Valencia CF 1-0 Las Palmas

Welcome back Mr Lim you have brought us good fortune.  With the owners first appearance at the club for over a year it was up to the team to show that his money has not all been wasted. I was a bit concerned that certain sections of the fans would spoil the night with chants against the owner and not concentrate on supporting the team but the fears were unfounded.

With the slightly surprising inclusion of Nacho Vidal in the right of defence with his face mask after the assault by the player of Atalanta last week the team looked the obvious choice. Montoya injured in training allowed him the opportunity.  Players such as Cancelo and Garay included despite their certain transfers next week.


It was Valencia who took the lead in the 22nd minute when a great run by Carlos Soler on the left who rolled he ball to Zaza in oceans of space just outside the area to fire the ball home, much to the relief of the home crowd. The Italian striker had already picked up an early yellow for a bit of an elbow but as usual the ref seemed to ignore similar offences against Valencia.

I thought Medran had a good game but its a shame that we have to try and accommodate  Parejo Medran and Soler on the left because he is better in a more central role.  Valencia were bossing the game and chance after chance came and went.  Why are we so afraid of getting our body over the ball and hammering in low and hard shots through players instead too many touches and we lose the ball.

Zaza had a great claim for a penalty turned down. I have only seen it live at the match and have not had chance to see it in slow motion but to me and 34,000 others it looked blatant and one of many strange decisions by the ref. { OK having now seen it on TV, perhaps the ref got it right }  Halilovic was sent off for a high challenge on Gaya after 30 minutes and again not seen it in slow mo. but who cares we are now playing against 10.

We should really have gone on to win easily but it was not to be and we had to accept the 1.0 win. Three points is three points and a good start to the season. We have to rebuild the defence this week with the visit to Real Madrid on Sunday. Interesting choices to be made.

Conclusion
Not a totally convincing performance but a win is far better than the first game last season that's for sure. I will leave it to you to give your views.  Also good to see us in control until the end and not giving away a silly late goal. There seems more confidence in the team now.


Neto 6   No problems for him and an easy game really.  Not bothered too much but looked confident and handled and distributed well.
Garay 7  Flawless game and obvious why he is wanted by Juventus and Spartak.  Shame he needs to go but looking forward to the new faces.
Gaya 5   Not one of his better games, crosses were going astray too often. He sets a high standard but this was a bit below par.
Vidal 6  Every touch was applauded by the fans, we love to see a home grown doing well.  He made some great runs and defended well. We will forgive a couple of silly mistakes as he is young. A great future with us.
Vezo 6   As we would not get much for him if he left we have to keep him.  He is gaining experience now and apart from the occasional bad ball out defended well. Will be a good stand in.
Soler 5  Not his fault but until he was switched to a more central role late on he looked a bit lost apart from setting up the goal.
Medran 7   This guy is certainly maturing fast by doing the simple things and not trying to be too flashy too often. His passing is really accurate and works well with Parejo.
Parejo 6  Does the good work and is winning more tackles now. He has the crowd and manager on his side and it's improving his play.
Cancelo 6   Playing his more attacking role he made some great runs and great crosses.  We need the money but sorry to see him go and in tears at the final whistle.
Rodrigo 6   Lots of work and lots of running but too many times passes are not accurate enough. He needs some goals for his confidence.
Zaza 7  The match winner,  how can you not love Zaza ?  Works like a horse and scores great goals. Really seems to love the club and the fans love him and see a real passionate player. Just needs to curb his aggression sometimes.

SUBS
Nacho Gil for Medran  73 mins
Mina for Rodrigo   78 mins
Maksimovic for Soler  88 mins

Crowd  34,000

Murillo and Kondogbia to join Valencia CF

Valencia CF looks set to sign two Inter players, central defender Jeison Murillo and defensive midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia both of whom the club has been chasing for a very long time. At one point Inter was playing hardball and not moving an inch with their demands, but both players wanted to leave and forced Inter's hand as much as possible to allow for a move to happen.

Jeison Murillo arrives to Valencia CF for about 12 million euros, while Geoffrey Kondogbia arrives for around 18 million euros. For what little I've seen from these two players, it seems that they are decent players with Kondogbia having the more outstanding preseason with Inter and doing well for himself, so definitely a good purchase.

Finally some good news, though VCF is yet to find suitors for Aymen Abdennour who the team wants to sell due to the request of our coach Marcelino, as well as Orellana. I actually don't know why the coach is so dismissive of Orellana, to me he seemed like he had a great preseason, he was one of our better players during the friendlies and writing him off like that seems like a lot of favoritism towards certain "established" players from last season.

Valencia CF 1-2 Atalanta

As soon as I saw the Atalanta team walk out onto the pitch I thought that it was going to be a tough game. Their players all looked bigger and stronger than our boys and that is what it seemed for long spells earlier on, men against boys. They seemed able to control the ball well and found the passes a lot better than Valencia and it was no surprise when they went ahead in the 13th minute. A freekick from the left and Toloi easily out jumped our defence to head home.

The tables were turned when in minute 20 a free kick, again from the left was pushed out by the Italian keeper only for Vezo at the rear post to head home levelling the score.  I have to say that it was against the run of play but a goal is a goal.

Vezo and Javi Jimemez were the central defenders and Jimenez was showing again what a good and reliable player he is. He made a number of great tackles and looks a real class player. Vezo was doing ok but his ball out of defence was going astray just too many times and just not good enough.

Again Soler was put out wide left and looked totally lost in that position. He kept drifting in leaving big gaps and leaving Gaya exposed too much.  This has to change before next week as there was no player wide for the midfield to pass to.  Cancelo was showing why he is not a defender by having a very good attacking game getting the ball across well a few times and also slicing open the defence himself before firing over with a good opportunity.  Gaya also had what appeared to be a good goal disallowed when he chipped a great through ball over the keeper only to see the linesman raise his flag for offside. Also, he was unlucky when his cross was volleyed over by a Zaza bicycle kick which would have been one of the goals of the season with the great build up play, but it was not to be.

At times Valencia were playing some good passing football when they got the ball down and made numerous opportunities. However it was the same old story when the chances were squandered. Rodrigo made a good opportunity for himself breaking through for a one on one with the keeper but, trying to chip him just passed it into his arms for an easy save.  Other Valencia opportunities came and went.

Unfortunately it was Atalanta who had the final word when Palomino had an easy tap in after a corner from the right to give the Italians the final victory. To be fair Valencia improved in the second half with fresh legs but a win was not to be.

Positive performances from Javi Jimenez. If he keeps this up it would be impossible to leave him out for one of the new central defenders who are supposed to be coming.
Cancelo had a good game and if he does go it will have put a little on his value or at least convinced somebody he is worth buying.
Zaza and Rodrigo,   plenty of running but strikers are judged by goals and they didn't get one unfortunately.
Parejo and Medran looked ok in midfield but Soler was awful and it needs sorting. Maksimovic actually looks a good prospect and I liked the way he came on late and took responsibility, taking the ball from Parejo and making good passes.
Santi Mina came on late and I don't want to be a Santi hater but he really looks totally out of his depth this season.

We are getting near the start of the season and just like last year still haven't sorted out the defence.

Werder Bremen 1-2 Valencia CF

This was to be our toughest test yet this preseason, playing away in the Bundesliga is never going to be an easy game. Werder Bremen finished just above half way last season so a good test for Valencia.

Parejo caused the first piece of excitement when he missed narrowly with a long range free kick in the sixth minute, but was a little more accurate after 20 minutes when from another long range effort put Valencia ahead. A great goal from the new captain and will silence a few of his critics with that goal and his all round effort.

