Great end to the centenary season

We have a guest editorial by Abdi Ibrahim, thanks to him for this contribution.

This review will focus on three key areas:

1: Quick summary of the season
2: Marcelino – is he a one trick pony or is there a tactical evolution on the horizon
3: Planning for next season

Season summary

A season that has brought us pain and joy in equal measure has finally ended. The result,  a champions league position next season, a valuable euro experience deep into the competition and a much needed Copa trophy to stick in our cabinet. The most important aspect of what the has team achieved this season was to EXPERIENCE how to WIN when it really matters.

In my opinion our season trajectory changed on two occasions first Piccini late winner against huesca and also when we came back to beat Gijon 3-0 in the Copa second leg. After that game the next 20 games would see Valencia only lose one game and build a self belief that would eventually safe Marcelino’s job. There were times during that rough period where the managers position was under huge pressure. I was one of the few in our fan base that wanted him gone (I’m still not completely sold, but we’ll discuss that later), but fortunately the management showed faith and rightly so in hindsight. The team managed to turn things around and achieve something I thought (as well as many)  wasn’t possible at some stages in the season. Hats off to Marcelino and the team for a great turnaround and for bring us a tangible achievement in the form of a Copa trophy. Like I said before, this is a young team, so learning how to win is the most important thing and hopefully this will be foundation to build on.

Biggest achievement of the season, aside from the obvious Copa win and top 4 achievement, I would say was our defensive record, which has massively improved this season and ultimately that’s a huge part of why we achieved what we did. We had the 3rd  best record both in goals against and clean sheets in La Liga. Something which seemed impossible not long ago. My only concern is our attack has suffered as a result, so we really need to find a balance to optimise our chances of winning.

Player of the season for me is of course Parejo, who’s had another great season and I believe he featured in La Liga’s team of the season. Rightly so, he has given us key goals and assists from midfield (I think he was our leading scorer in La Liga), which say a lot about our average forwards. Parejo has endured a lot of tough times during his time at Valencia, but there’s no one more deserving of our recent success more than him. Don’t get me wrong he has frustrated us countless times and will always be a tier below some of our midfield generals from yesteryear, but he will now  no doubt be synonymous with Valencia now he’s a champion. This is why I feel Parejo should finish his peak years with us, so it’s crucial we keep him. Our defence and GK definitely deserve a shout out for our accomplishments this season, hats off to them all.

Review on Marcelino – can he evolve as a manager?

Going back 6 months ago the Marcelino topic would divide our fan base between those who felt stability was needed and those including myself, who saw weaknesses and thought his limitations will only get us so far. I think it’s fair to stay the right decision was made and he’s definitely earned his stay for NOW. Despite my reservation in keeping him beyond this season, credit where credit is due, he’s really snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Marcelino’s 4-4-2 style built on a solid backline to soak up pressure and hit team on the counter is what we used throughout the season (I personally didn’t like the passive nature of this style) and in the end with luck and hard work from all it brought us success, so again hats off to him for persevering and making it work.

Now let’s get into the limitations of Marcelino recent body of work with Valencia and the reason why I alluded to a need for a tactical evolution. Marcelino style in my opinion has limitations in that it’s very passive and the few times we have possession it relies on smooth fast error free transition from defending to attacking. Against elite teams that dominate the ball much like what we saw last night against Barcelona and against Real Madrid in the league recently, it works perfectly and tactically that’s how you play superior teams, so that fine. Where I have an issue is we have used this same method against inferior teams many times home and away  throughout the season, instead controlling and stamping our authority in the game. There were many times in the season where a weaker opposition was dominating possession and I would wonder why we’re not asserting our dominance and quality in the game.

Another issue I have with Marcelino’s style is our players lack of confidence and quality to stay composed in pressured situations. For example the defence kick the ball out aimlessly anytime a little pressured is applied, Neto struggles playing the ball from the back, and apart from parejo and few others, most struggle to hold the ball. Now I don’t know if this is a coaching instruction or if the players we have just don’t have that quality, but for a professional footballer at this level playing for Valencia not to have composure is unacceptable. Either way this needs to improve if we want to progress, the modern game is built on control and composure.

Finally I put forward this question, has Marcelino shown tactical flexibility? In my opinion, I haven’t seen it and his persistence in sticking with with plan A was there for all to see during the season. Who knows maybe a change in setup and some of those draws in the league could have been victories. But I guess since we achieved our target of top 4 it wasn’t terminal. This was worth mentioning because we seemed very predictable and teams new what to expect, therefore meant our opposition would prepare for us knowing what was coming. I’d like to see Marcelino mix it up and become unpredictable, maybe try a 4-2-3-1 or even 3-4-3 with wingbacks setup, after all we have the personnel to play those system. I say that to say this, the modern game has changed and requires a manager to adapt and be flexible depending on the opposition.

These are the key areas of Marcelino’s evolution I would like to see him improve next season. But overall I’m glad he’s proved me wrong in delivering our seasons objective and then some. I hope he doesn’t rest on his laurels and evolves as a manager.

Next seasons plans – ins and outs 

I think it’s safe to say this is the best position Valencia have been in for a very long time. With a very good squad foundation to build on, another champions league qualification, a trophy, a competent front office and ownership and a new stadium on the horizon the future does indeed look bright. But only if we continue this upwards trajectory where in. We have to be smart but ambitiously aggressive in strengthening this team.

Must keep: Neto, Domenech, Garay, Paulista, Diakhaby, Gaya, Wass, Parejo, Kondogbia, Coquelin, Soler, Guedes, Torres, Gameiro and Mina?

Loan: Lato, Kangin, Racic

Sell: Rodrigo?, Maksi, Murillo?, Vezo  Medran, Piccini, Sobrino
*?
Rodrigo – in my opinion Rodrigo has regressed from last season and is expendable. He’s hot and cold and doesn’t provide the consistency we need from a forward. We haven’t had a prolific goal scorer since soldado, Paco was next in line but we know how that story ended. We have similar players to Rodrigo, which is why I believe selling him for a good price (45-50 mil) would allow us to replenish our forward line and go in a different direction. I think Rodrigo at 28 has hit his ceiling in terms of development and last season (2017-2018) was his peak I believe. That’s why I suggested the players below who are 3-6 years younger and have a better upside.

Mina – I’m indecisive about Mina, he can be very frustrating but can be useful rotational player that offers key goals from the bench. For that reason and if we sell Rodrigo then Mina stays.

Murillo – he’s a player I like. Not sure what the problem is with Marcelino, but if that can be resolved I’d keep him. He’s approaching the peak age for a defender and his experience and quality would be useful. Hope he stays and gets he’s fair share of opportunities.

Buy:

Right back – anyone of Mukiele, Pedro Porro or Dubois
Dubois 1st Mukiele 2nd Porro 3rd

Central midfield: Teji Savanier, I’ve mentioned this guy before, he’s a natural leader who’s taken the french league by storm playing for Nimes. I think he can be brought relatively cheap but we need get in there early, as there’s speculation Sevilla are sniffing around.

Right midfield: Denis Suarez, with many players expected to leave Barcelona, I think we can get him at a discounted price.

Forwards: any two of  Raul de Tomas, Mariano Diaz and Wesley Moraes.

RDT – reminds me of soldado so much. He recently said he wants to stay at Madrid (don’t know why, should have learned from Diaz mistake In  coming back), but they have bigger fish to catch in the summer. We’ve been linked with him before and he would be a very good signing and I think he’s getable.

Diaz – he realised what a huge mistake he made in coming back. Showed at Lyon he’s a very good player. Another player we were recently linked with, who would be great signing.

Wesley moraes – he’s a different type of forward to what we have. Wesley is a physical imposing forward who has speed and good link up play, reminds me a little of balotelli without the childishness. He’s fresh off a 17 goals and 10 assists season, which has not gone unnoticed from the English league as Newcastle and West Ham have already started proceedings. We were linked with him last season before we went for gameiro.

I think Rodrigo will go, with Atletico, Napoli, Madrid (don’t know why), Barcelona (still don’t known why) being linked with him. If he’s sold at an inflated price and we buy any two of the above, that would be a good bit of business in my eyes.
I just hope we don’t sell any of our young homegrown assets. Gaya, Torres, soler and kangin should be kept at all cost, that’s our present and future stars.

Let me know what you guys think.

Valencia beat Barcelona 2-1 in Copa del Rey final!

==PREVIEW==
It's the last game of what has been a weird season. Appropriately, it's a final, Valencia's first in 11 years. Back at the start of the year, when Valencia lost its last 16 tie to Sporting Gijon in the middle of a miserable run, this looked unlikely. Not only that, but getting anything from the season looked unlikely at that point in time. The team lay 12th in the league, nine points behind 4th placed Alaves, with rumours of Marcelino's sacking growing. European qualification seemed to depend on winning the cup to get into the Europa league. The panorama now is hugely different. Valencia staged an epic recovery to meet the season's main target of 4th place and go into the game in a relaxed manner. As underdogs, most neutrals expect us to lose, whereas there is huge pressure on Barcelona, following another humiliating reversal in the UEFACL to Liverpool. We have an excellent chance here to end our centenary season in style.

In our favour is Barcelona's poor morale. Numerous Barcelona fans actually want us to win, believing this will be the best way to get rid of Valverde (talk about spoilt and ungrateful.) Barcelona failed to beat us in both league games this season, needing Messi to dig them out of their holes and get a draw. Also, Barcelona have several players out. Ter Stegen probably wouldn't have played anyway but they also miss Luis Suarez, Arthur, Rafinha and most likely Coutinho and Dembele. Marcelino has never won against them in 20 games so now is the time.

For Valencia, apart from Cheryshev's continued injury and Kang-In's absence for the international tournament, it's almost a full squad. There are slight doubts about Garay and Kondogbia but the latter at least is likely to feature, at least as sub

A possible line-up is Jaume ; Gaya, Diakhaby (Garay), Paulista, Piccini ; Guedes, Parejo, Coquelin, Wass ; Rodrigo, Gameiro.

I think Marcelino will start Wass instead of Soler and aim to hold Barcelona at bay in the first period, with Soler, Mina and Kondogbia the possible second half subs. LET'S DO THIS!

==HALF TIME REPORT==
I logged on to do a quick half time report, but our regular contributor Amunt.Valencia has written one in the comments, so I'm stealing it and please give full credit to him for this part....

5' - That was a golden chance for Rodrigo! We almost scored. Both sides seem nervous.
22' - GOAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL GAMEIRO! Nice touch to take Alba out

24' - Barcelona seem really shaky, giving the ball away too easily.
32' - We're playing decently well. Need to get Guedes involved more, he seems isolated.
33' - GOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLL 2-0! Rodrigo!!! Great run from Carlos Soler to beat Jordi Alba!

36' - Parejo controlling the ball and Messi so well
42' - Our tackling and interceptions today are on point. We're getting helped by sloppy Barca play though.
45' - Great leaping save from Jaume to deny Messi from distance!
Half-time: 2-0: Really the best half we could've hoped for. It's ours to lose from here on out.

==SECOND HALF==
Valencia did it! The team had to soak up a lot of pressure in the second half. Jaume made a couple of great saves. The team conceded (as usual) from a corner, Soler, who had done well otherwise, playing Messi on to follow up a rebound and score to set up a nervous last 15 minutes.

Guedes didn't do himself any favours by scuffing a couple of great chances on the break to kill the game but at this point, it seems like the nitpicking about that, and some of the performances this season, can wait for another time.

4th place, Europa semis, a Copa win. Don't know about you folks, but that makes a fantastic season for me. AMUNT!!!!

Champions League !!!!! Amunt!!!

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, WOHOO! This ended up being a fantastic season, yes there were difficulties in the first half of the season, it was a slow start, but the team built up slowly and we managed to reach the semi final in the Europa league, we managed to qualify for the Champions league and next week we play in the final of the copa del rey.

Congratulations to Valencia CF and to all of its fans for a fantastic and successful season!

This is it then. The last and most important game in the league of Valencia's topsy turvy season could see the team fulfil their decent comeback this year by sealing Champions league football. Results last weekend, apart from Sevilla drawing instead of losing, couldn't have been better as they saw our rivals for today, Valladolid secure their place in La Liga for next season.

Valladolid and their coach in particular have animosity towards Bordalas going back to a play-off final. That could also help us. So, with everything in our favour, it's up to us to seal the deal, without complacency. We know from games like the one versus Rayo that our team is totally capable of screwing up when it's needed most.

Big news in the squad

is that Kondogbia returns, though I wouldn't expect anything more from him other than a late sub appearance at best. Garay also has injury doubts and probably won't feature. Soler is suspended and Marcelino has said that Jaume will get the remaining games.

Given all that, I would expect to see: Jaume ; Gaya, Diakhaby, Paulista, Piccini ; Guedes, Parejo, Coquelin, Wass ; Rodrigo, Gameiro. (Mina instead of Gameiro is possible.)

_________________
My bad, Soler isn't suspended, so he is at right midfield with Wass at right back and Mina starting with Gameiro on the bench.

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FIRST HALF
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A nervous first half, or is that just me? Valencia struggled to threaten and at times Valladolid looked like the team with more to play for. It got worse in the 14th minute when news came through that Getafe had scored and were therefore in fourth temporarily. Valladolid had a couple of good chances, one from a free kick where Jaume fumbled it with his feet and another when Wass got owned and Jaume had to save at his near post. Valencia fluffed some chances too. Wass put a great ball across the box but neither Mina nor Rodrigo were well-positioned. Mina slipped when receiving a great pass, when he would have had an easy pass to Rodrigo and was also denied by a good save from Joel. But the breakthrough came in the 35th minute. Rodrigo robbed, found Mina and good footwork from him found Soler who calmly slotted home. Getafe had scored a second in the 24th minute but VAR had ruled it out. Just before halftime Villarreal equalised against Getafe, so we have that insurance now, but the best insurance will be Valencia asserting themselves more and adding more goals. We cannot rely on other teams to slip up.

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SECOND HALF
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Valencia got the insurance goal in the 52nd minute. The TV basically missed it as they were focused on a replay as Joel took a goal kick, only cutting back to the live feed just in time to see Rodrigo score. What happened was that Joel's goal kick found the defender, but his touch was too heavy, Parejo stole in, robbed the ball, and one-on-one unselfishly rolled the ball to Rodrigo who had a tap-in. After that, Valladolid put in noticeably less effort. There were a couple of nervous moments: Jaume produced a couple of great saves to maintain his clean sheet and there was a VAR check with 12 minutes left for a possible penalty in Valladolid's favour. The commentator announced that the ref had given it but luckily he was wrong. Getafe conceded an equaliser and Valencia, after lagging behind by 12 points at one stage, take fourth with a 2-point gap.

Good game for Jaume, while Diakhaby was a titan in the air, heading out goodness knows how many crosses. Kondogbia came on and played the last half hour and looked very good.

Plenty of things we can nitpick over about the season as a whole, the poor start almost cost us, but ultimately it's been a good centenary year: Europa semis, back-to-back Champs league qualifications for the first time since 2012. That we did it by overhauling Sevilla and Getafe, 2 hated rivals, just makes it all the sweeter and still a chance of silverware next week in the Copa. AMUNT!!!

Valencia 3-1 Alaves match thread

Final home game of the season, must win as always, Valencia's 59th game of a hectic season, when did we last play so many? Few surprises in the line-up

Jaume is probably a mild surprise. Neto and the defence, after being good all season have been a bit shaky recently, but I suspect this is just to give Jaume a game to get him ready for the Copa final. Up front, Mina starts instead of Gameiro.

Alaves, who were fourth at the end of March, have hit an awful run of form with 3 draws and 5 defeats in the last 8, but as we saw with our game against Rayo, that doesn't allow us to be complacent.

Of importance to us is the game at the Nou Camp where Barcelona have gone with Cillessen; Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal; Malcom, Messi, Coutinho. Apart from resting Ter Stegen, looks like the strongest line-up possible.

A couple of news items. It looks like Valencia will receive a transfer ban for signing underage players. The club can appeal, delaying any sanctions and then work around them.

Secondly, the club will resign Maksimovich this week, exercising the 7.5 million buy back clause. As he appears not to be part of Marcelino's plans and we are well stocked in midfield, the club's plans are to cash in on his good season, with rumoured interest from Germany may be bringing in 15 million.

==FIRST HALF==
With pressure to succeed could Valencia blow it? Yes. Though the team had looked lively in the opening period, with a Rodrigo-Guedes interplay leading to the latter cutting inside and sending a shot just wide of the post. Valencia's love of shooting themselves in the foot was in evidence again. A fluffed corner led to Alaves having a 4 on 2 counter attack which was eventually blocked by Jaume, I can't say saved, since it hit him in the face. Corners worry me as much as counters so I wasn't hugely surprised when they scored, beating Jaume at his near post. Soler lost his man and Mina wasn't able to get up to block.

Both made amends. First, a long ball from Paulista saw their defender screw up, trying to head back to the keeper but instead letting Soler equalise. Then, from a corner, Mina headed in to put us ahead. Rodrigo has had a couple of chances to add to the lead but poor decision making both times saw him either tackled or shooting over. Alaves have had a few counter attacks so they are very much in this. Concentration and a third goal is needed. Other results going our way: Getafe and Sevilla losing and Valladolid, who we play next week winning and hopefully will be safe.

==SECOND HALF==
A very nervy start, with Valencia weathering heavy Alaves pressure but the team produced a more solid performance in this half and in the 67th minute, Gaya put in an excellent cross and Gameiro smartly headed into the turf, with the bounce proving too much for the keeper. Gaya was involved in Valencia's best chance later, making a strong run and finding Gameiro who had the chance of shooting or passing to the overlapping Soler. He chose the second option, which probably was the best, but Soler shot wide with the whole goal to aim at. The game closed out 3-1 and with Getafe losing and Sevilla drawing, that means that Valencia creep into fourth for the first time this season. Valladolid also won and put themselves safe, meaning they have nothing to play for next week (though Getafe's opponents Villarreal did the same.) Finally, after a weird season, we have our destiny in our hands for the first time since matchday 1. 

Valencia - Arsenal (match thread)

I'm late with this and, despite the late hour, will try my best to update this post with first and second half reviews. Your comments will be appreciated.

Standard line-up from both teams with Valencia going with....

Let's hope the team can build on the 6-goal win of last weekend.

Quick update.... Valencia started well and got a good goal but then Arsenal got a goal from nowhere. I would like to blame the defence but don't even think they or Neto did a lot wrong. When you can afford to spend nearly 70 million on a forward, as English teams can do, that gives you the edge against comparable teams from other leagues. Arsenal just scored the killer second and that's it for me I'm afraid. I don't think this scoreline is representative but when La Liga is based on a corrupt model of giving all the TV money to two teams, what can we do?

Huesca 2-6 Valencia match thread

This is it then. Very often this season, we've described games as "must-win" but this truly is one, as the finish line of the season is in sight. Valencia had a bit of temporary cheer when Sevilla got mauled at home by Leganes (their manager being Mauricio Pellegrino.) His efforts at doing his old club a favour will all be for nothing if Valencia don't win tonight. Getafe's win over Girona was a double whammy for us. Not only does it put Getafe 6 points clear, a Girona win would have relegated Huesca. As it is, Huesca are still mathematically alive and fighting for an outside chance of survival. As we've seen in recent weeks, the bottom teams are fighting tooth and nail: Rayo beat us and R.Madrid (but still went down) and Valladolid have just beaten Bilbao and therefore none of them can be taken lightly. 

Another point to note is that Huesca's league position doesn't tell the full story. Anyone who has watched them will know they are better than it suggests. Indeed, they are unbeaten in 6 games, though they've only won one of those. Valencia barely scraped a win at Mestalla over them, Piccini's 94th minute strike sealing the three points with Marcelino's job on the line.

His destiny as Valencia coach may still depend on doing the business against Huesca. A number of fans are fed up with the team's conservative style this season and top four for the second season running would go a huge way to placating doubters. To be honest, I think he'll continue anyway, as top 6, copa final and at least Europa league semis will be good enough for the club's hierarchy, but fan unrest spilling over into next season would not be good. Valencia have lost 3 in a row for the first time this season and really need to shake themselves out of this mini-rut and keep the pressure on Getafe. Sadly, their next game at Barcelona may not be as tough as we'd hoped as Barcelona are now resting players with the league in the bag.

A few changes for the game with, thankfully, none of the weirdness we saw last game. Soler and Garay are rested, Guedes returns to the wing and a forward two of Mina and Rodrigo starts.

A win will guarantee Valencia European football next season in at least Europa league, while making it impossible to break the 18 draws in a season record (they could only, erm, draw with that record.)

==FIRST HALF REPORT==
Where did that come from? Valencia escape their recent malaise in style, blasting a poor Huesca away to lead 5-0 at the break. I think that's the most decisive Valencia first-half performance since the win over Vienna at Mestalla in early 2016. I was struggling to get a stable stream at the start so missed the early goal from Wass. From the replay, it was a pass through from Gabriel with Wass twisting and shooting past the keeper. The second came from a terrific pass from the right (Coquelin?) to find Mina whose through ball put Rodrigo one on one with the keeper and he rounded him and scored from a tight angle. The third came from an interchange between Mina, Rodrigo and Guedes with the latter finding Mina in space in the area. He took his time before placing it home well. Mina, of course, only scores in twos and he got the fourth, Piccini combining with Wass, whose ball across the box was turned in by Mina. The fifth almost certainly goes down as an own goal. Awful defending with a blind back pass straight to Rodrigo. I'm nitpicking, but he should have done better and while he was dithering, the defender slid in and put it in his own net.

Main question now is who to take off to rest with the Arsenal second leg upcoming. Parejo, Rodrigo and Guedes would be an obvious three, with Lato for Gaya (or Guedes) an option.

==SECOND HALF==
With the Arsenal game ahead, Valencia understandably took their foot off the pedal in the second period, focusing on avoiding injuries and bookings. Parejo and Guedes went off to rest at half time for Soler and Ferran and it was the latter that contributed to the next goal, a superb chip over the defence for Mina who passed across to Rodrigo for 6-0. Rodrigo went off soon after with a minor knock just as a precaution.

The only negatives came in the Huesca goals. Poor defending to let them get to the by-line then Neto spilled the save and Piccini had lost his man. The final goal in injury time from a penalty came after Diakhaby blocked a shot with his arm. That's the  fourth time he's given away a penalty due to handball this season and this is becoming a problem.

Overall, a solid and morale boosting win. Now we have to hope that another former Valencia manager, Valverde, puts out a strong team and beats Getafe next week as otherwise we're reliant on Villarreal, who are safe.

Arsenal - Valencia match thread

Valencia's last game ended in a hugely disappointing defeat to Eibar, a team that had nothing to play for. That Getafe and Sevilla also lost makes it bittersweet: good that it means Valencia have an outside chance of 4th place but bad in that the team blew a chance to jump into 4th. Now, with only 3 rounds left, the team has to win all 3 remaining games, 2 of which are away against teams fighting relegation (we lost to Rayo in similar circumstances) and then hope that Sevilla and Getafe each lose a game. Time is running out and therefore the Europa league now represents our best chance of getting Champions league football.

The match squad contains few surprises, but does have the team light in midfield, with Cheryshev and Kondogbia injured and Coquelin banned.

Some of you have said in the comments that we should have both Gaya and Lato on the left, with one of them in midfield. I would go for that too, but doubt it will happen. I would expect Marcelino to go with

Neto
Gaya-Garay-Paulista-Piccini
Guedes-Parejo-Wass-Soler
Gameiro-Rodrigo

Arsenal are in a poor run of form, so hopefully Valencia can keep a clean sheet and maybe nick a crucial away goal.

FIRST HALF

I don't know what to make of that, either the line-up or the performance. Marcelino put in SIX defenders and it wasn't clear what the formation would be. Turns out to be 5-3-2 with Diakhaby playing a defensive midfield role.

Valencia started brightly and from a free kick move the ball was put across the box. Garay then produced one of the misses of the season, shooting over an empty goal when scoring would have been easier. A few minutes later Valencia had the lead and a crucial away goal. Again from a set piece, Cech and the Arsenal defence were all over the place, with Rodrigo heading back across the goal and Diakhaby heading home. Arsenal looked disorganised and another chance arrived. Not sure what the Arsenal defender was doing when he headed it back to the keeper but Guedes stole in but shot over.

The tide turned after the 15th minute, now it was Valencia's turn to be disorganised and shaky in defence. Arsenal played us at our own game, a fast counter with a goal after defensive errors. Neto came out and got caught in no man's land. 7 minutes later Valencia were behind, another poor goal to concede, a cross into the box with Roncaglia allowing Lacazette to head home and again, Neto probably could have done better.

Some positive signs, but Guedes has struggled to make an impact and so many defenders at times seems to have made the defence worse, not better.

SECOND HALF
Well, that's really poor. What is the point in having so many defenders on if we concede soft goals? Tie over for me, I just can't see us winning 2-0.

Atletico Madrid 3 - 2 Valencia CF Match Thread

Well, for a game between the two best defensive sides in the league I don't think anyone expected there to be 5 goals. We have struggled to beat Atletico Madrid on many occasions over the past few years and this was just another one of those occasions.

Atletico scored first early in the first half with a cross from Juanfran on the right (our left) picking out Morata at the far post. Garay let his guard down and let Morata get to the ball for a poke past Neto.

Valencia would respond soon after with Soler picking out Santi Mina in the Atletico box. The latter would dribble past 2 Atletico defenders and pick out Gameiro at the opposite post who had no trouble beating Oblak from that range.

Atletico would regain the lead early in the second half with another cross. This time Griezmann would get to the ball ahead of Gaya and head the ball past Neto.

Atletico would get several other chances to get further ahead with a goal from Morata ruled offside correctly, as well as a header and a shot from Griezmann both of which skimmed past the post.

Valencia would get a gift in the form of a handball confirmed by VAR and Parejo would step up to take it and score.

Taking one point from the game would've been a good result especially at the Wanda Metropolitano, however, Correa would yet again hand us a defeat with a long range effort from the edge of the box. He was yet again given the time and space, and Neto remained frozen for the third time in the match.

We had some luck by getting a quite sloppier than usual Atletico side but unfortunately defensive errors would cost us the game this time. It was weird to see Guedes subbed off early despite being taken off early the game prior in preparation for this game. The replacement was Sobrino who had been injured up until this point. Other than his involvement in the counterattacking play right after he was subbed on, he didn't really make an impact. Of course, we can't expect that he would add anything so soon after a long injury and I don't see how he was an improvement over Guedes. Our bench was pretty weak today due to injuries with the only other viable substitution being Ferran Torres but Marcelino opted just for the one change.

Parejo had a great game but a lot of the other players were giving the ball away too easily and wasting possession. It would have been nice to have Rodrigo and Kondogbia in a game like this but it is what it is.

The good news is we got Sobrino back, our Europa League opponents are having a poor run of form, and Getafe play a tough game against Real Madrid next meaning the gap will probably be maintained barring an upset. However, Sevilla can now overtake both of us if they win.

Real Betis - Valencia match thread

So a crunch week arrives with two tough away games, Atletico Madrid away on Wednesday and tonight, at Betis. Valencia hasn't won against either of the two big Madrid teams away since February 2011 when a brace from Jaoquin took the points. He's starting for the other team tonight and Valencia's recent lack of success in Madrid means it's important he doesn't go away happy. Getafe beat Sevilla earlier. As Getafe have a tougher final set of fixtures this was probably the best result possible and also, from a longer term point of view, if Valencia screw up and don't get 4th, Sevilla are a more dangerous rival than the annoying team of Bordalas. Neither can happen though and it's essential that we get the 3 points and then hope to get something from Atletico Madrid. Drop points tonight and it's hard to see us catching up.

Line up is mostly as expected, with the possible exception of Mina up front instead of Gameiro. I guess Rodrigo is still not 100% fit. Mina-Guedes worked well enough last time and both scored in the corresponding fixture last season so here's hoping for a repeat.

==FIRST HALF REPORT==
A mostly frustrating first half. Valencia stood off and allowed Betis lots of possession: it was 74% in their favour at one moment. But a common complaint against Setien this season is that his team have lots of possession without doing anything with it and so it proved. There was a half shot that shaved the outside of the post and a few headers off target but nothing major. Bad news for Valencia as Cheryshev went down injured looking like he twisted something. However, he was able to walk off, so hopefully it isn't too bad. Rodrigo came on, with Guedes returning to his familiar left wing position.

Valencia had created close on zero. I think it was the 41st minute when Valencia even had a shot and that was a tame effort from Mina off target when he was well covered by the defender. The first Valencia shot on target came in injury time and what a shot. Parejo found Rodrigo who drove forward and found Guedes, who cut inside and, with Rodrigo complaining about not receiving a pass, hit a wonderful shot through the legs of the defender to beat the keeper at his near post. Nicely set up for Valencia to hit Betis on the counter in the second half.

==SECOND HALF==
Valencia got the second half off to a good start, from a short corner, the ball came to Guedes, who again ploughed a low drive through a group of defenders to give us a 2-goal lead. Valencia were looking better and more adventurous and looked comfortable. Last year, Valencia had been cruising: 4 up in the Villamarin before imploding in the 78th minute and conceding 3 goals in a short space of time. By coincidence, this happened again. First, Gabriel gave away a penalty to let them cut our lead. Then Rodrigo picked up the second of two stupid bookings to reduce us to 10 men and leave us with a nervy finish. Lo Celso should have had a second yellow but it didn't happen. Despite Betis peppering us with corners our defence held strong. Another decisive performance from Guedes.

Final fixtures.
Valencia: At.Madrid (a), Eibar (h), Huesca (a), Alaves (h), Valladolid (a)
Getafe: R.Madrid (h), Sociedad (a), Girona (h), Barcelona (a), Villarreal (h)
Sevilla: Rayo (h), Girona (a), Leganes (h), At.Madrid (a), Bilbao (h)

Valencia - Villarreal (Europa league) match thread

Valencia goes into the second leg of its Europa league quarter final tonight with a solid lead. The 2 late goals give the team a considerable cushion, so the main enemy is complacency. Marcelino therefore has to balance keeping the squad fit with getting the job done. Jaume, Piccini, Kondogbia and Rodrigo are out, while Garay gets a rest. Also a consideration, yellow cards are reset after tonight and Gaya, Diakhaby, Guedes and Coquelin will benefit from that as, if they get a yellow tonight, they miss the first leg of the semi at Arsenal (or Napoli.)

Given all that, I think we will see Neto and Lato. Giving Jaume a game would have been an option if fit, but playing Cristian would be a gamble too far. Gaya both needs to rest and avoid a yellow, so Lato should get the full game. For the rest of defence, I would risk Diakhaby, even if he gets the yellow, we can cover with any of the other three. Play Gabriel in the centre and Roncaglia at RB. Roncaglia hasn't been great at RB, but Wass needs some time off with Piccini out.

In midfield, Guedes should sit this one out with the yellow card threat, meaning Cheryshev starts. In the centre I'd play Parejo and Soler, with Ferran at right wing. I would then aim to replace Parejo with Wass at half time to rest him, and Cheryshev with Kang-In around minute 70.

Up front, I'd give Sobrino this game. He needs minutes, especially with Rodrigo out. I'd also give Mina a game to boost his confidence, but with the understanding he'll be subbed off for a rest around minute 60.
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HALF-TIME REPORT

Valencia were clearly superior in the first half, which was affected by driving rain. We broke the deadlock in the 12th minute. Guedes outmuscled the defender and chipped a nice ball into the path of Lato, who produced a cool finish from an angle for his first senior goal.

Valencia should have had more, but Mina made the wrong decision when we had an overload in defence and Gameiro also messed up a couple, misplacing a chip over the keeper when one-on-one.

There's a little bit of mild frustration that we haven't got the second goal we need to start making subs with an eye on the upcoming Betis game on Sunday.

SECOND HALF REPORT

A little bit of a strange substitution at half-time, Soler being replaced by Gabriel, with a reshuffle moving Roncaglia to RB and Wass to central midfield. The second goal came in the 53rd minute. Parejo's free kick took a huge deflection and it's not even sure he'll be credited with that. Parejo came off just after minute 60 for Coquelin, another strange sub since Coq was on a yellow and we could've just put Cheryshev in instead. Kang-In for Guedes was the last sub. After that, Valencia understandably relaxed a bit, the team hardly ever went past the halfway line. That's ok, but what wasn't was the team's passing became super sloppy and the team barely put more than 2 passes together. Near the end, Coquelin got a yellow card which suspends him from the first leg at Arsenal. It was never a yellow, the Villarreal player blasting it at him and the ball bouncing off his knee on to his hand. Maybe the club can appeal? But as I say, stupid decision from Marcelino to play him when the team had a 5-1 aggregate lead.

Good performances from Diakhaby, Lato and Wass with Guedes standing out again. An easy win overall and now Arsenal await.

Valencia - Levante match thread

The Valencia city derby always has bragging rights at stake, but tonight is even more crucial for both teams. Levante are just above the relegation zone. A win for Sevilla this weekend gives them a 6-point advantage over Valencia in the race for 4th and means Valencia must win to stay in touch. Lose or draw and the Europa league would be our only route into the Champions league and the win for Bilbao earlier today means there are teams breathing down our neck for the Europa league spots.

Some absences in the team. Kondogbia is out for the rest of the season, Ferran and Roncaglia are suspended and Rodrigo picked up a late injury.

I thought we would see Coquelin in midfield, but Wass stays there: he had one of his better games on Thursday, but I suspect Coquelin still isn't 100% fit. There's a slight surprise up front. Mina starting instead of Rodrigo was as expected, but Guedes, instead of Gameiro, is his strike partner. We've seen Guedes used as forward a few times, but always being switched there late in games after starting on the wing, so this is the first game he's started for us as forward. The only time we previously saw this combo used was against Sevilla in October 2017 after Valencia were already 2-0 up and both Mina and Guedes scored, so the omens at least are good.

HALF-TIME REPORT
Valencia dominated the first half and it took just 90 seconds for us to be ahead, a short corner, Guedes put in a good centre for Mina to head home. He needed that goal, his first in 3 months. Guedes made a powerful run minutes later and fired just over and there were chances in the half for Chersyhev, who headed just over and Mina, whose header was saved. Levante had only one chance in the 13th minute, with Neto saving well and generally our defence has kept them quiet. However, it's still only 1-0, the team is lacking precision in the passes and decisiveness in the final third. Despite Levante not doing a lot, our vulnerability from set pieces means we have to get a second goal to give us a cushion.

Levante played fairly dirty at times and it's amazing that the only player booked is Soler. Piccini went off after a collision, hopefully it is not serious. It looked fairly innocuous, but Marcelino said in the post-match interview that he'd gone to hospital, which sounds more serious.

SECOND HALF REPORT
Well, I said it at half-time: Valencia needed to score to cover our vulnerability from corners otherwise be punished and sure enough, that's what happened. Soler made a mess of clearing a corner and put it in his own net to give them an undeserved equaliser. Us scoring for them looked the only way they would manage it, as their sole effort in the second half was a shot from distance. Levante didn't even had time to pull the champagne cork out, as we quickly restored our lead. A one-two between Guedes and Soler, a clever back heel from Soler allowing Guedes to rifle a powerful shot across the keeper. A few minutes later we did indeed have the 2-goal cushion. From a cross, Soler hit a shot past the keeper, it rebounded off the post behind him allowing Mina to tap in. Soler really redeemed himself from the own goal with a couple of assists, Mina only ever seems to score in doubles and Guedes is in a purple patch and having his best spell since the first half of his first season with us. Would be man of the match for me tonight. A really good Valencia performance: probably should have won by more.

Villarreal - Valencia (Europa league) match thread

I'm putting this place holder up at half time for comments tonight and tomorrow. No surprises in the line-up. Roncaglia at right back was dubious last time, but it's forced on the club this time, with the injury to Kondogbia, Coquelin still not fully fit and Soler suspended, meaning Wass is the only central midfielder available.

A great start for Valencia, winning an early penalty with a blatant foul on Guedes. Parejo stepped up with the pressure of a missed penalty last game on his shoulders. Sadly, it was fairly predictable that he would go for his favoured side of right of the keeper, where he usually goes, given that his attempt to switch sides last time didn't work. Saved. Luckily, Guedes followed up quickly to slot home. Valencia's only chance after that was a great cross from Ferran to Gameiro, who did excellently to create space with 2 defenders on him, but his shot was still blocked.

35th minute, Garay, who has had a below par game so far, gave away a stupid penalty to let them equalise and right now, they look more likely to score. Here's hoping for a better second half.

Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Valencia

Valencia goes to Vallecas today to try and finish an excellent week by winning and getting into the Champions league places, at least temporarily, for the first time this season. With a Europa league game coming up on Thursday there are, as expected a few changes.

Garay gets rested in favour of the returning Paulista. Wass gets a break and, with Piccini out, Roncaglia starts there instead. He's only played once there this season, so this is a bit of a gamble. Cheryshev and Ferran start instead of Guedes and Soler, with Mina in instead of Gameiro. Parejo's yellow card in the last game was rescinded after the club's appeal. Not sure that's a totally good thing. This is one of the easier remaining games and it might have been better for him to sit this one out and reset his yellow card counter than be missing for a future important game.

Rayo have danger men like the Real Madrid loanee De Thomas, but the club is in the middle of an awful run: last week's home draw with Betis is the only point they've got in the last 9 games. If Valencia wants Champions league, it's imperative that we win games like this.

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A poor first half. Valencia did put a couple of good balls through for Ferran. In the first he shot wide when he might have tried to find Rodrigo and in the second he was closed down by the goalkeeper. There was a warning shot soon after. Parejo dawdled on the ball instead of clearing it, got robbed and their shot was just wide. This is something that's crept into our game in recent matches: we get overconfident around the box instead of just getting the ball out of danger and it was to prove costly.

A few minutes later, Rodrigo was brought down in the box. Parejo hit one of the worst penalties I've seen in ages. No power and too close to the keeper. A great chance to lead wasted. Soon after came exactly what I'm talking about, Diakhaby took too long on the ball got robbed and Paulista lost his man, De Thomas (I did say he was the danger man) who put them ahead. Valencia only created one attack after that, a break away with 5 facing 3 defenders, but as usual screwed it up. A much better second half needed....

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….but it didn't come. Passing really poor and imprecise. We lacked definition and any attacking threat. Parejo had one of the best chances after a one-two with Gameiro but shot straight at the keeper. Guedes was fairly lively after coming on, but his shot was unable to beat the keeper and when he found Gameiro, the latter, as so often happens this season, was offside. Rayo actually looked more likely to score but fluffed a couple of counter attacks. However, at the end, they sent a cross in, Paulista, for the second time, screwed up with Neto pulling off a great save. It was all for nothing, though, as Rayo scored from one of the resulting corners.

After doing the hard part of beating Sevilla and Real Madrid it's a sickener to lose to a team that hadn't won since January, with Valencia's 16-game unbeaten run ending tamely with a whimper.

Valencia - Real Madrid match thread

This is a late kick-off on a week night, so the best I can do is put up a placeholder for people to comment on.

Like the last game, this is a crucial one. Getafe drew last night so we can move a point behind them with a win. But looking the other way, Bilbao are a goal up against Levante with 20 minutes left and will move level with us on points. Simply, Valencia *must* win this one (and all remaining home games) to have any hope of top four. It's doable. Real struggled against Huesca in the last game and we've beaten them in two of the last four games at Mestalla.

Paulista, unfortunately, has picked up a knock so the only change for this game is in defence. I'm a little surprised that Diakhaby has been chosen rather than the more experienced Roncaglia, but hopefully it will worl and we get the three points.

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Sevilla 0-1 Valencia

Valencia achieve a key victory at the difficult stadium of a hated rival, achieving "il sorpasso" - overtaking them in the process due to a better head to head record. No mean feat when you remember that the week before Christmas, Sevilla were 12 points ahead of us.

The team's better form this year has been helped by a short injury list. Jaume, Piccini and Coquelin were the only absentees today, meaning we were able to select a strong team.

I thought Marcelino might have been tempted to play Gabriel on the right to counter the threat of Promes, but it was a straightforward enough line-up, and the first choice pairing of Gabriel-Garay had a good game.

Sevilla got out of the blocks quickest and had us under pressure in the first 10 minutes, but after weathering the storm Valencia controlled most of the rest of the half. Disappointingly nothing much came of it. Soler had an excellent moment, beating 2 defenders and sending the ball across the box but all the players were waiting for a pull back. When a similar chance arrived later in the half, the players were instead attacking the 6-yard box when the ball was pulled back (!) The team also screwed up a couple of breakaways. In one of them, Gameiro dawdled too long and the chance went and the second, in the second half, saw a 3 on 2 break, but Rodrigo took the wrong option of passing to Gameiro and his return pass was deflected just past Parejo.

One of several things I didn't like, and I've complained about this before, is that the team seems almost afraid to have a pot shot from distance. We have players like Guedes, Parejo and Kondogbia up against a rookie goalkeeper, a third choice making his debut and our first shot on target is our goal? Seriously?

The goal came from an excellent cross field pass by Parejo, with Banega bringing down Gaya for a clear penalty which Parejo easily converted.

The first half had seen Wass get owned by Promes and Guedes by Navas, and it was the latter that went off at half-time. