as it seems? Or should we use the last few games to give younger and b-team players a chance?

FC Barcelona 1 - 2 Valencia CF Match Report

Another fantastic evening for Valencia CF and Pako Ayesteran as they beat Barcelona in what was a very entertaining match. Sure Barcelona were on a poor run of form and missed a lot of chances but even and off-form Barca is pretty formidable. And at this point of the season, do we really care if Barca is in form or not? Probably not, we take what we can. Last time I said beating Sevilla was huge because it was one of our tougher fixtures remaining, well no doubt this one was another huge victory for us, getting maximum points from two really tough fixtures against teams who usually give us a terrible time. We have now put a big gap between us and the relegation zone, certainly a comfortable distance away and with our next fixture being against Eibar, we can overtake them with a win and climb to the top half of the table.

I've got to say Ayesteran is doing better than I expected. When I first saw the lineup without Alcacer or Negredo, I was a bit worried but more so intrigued. Barcelona had the majority of the chances in the first minutes of the game with multiple shots fired at Diego Alves's goal only for him to respond each time with a brillant save. Most memorable were the ones against Messi from close range and then against Neymar's lob after a quick free kick. Diego Alves would keep us in the game and then Valencia would hit on the counter. First it was Rodrigo who came close to scoring on Valencia's first chance but his shot fizzed past the post. Soon after Gomes found the overlapping run of Siquera on the left edge of the box and Siquera's shot was deflected into the net by Rakitic in attempt to stop the ball. I thought at first glance that Siquera was aiming for goal but I'm not sure, the camera angle never showed the shot/cross properly. Barcelona would keep hitting hard but every time thwarted by either Diego Alves or Mustafi who were both brilliant. It's good to see Alves recover to this level of goalkeeping again, we really needed it especially today. And Mustafi is back to being a rock in defense after a few poor games. Of course Abdennour had some good tackles and interceptions too but I felt Mustafi really pulled more than his own weight tonight. Approaching the end of the first half Valencia would pass the ball around near the edge of Barcelona's box in attempt to retain possession till the whistle blows. However, after an impressive set of quick passes that were very resemblant of Barcelona's own style, space opened up in their defense and Dani Parejo found the run of Santi Mina on the left who slotted the ball perfectly past Bravo. The Nou Camp was silenced at that point, nobody expected this result.

The second half started more of the same with Barcelona getting most of the possesion and Valencia striking on the counter. Santi Mina would be replaced by Alcacer who had quite a few runs that could've resulted in chances but Mascherano was having a good night and stopped every attempt from Rodrigo and Alcacer before they got to the box. Barcelona's chances would soon pay off as Jordi Alba would cross the ball in from the left for an unmarked Messi to easily slide it past Alves. The game would still continue in its same pattern and Valencia was unlucky not to have had some one-on-one chances as they were called offside when perhaps they should not have been. Regardless, Valencia would be troubled one more time as Pique would miss a shot on goal after having been left in so much space in the penalty box. Valencia would take the victory and you can see the expression on the player's faces how much that win means for their confidence and morale.

Goals:
0 - 1 (o.g.) Ivan Rakitic, 26'
0 - 2 Santi Mina, 45'
1 - 2 Lionel Messi, 63'

Lineups:
FC Barcelona (1) - Bravo, Alba, Pique, Mascherano, Sergi Roberto, Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta, Neymar, Messi, Suarez
Valencia CF (2) - Diego Alves, Barragan, Abdennour, Mustafi, Siquera, Fuego, Perez (Cancelo, 74'), Parejo, Andre Gomes, Rodrigo (Gaya, 88'), Santi Mina (Alcacer, 60').

Ratings:
Diego Alves (9.5 - MOTM) -  simply amazing tonight, stopped all but one of Barcelona's attempts and he could do nothing about that one.
Barragan (7) - another good performance from the right back, quiet going forward but good defending.
Mustafi (9) - was helping the defense everywhere, kept Suarez quiet for the night and neutralized Messi and Neymar on many occassions.
Abennour (7) - his partnership with Mustafi today was great, they both knew what to do and covered for each other well.
 Siquera (7.5) - was more adventerous in offense and it paid off resulting in the first goal. Did leave a lot space for Neymar at times but was quick to track back.
Fuego (6.5) - his interceptions were on point today but lost possession too many times because he was trying to make passes that he couldn't do.
Parejo (7.5) - very cool and composed performance. Had the vision and the skill to pick out Mina for the second goal and kept possession very well when we did get the ball. Ayesteran somehow managed to get him some of his confidence back. Hopefully he stays this way.
Andre Gomes (7) - started out on the right wing but drifted to the center and the left at times which helped build up the first goal for us. Was unlucky not to have been in a one-on-one chance that was incorrectly ruled offside.
Enzo Perez (6.5) - didn't see too much of him but he did start some counterattacks for us when he runs the ball out from the back.
Rodrigo (6) - very active upfront but it really doesn't seem to be working for him at Valencia. Had one good chance in the first half but he rushed it and slowly disappeared from the game. Saw more of him in the second half when he would start the counterattacks when Barca commited too many players forwards but nothing resulted in a good chance. Hopefully coach will motivate him to do better.
 Santi Mina (8) - Brilliant yet again. Great work ethic, superb finishing, really wants to prove himself at Valencia.

