Deportivo vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Deportivo La Coruna vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Stadium: Riazor

Date: 31.10.2016 20:45 CET 

10th matchday, La Liga 

Coaches: Gazika Garitano and Cesare Prandelli

Valencia CF is coming off of a tough loss against FC Barcelona in which the type of refereeing we saw can drive you crazy, but it proves beyond any reasonable doubt that there is a fix in for the big two clubs. You can have this absurd refereeing year after year after year for a decade now and not doubt the refereeing results. In fact you can't even complain about it, the team is instantly punished for free speech. So its a stacked game, and I truly believe there needs to be a massive investigation into fixing games through referees and I believe the corruption and criminality is going to be bigger than it was in Italy.

Anyways Valencia CF lost 3-2 to FC Barcelona in what was an unfair result, the team deserved at least a point, if not outright winning, but again the referee made sure we weren't going to have a fair game, so now the players job is even tougher this week as they try to forget that they are often playing against 12 players on the pitch and they need to play a great game again to basically just move a couple of points above relegation.

Lets hope that things are going to improve, that Valencia CF is going to win against Deportivo La Coruna, we've seen the traces of improvement, we've seen tactical changes and an overall more assured performance since Prandelli joined, but we'll have to wait and see if the team can find some consistency and play a better game week after week. I don't doubt Prandelli's abilities, but he is coaching one of the most inconsistent players that Valencia CF has ever had, so he has his work cutout for him.

Valencia CF is only one point ahead of Deportivo La Coruna, who sit at 8 points at the table, while Valencia CF has 8 points and tomorrow is going to be a very important match for Valencia CF, it will mean we either move away from relegation or get stuck in it. From 9 matches Valencia CF has only 9 points, with tomorrow's match the maximum won would be 30, but we'd either have at most 12 or at worst still be stuck at 9.

Cesare Prandelli is going to start with pretty much the same starting eleven that featured against Barcelona, Prandelli is option to go for consistency in the line-up, with the only two changes being at left back due to Gaya being injured and left wing since Santi Mina really disappointing last match, so either Bakkali or most likely Munir starting at left wing. 

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego, Jaume, Ryan

Defenders: Cancelo, Montoya, Mangala, Santos, Garay, Aymen

Midfielders: Suarez, Enzo, Parejo, Medran, Fede, Nani, Bakkali

Forwards: Santi Mina, Moreno, Munir

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Line-up: Diego; Cancelo, Mangala, Garay, Montoya; Suarez, Enzo; Nani, Parejo, Munir; Moreno

Tactics: Medium defensive line, own half pressure, fast tempo pressing, mixed style passing, winged attacks, counter attacks

Match Prediction:

Deportivo La Coruna 1-2 Valencia CF

Its very hard to predict these matches especially since Valencia CF has been so inconsistent and we've had so many coaching changes so its hard to find some pattern or some logic, but I have to believe that we are going to win. My initial gut feeling says a 1-1 draw, but I have to believe we'll win, since its so important, we must win. Its make it or break it for Valencia CF and in order fort the team to show progress, they must win tomorrow.

Announcing forum and domain name

Okay so I went ahead and purchased a host and domain and a really cheap one on promotion as well. First year I'm getting free domain with the hosting for only 12 euros, after that though it will be about $110 per year for host and domain, but I'll have a year to see if all goes well and go from there.

This will allow me to see the uptime of the host, limitations and whatnot.

Anyways the new forum can be found at http://forum.clubvalenciacf.com/ and of course the website address is www.clubvalenciacf.com I'll be linking the new domain to the blog shortly.

So go ahead and register on the blog, you don't need email confirmation, once you register you are free to post.

I haven't gotten to finishing the forum, there are some thing that need changing and still finishing, but hey its functional. 

Left Back Issues

Per Valencia's website (http://en.valenciacf.com/ver/62775/medical-report-i-jose-luis-gay%C3.html), Jose Luis Gaya has a "minor muscle injury" and his return date is currently unknown.

He is thus unlikely to play this weekend, leaving the position of left back up for grabs. There are four people who could fill Gaya's spot: Siqueira, Lato, Abdennour, and Montoya. All four have different pros and cons.

Siqueira played very well as left back last year, and at times  he displaced Gaya from the starting 11. However, he only started training with the group on Thursday, finally shaking off a niggling ankle injury. Because of this, he has little rhythm and probably isn't fit enough to go 90 minutes.

Toni Lato is VFC Mestalla's usual starting left back, although he, like Siqueira was dealing with injuries at the beginning of the season. However, he played well during preseason, coming on for Gaya several times, so it's possible that Prandelli sees him as a better option than Siqueira, who hasn't played since last year.

Abdennour is healthy and did a perfectly fine job (save the penalty) as left back against Barcelona, making several key interceptions and clearances. However, due to the penalty, as well as his relative lack of pace, Prandelli might be reluctant to ask him to play full-back again.

The safest option is Martin Montoya, who already played as left back against Real Betis. His contribution to attack would be limited, but defensively he would be very secure, and he has already proven himself fairly reliable on the right. This would mean that Cancelo, who has primarily played as a winger under Prandelli, would play as right back, giving a player like Munir the option to start.

None of these situations is ideal, so Prandelli will have a tough decision ahead.

Who do you think should play as left back against Deportivo? Let us know in the comment section below.

Any interested in writing for this blog?

I can't do it all by myself. The amount of time and energy and research that goes into posting even one smaller article is quite large and I just can't do it, can't keep the blog updated.

So I'm looking for one or two or three more writers who would be willing to write for the blog and keep the blog up to date. I already have two writers beside me, but they are busy as well and their contribution is limited, so if you want to help out and write for VCF, now is your chance!

Also would you guys be interested in visiting a domain and having a dedicated forum, with the outlook of possibly transferring to a website design later on if time and stuff permits it. For this to happen though I'll need small donations, since I can't afford a hosting and domain package, especially a decent one. I've looked at domain registration and the cheapest .com would be around $60 for a 5 year domain registration(with a private WHOIS option included) and around $150 for 2 years hosting plan. With my terrible salary I would literally have to stop eating for a whole month and delay my bills to pay for it.

So tell me if there is interest for that, obviously a domain would make the blog more visible over time, it will feature more in search results and a dedicated forum would allow fans to chat all round about the club.

Valencia CF 2-3 FC Barcelona

Paid referees 3-2 Valencia CF. First Uefalona goal is absurd offside, isn't whistled, everyone saw it, even blind people gained sight and saw it, the only people who clearly didn't see it were the referees. Then Parejo is brought down in FC Barcelona penalty, clear penalty, but isn't given.

Then at the score 2-2 in the final seconds of the match Aymen does obstruct Luis Suarez a bit, but at best its a 50%-50% if its a penalty, Luis Suarez was too found to just go down instantly and the referee all too eager to give FC Uefalona the victory!

People blame Real Madrid all the time for fixed refereeing decisions, well Barcelona is 10x times worse. Maybe(unlikely) they are not paid, but the bias towards Barcelona is absurd, anyone can see it, anyone can feel it, I go to FC Barcelona fansites and their fans are admitting to refereeing fraud!

Valencia CF played great today, but that good play was undone by paid refereeing. Truth is Valencia CF deserved at least a point, both teams had chances to win, but didn't take them and the end result deserved to be 2-2, but it was unfortunately undone by terrible refereeing.

Diego Alves and Daniel Parejo has especially great game, both were key to Valencia CF contesting FC Barcelona and having a positive result, while we also saw glimpses of incredible skill from Nani. Cancelo was once again a huge threat on the right wing and proved to be a constant menace for Barelona's defenders.

Valencia's equalizer came through Munir who arrived in place of Montoya and it was Parejo's pass that found him just at the edge of the box with Munir releasing a powerful show that went past Ter Stegen.

Then just three minutes later Rodrigo Moreno gave Valencia CF the lead after an amazing lob ball frm Nani found him. He timed the shot perfectly and the ball went past the goalkeeper and into the net.

On the other side FC Barcelona had several good chances to score, but Diego Alves showed once again why he is such a great keeper and that it would have been a gigantic mistake to have let go of him in the summer.

Player Ratings:
Diego Alves 8 - Couldn't do anything about the goals, but stopped plenty of other shots fired at VCF's goal.
Montoya 5.5 - Quiet defensive performance from the right back, did he job well and rarely ventured forward.
Garay 6 - Great defending and he will become a key member of the squad in short time, rarely put a foot wrong.
Mangala 6.5 - Great defending, especially in the air and had several crucial blocks to stop Barcelona from having an opportunity on goal.
Gaya N/A - injured early on and replaced by Aymen
Suarez 5.5 - Safe performance from the defensive midfielder and kid of sat at the periphery of the play.
Enzo Perez 6.5 - Good defensive display and huge determination to keep Valencia's side going strong.
Cancelo 7 - Great as a winger and was a constant menace for the Barcelona's defense.
Parejo 8.5 - Amazing game from Parejo, seems to be thriving in his new position when he doesn't need to worry as much defensively and is more forward so he can contribute more with less risk involved.
Nani 7 - Flashes of brilliance and if he can find some consistency and play like that all the time he could become a huge asset for Valencia CF.
Moreno 6.5 - Scored the leading goal and generally positioned well, causing Barcelona some trouble at the back.
Subs:
Aymen 6 - I thought he had a great game up until that last second fault. Can't blame him too much as the referee was only too eager to give the penalty and otherwise he was solid, but once again 1 clumsy mistake is all it takes to ruin everything.
Munir 6 - Scored the equalizer with a powerful shot, featured in few more attacks as well, but couldn't impose himself more.
Mina 5 - Lost the ball too many times dribbling and had no final pass at all. Defensively suspect as well and didn't help out as much as Rodrigo.

Sporting Gijon 1-2 Valencia CF Match Report

Cesare Prandelli starts off his new coaching job with a significant win as Valencia CF look to get away from the relegation zone and move closer to the middle of the table. The coach had about two weeks to prepare the team and install some of his ideas to the squad, obviously not nearly enough time to make any big difference, but enough to make some small changes.

From the minute the whistle blew it was clear that this was a much more defensively oriented side, even though Cesare Prandelli said he didn't want the side to be defensive and would focus on attacking, it was a more defensive side. First he started with Mario Suarez and Enzo Perez and both sat deep on midfield, with only Parejo slightly forward in what looked more like a 4-2-3-1 formation, rather than a 4-3-3 one.

Apart from positioning and what seems might be a formation change, we also saw more restricted movements from Enzo and Suarez, time and time again both literally stopped running forward beyond a certain position, they would pass the ball and literally stop where they were, sitting significantly deeper. Only Parejo and the three forwards were allowed to be further forward. We also saw a more rained back Gaya and Martin Montoya who both rarely ventured forward and it seemed like it was a tactical decision, they both had chances to go forward and on 2-3 occasions they did, but overall they just sat back, somewhere around the middle of the pitch.

Valencia CF scored an early goal through Mario Suarez, who had a good game tonight, considering he was playing really defensively, but managed to score both the goals that led Valencia CF to victory. For the second he caught on to a headed ball by a Gijon player and volleyed past the keeper.

Sporting Gijon equalized at 41'st minute, it was a defensive mistake, think it was Santos who sort of stumbled all over, and allowed Carlos Castro to score past him. Clearly no amount of tactics can compensate for just poor defending, but hoping these individual mistakes get ironed out eventually in time as Prandelli focuses more and more on the defense and building up the team from there.

Overall it was an average performance, Valencia CF did create several chances and overall defended decently, clearly not a polished or great performance, but as long as the team is getting results, I don't care what type of play we have, I'd rather us playing badly and winning, than playing great and losing.

So again as I've started this article several visible changes to the team, to the tactics, to the position and formation, overall all of these were much more defensive and were meant to keep the team from conceding goals, which the team failed to achieve, but thankfully still achieved victory. Overall the defending wasn't bad for most of the match, though again there are clearly some individual mistakes in defending and positioning that need to be sorted out, these mistakes can cost us goals in other matches.

Player Ratings:
Diego 5.5 - Couldn't do anything about the goal, not too troubled other than that, had one good save in the second half.
Montoya 6 - Defensively sound and didn't venture much forward.
Garay 6 - No obvious mistakes from him and had a good game overall.
Santos 5 - Had one mistake and that cost us the goal, overall did well enough.
Gaya 5.5 - Caught in a bad position few times and didn't contribute much at all in offensive sense.
Suarez 7 - Scored two goals and was much improved from his previous games. Sat back deep and recycled possession.
Enzo 6 - Some nice tackles in the middle and defensive cover, didn't contribute in attack though at all.
Parejo 5.5 6 - Slow on some passes as he lost possession few times, though he did probe and prone throughout the match in the opposition third and it was his free kick that led to the second goal.
Cancelo 6 - He was a nuisance to Gijon defenders all match long and he was a threat at times, but again in most cases the final ball was missing to have a bigger contribution.
Moreno 6 - Involved in the first goal and found himself in two good opportunities after that, but just couldn't quite score himself.
Mina 4 - Not particularly effective and it seems as if he is not comfortable operating from the left side.
Subs:
Bakkali 6 - Big improvement over Mina and caused Gijon tons of problems with his direct running and enthusiastic play.
Medran N/A - not enough time

Valencia 0-2 Atletico match report

When your best performance of the season involves losing 0-2, with the other team missing 2 penalties, you know you have problems.

What we saw today was a disciplined and better organised Valencia side. Compared to earlier games, there was a significant reduction in the scary moments of defensive lapses and poor marking which had gifted opposition teams goals. The midfield didn't even do that badly and there were some nice transitions from defence to attack. Voro and the players did their best, but the cold hard fact remains, even on better days, this team is far below the level required to challenge for the Europa league, let alone the Champs league.

Atletico had the better of the early period, looking dangerous, but came up against a Valencia defence that had better shape than previously and were able to hold them at bay. The problem was not there, it was further up the pitch, where we looked limp and rarely threatened. So, despite a better period at the end of the second half, it was hard to see us scoring. Gameiro, Greizmann and Correa had all come close only to be denied by combinations of Alves, Santos and Mangala. Towards the end of the first half, Nani bundled over an Atleti player in the box, who was clearly looking for the penalty. Greizmann hit it perfectly, towards the centre of the far left post, but Alves (who else?) produced a brilliatn save. 0-0 at half time.

Mina came on for the ineffective Cancelo at half time and was put through well, but an opposing defender did well to make a key tackle. That would be one of only two good chances for Valencia in the half. The half would actually be even until around the 60th minute when Atletico gained the upper hand. Torres, a player who always seems to do better against Valencia, came on and almost immediately forced a great save from Alves, who was powerless to stop Greizmann from getting his revenge after a great pull back from Gameiro.

It was hard to see Valencia getting anything from there, as we had been lacklustre up front. Shortly after the goal, a clumsy challenge from Suarez gave away another penalty. There could be no argument about this one. With Gabi now stepping up, Alves produced another great save. After that, Valencia had chances, but apart from a header for Mangala, nothing that really troubled Oblak in the Atletico goal. Munir came on for Rodrigo and Bakkali replaced the injured Nani but it was still hard to be confident of anything from this. Towards the end, on the break, Gameiro put the game to bed in injury time. Ultimately, not an unfair result, as, despite a better performance, Valencia didn't deserve 3 points today. The squad simply isn't good enough, especially in the forward line and buying a decent number 9 in January seems a must.

Another issue: that is now 5 penalties in 7 games we have conceded and while one or two of those might have been questionable, an overly aggressive approach is something that the new manager must address in training. It's great to see Alves bailing us out but it would be better if we weren't in that position to begin with.

Player ratings
Diego 8.5 - did we seriously consider selling him? Great game, possibly the best penalty saver in the world, but can't get a ten due to distribution and aerial issues.
Gaya 5 - mostly pinned back but covered well enough in defence
Santos 6 - had a better game than last, made a couple of decent interceptions and is clearly 3rd choice centre-back now
Mangala 5.5 - didn't do anything wrong, positioned well but another yellow card and missed chance up front are negatives
Montoya 5 - did ok but still looks no better than Barragan was in this position
Suarez 3 - Outclassed by his former teammates and gave away a needless penalty.
Parejo 5 - did ok but overhit several passes and his free kicks were ineffective. Definite confidence issue there.
Enzo 5 - lucky not to get booked after a couple of trademark lunges. Wasn't bad and fitness seems to have improved.
Cancelo 3.5 - better in this position than at right back but on the strength of today, that's not saying much. Poor game.
Rodrigo 3 - in previous seasons he could complain about being played out of position but now has his chance and has been found wanting. Depressing to see the gap in quality between him and Greizmann (who cost the same!)
Nani 4 - mostly anonymous in the first period. Did better in the second half but nothing major.

Subs
Mina 4 - better than Cancelo, but hardly the stellar performance to cement a starting place
Munir 4 - little improvement on Rodrigo.
Bakkali 5 - always looks threatening, maybe time to give him a starting spot

Manager
Voro 6.5 - second defeat. Deserves credit for organising the team better and stopping the rot, but can only work with the tools he's given and they're below standard.

Cesare Prandelli new Valencia CF coach?

Cesare Prandelli is supposed to be named new Valencia CF coach according to most Spanish sources. Apparently the deal has been struck, with Valencia CF agreeing to a two season contract, even though the club only wanted one season contract with a possible contract extension clause at the end for both parties.

I mean the guy is semi successful, he's led Fiorentina to several top 4/6 finishes in difficult times, he led Italy to the finals of the Euro 2012, but the most recent he's coached a club was in 2014 with Galatasaray where he was sacked duo to poor results. Since then he's been two years on the sidelines. Essentially the last true team that he had coached was Fiorentina in 2010, since then he's had no club experience and for the past two years he's had no coaching job either.