A crazy moment from Neto nearly cost a silly goal but with a little luck and some quick blocking the chance was lost for the home team. He just seemed to freeze and take his eyes off the ball, unforgivable really.  OK you are entitled to make a mistake but let that be the last one this season please.

The home team equalised in the 70th minute when the defence fell asleep and a deep cross was turned in for an easy goal. Bremen were a little unfortunate also to have another goal ruled out for offside which looked ok to me,  but we are not complaining.

In the final minutes Mina was put through and looked as if his boots were tied together when he tried to control the ball. Fortunately the home keeper made a hash of the save and Lato was there following up to put the ball in the net.

A bit of a lucky win with a not too convincing performance but a win is a win. Also to win with a late goal is always nice and makes a change from us giving away late ones. If we were lucky then let it continue because we had our fair share of bad luck last season.

The team must be doing something right because the goals against in the warm ups has been quite impressive and it can't all be down to luck.

I thought, good games for Parejo, Jimenez and Vezo.  Average games for many but not sure about Soler on the left.  I think Medran needs to dye his hair blonde, shave it mohican and get loads of tattoos on his face and arms. Why ?     Because then we will probably notice more the good things he does on the pitch.  He looks so ordinary that he just blends in too much.

Zaza and Rodrigo looked a bit ordinary and we need more from them, More goals that is.  Cancelo caught my eye on one occasion when he just stood rooted when the attacker ran forward instead of tracking back. Is he saying I want to go, who knows but he can go if he doesn't want to work.  Mina not good enough in my opinion but I haven't heard Man Utd or Juventus asking about him so I guess he stays.

Negredo joins Besiktas

So, as officially confirmed, Negredo's time at Valencia has come to an end. The player joins Besiktas, with his arrival celebrated by a truly awful video. The fee is said to be around €2.5 million. So Valencia paid 28m for a player worth less than 20, then sells him for less than a tenth of that and about a third of his value. There are many bad examples of poor transfer dealing in the Lim era, but this one has to be the pits.

Negredo joined Valencia back in 2014, sitting out the early months due to an injury. When he did play he was far from the standard that Valencia wanted. He did score some important goals, including a crucial goal to book Valencia's place in the champions league group stage and a goal from the halfway line vs Rayo but all those were overshadowed by him missing sitters, such as the one in the 81st minute vs Real Madrid which would have locked up three points and overall, was nowhere near justifying even half of his fee. Nuno clearly grew to dislike the player and ostracised him and DePaul in his last season. When he did come back, experiments at playing him with Alcacer didn't work and the latter tended to be preferred. Last summer, he was high on Valencia's list of players that they wanted to sell but with no takers, VCF had to settle for a loan to Middlesbrough, with a buy option. With Boro relegated, that buy option wasn't exercised and the club was saddled with him again. While the transfer fee is pitiful, it does free up a significant financial fair play margin, indeed, at the end of last season, Negredo made up an eighth (!) of the team's FFP budget.

With him removed, the club does have space to bring in new signings, which would involve, in order, a central defender then a defensively minded central midfielder. After that, a defender who can be back up on the right and centre would be high and a left winger, with Nani proving injury prone.

Overall, I wouldn't be too harsh on Alemany and co for the Negredo transfer as it was a mess not of their making. Lim's reckless spending in the first transfer window has really screwed us up and three years later we are still suffering. The club tried last summer to get shot of the dead wood and had no takers and with 85% of the current window gone, it wasn't going to happen this one either. So the administration faced the difficult choice of soldiering into the new season with dead wood like Santos, players who Marcelino doesn't count on or selling them on the cheap to get their salary off the books. Hopefully we can now see some movement on bringing in new signings, with Murillo high on the list. If we can sign a competent central defender and central defensive midfielder, we can yet challenge for top 7.

 

 

 

Looking for writers

Hey there guys and gals, I'm looking for few new writers to help me keep the website updated and have more news.

I've been trying to post as often as I can, but between work and personal stuff and just being really busy I've been unable to post on a regular basis and I the only way to improve this is to have some of you passionate VCF supporters write.

If you are interested please post in the comment sections or send me an email and I'll set you up immediately.

Few news while I'm at it is that Alvaro Negredo will be leaving Valencia CF and joining Turkish club Besiktas. They are actually able to come very close to his current salary and with no offers from England, Negredo has softened to a move to Turkey.

While its still not official yet, the deal is very close and is supposed to go through, but again we'll just have to wait to hear an official confirmation.

As far as new arrivals to Valencia CF, there has been nothing new, the club were after few players like Kondogbia, Jeison Murillo, Grzegorz Krychowiak, but so far nothing has materialized as players are just not interested in joining Valencia CF. Our club's reputation has really taken a beating the past few years and it seems players are avoiding our club like the plague!

So its going to be really tough to acquire new decent players!

FC Cincinnati 0-2 Valencia CF

Valencia CF managed to shake off an unexpected defeat at the hands of second tier club New York Cosmos and in a way redeemed themselves with a 2-0 win over Cincinnati. Of course this is also a second tier club, so managing to only win 2-0 and scoring the second goal right at the end doesn't give you confidence in our teams abilities, but a win is still a win and hopefully we can learn from this and last match.

We do see some play and some moves that have been practised in training, we do see some of the work Marcelino has been doing, but again I'm most worried about our defense, if we concede it's hard to win, no matter how good our forwards are we need to concede little to none to be able to win more consistently.

We urgently need a solid central defender to pair Garay, otherwise we will find ourselves struggling again in the league. 

Valencia CF suffers first friendly loss

Valencia CF lost 2-0 to New York Cosmos a tier two American team in what was a terrible performance from the so far impressive side. Of course you can blame jetlag, you can say that the New York Cosmos are more physically ready as their season begins sooner, but there is no doubt that the performance was not up to par and not what we've seen so far.

Our biggest issue was the defense, with a weak pairing of Aymen and Vezo(who replaced Javi Jimenez) the back line was fragile and it showed, as Garay wasn't even in the match suffering from a muscle injury.

I don't know why team team pushed for the goalkeeper purchase and sale of Diego Alves, when our priority was always a solid defender and a solid defensive midfielder, we haven't brought either and we are now being linked with attackers and wingers, we don't need any of them!

We need a solid defender who will link up with Garay and keep Vezo as a backup, but get rid of Aymen please, he is way too expensive for us to be keeping him. He has huge salary, one of the highest overall in the squad and has not payed off either his transfer fee or salary!

What did you guys thought about the performance and what do you think of the preseason so far in terms of games, transfers and training?

Diego Alves and other confirmed departures

Yesterday, Diego Alves became the latest player to leave Valencia. He joins Flamengo and again, it's for a laughably low amount said to be 300,000-500,000 euros. Alves was one of the highest wage earners in the squad and was said to be a disruptive influence in the dressing room and in training, but it's a mystery why the club, which is complaining about having no money for transfers, is giving away a player worth 5 million for a tenth of that. The transfers of Piatti, Enzo and Alves should have brought in close on 20 million, instead we've got just over 4 million for the lot.

Alves joined us in 2011 from Almeria, making 146 appearances and gaining notability for his penalty stopping, saving 23 during his time with us. Despite that, from a pure playing point of view I don't think it's a bad decision. For me, Alves was never the same player after his knee injury at the end of the 2014/15 campaign. Valencia's record of conceding in recent seasons has been horrendous and part of that must rest on the goalkeeper, not only for failing to stop them, but also because he's the one who must organise the defence in real time. A typical Alves game involved him saving a penalty making a couple of good stops, but an error and conceding three goals. So while all of us will wish him well and be grateful for some good moments, it was time for a change.

With his departure, that means there are only two outfield players left who played under Pizzi: Parejo and Vezo and the latter is hardly a regular. That tells you what you need to know about Valencia's stability in recent seasons.

Other recent departures have involved Santos going to Sao Paolo on loan for 18 months with an option to buy and Bakkali going for next season to Deportivo. Santos will not be missed by anyone but there will be a few fans who will still wonder why it never really happened for Bakkali. He seems to have ended the same way as Fede or DePaul: a flair player and a fan favourite but one who got limited playing time. I think this one is for the best. I've long said in the match reports that I never saw the point in bringing him on for barely 5 minutes at the end. Bad for the player and club. While it's possible he'll have a good seasonat Depor and come back to us stronger, I think it's likely that he'll end up the same way as Fede and make a permanent exit.

The other players whose exit is talked about are Cancelo and Garay. The first has long been the obvious choice to sell to raise funds. Garay, despite a disappointing first season, is firmly in Marcelino's plans for next season but if the club can't get the cash they need from selling Cancelo, he would be the next choice, as he's still sufficiently highly rated for teams in England to pay big money. The lack of clear targets remains a concern. The closest to a clear target for now is Geoffrey Kondogbia of Inter Milan, who the club is interested in taking on loan with a buy option.

Either way, the club needs to get a move on. The previous season finished 8 weeks ago and the new one is just 3 weeks away, with the fixtures announced on 20 July.

Valencia CF 3-0 Sporting CP

Valencia CF trashed Sporting CP in yet another great preseason showing, giving us all hope that we can do much better than last season. Before I get carried away though this is still a friendly match early in the preseason, but the confidence, gameplay, fluidity in the play is there for everyone to see and this team is definitely playing differently than it used to with our last 3-4 coaches.

We are so early in the preseason, but I can already see an identity to this club, a certain style of play and hopefully the squad continues to grow, continues to improve and doesn't stumble at the first roadblock. So far so good and I'm really impressed by the work Marcelino is doing.

Amunt!

Marcelino's training methods

As you all know Valencia CF trashed some Swiss team called Lausanne-Sport, not some great feat, but its always nice to start off on a good footing early in the preseason.

I've watched all of the training videos so far and I've got to say I'm very impressed my Marcelino's training methods. At first I thought it was going to be the same old, as they team only did fitness type training, but since then the training schemes have been amazing, all tactical and technical in nature.

We've seen a lot of training on moves, movement, passing and pressing. Some of the training stuff is something I'm seeing first time ever, so I like that and I think its going to have a positive effect and we are going to see a much better team for it.

With all that said we do need one good defender, we can't rely on the error prone Abdenour, Vezo is a hit and miss and we lack a 4th serious CD either way. Great training can do so much, you also need the players to back up the good training.

So far so good in terms of training though, the focus is on the technical and tactical aspects, with the occasional fitness training to maintain the players weight and stamina. 

Valencia CF preparations in France

Valencia CF is holding its preseason preparations in France this week and Valencia's new coach Marcelino has published the squad list of players that will be training there.

Goalkeepers: Neto, Jaume, Sivera
Defenders: Montoya, Nacho Vidal, Vezo, Garay, Abdennour, Javi Jimenez, Lato, Centelles
Midfielders: Parejo, Medran, Maksimović, Orellana, Bakkali, Nacho Gil, Nando, Eugeni Valderrama
Forwards: Rodrigo, Zaza, Mina, Rafa Mir, Negredo

Some players like Gaya, Soler, Nani and Cancelo won't be joining the team as they have an extended vacation period due to their national teams involvement, thus will be joining the rest at a later date.

Diego Alves and Aderlan Santos are not in the team because they are expected to leave, the team has made it clear that they would not be counting on these players for the next season, which is a shame to threat Diego Alves as such, he could have joined the group and trained until he finds a better club to join, so a pity that the club treats its players with such disrespect and contempt.

Right now in Valencia CF squad in France there are only few players that have been with the club for more than 3 years and those are Vezo(yeah, even though he has barely played actually), Parejo, Bakkali, Rodrigo and Negredo.

So that gives you an idea of the team "spirit" or lack thereof. 5 players out of 24 that have been with the club for more than 3 years. If we increase that to 5 years and we are only left with Parejo and when Gaya comes back he will be one of the few as well, counting his time in the B team as well.

So you might be asking why am I so negative again in the preseason, similar to last season, and its because like last season I do not see the strategy, I do not see the careful planing and smart transfer moves, its a scramble to get rid of several players and bring in several players to replace them. There is nothing strategic about it, we are rebuilding once again, just like last season, just like the season before, ust like 3 seasons before, etc...

Valencia CF sign Neto

Its official, Juventus goalkeeper Neto has signed for Valencia CF and the transfer fee is supposed to be somewhere in the region of 5 million euros, plus bonuses based on the players appearances and performance.

This means Diego Alves is as good as gone, with Jaume and Neto who will fight for the first position. At times I don't understand this club, we sold Ryan for much cheaper, we will get rid of Alves to save on money, but then we spend 5 million plus additional money in bonuses on another goalkeeper, when we already have two really good ones and used to have 3.

Spend money we don't have on positions we are fully saturated on and actually don't need strengthening, while we sell for pennies on the dollar just to make space for the new unneeded arrival. Do I think Neto is a great goalkeeper that will be better than Diego Alves? Not even remotely, at best I think he is going to be as good, but even that is unknown as we'll just have to wait and see.

I just don't see what the calculus is, what the strategy is and which players can we realistically get with NO money!?

Aderlan Santos saga

Supposedly Valencia CF had agreed a loan deal with Sao Paulo for Aderlan Santos, adding a 3.5 million euros purchase option at the end of the loan deal, but the player himself has refused such move as he doesn't want to play for Sao Paulo and wants to stay in Valencia CF.

The player feels like he hasn't been given a proper chance by the former coaches and the crazy situation in Valencia CF over the past two years prevented him from winning a place in the starting eleven.

Personally I am yet to see any positive moves by Valencia CF on the transfer market, we haven't brought in anyone yet, we sold Enzo Perez for pennies on the dollar, he was one of the highest valued players on our squad just one year ago and we sold him for pennies and the Maksimovic arrival was negotiated over 7 months ago, think even more than that.

Marcelino wants a whole new backline, but my question is where are we going to get the proper players from? With only Garay as the solid option, Mangala long gone our options are what we have, but Aymen, Santos and Vezo are not in Marcelino's plans and who can blame him based on their overall performances, but its not like we have replacements lined up and money to get them all.

So its a waiting game for now, but so far I'm not seeing any actual smart moves on the market, I'm not confident that the new administration is doing the right moves and the sort of planned and strategic transfer market that we all hoped would see. Its just another scramble to get rid of some players and bring in whatever we can find for the cheapest.

Enzo Perez sold to River Plate

Its official, Enzo Perez has been sold to River Plate for the ridiculously low price of 2.5 million euros. Valencia CF listed Enzo Perez on the transfer market for 11 million euros, but due to lack of interest was forced to listed to the one and only offer from River Plate which was absurdly low.

So yeah, we bought him for 25 million euros just 3 years ago and now we are selling him for 2.5 million euros, talk about bad deals. Truth be told he didn't celebrate himself at Valencia CF and with a mix of poor performances, constant injuries, fatigue issues later in the matches, etc... his price dwindled down and all interest for him dried up.

So the sale was to essentially get rid of the player, save on salary expenditures and open space for new arrivals.

What do you guys think of this sale?

Mathew Ryan leaves Valencia

Mathew Ryan is the third confirmed exit of the late season. He joins newly promoted Brighton on a fee rumoured to be in the €5.5 million range. Ryan seemed a reasonable signing at the time, covering for the long term injury of Diego Alves. Luck, however, would intervene. His time at Valencia was fatally undermined by a knee injury a fee weeks into the season which sidelined him for a month. In that time, Jaume took his opportunity, and Ryan's 1-month absence became 3 months, returning in late November 2015 to play in Nuno's last game against Sevilla. With Alves returning and regaining the number one spot, Ryan's chances would be limited. He played in 21 games in 2015/16 and the first two games of 2016/17, leaving, coincedentally, at the same time as Alcacer and Mustafi.

It has to be said, there were many bad signings of the Lim era, but, while he was never a Buffon, he wasn't a bad signing either. The killer is that he seemed to be third in line and was insisting on being first choice. An understandable request for someone who wants to maintain his position as number 1 for the Australia national team, but not a realistic one for the current Valencia squad. He will likely not be the first goalkeeping casuality. Marcelino apparently doesn't count on Alves and it's not hard to see why. While Alves still proved himself to be the penalty king last season, his overall performances weren't top class and the club is now said to be trying to get his wages off the books. Speaking of Buffon, his deputy, Neto, is rumoured to be joining Valencia on loan with a buy option.

In other news, Valencia have confirmed another pre-season friendly playing Werder Bremen on 5 August. As with Bournemouth, this is an unspiring match-up against a familiar foe. Valencia played friendlies against Werder in July 2015 and July 2009 and played them in Europe in March 2010 and late 2004.

West Bromwich Albion wants Negredo

West Bromwich Albion wants Alvaro Negredo which allows Valencia CF a sigh of relief as the club is keen to get rid of the expensive flop and cut his huge salary from the bill. Alvaro Negredo has also stated that he wants to stay in England and play in the Premier league and that going somewhere like China, Russia or Turkey is a no go for him.

So Valencia CF is limited in their ability to whom they can sell him, so having interest at all from England is good, as Negredo has not had a good season for the past 3 years, while his salary is quite huge and the transfer fee would be relatively high in order for Valencia CF to recoup some of the losses on this player.

Unfortunately I think the club went for the wrong target back then, the club could have bought Soldado back from Tottenham for less than 10 million euros, something which Villarreal did and it was a great decision for them.

Roberto Soldado was proven in Valencia CF, so it wouldn't have been tough for him to adapt once again here and provide even better performance than he did at Villarreal. 

Galatasaray sends an offer for Aymen Abdennour

Turkish club Galatasaray SK have sent an offer of 6 million euros for Valencia CF central defender Aymen Abdennour as Valencia CF want to offload the player in order to reduce the wage bill and free up space for a new defender, possibly Raul Albiol, but other names are floating around as well.

Aymen Abdennour hasn't celebrated himself at Valencia CF, he came in as a big reinforcement, but failed to live up to the expectations and his high transfer fee. He is the kind of player that will play a solid game for 89 minutes, but then have the worst blunder and ruin his whole performance with that.

He essentially extremely error prone that costs us goals and points in many cases, so he has been deemed surplus to requirements by Marcelino and his high salary make his departure from Valencia CF absolute. The question now is who will offer the right amount, which for Valencia CF is in the region of 13-16 million euros.

Mario Lemina on Valencia CF radar

Juventus FC midfielder Mario Lemina is on Valencia CF radar as the club is looking to change up and reinforce the squad, which means wanting to sell Enzo Perez due to his high salary and bringing in a cheaper alternative.

Mario Lemina was a wanted prospect two years ago with Juventus activating his release clause of 9 million euros to purchase him after a successful loan spell there. Since then he's found things more difficult though and hasn't featured as extensively for Juventus FC, coming in mostly as a sub for the team.

Valencia CF is looking to pounce on this fact and attract the player with the prospect of regular first team football, while the player should not cost more than 9 million euros transfer fee on the upper limit.

Raul Albiol on Valencia CF wish list

Valencia CF have been after Raul Albiol since last year with the club coming really close to getting the player, as they agreed personal details with Albiol, but Napoli were relentless and did not back down from their high transfer fee, ultimately forcing Valencia CF to look elsewhere, which it found in Ezequiel Garay.

Ultimately Valencia CF paid an even bigger transfer fee for Ezequiel Garay, coming in at about 25 million euros, but at the time he was valued higher than Albiol and it's only after we sold Mustafi and got close to 50 million euros for him.

Valencia CF new coach Marcelino has asked the club to bring in Raul Albiol as one of his top reinforcements, as he looks to build a very strong back line and build the team from the back onwards. Marcelino wants to have a very strong back line that rarely concedes goals as a means to become competitive again.

I think Raul Albiol will be a great signing, he is kind of similar in style with Garay, so there might be a little bit of overlap here, a somewhat faster CD is usually the prefered option to an experienced and positional CD like Garay, but if Marcelino wants him and thinks it can work, then I'm all for it.

Luciano Vietto to join Valencia CF?

Luciano Vietto is another possibility for Valencia CF as the club is looking to reinforce and strengthen the squad before the start of the next season and the club is looking at talented players that may be surplus to requirements elsewhere and would come cheap.

One such player is Luciano Vietto who hasn't found his footing at Atletico Madrid and as such he is seen as surplus to requirements there and therein lies the chance for Valencia CF to swoop in and acquire the player. Valencia's new coach Marcelino Garcia Toral is a fan of his as the player did great when playing for Villarreal under the tutelage of Marcelino.

He is also going to come at a cheaper price and his salary is also manageable for Valencia CF, once the club offloads the big earners like Negredo, Enzo, Aymen and others. Two more bigger earners are Garay and Zaza, but those are key players for us, and were bought very recently, so they are staying at the club and with Mangala gone as well, that is additional 3 million euros that can go towards a new salary. 

Valencia CF interested in Marcelo Diaz

Valencia CF are interested in Chilean football player Marcelo Diaz who currently plays for Celta Vigo as a defensive midfielder and has a contract with them till 2019. Valencia CF were interested in acquiring Camacho, but the club can't meet his high 18 million fee, so the club is looking at alternatives and Vicente Rodriguez and the top brass think that Marcelo Diaz is a suitable alternative, especially since he is going to come very cheap, as his current market value is estimated at about 2.5 million euros.

Valencia CF also have an advantage over Celta as they can give him a big higher salary and of course we now have an experienced and successful coach that can also help in getting players to join as they can have more confidence in the project.

As I already reported the club only has 93 million euros available for the next season, so sales of our highest earners are in order and that includes Negredo, Enzo Perez, Aymen Abdennour and possibly even Nani, even though reports suggest Valencia's new coach Marcelino wants to keep Nani and has him in his plans for next season.

Do you think Marcelo Diaz is a proper defensive midfielder for Valencia CF and what are some of your wishes for this position?

Financial realities to force sales at Valencia CF

Valencia CF budget next season would be 93 million euros, which is lower than last years small budget, which was massively lower from the season before that. In fact Valencia CF went from somewhere around 140 million budget, to a mere 90 million for the next season, a reduction of over 50 million euros in less than two years.

This means that Valencia CF will be forced to sell this season as well, especially the big earners like Enzo Perez, Nani, Aymen Abdenour as well as find a permanent home for Alvaro Negredo who will be returning from loan by the end of June.

Even though Valencia CF got themselves a shirt sponsor finally, the amount is estimated at about 3 million euros per season, a far cry from the search for a 8-10 million euros sponsor two years ago and a significant far cry from Atletico Madrid who earn over 16 million euros per season.

Another news is that Mangala won't be coming to Valencia CF, as Manchester City don't want to sell him cheaper than 18 million euros, but even if they did sell him lower, his wage is way too big for Valencia CF to take on now, somewhere in excess of 6 million pounds, so close to 7 million euros per season.

In terms of transfer money Valencia CF can spend up to 15 million euros, anything more would put the team in the red, which would be unacceptable in the position the club is in right now. So all in all Valencia CF has a tough season ahead, too little money, high earners that no one wants like Enzo Perez and Alvaro Negredo, with Marcelino being one of the few positive things.

I can't wait for him to start full on work, hopefully there'll be videos of the training sessions, it would be interesting to see his training methods and I can't wait for the friendlies to see how the team will stack up. I'm excited, but also worried and cautious about the possibilities.  

Valencia's new shirt sponsor / Reserve team news

After 3 seasons without a shirt sponsor, Valencia signed a one-year deal with American telecommunications company BLU this week. While the exact figures haven't been released, most sources put the figure at €3.2m for the season. This is far less than the club was hoping for in previous seasons, but Valencia's brand has been diminished by 2 poor seasons and waiting around for the higher figure wasn't helping. Better to get something rather than nothing and build from there has presumably been the club's thinking.

As is usual with these kit launches, the players chosen give an insight into the club's transfer thinking for the summer. The first features 5 academy graduates plus Rodrigo

This is a positive sign, showing how the club values its homegrown players.

The second prominently features Soler

with Zaza and Nani the newbies.

The last also gives centre stage to Soler

with Mina and Montoya now the new ones featured. As Soler, Rodrigo and Gaya feature in all three, it's safe to say that the club has no intention of letting them leave, while Nani and Zaza also don't appear to be going anywhere and Mina is more likely to be staying put.

Also of interest is the players not featured, with none of the three club captains appearing. The choice of reserve goalkeeper Sivera rather than Alves would tend to suggest that Diego may be on his way out, while Parejo's future may be up in the air.

With all that said, it's worth noting that things can easily change. Here was last year's photo....

so appearing in the promo photos is no guarantee, but unless we get big offers for the players in this year's, most of them should still be around.

Transfer rumours have been going overdrive this year and it's hard to know how seriously to take the rumours of the multiple players we are linked with. The most serious ones seem to be the club's attempts to retain Mangala, which looks unlikely to happen, and to sign Luciano Vietto or more accurately, take him on loan with a buy option.

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Valencia B marched on at the weekend, beating Celta B 3-1 in the play-off quarter finals to secure a 6-3 aggregate victory. The full game of the first leg is at this link and the highlights of the second leg at this link. The second link is definitely worth a watch, with great team play and some super moments, including Rafa Mir nearly scoring from the halfway line. The play-offs only have an open draw if necessary, the rules are that teams that finish first play teams that finished fourth and if that's not possible, third. Also, subject to those rules, match-ups between teams that played in the same Segunda B group are avoided. For the semi-finals, that produced....

Atletico Baleares -Albacete
Cartagena-Barca B
Valencia B-Real Murcia
Villanovense-Racing Santander

With the first leg at the Mestalla on Sunday 4 June and the second leg a week later. The above rules mean that if we win, we can't play Balerares or Barca in the final.

Review of the season

Valencia’s 2016-17 season has to go down as one to forget, as it was a virtual re-run of the disastrous season before. The summer of 2016 was especially chaotic. First off, the selection of coach was a dubious one. Some of our fans are never long-term thinkers and had briefly wanted Ayestaran to stay, but that all changed when the team lost the last 3 games of 2015-16, giving him a poor W3-D1-L4 record. Mysteriously, despite this, the club confirmed him as the coach for 2016-17m even though many of us voiced our worry.

Having missed Europe altogether it was pretty obvious that major changes would be needed to the squad. Everyone accepted that Andre Gomes was a goner and it was just a question of who would join him at the exit. Feghouli left for free and the club had a blacklist which included Alves, Negredo, Abdennour, Enzo, Santos, Barragan and Piatti. Also, Parejo tried to force an exit to Sevilla, which the club vetoed.

The problem was, it didn’t seem that there was any plan B. The club just seemed to naively assume that clubs would come in and pay the money required and when that didn’t happen, the useless Garcia Pitarch flapped around like a headless chicken. The club was strongly linked with Raul Albiol, Amadou Diawara and Felip Kostic, none of whom arrived. Instead, the only summer acquisitions were Nani and Medran.

In the end, Negredo was loaned out, while Barragan and Piatti were given away cheaply. That didn’t solve the problems so talk turned to selling the club’s biggest stars, Mustafi and Alcacer. 3 months of the summer had passed with little resolved other than selling Gomes.

Such uncertainty was hardly good for the first game. It all began well, Mina netting early on against Las Palmas, but it was a false dawn for him and the club as we lost 2-4 at home. Mustafi and Alcacer both played and Ayestaran adamantly told reporters after the match that both were not for sale  as Lay Hoon had said so. Instead, they'd just played their last game and within a week both had been sold and Ayestaran and Lay Hoon had been fatally undermined by Lim’s behind the scenes deals.

The next game with Eibar and Betis followed patterns which would become all too familiar. At Eibar, we dominated but missed numerous chances and lost. With Betis we went 2 down fought back well to level then lost to a last minute goal. Immediately talk turned to relegation battles. It was easy to see why, the club had lost its best defender, midfielder and main 2 strikers in the summer and the replacements were a rag tag band of loans and free transfers. After another defeat, Ayestaran was sacked having taken a dismal 10 points in 12 games in charge. Supersub Voro stepped in and Valencia won a tense game against Alaves with a late penalty.

The club tried to hire Marcelino but La Liga ruled out it on a technicality. Would they have done the same with Madrid or Barca? I doubt it. After offering the job to Scolari and Van Gaal the club turned to Prandelli. It began well, with a win at Gijon, but quickly went downhill. That and 2 wins over Leganes in the cup would be his only successes. While he could talk the talk, he couldn’t walk the walk and his last league games saw 3 draws and 4 defeats. Prandelli went to Singapore to demand 4-5 new signings. He also launched a stinging attack on the players, with an infamous fuori tirade.

It’s unclear if he got the wrong idea from the Singapore or if Lim promised him these signings then backtracked (likely the latter) but he resigned at the end of 2016. Having alienated the players and produced poor results, it was for the best. But VCF were in dire straits, 17^th and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference. 

Voro took over again and was hit with a defence crisis, with injuries, suspensions and international games leaving us without our 4 defenders in the Copa. A makeshift defence of Suarez and B team player Javi Jimenez proved a disaster and we were out of the cup and morale sunk even lower after yet another last minute goal denied us the points at Osasuna. The next month and a half, however, saw an uptick which would drag us to safety. A few factors helped. The main credit has to go to Voro who showed that Valencia had the tool available to do what Prandelli couldn’t. Soler established himself as a first team regular. Zaza and Orellana were brought in, and, while the latter has been a let down, offered new options in attack. The team went on to record some impressive results, beating Bilbao and Espanyol, with the highs being the win at Villarreal and the win over Real Madrid.

Though the season has ended on a more upbeat note than the 2016 year did, massive improvement is still needed. The positive results have still been mixed with far too many lacklustre performances. The 0-4 collapse at home to Eibar and limp performances against teams like Malaga and Atletico Madrid being the main lows. Despite that, the mood is a lot more optimistic than it was 12 months ago. You just have to compare the despairing comments which greeted the news that Ayestaran would be the manager with the optimism greeting Marcelino’s appointment. This is due in no small part to the new director, Alemany, who pushed for Marcelino over coaches with questionable records like Setien. Early signs are that the coming summer will be less disruptive and more organised. The club is close to fair play limits so there is less need to sell players. Cancelo and Enzo will likely be goners and I wouldn’t bet on Gaya being with us in the Autumn, but realistic replacements are already being lined up. Here’s being hopeful that we’ve finally turned a corner.

THE BAD

Attendances: after a spike in Lim's first season, the Mestalla has been emptying. Valencia saw a 9% drop in attendances last season, with only Betis doing worse. That followed the previous season's 15% drop in attendances at the Mestalla, which was the worst in La Liga.

Concentration: the team conceded too many early or late goals.

Defence: continued to be awful, it wasn’t until late January that we kept a clean sheet!

Attack: not lethal enough and neither Rodrigo, Mina nor Munir took advantage of the chances to show what they could do.

Transfers: a mixed to negative bag, with too many loanees failing to produce. Mustafi, Gomes and Alcacer weren’t adequately replaced, though Zaza may fill the role of the latter.

Managers: hiring inexperienced ones or ones that don’t speak Spanish doesn’t work.

Communication: telling supporters you will not sell players then doing so is poor form and will build mistrust.

Absence: Lim needs to come to Mestalla when the heat dies down.

THE GOOD

Voro: deserves massive credit for steadying the ship

Lessons learnt: while Prandelli didn’t work out, his hiring and the attempts to sign Van Gaal and Scolari showed that, at last Meriton had woken up and realised that proven managers were needed. The hiring of Marcelino is further confirmation.

The youth squad: the breakthrough of Soler and Lato and the fact that Valencia B are still in the fight for promotion is a clear sign that we have a steady pool of quality youth to draw on.

Transfers that did work: Montoya for free is exactly the type of acquisition we should be looking to make. While Zaza was not cheap, he at least displays the type of fight and effort that many other players could learn from.

Valencia 1-3 Villarreal / reserve news

Valencia's dismal season ended exactly as it began, with a home defeat by a 2-goal margin in a game that they probably should have got at least a draw from. It was almost as if the team was determined to showcase the worst aspects of their play this season: shocking and, at times, cowboy defending, cluelessness going forward, giving away possession too easily and a lack of imagination in the final third. For the umpteenth time this season, Valencia faced a team that weren't much better on the day but came away with nothing and while the team seems to have kicked its habit of conceding late goals, it just seems to have replaced that with conceding early ones.

With the reserves still battling for promotion, there wasn't even the opportunity to give any of them a game, so only 3 changes happened. Santos replaced the injured Garay, Soler came back in for Medran and Cancelo replaced Orellana, with the team aiming more for Marcelino's preferred 4-4-2, with Rodrigo taking a more central role.

Some people hadn't even taken their seats in a half-empty Mestalla when we fell behind to a clownish goal. Santos tried to pass it out of the danger area instead of hoofing it clear and Montoya inexplicably passed it right into the danger zone where Soldado slammed home. When you fall behind in such a fashion so early on, you will always struggle as you'll be chasing the game thereafter. Santos got booed for much of the half after that, which didn't help morale and the goal was probably even more Montoya's fault, but at least the latter has been one of our better players. Valencia did put in a good effort for the next 20 minutes or so after that with Parejo and Gaya forcing good saves from the keeper and the half ended with Valencia the better side, but a goal down.

Villarreal came out stronger in the second half and applied more pressure, but, against the run of play Valencia got the equaliser we deserved, Rodrigo making a good run and putting a dangerous cross for Nani to power in a header. It was shortlived. Though Zaza would miss a good chance, Valencia had been sitting back, it was unclear if this was a deliberate tactic or if they'd just run out of steam but Villarreal scored 4 minutes later and added a third near the end, when Valencia did look tired.

A year ago me (and Peter Lim) made our last visit to Mestalla for the last game of the season, losing 0-2 to Villarreal. A year on. it's like nothing has changed. The team finished 12th again, getting 2 more points than last time, winning 2 more games and scoring 10 more, but losing 2 more games and conceding 17 more. Sure, the results this year have been a bit better, but, by my tally, despite playing a game more versus R.Madrid, the team would be in 8th place based on 2017 results. That's not good enough. Some of these guys played their last game yesterday and their exit is for the best.

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On a more positive note, Valencia B won 3-2 yesterday away to Celta B in the promotion play-off quarter finals. The team fell behind but then went 3-1 up, before conceding a late penalty, but are still in pole position with the second leg coming on 27 May
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VALENCIA PLAYER RATINGS VS VILLARREAL

Jaume 4.5 - a disappointing game and could have done better for at least two of the goals
Montoya 3.5 - has been one of our best players this season, but this wasn't good, very shaky and terrible for the first goal
Santos 3 - no idea why he got the nod instead of Abdennour, but it didn't work. To his credit, had a good first half after the blunder, silencing the boo boys, but then undid it with mistakes in the second. Has to go.
Mangala 6.5 - very likely his last game and he'll be missed
Gaya 6 - turned in a good defensive performance, but was wasteful in possession
Soler 4.5 - mostly invisible game, is it just me or have his performances dropped off in the last month or so?
Parejo 5 - think we saw the best and worst sides yesterday. Some great passing but also gave away possession too much.
Nani 7 - had a really good game and was always an attacking threat
Rodrigo 6 - good performance overall
Cancelo 5.5 - acceptable performance up front, but less effective at the back
Zaza 4.5 - had an off day and missed a couple of chances

SUBS
Munir 4 - didn't do a lot after coming on, but does end the season as joint top scorer with Rodrigo
Mina 4 - limited after coming on. I'll say what I said about Alcacer 12 months ago, needs to step up to the plate next season or be sold.
Bakkali N/A - his usual, and totally pointless, 5-minute cameo. Should be loaned out or sold.

Marcelino's squad plans

Valencia CF coach Marcelino Garcia Toral has made his thoughts and wishes clear to the Valencia CF officials pertaining to the squad and transfers for the upcoming season.

First up he has himself identified Santos and Vezo as ones he doesn't count on and has suggested to the club to try and sell them off. The club has suggested the sales of Diego Alves, Alvaro Negredo and Joao Cancelo in order to reduce the wage bill and get some income to fund potential incoming transfers, but this has been rejected by Marcelino with the exception of Negredo, which he's made clear doesn't count on him if the club doesn't.

He has also asked if the club can keep Mangala who's been our best defender this season, but the official response is that a bigger sale needs to happen first in order to facilitate that, but that Mangala's salary itself is rather huge and even at a lower salary it would still be too high, so chances of Mangala staying are so far very slim.

One of the players who's stay he's requested is Daniel Parejo, he feels like Parejo is a crucial member to this team and doesn't see any better alternatives at a reasonable price. So the club is going to try and keep Daniel Parejo, though the player has wanted to leave for quite some time and everything is possible at this point.

Some of the 'key' players that he is 100% counting on are Montoya, Garay, Gaya, Lato, Parejo, Soler, Santi Mina, Nani, Rodrigo and Zaza.

The club will listen to offers for Joao Cancelo, Diego alves and Enzo Perez at this point, at least from the players who are with the team now, loanees are likely to all be sold/loaned out again. 

Espanyol 0-1 Valencia / reserve team news

Valencia's last away game of a miserable season ended with a win, producing a double over Espanyol, who were probably the better side in the game.

Voro went for three changes. Medran replaced Enzo in the double pivot with Parejo. Rodrigo got his first start since early January, replacing Cancelo, while Orellana started in place of Soler. Jaume also continued in place of Alves, who was a slight injury doubt.

After a nervy opening 5 minutes, Valencia's best spell came between the 5th and 25th minutes. We were passing the ball well and using a high press against Espanyol which was working. However, in the final third it was a disappointment, with few chances falling our way and an overall lack of creativity. Things weren't helped by a bit of greediness on the part of Nani, who shot virtually every time he had the ball in the final third.

After that, Espanyol came back into the game, but luckily for us, they squandered several good chances. Gerard Moreno was put through but shot straight at Jaume, while Navarro had an almost free header, but put it just over. Our front three weren't doing that great in comparison, Zaza's best chance came at the start of the second half, but he blazed over.

With the clock ticking down and Espanyol looking by far the more likely to score, we nicked it in the 74th minute. Parejo put through a good ball for Gaya, who controlled and spun well to fire into the far corner for his first goal since December 2015. The game petered out after that, as it was a dead rubber for both sides.

Overall, not the greatest of games for us, we continued to look shaky in times at defence, especially from set pieces and were often poor and lacking connection in the final third. Hopefully, Marcelino can sort these issues.

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In other news, Valencia 'B' finished their season this evening with a 3-1 win over L'Hospitalet with goals from Jordi Sanchez, Eugeni Valderrama and Grego. This secures the team a place in the play-offs for Segunda division. The draw will take place tomorrow, with the first leg taking place this weekend. We will face either Celta 'B', Fuenlabrada or Villanovense in the first of three possible play-off ties.
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PLAYER RATINGS FOR VALENCIA FIRST TEAM
Jaume 8 - continues to prove himself a solid option and has staked a good claim for more games regardless of whether Alves stays or not
Montoya 7 - the silver lining in the ill-fated Alcacer deal was getting this guy, who's been turning in increasingly confident performances
Garay 5 - shaky at times at the back, not marking tightly enough and taken off at half time
Mangala 5 - has had some good games but this wasn't one of them and almost gifted them a goal
Gaya 7.5 - has shown good form this year and will hopefully remain at the club
Parejo 7 - had a decent game, helped us keep control of the midfield and was passing well
Medran 6.5 - did play it safe with his passes, but had an 83% success rate with them, good game on the whole
Nani 5 - has skill but is far too selfish and needs to pass more to teammates
Orellana 5 - made more of an effort this game, but was disappointing on the whole, all sources say we have a compulsory buy on him for 3m. If that's not the case, I'd pass on him.
Rodrigo 5.5 - he'd combined well with Zaza in the previous game and I was looking forward to this one, but it was a letdown. Pressured well, but didn't seem sure what to do when he had the ball.
Zaza 5 - ran a lot as usual, but was fairly anonymous this game

SUBS
Santos 5.5 - was an improvement on Garay, but this could well have been his last game for us
Soler 5.5 - improvement on Orellana, but has been a bit average of late
Munir N/A - probably the second of several games he'll be playing in the city of Barcelona this year

Marcelino to become Valencia CF coach

Good news everyone, Marcelino Garcia Toral is to become Valencia CF coach. He was the first choice after the sacking of Pako Ayesteran, but due to weird LFP rules he couldn't become Valencia CF coach, so Valencia CF were forced to go with second option Cesare Prandeli which turned out to be a bad move overall.

Now the new leadership has choices Marcelino as the new coach who will begin his work in the summer, before the new season begins. Marcelino coached Villarreal previously and had great success with them, building a strong and cohesive unit with great team play.

He's also used to working with a "cheaper" squad if you will, so he is not going to demand some outrageous transfers and instead is going to look at improving the current squad, with obviously two or three reinforcements where he thinks are needed most!

Its up to Marcelino Garcia Toral to basically accept or reject the offer Valencia's sent him, and we are going to find out in less than 24 hours.

If he does accept the offer its going to be very good news for Valencia CF, we are getting one of the best available coaches out there, he knows Spanish which is always a big requirement for Spanish football, he knows the area, he knows the culture and he is an experienced coach who has dealt with pretty much everything.

Valencia 4-1 Osasuna match preview/report and news

Yesterday, it was confirmed that Voro will not continue as trainer next season, following the sporting director's conclave with Lim in Singapore. There had already been questions whether Voro wanted the role, as if it didn't work out, it would mean his exit from his beloved club. He's done a brilliant job stabilising the club and all VCF fans will be happy to hear he's continuing in some capacity with the club.

As for alternatives, Setien seems to have dropped out of the running. The backroom falling out at Las Palmas didn't help things, but the killer is Las Palmas' recent form, which has nosedived since it became clear he would not continue there. Since March, LP have taken only 4 points in 8 games, conceding 22 in that time and overall, their defence is the fourth worst in La Liga.

Marcelino seems to be the current favourite and the fact that he had agreed to take over post-Ayestaran is a bonus in that direction, but, as always, Valencia fans have to prepare for the worst. Berizzo of Celta is the other possibility and, with Celta's home defeat to Man United making it unlikely they'll play in Europe next season, he's become a realistic option as well.

Transfer rumours come and go and should largely be taken with a pinch of salt until we are closer to the post-season and until the new guy is confirmed. For what it's worth here is some of the news and rumours from the past week

*Munir will not continue at VCF. The 12m asking price is too much and Barca will not negotiate.
*Milan and Chelsea are interested in Garay.
*Parejo and Enzo will be sold.
*Gaya's release clause is currently 50m, but will reduce to 30m in June 2018 if the club don't increase his salary.
*Valencia will get 1m from the Andre Gomes transfer if Barca win La Liga.
*Valencia have asked about loan with option to buy deals on Vietto and Kranevitter.
*With relegation likely for Middlesbrough, Negredo will not continue there. He hasn't convinced the fans either. It's possible that he will continue in England, with West Brom expressing interest.

Valencia play Osasuna today in the first of two dead rubbers. Osasuna have been rubbish all season and have been in the bottom three since matchday three, though our game there ended in a frustrating 3-3 draw, with them nicking an injury time equaliser. Following a run of 4 games without a win, it's essential that Valencia achieve a convincing win today to lift morale. Osasuna like to play defensive (though it hasn't done them much good, shipping 84 goals in 35 games) and prefer 5-1-2-2 or 5-2-1-2. That means a lack of width that Valencia could exploit. Sergio Leon seems to be their main danger man, scoring 10 goals this season, a decent tally for such a weak team and Valencia are one of several clubs reported to be interested in him, as his release clause will drop from 12m to 2.5m following their relegation.

Valencia's 18-man squad is: Diego Alves, Jaume; Cancelo, Montoya, Santos, Garay, Mangala, Gayà; Enzo, Parejo, Medrán, Soler, Orellana; Nani, Munir, Rodrigo, Mina and Zaza.

Abdennour is injured and Bakkali, Siqueira and Mario Suárez have been excluded. Lato returns to Valencia 'B.' That isn't a demotion, but more a case of deploying him where he's more useful. Valencia 'B' are fighting for a place in the promotion play-offs for Segunda and Lato can make more of an impact there.

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As for the match itself, it was largely a walk in the park for Valencia and, for one of the rare occasions this season, the gap between them and a weaker team was clear. Leganes and Granada are probably the only other examples. Valencia won easily, scoring 4 goals for the first time since April 2016, though without either team breaking a sweat. The game had the atmosphere more of a friendly rather than a serious game and a lot of fans obviously voted with their feet and hit the beach instead. The attendance of 24,752 was the second lowest in the league this season.

Valencia had a chance in the early minutes with Enzo put through but unable to get a shot off. However, it was Osasuna who had the best of chances. Oriol headed just wide and Sergio Leon turned Garay well, but shot just over. Valencia took advantage. Gaya won a free kick on the edge of the area, Parejo hit it well, with the keeper just saving. From the resulting corner, the ball was knocked out, but Nani put the ball across and Garay was there to slide it in at the back post.

A few minutes later, Osasuna should have been level. Fausto only had to head it in, but hit it with his shoulder instead, injuring himself in the process, with Jaume producing a great save low down. Sergio Leon would have another chance, but shot at Jaume. Valencia for their part had plenty of possession but Nani kept shooting instead of passing.

Before half time, VCF got a second from Garay. A good forward pass to Leon was cut out to Montoya and his forward pass ended with Zaza, who took his time and passed to Garay, who slotted home well.

The second half continued in fairly languid fashion. Gaya hit the post, more by accident, when trying a cross. Osasuna had a couple of good chances too, and Oriol scuffed a shot at an open goal after Jaume had saved well from Leon. Valencia brought Rodrigo on and he made an immediate impact, Mangala and Nani combining to set him away on the left and his centre was turned in by Zaza. Rodrigo got on the scoresheet himself with his easiest goal this season, a cross deflected over the keeper for Rodrigo to tap in on the goal line.

Disappointingly, Osasuna got a consolation at the end, scoring in injury time just as in the first game after cutting inside and centering back. Jaume kicked the post in frustration, screaming "de puta madre!" as he was understandably annoyed at being denied the clean sheet he deserved by the defence switching off.

Overall, despite the scoreline, this wasn't our best performance of the season. The wins over Villarreal, R.Madrid or Celta would probably fit into that category. Some of our weaknesses were clearly in evidence. Shaky defending, especially from set pieces, lack of imagination in the final third and switching off late on in the game. Plenty for the new coach to sort.

On a final, positive note, Valencia 'B' secured their place in the play-offs for Segunda Division, with a draw at Lleida. They will now have three 2-legged ties if they want promotion.

PLAYER RATINGS
Jaume 7.5 - a good return and solid goalkeeping throughout. Proved once again he's a reliable replacement.
Gaya 7 - good game, was able to put in some decent crosses
Garay 6 - if I was grading him on attack, it would be 8.5, but he's a defender and for that it would be a 3.5 to 4. In the latter grounds he was very shaky, often losing his man and against a better team, we'd have conceded more.
Mangala 7.5 - did really well and often had to cover and cut out some dangerous balls when Garay went missing.
Montoya 7 - linked up really well with Cancelo. Has proved to be a great acquisition.
Enzo 6 - didn't notice him much, but we controlled the centre well
Parejo 6.5 - was passing well and almost scored. Will be missed by me when he goes.
Soler 6 - with Orellana's absence got a chance in his best position slightly behind the attack, but didn't make the most of it.
Nani 6 - put in some good contributions in attack, but was often far too greedy and needs to be less of a one-man band.
Zaza 6.5 - good goal and work rate as usual, even saw him coming back to help in defence. Now has 4 goals in 5 games. Hopefully this will continue into next season.
Cancelo 7 - was a real handful for their defence, another who will be missed if he goes

SUBS
Rodrigo 7 - good performance, with a goal and an assist
Medran N/A - didn't have much to do with the game already in the bag
Mina N/A - as above, didn't notice him much

Real Madrid 2-1 Valencia

In some ways, it would have been good if this game had finished in the 80th minute. Sure, we'd have missed a Parejo special, but I'd have taken it just to avoid seeing a smug Real Madrid team celebrating a late winner.

Valencia went into this game missing the suspended Zaza and Cancelo and the injured Enzo, and I think this is one game in which those guys would have made a difference. We could have really done with the speed of Cancelo on the right and the physicality of Zaza and Enzo in each half, as at times Madrid had it a bit too easy in the middle. I've said it before: Valencia are too rigid and predictable in their tactics, always playing the same 4-2-3-1. In this game, I think it would have been best to crowd the midfield, drop Nani and Orellana to centre midfield on the wings with a forward two of Munir and Mina taking turns to drop back. Our tactics in games like this are too easily countered.

Overall, Valencia had a credible performance in the game itself, though with flaws which I'll come to. As usual, this raises the question of why they turn up against teams like this and then can't be bothered against the Malagas or Sociedads? In the first 15 minutes we played a good game. We could have been in front in the first minute when a ball over the top found Mina but Navas produced a good double save. For most of the first 20 minutes we were able to equal Madrid on their own turf. The biggest let down was in the final third, for the front four it just didn't happen. The final passes just went astray and when we did have good chances, such as a great one for Orellana in the 17th minute after a pass from Nani, we fluffed our chances.

Gradually, Madrid took control of the game, especially in the midfield. This was down to tactics more than personnel, as Parejo and Soler had a good game on the whole, but were too cut off from the front four and left exposed as a result. Ronaldo put Madrid ahead in the 27th minute and it was disappointing, almost a carbon copy of their goal in Mestalla in early February: a cross whipped in and Penaldo outjumps Garay to head home. The half ended with Madrid edging it, but VCF still in it. We'd created chances, but hadn't been able to make the break, while Madrid had similarly struggled to break us down.

This pattern continued for most of the second half until broken in the 56th minute. Yet again, Valencia had another soft penalty awarded against them. Parejo had put his hands on Modric, who made a meal of it. Probably two out of three referees would have waved play on, but we always seem to foul of such marginal calls. For the third time, Alves saved a Ronaldo penalty.

The stalemate continued after that. Madrid hit the post, and Valencia's final ball proved poor and we were taking too long passing the ball around in the final third instead of putting the crosses in, losing possession as a result.

Valencia then managed to level in the 82nd minute in probably the only way they were ever going to score: from a set piece. A "Parejazo" - one of the man's great free kicks -beat Navas in the top corner. That seemed to wake Madrid who pushed forward and 4 minutes later some disappointing defending, after the defence had been good the whole game, let Madrid steal it.

A credible performance on the whole, though with questionable tactics and poor attack. However, this is the first time Valencia have lost three in a row since Ayestaran. It would be good to see the team make the same effort against already relegated Osasuna next week. Also, I think we should use these last games to blood the youngsters, though with Valencia B fighting for promotion to segunda, maybe they are better used there.

PLAYER RATINGS

Alves 6.5 - good performance and he's become CR7's nemesis
Lato 6.5 - had really taken his chance in the first team and can now really challenge Gaya for the left back spot
Mangala 7 - very solid game, made numerous good interceptions, big shame he's off soon
Garay 6 - good game except for the goal
Montoya 6 - controlled the right and held off the attacks, though at fault for the winning goal
Soler 6.5 - mostly a good game from the youngster, but has to improve passing and decision making
Parejo 7 - I will miss this guy if he goes, when he does play well, it lifts the team
Orellana 3.5 - continues to be a disappointment
Nani 4.5 - probably the best of the attack, but what's the deal with him strolling off when we're losing?
Mina 3.5 - needs to take his chances and improve his finishing
Munir 4 - fairly anonymous game and should have tracked back for the last goal

SUBS
Rodrigo 4 - good to see him back, but not fully fit and wasted a good chance, heading over
Gaya N/A - has a fight on his hands now with Lato for left back
Bakkali N/A - time to give this guy a proper game or loan him out. Pointless bringing him on in the 88th minute.