Ayesteran (8.5) - really managed to give us some hope and what our team can do. More than tactics, he's managed to inspire some of our players who were low on confidence. His style seems to be reminescent of the Valencia of the old. Soak up all the pressure and strike decisively on the counter. We had a lot fewer chances that Barcelona but we captialized on them and made them count. 
 

Valencia CF 2-1 Sevilla

Well first I have to mention the people on the previous blog report who were wishing  our Valencia to go down to the Segunda Division.  I can only say to you that you are not true supporters of this club and although I always respect other opinions you have spoken utter crap and I do not care how long you purport to have been supporting this club.

I have just returned home from the game and it was the most exciting game I have seen for a long time. We could and should have won by three or four goals like we have said on here many times in the past.  3 points has not saved us from relegation but they are the most welcome 3 points ever.  Not only that but the way we played all through the game was amazing in my opinion.

Valencia took control right from the start and chance after chance fell our way with Santi Mina and Siquiera causing all sorts of problems for the Sevilla defenders. Valencia were winning everything in the midfield and the big crowd were being treated to some of the football that we have been craving for so long now.

With a back four of Siquiera Mustafi Abdennour and Barragan. Midfield Fuego Parejo Gomes.  Rodrigo and Mina playing wide and Alcacer striker.  The first chance came to Alcacer after a great long ball from Rodrigo and  a mistake in the Sevilla defence but with no other option he shot and forced a corner from the goalkeeper.

The crowd were giving ex Valencia players, Rami and Banega booing every time they touched the ball which was fair and well deserved.  Then Rodrigo was put through but his ball to Parejo was a little too hard and the keeper made a save.  In the 41st minute the game changed when Parejo scored from a long range free kick which gave the keeper no chance.  Then Mina had a great opportunity to make it two when, after dribbling his way into the box he unleashed a shot which came off the bottom of the post and rolling invitingly across the goal. Rodrigo cleverly turned it back for Parejo to fire in a great shot which was well saved. The team went in a goal in front and it was no more than we deserved after totally dominating the first half.

In the second half we were a little fortunate when Mustafi looked to have wrestled Llorente to the ground but the ref waved play on. However, in the 86th minute the impossible happened. Gamiero was given half a chance and his powerful shot seemed to elude Alves in goal to make the scores level. The crowd was stunned. Alves had  had nothing to do all afternoon and this happens, just unbelievable the Sevilla jinx has struck again.

Perez had meanwhile replaced Rodrigo who received a big applause when leaving the field for his hard work. Feghouli came on for Santi Mina and received a very poor reception from a large section of the crowd.

The referee signaled 3 minutes added time and my thoughts were that this is Sevilla, they will now go and score another goal with their second shot to take the points from us and send us down. However, Negredo came on 4 minutes from the end and a mix up in the Sevilla goal allowed the ball to be slid through to Negredo to poke home.  The stadium erupted and I have to say I shed a tear, it was unbelievable. The impossible had happened and we had secured the points. Who in their right mind would have wanted us demoted and taken away moments like this. We not only beat Sevilla we totally outplayed them for the majority of the match. Playing like this is long overdue but in this form who is to say we cannot do the same next week at Barcelona after a weeks rest.

Player Ratings
Alves  6  Difficult to fairly judge as he had not much to do but maybe could have blocked the shot. Would Jaume or Ryan blocked it ? possibly.
Barragan 6.5  Often at the centre of my criticism but today he showed what he can do when he puts his mind to it. I thought he was tremendous today.
Abdennour 7  If I was going to put a name on my Valencia shirt it would be his. Did not put a foot wrong today and in my opinion is a really class player, especially when teamed up with Mustafi.
Mustafi 6.5  A rock today in defence apart from nearly conceding the penalty. The partnership with Abdennour needs to be retained this season for as long as possible.
Siquiera 7  Really good game today and is going to make it hard for Gaya to come back in the team in my opinion. He offers so much more in the attack than Gaya and always looking to get in shots. We must keep him for sure.
Fuego 6.0  a bit of a disappointment for me today. too many bad balls given away. I think we have seen the best of Javi in the past but I hope he can pick up. I see Perez keeping him limited to games when he isn't injured or serving bans.
Parejo 7.5  Gets so much criticism but today was the difference between the two teams. his passing and control was all that you would want from your midfield players. We need to see this more often and the goal was a typical Parejo free kick.
Gomes 6.5  So full of running and amazing ball control. His weakness to me though is how many of his final balls go astray.
Rodrigo 7  This is the Rodrigo we paid all that money for, worked so hard and caused them so many problems but just needs that final touch to make him a great player.
Mina. 7.0  So full of confidence for his age, he caused havoc every time he attacked the Sevilla defence, how we didn't score more goals is a mystery.
Alcacer. 6.5  Always works hard for the team but left a little isolated at times but never gives less than 100%.

Subs Feghouli for Mina
Perez for Rodrigo
Negredo for Alcacer
Not enough time really to be fair to the players coming on.

Manager  Pako Ayestaran 8   I criticized him last week but boy how he got it right this time. In my humble opinion.

Goals
Parejo  41 mins
Gamiero  86 mins
Negredo  92 mins

To the players - You suck!

I can't stand this anymore, I can't stand to watch this team, its an exercise in torture trying to watch this team play right now.

There is ZERO passion in you, zero motivation, zero effort, it feels like you arrived for a soft ballet session the way you play on the field.

Honor your contracts if anything, you are all getting paid millions of euros, honor the contracts that you signed and are failing to fulfill. I mean seriously guys, I've watched and followed Valencia CF for over 15 years and I don't remember a spell worse than this and players looking and playing so disinterested.

I'd remove them all from the field and field a mix of the B team and the younger players. If they can't play right why play them over and over again? Field a younger and more enthusiastic squad, we have few decent B team midfielders and just give them a chance.

Get rid of Mustafi in defense, he's been the only constant in defense and we've failed every time, its time for a new partnership, I'd give Santos and Vezo the nod in central defense, bring in Villalba from the B team and field him, build a new look team that puts the "veterans" to shame.

Las Palmas 2 - 1 Valencia --La Liga

Just at a time when we were looking forward to a new era with the new man in charge,  players returned from international games and recovering from injuries we get this.  I am trying to think of the right words to describe the performance I have just witnessed but these are first first that come to mind, disgraceful. pathetic, embarrassing, scandalous,   I am sure you will add a few more.

The start could not have been better.  The worst goalkeeper by a mile in La Liga rolls the ball to a defender and Rodrigo sticks out a toe to intercept before tapping home.  This is minute 2,  now all we need to do is add to it.  But this is Valencia and that is not how it works for us.

Even after the gift start we make hard work of everything.  Paco Alcacer has numerous chances put through on his own with a clear chance of a goal but he keeps getting pulled up for offside.  Some of the decisions looked a bit suspect to say the least, however a quicker ball or more aware Paco may have reapped better rewards.

When I looked at the team and saw Piatti playing instead of Gomes and Barragan playing I just knew it was going to end in tears. Some of the players out there today, Piatti, Barragan were an absolute disgrace to the team and they were not the only ones.  As I mentioned the worst keeper in the league and he was hardly troubled by the ineptness of the pathetic excuse for footballers wearing white shirts.  Only Piatti, from my memory gave him anything to do when he turned away a long shot which deserved a goal.

It all started to go wrong in the 50th minute when Vierra was pulled back in the area by Javi Fuego and the ref had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.   How Fuego didn't get sent off having already been cautioned we will never know. Alves with his skill at saving penalties was unlucky when he got a foot to the poor shot but only saw it fly into the top of the net to make the scores even.

Las Palmas now saw their opportunity and pressed forward causing  all sorts of panic in the Valencia defence.  However it was another bizarre goal that put them in front.  A wild clearance by Santos cannoned off the back of Mustafi putting the home team in front.  It was a lucky goal but we cannot keep on saying how unfortunate we are. They deserved it for their more forceful football and eagerness to win the loose balls.

Valencia were struggling to put passes together and looked like a team who had given up.  Las Palmas could and should have made it even worse for Valencia but with Alves coming to the rescue, poor luck and poor play the score remained the same.

On 62 mins Feghouli replaced Danilo and soon after Gomes came on for Rodrigo.  It made no difference as we never really looked like we have any belief in scoring another goal.  Then Paco was inexplicably removed for Negredo, Paco being the only one looking likely to score.

The score remained the same and Valencia are now staring the drop in the face.  It is going to require a big change of attitude and a bit of luck now to keep us up and this was a must win but the chance has gone.

Player Ratings
Alves 6.0  Saved the day on a number of occasions and was unlucky with the penalty one of the few who can hold his head up tonight
Barragan 1  Looked like a man who didn't give a toss about his club. The sooner he is out of here the better. How was he picked today, we all know how useless he is.
Santos 3.5  Unlucky with the clearance that caused the goal. Under a lot of pressure but battled better than some.
Mustafi 4.5  Another who can hold his head up for his commitment to the club. Why is he not the captain I do not know. He is the leader.
Siquiera  4.0   Had a reasonable game compared with some of his team mates.
Fuego 3.5   Too many missed placed passes and lucky to stay on after his foul for the penalty
Danilo 3.5  Did not do enough in my opinion but I could be wrong as I cannot remember what he did today.
Parejo 4.0  Did OK today but that is not enough in these circumstances, put in some telling passes but not at his best and that reflects on the team.
Piatti 1  A total waste of space again today, what is he doing to justify being chosen. One really good shot and that is a it. He has been the same all season
Rodrigo 2.5   Did well to win the early goal and did plenty of running but looks not good enough for this team.
Alcacer 5  Unlucky  really but has to be more aware of getting caught offside so often. Had he been onside would have won the game for us for sure. Always full of running and effort.

Manager Pako Ayesteran  2    A disasterous start for his first game and why play Piatti, why play Barragan, why take off Alcacer. He says he is proud of the team and that they showed character. I can only assume he was watching another game.  Things can only get better.

Yellow cards for  Piatti, Fuego, Mustafi and Barragan.

NEVILLE Sacked

It has been announced today that the Valencia interim manager has been sacked.   Not before time many will say and Pako Ayestaran is to take full control forthwith.

I think this decision was inevitable considering the situation we are in at the moment and even though we can all criticise Peter Lim for some of the decisions he has made since his take over at the club, he has to be applauded for this one.

He record shows him to have been one of the worst managers in the history going on results alone. However,  he was unfortunate to have taken over a ship that if not sinking, it was certainly taking on a lot of water.  His job was to bail us out but unfortunately he has sunk us even lower.
                             
It is now up to Pako to get us the points as soon as possible to steer us away from the dreaded bottom three places. I think there will be fresh enthusiasm now in the team and the break to allow players to get back from injury will certainly help the cause.

I certainly feel a lot more confident now of our survival now that Pako has taken over.  It is now up to the players to give the extra effort that has been sorely missing to get us out of this mess.

Good luck Gary and now you can go back to Sky Sports and tell the viewers what managers should be doing to not lose games as you are now an expert with hands on experience.

Peter Lim sign Manuel Pellegrini

Peter Lim you have a historic chance here to sign Manuel Pellegrini, the kind of coach Valencia CF has always needed and wanted, but its been unable to do so because of monetary reasons. Now we have the chance, you brought in the capital and you could invest a little bit more money into a top quality manager.

One top coach is worth more than 5 top players, players without a good coach are just single individuals, they could contribute the most, but still not enough if the team is not playing as a team. Manuel Pellegrini is a proven coach, he knows fluent Spanish, he's lived in Valencia in the past, its where his family is, so he would want to come back to Valencia, its your job to make sure he works for Valencia CF as well.

I know there are other coaches being mentioned around and some are decent coaches that I think have potential, but none of them are proven on the level of Pellegrini, he's also shown he's great with younger players and has always given them plenty of chances, at Malaga he groomed several young players, including our own Isco which the team made the mistake of not tying him up with a good and long term contract.

Pellegrini is also a team builder, most of his teams have been the sort of mid table clubs that he's build up from the ground, he lays strong foundations and builds upon them, while in Manchester City he has experience dealing with a lot of egos and superstars.

In the summer we are going to be letting go of quite a number of players, especially costly ones like Alvaro Negredo, Daniel Parejo, Pablo Piatti, Sofiane Feghouli, etc... so we can afford to hire a more expensive coach like Pellegrini and I'm sure that at his age he is not interested as much in salary as he is interested in being in a stable club and close to his family, which is Valencia. I'm sure he would take a little smaller salary to coach Valencia CF, rather than take a higher salary to coach some mid table English club, most top clubs in England already have managers and his choices are limited to mid table clubs.

You need to make this happen, you are the owner of the club and you need to order our sporting director to go after Pellegrini, period. We need have the full club trying to get Pellegrini and the sooner this decision is made the better. Creating a strategy, ironing out the details, having more time to convince him will be to our advantage.

This is the manager we need, this is the manager fans want and every single fan can get behind Pellegrini and support him long term. He is not even going to cost much in the long term, because his benefits will outweigh the costs and if he can get some of our young players to perform consistently week-in, week-out then we'd save money on reinforcements and expensive player purchases with expensive salaries, so in the long terms we are actually going to gain money from him, rather than lose.

And again he is a proven manager at the highest levels and all round, he has the experience for everything, he will be available in the summer and his agent has REPEATEDLY said he'd be interested in joining Valencia CF. DON'T SCREW THIS UP PETER LIM!!!!

Valencia CF 0 -2 Celta Vigo Match Report

This season gets even worse with another bad result and Valencia is edging towards the relegations spots. We are six points away with eight games remaining. Not a good place to be, especially for a club like this.

Valencia CF came into the game with the an attitude similar to Thursday's game, they were out  to win. The fans were edgy and mistakes or sloppy passes were whistled and jeered. However, this game was a lot more even as each team had many chances on goal. There was no clear dominance with possession and passing numbers being similar on both teams. Of course, today would not be complete with our regular matchday refereeing error. And it's another one that's big in that it denied us a goal and a lead that would give us the momentum needed to calm the fans and begin establishing dominance in the game. Valencia CF was on the counter following a Celta Vigo effort, Andre Gomes plays the ball out wide on the left to Mina who plays a through ball for Alcacer who comfortably beat the Celta keeper. The linesman deemed it offside and yet again the replay shows that he wasn't offside. I don't know how a team could be so unlucky with refereeing decisions. And not random free kicks or anything but errors that cost us goals or grants the other teams goals incorrectly.

Carrying on, the game would remain even and scoreless until the referee blew his whistle for the end fo the first half. The second half saw Valencia CF start with a much higher intensity and established a period of dominance but the end product was always mediocre. Either a cross is played too high over eveyone or there is nobody making runs into the box or players take too many touches and the chance goes to waste. Nearing two-thirds of the way into the second half, Neville decides to take off Alcacer and bring on Negredo much to the discontent of the Mestalla. A subsitution like that doesn't show desire to win, bringing on an extra striker does but not replacing a striker for another. To make things worse for Gary, Celta Vigo would score within a minute of that subsitution with a well worked goal: a back heel teed up Guidetti perfectly and he would beat Ryan from close range. A few more minutes later Hugo Mallo would charge up the right hand side to the goal-line and beat Ryan from a tight angle at his near post. Ryan should have saved that but the more important concern is how a right back was allowed to run all that way down the flank and across the touch line with a defender taking care of it. With Gaya having to be taken off due to injury and Neville having used all his substitutions, Valencia was down to ten men and then  it was the Celta Vigo show. They could have had 2 or 3 more goals but they couldn't score on easy chances and the scoreline remained the same.

Goals:
0 - 1 Guidetti
0 - 2 Hugo Mallo

Ratings:
Ryan (6) - Did well to keep Celta's efforts in the first half at bay as well as most of the second half. Should've really saved their second goal.
Vezo (5) - His positioning and awareness as right back is good but his passing and crossing are terrible. I know it's not his natural position but you can't be wasteful with the simple passes at least. Also needs to sync with the right winger more, him and Rodrigo were on different wavelengths.
Abdennour (4) - caught napping for both Celta goals but was decent otherwise.
Mustafi (6) - I can't recall how many times he saved us this game, was really cool and composed and even tried helping out in offense when he saw the team's energy was lacking.
Siquera (5.5) - Made some good runs and cause some danger before he was taken off shortly after half time due to injury
Fuego (5) - decent performance but Gomes was dispossing other players better than he was.
Gomes (6.5) - real maestro in midfield, did just about everything. Interceptions, dispossed opposition made some great runs and caused all sorts of danger. If he can just be more patient with his passing instead of forcing the issue, it would take him to the next level.
Danilo (5.5) - Same as Vezo, the runs were good but the passing was horrendous. Everytime he passed you knew it was going to end up in Celta's possession. He really can take players on and beat them though.
Rodrigo (5.5) - Quiet for the entire first half but played quite well in the second. Had a good shot on target.
Mina (5.5) - great work ethic in the first half but felt burnt out in the second and his presence slowly died off
Alcacer (6) - great posistioning and should've really had a goal but it was disallowed. Helped out in defense and build up on several occassions.

Concluding Remarks:

Gary Neville will be off to England soon for the international break since he has a commitment to cocahing the English national team. Bad timing with Valencia in such poor shape. He has reportedly delayed it for now to deal with some of the issues and reaffirms he is commited to Valencia. After this game, none of the players did a press conference as they would normally do, so the situation doesn't seem good for us. The remaining games we have include Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Villareal which if we play like Thursday and barring any refereeing errors (am I asking too much?) could end in draws or lucky wins. However, if we slip up into a negative mentality and start playing like we used to earlier, those will be games to forget. The other four games are winnable and a performance like today should be enough to get points.

Valencia CF 2 - 1 Athletic Bilbao Match Report

A win tonight in the Mestalla that nonetheless sees Valencia CF get eliminated from the Europa League. With this our chances of getting into the Champions League next year have become practically zero.

I was going to say that we got eliminated to Athletic Bilbao but I didn't because the truth is we got eliminated by the referee. Enough is enough, seriously. I mean it's already a real struggle without referee interference but this makes it impossible to play and hugely demoralizes everyone. This was probably one of the best performances against tough opposition that I've seen from Valencia CF under Neville. We outright dominated Bilbao from beginning to end. They had about two to three chances and they were half chances to be more precise with only one good chance. Interceptions were great, there was a high level of intensity, the fans were behind the team, you could tell everyone wanted this tie to turn around. All gone to waste in the end cause the refereeing team, for one reason or another can only spot Valencia CF fouls and hand balls.

Valencia CF was pressing from the get-go in the first half, making smart challenges and dispossessing Bilbao players multiple times often leading to dangerous counter attacks. It would soon pay off as Gaya's cross made its way to Negredo who forced a save from the keeper and Santi Mina reacted quicker than everyone to slot the rebound past the keeper.

Valencia CF were tied on aggregate at this point and this was the only scoreline which would've taken the game to extra time and beyond. The players would'nt settle for that however as another Gaya cross would find Adrelan Santos who soared high over everyone to head it past a helpless Bilbao keeper.  The pressure from Valencia CF would be maintained at this level and time and time again, Bilbao's defense was under siege. They had to resort to taking players down and fouls to stop a few attacks, the referee stopped the game justifably but produced no warnings or cards to the challenges. Santi Mina and Fuego however pick up yellow cards on their first challenges.

Second half was much like the first, Valencia dominance. Shots from Andre Gomes, Rodrigo and Gaya all came really close to finding the net and extending the scoreline to a safer one but it wasn't to be. Then the controversy begins. A Bilbao players kicks the ball from close range at Gomes and in trying to get out of the way ball strikes his arms and he gets yellow carded. A few minutes later Bilbao were building an attack on the right wing and a lob from the defense was controlled by the midfielder's arm in front of the linesman, nothing was given and the play was allowed to go on amidst Valencia player's protest including Neville and the bench players. Bilbao capitalized on their chances as the following cross was set up nicely by Raul Garcia for Aduritz who would yet again score against Valencia. Neville got sent to the stands for his protest and the player's went to fight on. Even with the introduction of Paco alongside Negredo, Valencia couldn't overturn this result despite coming close from a Paco effort.

You could start making a list of everytime Valencia was robbed by the officals. I'm not talking about small decisions that go against us. It's always decisions that result in goals against Valencia or goals taken away from Valencia. From the U-19's outrageous penalty shootout, to the games against Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga, to this game, not to mention all the red cards and penalties disallowed. Again, I'm not talking as if this is deliberate but all this makes it seem like we're have really really really bad luck with officals.

Goals:
1-0 Santi Mina
2-0 Adrelan Santos
2-1 Aduritz

Ratings:
Ryan (7) - made one really good save to keep us in the game, other than that was untroubled except for the goal which he couldn't do much about.
Santos (6.5) - good game, I hope he contributes more in the box in set pieces as he has done today. Could've possible stopped Bilbao's goal but was caught out.
Mustafi (6.5) - same deal, good have done more than he did for the goal but other than that played great and was organizing the defense during set pieces.
Vezo (7) - where did that come from? He played amazing today and as a right-back too. Well timed runs and patient build up when he joined the attack, never felt to exposed in defense.
Gaya (7) - more like the perfomances we're used to, terrorized defenders and those crosses were great, one of them resulting in a goal
Danilo (5.5) - a bit sloppy on the passing, sometimes felt a bit too rushed but good pressing from the Brazilian.
Fuego (6) - great tackling and had good control over the midfield.
Andre Gomes (6.5) - Amazing runs forward, his movement created lots of opening for players.
Rodrigo (5.5) - quiet for huge portions of the game but when he did get the chances he had a decent shot on goal and he almost set up a goal.
Negredo (5.5) - made the shot that set up the goal for Mina and his strength came in handy against Bilbao's physicality.
Santi Mina (7) - tireless and quick to react. He was pressing well upfront and reacted quickest for Valencia's first goal.

Levante 1.0 Valencia CF

Just when we thought things were getting better or things could not get any worse depending on your point of view. we get beaten by our neighbors in the local derby. Now I can tell you, as I live here and many of my neighbors are Levante people, this is not Ac Milan v Inter, it is not Liverpool and Everton but it is bloody important in this city. I paid 50 euros to sit  with the Levante fans and watch my team humiliated and I am not a happy man.


Right from the off it was always going to be a hard game.  Levante at home against Valencia is always a battle and it is a game that without 100% effort you will get nothing from it.  I am writing this from memory as I have absolutely no intention of watching it again and therefore leave you to correct my errors.  Valencia should really have gone ahead early on when Feghouli had a golden opportunity but the keeper made a good save to deny him.  He was foiled on 2 later occasions when wasting good opportunities.  Levante struck the post of Valencia also when the guy missed a golden chance to put them in front.

 Parejo was also fortunate not to pick up a second yellow card before the break, committing a late tackle while already cautioned. Levante's best spell came towards the end of the first half, missing three chances in quick succession. Feddal had a header tipped away by  Alves, who also saved from striker Deyverson, who then headed over the bar in the same move.  Valencia offered little at the other end and then failed to track the run of Rossi, who met Juanfran's throw in first time to flick the ball home and heap more pressure on Neville.  Where were the defenders it has to be said.

That is 3 consecutive defeats now and if nothing else it will unite the fans in their views.  This team, or part of it, is just not to the standard expected from Valencia.  Hardly winning anything in the air was a major contribution to the humiliation in my opinion.  We are just not big enough, strong enough or determined enough on high balls from Alves. 

Mustafi and Abdennour were having a good afternoon and Siquiera also looked composed but as for the rest of the team, they all fell short today. The fact is Levante just wanted it more than Valencia and that may have something to do with our important game on Thursday but if so it is no excuse, this was a derby and they are important.

A short blog today because I am not in the mood 

Conclusion

When the new man comes in we need some big strong players who are willing to compete and want to win. Don't blame the manager for this. He didn't miss Feghouli's goals and it wasn't him who pulled out of so many tackles or lost balls in the air, it was the players. That is apart from our two central defenders who cannot be blamed today.   I guess we can ask the question as to whether the energy sapping game on Thursday night had anything to do with the performance and all I will say on that one is that it couldn't have been helpful to us. However we see the 2 Madrid clubs and Barca playing high tensity football twice every week. Does that mean they are super humans I don't think so.

I actually feel for Gary Neville, as a player who never gave anything less than 100%, He must have been in disbelief watching the underperformers out there in a local derby.  We can all say that we would have maybe played another player in another position but he has also to consider the game on Thursday which if we don't win will be the end of the season for us.  We have,   I think 23 players all on top wages who are considered La Liga standard or they would not be here.  Many of them let him, the club and the supporters down on Sunday and nothing will make up for it now.  I only hope they are able to show a bit of grit and get the result we need against Athletic Bilbao on Thursday to restore a bit of pride.

Player Ratings

Alves  6.5  Not to be blamed in any way and did his part in keeping the score down.  He had no real chance to prevent the goal

Barragan 5.0 Replaced Cancelo after 18 mins.  A typical Barragan display as I seem to say every week.  Did mostly OK defending but nothing going forward.

Abdennour 6.5  Made a couple of mistakes but had a decent performance overall. Let down too many times with no protection in front of him.

Mustafi 6.5  Again mostly solid at the back but maybe could have done more to prevent the goal. However, like Abdennour there was no cover and he was left exposed so often by the midfield.

Siquiera 6.5   Had a good game for Valencia and got forward well. He is a reliable deputy for Gaya. It is a pity he is not a right back.

Fuego 5.0  Too many balls going astray and too many times falling over wanting free kicks instead of getting on with it. Looks so clumsy at times giving away free kicks too often.

Parejo 4.0  When he doesn't perform nor do Valencia. Today he was lazy and useless in my opinion and to think he was the captain in the recent past. 

Gomes 5.0  Did nothing before going off in the 61 st minute. I trying to think what he did in all those minutes.

Feghouli 4.0  Missed 3 good chances and just gave the ball away too much.  Maybe he is too distracted by trying to screw as much money out of the club for his new contract. This performance would not have helped his argument.

Alcacer 5.0  What did he do, not a lot really.  I am trying to remember if he had any attempts. To be fair he never stopped trying and working but it just didn't happen for him.

Piatti  4.5   Not big enough and not strong enough and wasted a glorious chance when he could have placed a cross in the goal but instead let it bounce off him.  Has not performed at all this season. You don't need to be big if you are Messi but I am afraid he is not Messi

Subs
Cancelo was replaced by Barragan  after 18mins not long enough

Rodrigo 4.5  Replaced Gomes and was as bad as ever not producing anything for the team.

Negredo 6.0  Replaced Piatti on 70 mins  Set up Parejo nicely only for him to miss kick in front of goal

Yellow Cards

Parejo,  Abdennour,  Fuego and Mustafi.

Goal Rossi 65 mins

Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Valencia. Europa League

On a pitch that resembled a rice field rather than a football field, Valencia managed to come away with still a fighting chance of making it through to the next round of the Europa League.

Athletic started stronger without having all the play but it was them that went in front.  Again, a needless free kick given away by Gaya which was hardly deserving but he got cheated into conceding it.  How many times have I or we been complaining about needless free kicks given away in dangerous areas. Benat floated a ball to the near post for Garcia to head over Ryan in the Valencia goal.

The pitch situation was becoming ridiculous now making play almost impossible with huge puddles forming all over the pitch..  It was just a case of hacking the ball forward and hoping for someone to get on the end of it at times.  However chances were being made at both ends with Aduriz missing two golden opportunities to put the home side in front but failing from close in.

                                                       THIS IS WORSE THAN BLOODY MANCHESTER

Abdennour and Mustafi were having good games in the Valencia defence for most of the time and Abdennour in particular was still trying to play the ball out instead of hoofing it.  Rodrigo had two or three good chances to reply but on each occasion found himself with the ball on his weaker right foot and was unable to finish.

Ryan came to the rescue a number of times and justified his inclusion at the expense of Jaume for the unwell Alves.  Adruriz could have settled to tie in the final minutes when put through by a long clearance but proved he is only human by blasting the ball over the bar, much to the relief of the Valencia players to keep the tie alive.

Piatti was replaced by Gomes on 70 mins and Alcacer for Parejo on 82 mins.  The final sub was Feghouli for Rodrigo an 86 mins.

The game finished in favour of the home team but still invites another great night at the Mestalla next week.  The previous league encounters will have no baring on this match and although it will be a big test,  if the crowd get onside there is no reason why Valencia shouldn't go through and face a big name in the next round like Liverpool. We can only dream.

Player Ratings

Ryan 7   Made some great saves in very difficult conditions and always looked secure. will he play against Levante on Sunday,  How can he not ?
Barragan 6   Defended quite well and was obviously told not to go charging forward tonight as he contributed little in attack.
Mustafi 7  A great game and on the end of most things although caught out one time when the ball just beat him to present Aduriz with a clear shot.
Abdenour 7  I am so glad to see him back and showing again what a class player he is. I just hope he and Mustafi are fit for the Levante game.
Gaya 6.5  A good game and looked calm in the awful conditions.
Parejo 6.0  Not his type of game with the conditions and was a little out of the game for periods unable to produce his deft touches and passes.
Fuego 6.0  Was overun a few times but had one decent shot that was just wide
Danilo 5.5  Should have been a game to suit his style of play where finesse is not the order of the day but failed yet again to justify the ridiculous price tag on him.
Rodrigo 6.0  Presented with chances but failed to get the valuable away goal due to being on his weaker foot. When is he going to click and start scoring.
Negredo 6.0  Just his normal game, held the ball up well a few times but failed to make any real impact on the game.
Piatti 6.0   The conditions should have suited the little fella more with his low centre of gravity but as usual he was bullied off the ball too much, but had a good break and made a few good forward passes.

Subs
Gomes   No real impact
Alcacer  No real impact
Feghouli  No real impact

Yellow Cards
Fuego
Danilo
Mustafi.