As far as I know he doesn't know Spanish, he's never coached outside of Italy apart from his short sting in Turkey and his last real club coaching was in 2010.

I'm not excited at all about this appointment if it turns out to be true and in all likelihood its true. I mean I still believe there are few better options, especially Spanish ones or at least ones who know the Spanish language.

I mean Cesare Prandelli is very experienced coach, but in Italian football, he's been 99.9% coach of Italian clubs, as a player only played in Italy as well, so very experienced Italian coach, but zero credibility outside of Italy, which is a huge worry.

What do you guys think about Valencia CF appointment of Cesare Prandelli as a new coach, do you think this is our best option right now?

Leganes 1-2 Valencia match report

It's another hard fought win from Voro's boys, what a great caretaker that man is.

As with the Alaves game, it didn't come without its fair share of drama, controversy and perhaps, sheer luck. Little happened in the first 15 minutes. Neither team threatened and Enzo picked up yet another silly booking for retaliating against a guy who had fouled him earlier. Leganes' tactic was clearly to play high intensity football, not allow us time to settle and they seem to have identified our right back position as the weakest link as they were targeting that. Sure enough, they took the lead on 21 minutes and it came, indirectly, a result of defensive mix-ups. A couple of minutes earlier, a dangerous attack had developed, with Mangala and Alves both chasing the ball. Poor communication between the two resulted in Alves slamming his attempted clearance into Mangala's face. With Mangala stunned and off the field for treatment, Leganes took advantage of our shortage in defence, swung in a cross and scored.

As in the previous game, the goal seemed to galvanise us and a nice move between Montoya and Cancelo shortly after provided a chance for Nani and Rodrigo, but both were beaten to the ball by the Leganes defence. They'd have their revenge shortly after. An awful back pass from a Leganes player was well chased down by Rodrigo. The goalkeeper looked to have got there first but Rodrigo was committed, knocked the ball out of the keeper's hands and Nani finished well.

There was controversy about the goal, yes it was a foul on the keeper, but I think many missed an important point: the keeper shouldn't have been handling a backpass at all. Usually, denying a clear goalscoring opportunity like that in the penalty area would result in a sending off and a penalty, but due to a loophole in the rules, if Rodrigo had jumped over the keeper, all that would have happened would have been a yellow card for the keeper and an indirect free kick, which Leganes would almost certainly have crowded out. So, in a way, justice was done.

Valencia continued to dominate the game. Possession had been 60/40 in Leganes favour when they scored and by the end of the half it was all Valencia. Nani had been anonymous in the first 25 minutes, but now he was everywhere. Rodrigo was making decent runs and Cancelo and Montoya were threatening down the right.

When the second half started, a number of Leganes players were clearly poking Enzo, obviously trying to get him to react and get a second yellow. Fortunately, he kept his cool. In the 52nd minute, we got the goal that our play deserved. From a corner, Nani cut inside well and put in a dangerous cross, which Suarez poked in, for what would turn out to be the winner.

I'd like to say it was comfortable from then on, but that would be far from the truth. Leganes missed a couple of good opportunities which a better side would have finished more clinically.

In the 65th minute, Alves showed his main strength and weakness. Flapping at a cross and then getting tangled with a Leganes player, with the ref pointing to the penalty spot. The decision looked very questionable, almost like the ref was trying to balance things out after the iffy decision making around our first goal. Step up the penalty legend again, as Alves saved his 17th penalty out of 35 he's faced, to break the record held by Zubizaretta (another former Valencia keeper.)

After that there was some shaky defending on both sides, with Parejo, Gaya and Nani all having chances to put the game to bed for us. Towards the end, Voro brought on Abdennour for Rodrigo to close things down and Bakkali in injury time, just to waste a bit of time. The tactics worked and Valencia now climb to 14th.

In conclusion, the team looked better overall than the previous game, though still with issues: missing chances up front and looking suspect at the back, though this was one game where I felt the midfield did do their job for a change. We're still far from out of the woods. Better teams than Leganes would have beaten us on today's display and this stage, we really would've needed to be on at least 13 points if we had serious champs league ambitions. All we can do is keep winning, as top 6 is still doable.

Player ratings
Diego 6 - we definitely saw the best and worst of him in this game. Very suspect with crosses and corners and not that good with distribution, but made a couple of key stops, especially the penalty.
Gaya 5.5 - saw less of him in attack in this game, mostly confined to a defensive role, which he largely covered.
Mangala 5- average game, looks like he's still finding his feet in the team and poor communication with the keeper led indirectly to the goal. Does add physicality and an aerial presence, though.
Santos 5 - largely did his job, but could have done better for the goal
Montoya 5 - caught out for the goal, though in fairness, we were a man down
Suarez 6 - much better game than before and good to see him score
Enzo 6.5 - generally had a decent game, but needs to rein in his temper, else we'll see more red cards for him this season
Parejo 6.5 - Mostly solid game I thought, was passing well for the most part
Cancelo 6 - is far better off as a winger than a defender, but needs to be better with the crosses
Rodrigo 6 - ran his heart out, but needs to put his chances away
Nani 7 - was invisible for the first quarter of the game but was lively after that. Needs to play that was more often.

Subs:
Munir 4 - in fairness, was brought on when the team was leading and was in a defensive mindset, but needs to do better than this if he doesn't want to be 6th choice striker at Barca next season
Abdennour N/A - not enough time.
Bakkali N/A - deserves more game time

Voro 8 - Got it right again. Unlikely he'll be given the job, but can return to his day job with his head held high.

Valencia CF 2-1 Alaves Match Report

The resurrection begins now. Voro is the man. Sure the win was kind of lucky, the penalty was 50-50%, I mean it wasn't a strong case for a penalty and some referees won't give such penalty, but luck for once was on Valencia's side. Parejo stepped in to take the penalty and his shot went in the opposite direction the goalkeeper went, securing Valencia CF their first win on the season.

As I mentioned in the preview, this was a hard fought win, it wasn't going to be easy for the team and for Voro having only held 1 training session as a coach, but he did it.

For the match itself Valencia CF first goal came from an own goal by Victor, it was another lucky goal for Valencia CF, but as I said I felt like a curse has lifted off of VCF when Pako left (he did blame bad luck on all of his losses, mind you) and now luck has returned to Valecia CF, allowing the team to win.

The play was mediocre, I didn't see much that I liked, same issues, same problems, bad passes in the final third, too much space between midfield and attack, very little cohesion, so it wasn't a good playing display, but it was enough against the mediocre Alaves as well. Neither team really played better, with both teams having better spells, with Valencia CF having the best spell of the match between the 70th and 90th minute, before some alarming play in the final few minutes before the end.

As far as Deportivo Alaves goal it come from a header, Toquero was left unmarked essentially and his header was quite powerful and precise beating Diego Alves and equalizing the score.

Lets hope this is the beginning of the turnaround in what I'm willing to be great season that we are going to finish top 6.

Player Ratings:
Diego 5 - Not much to do, suspect positioning for the goal, though I doubt few goalkeepers would have done better.
Montoya 5 - Good defensively, covered his position well, rare forward moves though.
Santos 6 - Good defending, made some proper tackles, came out higher when needed and generally a good assured performance.
Mangala 5.5 - Did well, he had two particular markings that made the difference and stopped attacks towards goal, stood down for Alaves goal, though not sure if he was supposed to be covering Toquero.
Gaya 6 - A little improved performance from previous matches, was a lot more concentrated when going forward, provided some good crosses from deep and was generally a menace going forward. Okay display at the back.
Enzo 5 - Had ups and down's all game. At certain points he was great, at others not so much, Sat back deep for most of the match and broke up Alaves attacks.
Medran 5.5 - Some nice intelligent passes, always available in the midfield, but was tightly marked in the midfield and couldn't make a difference.
Parejo 6 - Woke up in the second half from the 70th up till the 90th minute, but the rest of the match he was ineffectual. Good thing that he scored from the penalty spot to give VCF the win.
Moreno 4 - Rarely visible in the first half, replaced at half time for Mina.
Munir 4.5 - Didn't see anything of notice from him, made some decent runs here and there, but that was it.
Nani 4 - Don't see why he is included on the form and play he is on, maybe he just hasn't gelled, but he offers nothing.
Subs:
Mina 4 - More visible than Moreno, but failed to make a difference.
Cancelo 6 - Good offensive play, he provided several crosses and caused trouble on the right wing for Alaves.
Bakkali N/A - Fell for the penalty, so that counts for something, right? 

Valencia CF vs Deportivo Alaves Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Alaves Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 22.09.2016 22:00 CET 

5th matchday, La Liga 

Coaches: Voro and Mauricio Pellegrino

Valencia CF is in a world of turmoil as Pako Ayesteran has been sacked due to a series of poor results and the club is trying to find a new manager, with the first option being Marcelino, but he is supposedly forbidden from managing another La Liga club in the same season he has already managed one and even though he terminated his contract with Villarreal before the first official match of this season, supposedly the rules state that after a certain date he is coach of said team, which is absurd. I think he can win in a court of law, because that rule doesn't make sense if he hasn't lead a team in any official match, but that would take long time, time which Valencia CF doesn't have.

The Spanish league overlords are going to give VCF a hard time on this, if this was an issue with their masters FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, their owners, then it would be a non-issue, but since its Valencia CF, they will make it extremely hard to get our way. 

Either way Valencia CF current temporary coach is Voro, he's coached Valencia CF before several times, so he is no stranger to the position, in fact our results under him are actually impressive, considering the terrible times he's taken over the position. So to tell you the truth I'm expecting more from him than I would have expected under Pako. Voro also has a knack for picking just the right team and saying the right things to get them fired up for those few matches he leads them, so actually I'm optimistic about tomorrow's match.

Valencia CF opponent is Deportivo Alaves who are coached by former Valencia CF player and later coach Mauricio Pellegrino. After being sacked by Valencia CF he's had a modest coaching success and has now taken over Alaves and we'll see how he does with them, so far they have 6 points from 4 matches, so decent result for them, certainly much better than Valencia CF.

To be honest I have great feeling about Valencia CF and our chances to get top 6 spot, I know I've said its going to be a relegation battle, but now that Pako is gone I feel like a curse has been lifted off of the club, and not to say Pako was an unlucky charm(though he did blame bad luck in all of the lost matches), but in my spirit, in my gut I have a feeling this is going to be a turnaround for us. Its still only 4 matches so far, there are 34 more matches and we could even go on to lose 4-5 more, its not the end of the world, as long as we can win 16/17 matches and then its all good again.

Lets turn this around guys, lets all inject positive energy into the club, positive thinking, lets all support and cheer and pray or whatever to help the team go on to compete for top 6. We have Garay one of the best defenders in Spain, he will return from injury, we have Garay who was bad at City, but he was also really good before and thus he reached at the time a record price for a defender. Santos was also a good defender, talented and promising player before he came to Valencia CF, Gaya has been amazing for us he can reach his potential and if not we have an even better option in Lato.

I think we are going to have a turnaround and it might be tomorrow or in the coming weeks, but its coming. 

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego, Jaume

Defenders: Cancelo, Montoya, Mangala, Santos, Lato, Gaya

Midfielders: Suarez, Enzo, Parejo, Medran, Soler, Fede, Nani, Bakkali

Forwards: Santi Mina, Moreno, Munir

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):

Formation: 4-3-3

Line-up: Diego; Cancelo, Santos, Mangala, Gaya; Enzo, Parejo, Medran; Mina, Moreno, Munir.

Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, slow tempo pressing, crossing style passing, winged attacks, counter attacks

Match Prediction

Valencia CF 3-2 Deportivo Alaves

I expect Valencia CF to achieve its first win this season and its first win in over 7 matches since last season, but I don't expect it to be easy. I think our defense will leak again, like always, but I think we'll be more efficient up front and this would probably turn into an open game with lots of goals. I think we are going to try and play more defensively in order to prevent goals on our end, but will end up playing a more direct and open match.

Valencia CF sacks Pako

Valencia CF sacked Pako Ayesteran after just four league match in which the team lost all four games. Pako's excuse was bad luck in the first three games, on the last admitting that Valencia CF got outplayed and lost deservedly, though he still mused about better result, which wouldn't have been realistic.

Peter Lim I bet is regretting every single decision he's made, from his dealings with Mendes, buying overpriced players, to getting rid of every single Spanish staff and most of the internal management, there were a lot of people working for Valencia CF that weren't at the top, their names weren't known, but they were key to a stable Valencia CF, Peter Lim released most of them, I think two retired in the last 2 years, top management released as well, people like Ayala, Salvo, etc...

With no spirit, with no hearth the club started decaying, and since the beginning of last season the club has gotten to the bottom. Last seasons Pako's accomplishments were not being relegated, that was deemed so good that he was offered the coaching position, even though a master coach like Manuel Pellegrini was available and he personally said would prefer to return to Spain, his manager said he's love to coach Valencia CF, but Peter Lim and Suso ignored a master coach like him and went for Pako who's sole accomplishments were not getting VCF relegated. Look I'm thankful to what he's done in the past, he had a great time with Benitez, he was directly responsible for the glory days back then, but his coaching credentials were almost non existent, you don't hire such person for the job.

That is like hiring taxi driver to control a space shuttle, it just can't work. To be fair to Pako he was told sweet little lies in the beginning, he was told the team was going to be strengthened, he was told Mustafi would stay, Paco would stay, all the top talent and players would stay and the dead wood like Piatti, Negredo, Aymen, Orban, etc... would be offloaded and new better players purchased to replace them. Camacho was one of the mentioned reinforcements, Albiol one of the others, I also heard several promising names in attack that were supposed to replace Negredo, but none of that came true.

Aymen stayed and Mustafi was sold instead, Gomes was sold for pennies on the dollar, as Paul Pogba broke records with 110 million euros transfer fee, while we settled for 35 million for the second best upcoming talent in Gomes. It was Pogba, Gomes, James the top 3 talents that were being mentioned, James stayed, Pogba sold for record fee and Gomes was essentially let go for pennies on the dollar.

In the last days Paco and Mustafi left to make matters worse, Diego Alves was on the exit door, being forced out, but no proper buyer was found and he stayed. Garbage transfer window by all accounts, so Pako's fault is limited here, but he was a yes man, he only has himself to blame. He could have said no, he could have exerted public pressure on Lim not to sell, he was even considering leaving on his own in between the first and second league match, but decided that he wanted to try his luck and try and fight, and look what that got him. Leaving disgraced and sacked, though the severance package is probably going to be quite big, so reputation loss, but monetary gain,

Now the question is which coach will be his replacement, there are probably 10 options right now, a lot of good coaches, few famous ones, several Spanish coaches as well, we also have one or two former VCF players who are available as coaches, quite a few options, the question is who exactly.

Truth be told there are only few very good coaches, its not like we have an assortment of 10 top coaches, but they are likely going to cost a pretty penny, so I'm not counting on those types. We are probably going to get a Spanish speaking coach, experienced who doesn't have to have super great results, but to be overall good coach with good motivational skills.

Tell us who you'd like to see as new coach of Valencia CF?

Can Valencia CF turn things around?

Valencia CF suffered its 4th straight defeat in the league against Athletic Bilbao in what I suspected was going to be a disappointing loss and it was. Valencia CF started good, scoring a goal in less than 2 minutes and the action on goal was quite decent, nothing special and Nani's pass was deflected and thus the ball came towards Medran with his shot close to being stopped by the goalkeeper, but thankfully the ball went in.

After the 2nd minute it was all Bilbao unfortunately, it seemed like Valencia CF played one decent attack and that was their capability, they got dominated for the whole first half. I expected the team to do better with Medran on the field, he's been really good for us in preseason and the times he was introduced in the matches, but today he failed to make much of a difference. I guess benching him for Suarez, even though Medran had a great preseason and full preseason training with us and Suarez joined relatively late was Pako's genius master plan.

Suarez on the other hand has been garbage for us, I though he could come back to form, establish some of his Atletico Madrid days, but no, he's been worse than Danilo from last season, worse than Javi Fuego, he's been terrible for us. Good thing he is only on loan here, because he is worth ZERO!

Lato had an amazing preseason, but again Pako's genious master plan to return him to the B team, even though we only had Gaya as Siqueira was injured and even though Gaya looked much worse all preseason long. He doesn't choose players based on performance, he chooses them based on status.

Can Valencia CF turn things around? Absolutely not with Pako on the helm. Last year he saved us from relegation(big fucking deal) really? That is the accomplishment now that one has to achieve to be put in charge of Valencia CF? He's shows he's clueless tactically, strategically and selection wise from the start of preseason all the way until the last match. We play the same way, the same style, the same tactics, the same team, the same random crap against all teams! Where are the tactics in that? We have no player to player cover, we have no zoning of specific position against certain teams, we have no higher or lower defense, we play the same exact random crap every single game.

We always have the same defensive position, which is medium, we always attack with two full backs and there is never cover in defense when we attack. We also have no ideas and we keep loosing the ball in the final third of the opposition field. Rarely do we have accurate passing in the opponents third.

There is no way for us to win without any tactics and if we suck so much in the defense, then play appropriately, park the bus in front of goal and try and score through counter attacks, don't try and play a game you can't play, that you don't have the players to. We concede too much goals? Park the bus, venture out on counters and just stay compact, at least this way we might actually get a draw rather than a full blown loss.

I just don't see us doing good if we don't hire proven and experienced coach. Why do we keep on hiring unproven coaches? Are we a coach factory now? Get an experienced coach, get someone who's coached for a long time, someone with a proven track record, someone who understands tactics, someone with the knack for recognising talent and field the best team, rather than the team that is the usual.

My team would literally be:
                 Diego
Cancelo, Garay, Santos, Lato
                  Enzo
Soler        Parejo        Medran
        Moreno  Valderrama

The players that most impressed me in preseason were 1. Lata, Valderrama, Soler. Play them! These are great players, huge potential, don't waste them, don't waste their talent, get them to the first team and let them play, give them a chance, I guarantee they will do better than the other players.

In fact an alternative team may look like this:
               Diego
Cancelo, Garay, Santos, Lato
Soler        Enzo     Valderrama
                 Medran
         Moreno   Bakkali

Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Stadium: San Mames

Date: 18.09.2016 16:15 CET 

4th matchday, La Liga 

Coaches: Ernesto Valverde and Pako Ayestaran

Valencia CF suffered its 3rd straight loss last week at the hands of Real Betis in what was supposed to be the team's turnaround moment, playing at the Mestalla, some mental boost due to the arrivals of Garay and Mangala and just lessons learned from the previous matches. 

That wasn't to be the case though, as Valencia CF lost control of the match and went down 2-0, in fact it took being 2-0 down and a player less for Valencia CF to actually start playing properly, equalising the result at 2-2 and gaining a valuable point, but the team kept on pressing and with a player down and full out attack, Real Betis got a quick counter attack and scored a third goal to finish off the game and leave Valencia CF with zero points from 3 matches.

What were supposed to be easy opening matched all ended up as terrible losses, though Valencia CF still has a chance as we have relatively "weaker" opponents for about 6 fixtures, with Athletic Bilbao being the toughest one of the opening 6 fixtures.

Valencia CF will be playing at San Mames and against a historically tricky opponent for Valencia CF, especially in the past several years where Bilbao have been quite good, though this season and the last weren't their great, but they do have an established team play and can bring the fight to any club in La Liga and beyond.

Valencia CF has some terrible news coming into this match as Garay has been injured in training and will be out for 2 to 3 weeks, which means our leaky defense will have to rely on the error prone Mangala who's also new to Valencia CF and Spanish football and Santos who hasn't been consistent and can be a liability, though not as bad as Aymen who's also out injured, which is a good thing. 

Valencia's management has had two meetings with Pako and even though officially his job is safe and talk was about different things and show of support, experts and inside sources are stating the obvious, which is that Pako's job is already on the line, with another loss at Athletic Bilbao could possibly spell his end. If not a loss here, then certainly another loss or even a draw in the next game and he will 100% be out.

So he is under pressure to deliver here, he must win, a draw would just increase his stay for one game, but even a loss might not be enough to sack him immediately, but wait for another match, so having just a draw would just prolong the uncertainty to the next match and the next, etc... He needs to win and the team also must play good, which I think might be slightly more likely now with Medran starting, I think Pako has made huge starting eleven choices by not featuring Medran and having Nani in the squad so soon with barely any preseason training with the team, he hasn't had time to gel with the team.

Whatever team Pako decided to field, it better win for his own sake. Sure you could say its not really his fault, the summer transfer window was hellish for Valencia CF, tons of disappointments, no appropriate replacements, late dealings in the market, just the huge uncertainty, it created a lot of issues, but as a coach he is still going to take most of the blame and realistically that is the only thing Valencia CF can change. Peter Lim is not going to go away, not unless the team gets relegated, then I think he will sell the team, or sell off the assets as much as he can and leave, the players are those who they are, nothing can be done till winter and even then we will still be limited by fair play rules and the clubs's economy.

Valencia CF Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego, Jaume

Defenders: Cancelo, Montoya, Mangala, Santos, Siqueira, Gaya

Midfielders: Suarez, Parejo, Medran, Soler, Fede, Nani, Bakkali

Forwards: Santi Mina, Moreno, Munir

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):

Formation: 4-3-3

Line-up: Diego; Montoya, Santos, Mangala, Gaya; Suarez, Parejo, Medran; Nani, Moreno, Mina.

Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, high tempo pressing, mixed passing, winged attacks

Result Prediction:

Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Valencia CF

I'm not feeling it against Bilbao, they are a strong, compact team that has been playing together for several years the same core team with the same coach, they play at their home stadium, they have a good history against Valencia CF and this version of VCF is weak, battered, string together, at the lowest point and with probably our best player Garay injured there is little to no hope that we'll get a result here. I'm expecting another loss here, I do think we will probably score as well, but its just going to be a consolation goal and nothing more.

After this loss it will be interesting to see if Pako loses his job and if so, who would replace him?

Garay injured, Jaume renews

There's yet more bad news for Valencia (is there any other kind these days?) Ezequiel Garay has suffered an injury in training and will be out for 2 or 3 weeks. It couldn't come at a worse time, with Valencia facing a crucial set of 3 games in 8 days away to Bilbao, at home to Alaves and away to Leganes. Depending on his recovery time, he may also miss the game at home to Atletico Madrid on 2 October.

On a more positive note, Jaume Domenech has signed a new contract, committing to the club until 30 June 2022.

Valencia 2-3 Real Betis

It's almost as hard to do these write-ups as it is to watch the games. Valencia's poor start continues, with a dismal defeat to a weak Betis side torpedoing any optimism generated by the signings of Mangala and Garay.

Valencia started weakly and already looked under pressure in the first ten minutes, almost conceding in the first minute and again, the recalled Alves had to come to the rescue in the 6th after Suarez gave the ball away exposing the defence. This pattern would repeat throughout, with the defence constantly exposed by sloppy play in the midfield. Valencia did look better for most of the first half, but were creating very little and resorting to shooting from outside the area, shots which were either off target or did little to trouble the goalkeeper.

As we've seen so many times, with Valencia unable to score, the other team scents blood, grows in confidence and sure enough, a counter from Betis broke through and with Garay and Mangala outnumbered by 3 attackers and Cancelo hopelessly out of position, Betis scored.

Things went from bad to worse, with Gaya, whose crossing had continued to be ineffective, going off injured before half time.

Suarez had been so bad that he was replaced at half time by Medran, but the new midfield set up hadn't had time to gel when Enzo, who had been mostly invisible and had already deservedly been booked, lunged in with studs high on a Betis player and got a straight red card. We've been done over by referees in the past, but couldn't complain at all on this occasion. Shortly after, the defence again ended up outnumbered, letting in Betis for an easy goal.

It was only after Mina, who had faded after a decent early period, was substituted for Munir that Valencia finally showed signs of life. Munir hit the woodwork before a nice combo between Nani and Parejo put Rodrigo in for a decent goal. Suddenly Valencia looked dominant, Betis looked tired and from a corner, the Betis keeper could only parry a Munir header into the path of Garay for a tap in. Could Valencia really get the 3 points? This was answered again in injury time when the midfield and Cancelo again fell asleep, allowing Betis to tap in the winner at the death. Given the lack of clear chances Valencia created, the midfield constantly giving the ball away and failing to shield the defence and the right back constantly failing to track back, we can't complain about bad luck when this happens all the time. Mediocre. If we can't beat Betis at home, who can we beat? At times, I almost expect to see Koeman or Neville on the touchline.

Just a few records to get out of the way before I go into deciding who was the worst of a bad bunch. 6 defeats in a row equals our record. 4 home defeats in a row in the previously impregnable Mestalla: another record. Losing to Betis at home for the first time since 1986 and conceding in 30 of the last 31 games. Of managers who have managed us for at least 10 games, only 2 have a lower win percentage than Pako: Hector Nunez and Miljan Miljanic. Yep, even Koeman, Pellegrino, Djukic and Neville have done better! In the case of Miljanic, VCF ended the season only escaping relegation on goal difference. Unless performances vastly improve, this season is likely to be similar.

Player ratings
Alves 5 - was mostly ok, but should probably have done better for the second
Gaya 3 - what happened to the Gaya from 2014/15? This version is not good defensively, crosses wastefully and keeps getting injured. Real Madrid are probably ecstatic they didn't buy him.
Mangala 4.5 - reasonably decent debut but had one "Aymen" moment in the first half which could have cost us.
Garay 5.5 - decent debut, looked solid and the goal is a bonus, but can't do the job of three players.
Cancelo 1.5 - had one or two moments on the wing, but as a defender was awful. Needs to be benched or converted to full time winger.
Suarez 1.5 - awful game, kept giving the ball away and failed to cover the defence. Makes paying 15m for Danilo sound like a smart move. Has it come to this?
Parejo 4 - nice work to set up Rodrigo for the goal, but his set pieces were poor and passing inconsistent.
Enzo 1 - after a few games when he started to look better, he was back to his old self. Invisible in the first period and then flying in with rash tackles galore.
Mina 4.5 - had a good period in the first half, but really faded after half time.
Rodrigo 5 - some signs of life and did his trademark dribbling, but it never amounted to much. Nice finish for the goal.
Nani 4.5 - had a couple of good moments, but sulked around in the second half, got booked and if he carries on that way, I can see reds coming eventually. Has been a letdown so far in his games.

Subs
Montoya 2.5 - another case where, when you start to miss Barragan, you shake your head. Did little to justify his presence in the team.
Medran 4.5 - an improvement on Suarez, but lacked the quality of previous games and covering the defence isn't his strong point.
Munir 6 - why wasn't he on from the start? Made a clear case for a starting place in the team, who were improved by his presence.

Manager
Pako 2 - could soon be yet another name on our managerial merry-go-round if it continues like this. While the team has been weakened, he seems out of ideas to improve things, with a predictable 4-3-3 every game. Questionable team selection as Munir and Medran probably should have started, though Montoya and Cancelo are both so dodgy at right back there's little he can do there.

Relegation here we come!

All that optimism from the previous week, after the arrival of Garay and Mangala, gone! As reality sinks in more and more, I knew, I said it time and time again, I said it was going to be a relegation battle, but people couldn't wrap their minds around it.

Well I'm objective and level headed like that, what seems to be radical hate spewing coming from me is actually a level headed objective analysis, albeit with very angry tone, but it is still objective and based on deep understanding and analysis.

I think right now no one can deny that Valencia CF are in a position to fight to avoid relegation. I held some small hope as well, I got tricked a little bit with the arrival of Garay and Mangala, but reality has sunk in, Valencia CF will be fighting to avoid relegation this season and that is the hardcore objective truth!

I'm not happy saying it, I'm not enjoying being right all the time, especially when its bad for the team, but I have to be objective as I've always been for the past 6 years writing for this blog and point out the hard truths, no matter if people get angry at me personally or not.

I'm just not even seeing the good play that others are magically seeing, yes we played good vs Las Palmas, but its against a newer La Liga team, we still loose 4-2, what happens when we don't play good? The result is we lose by 2-0 or more. I don't see with the way we are playing how this team can achieve anything better than trying to avoid relegation.

I called and called for Peter the scourge Lim to bring in Pellegrini when he was available, I spoke against releasing Nuno knowing a new coach won't improve our situation, I knew Nuno wasn't at fault, I knew Nuno wasn't to blame for the Mendez transfers, he was a simple coach, no control over the purse or market. At best he had small input, but fans blamed him instead of Peter Lim, instead of ousting Lim, they ousted Nuno and since then we've been going down hill.

At this point I don't know if anything can bring in hope, the only solution is for VCF to actually start winning and winning consistently and even then its going to be tricky to believe in this team.

People want me to write match reviews, editorials, keep up to date with news, I want to too, but I can't, I haven't got the will to do it when this team frustrates me. Not just the results, it frustrates me how they play, they play like garbage. I can't do it.

Valencia CF vs Real Betis Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Real Betis Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 11.09.2016 16:00 CET 

3rd matchday, La Liga 

Coaches: Pako Ayestaran and Gus Poyet

Valencia CF was supposed to have an easy start to the new season with the first 6 matches being against relatively weaker opponents, even with the terrible transfer window and a lot of the let downs that happened, we were still supposed to do good at the start. No one expected two back to back losses, especially a devastating first match loss when Valencia CF conceded 4 goals.

Second match the result improved for Valencia CF, we didn't concede 4 goals, we only conceded one, but Valencia CF still lost as our play was significantly weaker than in the previous match, where we played better, but lost more, this match we played worse, but lost by a smaller margin. We lacked chances, and by chances I mean good reliable real chances, ones where not converting is considered huge blinder, we lacked those. We had two decent chances, but they weren't guaranteed goals chances, the midfield was weaker and didn't control the game as well and overall a weaker performance.

I think the worse second match performance was due to the last minute transfers, I think a lot of players took at as a sort of shock that so many of our players left and many friendships torn apart, a lot of new unknown guys coming in, so I think many players just weren't in the game, their mind was elsewhere.

The last hours of the transfer window were good for Valencia CF, yes overall we had a terrible summer, but the last few hours did bring some hope and ease, did bring in some quality, though just how much we'll have to wait and see. I really like Garay, he is a solid, no nonsence defender with good leadership skills, we have Mangala who is talented and did well at Porto, did okay as well in Manchester City under Pellegrini, though he is error prone, hopefully Garay will help with that by taking the leadership role and organising the defense.

We lack a pure striker, the closest we got is Moreno, he used to play in the central role, but for the past two seasons he's played as a winger, Munir is also a wide player, he's played on the left side at Barcelona the few times he's been given a chance, so essentially we lack a true striker, a target man like Paco was. Some say Paco didn't fit our style, I'd say Valencia CF didn't fit his style, you build a team around your best players, you don't sell them.

Real Betis have one point from the two matches played, they managed to draw against RCD Espanyol at their stadium, while they lost their first match to FC Barcelona, they actually got trashed 6-2 by Barcelona, but they showed sturdiness and team play against Espanyol, so I'm expecting Valencia CF to basically have the same issues that RCD Espanyol had against Real Betis, unable to consistently attack, lack of quality chances, hopefully with a solid defense we won't concede a goal and will be able to just squeeze through a narrow victory.

Valencia CF Squad:
Goalkeepers: Diego, Ryan
Defenders: Cancelo, Montoya, Garay, Mangala, Santos, Gaya
Midfielders: Suarez, Enzo Perez, Parejo, Medran, Soler, Nani, Bakkali
Forwards: Santi Mina, Moreno, Munir

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Diego; Cancelo, Garay, Mangala, Gaya; Enzo, Parejo, Medran; Nani, Moreno, Mina.
Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, high tempo pressing, mixed passing, winged attacks

Result Prediction:

Valencia CF 1-0 Real Betis

We have to win at some point right? We have got two good defenders and they had some time thanks to the international break to get used to the team, gel a little bit and with Aymen(thankfully) injured we will have Garay and Mangala starting, meaning I'm expecting better defensive display and for us not to concede a goal. Offensive wise I think with Medran starting over Suarez we'll have a lot more attacking power, a lot of midfield control and so I expect decent midfield performance as well.

The biggest question mark is the offense, with Nani, Mina and either Moreno or Munir starting, there is a lot of questions here. Will Nani fit in with the team, will he contribute enough, his first game was okay considering its his first match, but overall in the context of other players contributions he was poor. If Munir starts over Moreno that is another question mark, he's unproven, he's barely played any real minutes at Barcelona, so I think Moreno for now is the safer choice.

Again I expect out first clean sheet in a long, long time and I expect us to barely edge out a victory over Real Betis by one goal.

A Few Thoughts...

Just thought I'd write a few points on my thoughts about what's been going on recently and just to cover some points that I think might have been missed.

Firstly, I am just as disappointed as the rest of you at this transfer window. Here are a few positives and negatives I managed to come up with:


Pros:

1) We managed to get rid of a lot excess luggage that's been dragging itself around the team and getting paid but not giving us our money's worth. Barragan, Piatti, Orban, Yoel and Danilo all needed to go and they did.

2) Despite initial rumors stating otherwise, we did manage to retain Diego Alves. Previous posts have correctly described the lack of identity of the club (signified by players who have been here 2 years or more at least). Diego Alves is one who has been there for about 5 years now. His presence is important not only because of the identity issue but he is a true leader on the field. As far as being vocal and talking to his team, Diego does plenty of that. He should really be getting the captain's armband and not Perez which worries me (Diego might not be in Ayesteran's plans). I'm sure you are all familiar with how every time we are defending a corner, you hear one loud voice scream "Ariba! Ariba!" encouraging everyone to jump up. Or when we concede he claps and encourages the team to get back in. All that on top of the fact that he is our best goalkeeper undeniably.

3) We didn't rush into expensive Negredo, Rodrigo and Enzo Perez type signings. This point might be due to necessity rather than smart judgement. Garay may have been a tad bit overpriced but I am not complaining too much since he is a quality player and we desperately need a quality defender. This FFP might be a blessing in disguise in the case of Mangala cause I fear what could have happened if we did have the money. Would we have spent 30-40 million on him despite him not proving his worth yet?

Cons:

1) We did lose a lot of Valencia CF identity. A lot of the players marketed as Valencia CF's future are gone now. You can say the club is larger than any player and that we have lost our best players in the past all you want but it doesn't make it better. When Lim first bought the club we all thought good now we can keep some of our players for a change. Yet mad spending to no one other than the benefit of his friends cost Valencia CF a lot.

2) Once again we benefit others while we suffer. It's true that a lot of the players did ask to leave and there is always the "you can't turn down Barcelona or Real Madrid" but we're not giving them any incentive to stay or even fighting for them. I mean Andre Gomes's release clause was some absurd 115 million euros or something. We didn't even get close to that. 30 million?! I get the urgency to sell with FFP but really? Why set an absurdly high release clause if you're going to accept an amount that low. We're helping the league champions who don't need any help as it is and we're hurting ourselves. More on this point is that our last two signings (Mendes and Garay) are both Mendes inspired.

3) Replacement that we did get were not adequate and are unproven in some cases. Our defense I feel has definitely improved but Mangala could still be a question mark. Abdennour had one game where he did do well and we saw his potential but has easily been our worst players since. He needed to leave. His mind looked set on the Premier League for a while now so let them take him please. However I don't think Suarez is a big improvement on Fuego, could be wrong but it doesn't seem that way. Munir has some promise and is a lot more mobile than Alcacer (who relies more on positioning) but again is unproven. And Montoya...same deal.

4) We learned Lim's judgement is questionable. They say stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Why are we doing the same thing over and over? We keep trusting Mendes to give us the next superstar of the century and pay absurd prices that nobody else is willing to pay of them plus his commission and have always been disappointed. Why do we still deal with him? This comes back to letting Ayala, Rufete and Salvo go. Ayala made us really good signings since he had special influence especially on Argentine players. Otamendi for 12 million euros was a steal and we sold him for close to 50 million after one year. That is what I call return on investment. Now you invest in this 50 million in 3 or 4 "Otamendi's" and so on. Who knows how many actual prodigies we turned down cause they weren't Mendes related. Yet clubs seem to always sell us their junk and "prodigies" for such high prices and not willing to step down a bit. Yet we always make it easier and facilitate them signing our players. Why do we always have to be the ones to step down? Lim if you're reading...Please get those 3 back, and lets start making good deals again. Getting them back will not be a sign of weakness but a sign that you actually care.

5) Financial Fair Play? We don't have enough money? Lay Hoon was explaining that people thing we get the money from the signings instantly and that we have a 100 million or something euros to spend but in football money gets paid over 2 or 3 years. Fair point. We need to meet FFP so we sell even if we don't want to do so. And even if we sell we are still in a shortage of money. Well why then are we still waiting on a shirt sponsor? You cannot complain that you don't have enough money if you are not making the most out of the opportunities you have. Every year for the while now we have a shirt that's blank from the front and we keep waiting and waiting and no sponsor. I just looked up a table of Premier league incomes from shirt sponsors. Let's say we are slightly better than West Ham's annual income of 8 million euros annually on shirt sales at 10 million (This just a worst case scenario), then over the past 2 or 3 years we have 30 million euros, the amount for which we sold Gomes/Alcacer. But we keep leaving the shirt blank waiting for a better deal. Well some deal is better than no deal. Put Mendes's companies name or something since we like him so much, just get some money for it already.

6) Manager probably is weak link. We have not had a proven manager for the past while now. They all make their way into the club and leave the next year and we have no consistency in results or managerial position. Ayesteran did have a decent run last season but is he really the manager we need? I was thinking the other day, we have a manager that keeps saying I would love to go back to Valencia one day in interviews and is currently managing Newcastle in the 2nd division of the English League. Please tell me we can at least convince him to come here? He helped Valencia a lot and was an important part on Valencia's path to greatness. Who better to put us back up than him? I wouldn't even mind keeping Ayesteran with him. I have nothing against him, I just think it's about time we get an experienced manager.

7) Clubs mocking us? I know this is the least of our worries but Barcelona president said something that I found offensive. I hope the translation was incorrect but he said something along the lines of (while talking about the Alcacer signing) that playing for Barcelona alongside Messi, Suarez and Neymar and telling your grandkids about that is better than staying at Valencia and scoring even 50 goals a season. And then adds with all due respect to Valencia. Some respect that is? Is that the speech they give to our players when they take them from us?

Conclusion:

Anyways, I haven't written in a while, I will try to be more regular but here is a summary of what I thought over the past while (good work from SlickR to keep up with all the pre-season and transfer window). The last two signings especially gave me some hope in that we might be able to compete for mid table somewhere if we play it absolutely right. I don't know if we're ready for top four yet but we can sure try. A lot people I read in some posts (not necessarily on this blog) say there is no point in supporting the club anymore and things like that. The least we can do is stand by our team. There are a lot of negatives but let's at least make the fan's support a positive in the lack of other positives.

Official: Ezequiel Garay joins Valencia CF

The summer transfer window has closed, and basically minutes before the end Valencia CF announced the signing of Argentinian defender Ezequel Garay who joins us from FC Zenit for a reported fee of around 25 million euros.

The player would have a rather big salary of around 4 million euros if he manages to activate all of the bonuses, while the player has signed a deal till 2020 with Valencia CF.

Right now the central defense consists of Ezequiel Garay, Mangala, Santos and Aymen, three of whom have really hard to write surnames or names.

Its important to note that Mangala and Garay are both under Jorge Mendes, but at least these two players come as good deals, something which hasn't been the case in the past with Mendes clients.

I'm looking forward to see the new duo of Garay and Mangala, I think they are a step up over Vezo, Santos and Aymen, Mustafi could be considered better than Mangala and about equal to Garay, but I think we end up neither weaker or stronger from this, just different. The one positive is that Aymen can finally be benched and I'd like to see him sold or loaned out in the winter, while we move for another temporary defender, until we can get Raul Albiol for free next summer.

Ruben Vezo joins Granada CF

Valencia CF announced the loan deal of Ruben Vezo to Granada CF for one year. With Chelsea FC capturing David Luiz this means Aymen Abdennour is unfortunately staying at Valencia CF. This is major bad news for us, as it means Pako will on occasion play this trash and that would always cost us points.

There is still some little time left, maybe they'll still go for Aymen and secure him on a loan deal for one year, but I highly doubt it.

So essentially two defenders left and two new arrived, though one only on a loan deal until the end of the season, so basically short term confusion to try and salvage this season and think about the next one in about a year.

Good news from now is that Raul Albiol would be a free agent next year and there is a big chance he'll come back to Valencia CF, though the team would need to do better than avoiding relegation, otherwise we can't attract anyone, even Raul Albiol wouldn't want to join VCF in such shape.

Eliaquim Mangala joins Valencia CF

Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala has joined Valencia CF on a one year loan deal with the option for Valencia CF to purchase the player at the end of the loan deal.

I don't know how much the purchase option is for Eliaquim Mangala, but its unlikely that Valencia CF would be able to afford it either way, not unless we miraculously end up qualifying for Champions League, but that's just wishful thinking on my part.

Eliaquim Mangala is already in Valencia and has passed the medical tests and he'll be available for squad selection for Valencia's next match.

This is a good deal, sure he didn't establish himself at Manchester City, but this is a young player who can improve and of course the Spanish league I think would suit him more, I think he is going to be much better in Spain. In combination with Garay we'd have a solid defensive duo, but the issue is this is a makeshift defense and the duo would need quite some time to gel together.

Heck most of our team feels makeshift now with several players coming on loan and others having buyback clauses. I guess the objective is to basically survive this season and then worry about the next after.

Another amazing news is that we could possibly loan out Aymen Abdennour to Chelsea FC, supposedly Chelsea FC wanted to hijack the Garay signing and tried to swoop in the player, but he refused their offer and chose Valencia CF, but don't jump from your seats, he chose VCF because his family in in Spain and he's wanted to return to Spain for 2 years now, finding life hard in Russia. So essentially he and his family want to be in Spain and VCF is the best option for him.

Chelsea FC lost out on several players they wanted to purchase, so I guess in a move of desperation they've reached out to Valencia CF for a loan deal for Aymen. He was put on the transfer numerous times, but pulled back and then finally placed on it after last match, since he had two terrible games which he was mostly to blame for the losses. Pako lost all confidence in him and demanded he be gotten rid of, as well as asking for defensive signings.

Official Transfers

Well as I've reported days ago the Paco Alcacer was a done deal, FC Barcelona paid 30 million euros for him and an additional 2.5 million in bonuses if he plays and scores certain amount of goals. So essentially think of it as just 30 million euros, which in this market when a nobody like Martial can sell for close to 80 million euros, Paco was essentially gifted to Barcelona.

In return(oh the "amazement") we get Munir on loan, another nobody talent with "potential" who's done nothing at FC Barcelona and Luis Enrique couldn't wait go get rid of him and let some other club try and develop him for them. His buyout clause at the end of the season is an absurd 12 million euros, for a total nobody who scored 3 goals last season. Yeah, great deal there. I mean come on, total joke, selling 2 of your best players 24 hours before the transfer period, where are you going to find replacements and now every other team like Zenit is playing hard ball and won't let go of their players, they know we are a trash club with garbage management so they will overprice Garay and Peter the scourge Lim would dish out 28 million euros for him.

Another official deal is Shkodran Mustafi to Arsenal FC, the deal is worth about 40 million euros, while Valencia CF are looking to pay 28 million euros for Garay now as Zenit is playing hardball thanks to our "amazing" management selling in the last 24 hours for the cheap as well. Well okay, 40 million for Mustafi is reasonable, it is a big sum, but so what when we have to dish out 30 million instantly to Zenit. So essentially his sale doesn't cover any of the financial losses.

I haven't seen this garbage of a business man in years, if Lim didn't own oil which lets face it is an automatic money maker, he would have never made it. I haven't seen such garbage management ever.

Also think of how all these sales would affect the players morals, people here seem to think inside of a box, as it things are happening on football manager game, not real life, but this is real life and losing two of your best players in the last days, with Diego Alves also on the exit door, Lucas Orban also close to leaving, so we've essentially lost 10 players this season and yes we brought in new ones, but there is no friendship yet between these new players, there is no respect, so imagine how all the players must be feeling with all these sales.

Do you really think their heads will be in the game for the next round? Do you really think they will give 100% percent for this club? Parejo is 100% thinking I better not play good, screw around and force my departure in the winter, I don't want to be part of this sinking ship.

How would we attract new players in the future when our name has been tarnished? And you better know Valencia's name has been tarnished, everyone I know, every casual fan or fans of other clubs laugh at Valencia CF right now. Everyone is calling Valencia CF small club and they are right. What separates Valencia CF from Las Palmas or Getafe, tell me?

Paco Alcacer to FC Barcelona

There you have it ladies and gentleman, Paco Alcacer leaves Valencia CF for a rather joking fee of 30 million euros, with Munir coming to Valencia CF on a one year loan deal with the option to purchase the player from FC Barcelona.

This guy who barely scored 3 goals last season is supposed to replace the 10 goals and 10 assists Paco Alcacer who's been one of our best players in the past 2 years and he isn't even a permanent Valencia CF player, though lets face it, he is 99% sure to flop and having him permanently on the team would just force player sales for the likes of Gaya, Enzo, Mina, etc... to be sold, while we keep the garbage.

You want to put a red carpet for Peter Lim for what "good" he's done just because he invested 150 million to his friends owned Benfica, purchasing players with his own business, not Valencia CF, giving Mendez tens of million in the process of agent fees and then selling them for a huge profit doesn't make what he's done good in my book, but I'll leave you to be the judge of it.

But can anyone seriously tell me apart from Parejo(who wanted to leave, why wouldn't he?)which player has played for VCF for more than 2 years, excluding youth players, since lets face it they are important, but usually 1 out of 20 per year makes it, so its not like some established tradition or reality to get top players from there.

Next year Parejo is gone, he wanted to leave, he won't extend his contract, so he is gone. You think other players would like to stay in a sinking ship, think again! We have no star power, we have no name anymore, we have nothing. Valencia CF has become SMALL club, the sooner everyone realizs this, the better as we can get rid of Peter the scourge Lim and it can only get better from bottom low at which the club is in at right now.

Shkodran Mustafi joins Arsenal FC

Its still not fully official, but Arsene Wenger himself has confirmed the deal. Shkodran Mustafi would join Arsenal FC for a fee of 41 million euros. There was a lot of back and forth, a lot of swings in this saga, but ultimately Arsenal get their target.

Good news from this terrible news is that we would be getting Garay out of this, supposedly in the region of around 20 million euros. Is he worth that much, probably not, but Valencia CF literally does not have any other option. He is the safest bet out of any of the other possibilities and since the transfer window is closing soon we are forced to dish out 20 million for him.

Another move that might happen is getting rid of Aymen Abdennour and bringing in Marcus Rojo from Manchester United.

Ultimately we are weakened by the departure of Mustafi, but Garay would be solid replacement, he isn't young as Mustafi, so the potential of becoming much better isn't there, but he is already very good and experience in defenders is always more important than talent. So possibly a slight loss overall here, but if Aymen leaves and we get Rojo it would be an improvement. Just not having Aymen play would be a major improvement, even if Rojo didn't arrive.

SD Eibar 1-0 Valencia CF Match Report

Let me hear some of you now? What defense, what excuses can you muster up about Valencia's play? We are playing to avoid relegation, don't mistake this. Things will improve once Garay and Rojo arrive, but don't expect miracles. Align your expectations properly and know what this team is and isn't capable of.

I actually know what I'm saying, I have a proven track record that many here seem to forget the instant my views don't align with them. I don't want to sound like a narcissist here, but I'm forced to point at my proven track record of knowing what I'm talking about.

With that out of the way lets analyze the match. From the start it seemed as Valencia CF started slow, compared to our previous match against Las Palmas the energy was lower, the play was slower and determination was lower. That said we had a good opportunity very early on, but that turned out to be a one off, rather than a constant.

Much of the battle was in the midfield and neither team was particularly successful in controlling the ball, with many lost balls and back and forth between both teams. On occasions Valencia CF did have some attacks, though just one sticks out and that is when Moreno was put through on goal, but instead of shooting he chose to pass the ball to the offside Mina and the pass didn't even reach Mina, so it was a ruined chance.

After the first 25 minutes, Eibar started to control more and more of the ball, more and more of the tempo and eventually they seemed like the better team. They didn't have any major chances, but there were certainly scares towards Valencia CF goal as Eibar was able to create several chances by running circles around Cancelo and easily penetrating from the right side. The left side didn't fare much better as Gaya was out of position several times and was lucky the team didn't actually concede a goal in those moments.

The second half saw a more determined Valencia CF out of the gate, we saw more of the ball possession and there was a bit more incentive to move forward, but the play was disorganized, there was no fluidity in the movement, no intelligence in the positioning, it was like watching some random amateur team at times. To make matters worse Eibar's goal put an end to any positivity that was going on in the second half and guess who's fault the goal was? Aymen Abdennour defender amazingly with his hand to block the shot and gave Eibar the penalty. Ryan would step up to the plate and actually save the shot, but the rebound bounced back to Pedro Leon who this time easily slotted the ball into the other side of the net, with pretty much all of Valencia CF players still standing on the line even at that point. So much determination in those players, it choked a stadium full of people. :)

Pako was too late with his substitutions, he was in disbelief of what was happening and you could see on his face he was out of it, probably deciding whether to leave or stay in those moments. Personally I believe he will resign, and I wouldn't blame him if he did so. He was told lies, he was promised things that weren't delivered and he'd be used as a scapegoat if/when the team does bad.

Towards the end he introduced Medran and Bakkali, but this was too little too late. Medran added some drive and energy to the midfield, but he doesn't have any quality player to play with, everyone was like sitting and waiting for everyone else to do something. At least in the previous match where we lost 4-2 the play was actually good, it felt like a team effort, team play, this time it felt dead. That is how I interpret it, everyone I feel felt dead inside, the news, the knowing of Diego Alves leaving, Mustafi leaving, Paco wanting to leave and being close to leaving, I think its hit all of the players.

You can't sell half your team from last season and not think it would affect the other players morals, you can't expect to change half the team and have good results, you can't expect to change half the team and be competitive? We don't have a core group of players, these are all random players who've not played together for more than a month or two. Even the ones who are here for two years haven't been regulars before.

I predicted a loss and I was right, sure we didn't concede 2 or more goals, but this is even worse, conceding a goal and not being able to score back, our play looking terrible. Yes it wasn't all doom and gloom, there were some sparks of greatness, some sparks of life, but its like finding a rain drop in a desert, its too little, too rare for it to have any significance.

The bad part about this is that if we don't play Cancelo we have Montoya who is worse overall, probably a bit better defensively, but overall worse player, for some reason Pako hasn't brought in Lato who I thought was AMAZING in preseason, much better than Gaya, yet we see Gaya and not Lato, meaning Pako makes his decisions politically, not on who is performing better. Gaya is more experienced, so he gets to play, while Lato doesn't because he hasn't been a regular before.

With the arrival of Garay(can't come any sooner) we would have an alternative to the garbage Aymen, who I want to see gone right now, heck just break the contract with him, he is that terrible.

Player Ratings:
Ryan 6.5 - Not troubled too much, dealt with the easy shots at him and stopped the penalty initially.
Cancelo 4 - Terrible defending, I mean at the level of 10yo kids. Was the only one going forward though, but his crosses lacked accuracy while defensively he was garbage.
Santos 6 - I thought he did a good job defensively, covered his position properly, made several interceptions and dealt with the direct threats.
Aymen 0 - Terrible performance, at fault for the goal as he conceded the penalty and made several big mistakes. Get rid of this trash now!
Gaya 2 - Bellow par defensively and not much better offensively. Was caught out of position often at the back and put the team at risk a number of times.
Suarez 3 - Thrust into the action after just barely arriving and it showed, he lacked any sort of understanding with the team and seemed confused as to his role in the team.
Enzo 3 - Ran around like a headless chicken, some defensive contribution, but not much.
Parejo 2 - One of those games where he is completely useless, in fact detrimental to the team. Lost a lot of balls, bad passes, bad positioning, just everything from his was bad.
Nani 4 - Had a decent first half, was clearly playing with lots of motivation, even did some tricks when attacking, but overall he did not provide anything of value.
Moreno 3 - Missed a good chance early on, later on passed to an offside player instead of shooting and generally made the wrong decision every time.
Mina 5 - The only player that actually threatened now and then, had a good scissors shot at goal and generally seemed determined to do something.
Subs:
Medran 6 - Came in and instantly shore up the midfield, provided a much needed energy in the middle, but unfortunately he doesn't have quality players around him to do much.
Bakkali N/A - Okay for his time on the field, but in such a game he had very little time to change things.
Mir - Our other striker now that Paco is on his way. Does anyone believe he can make a difference? What a joke!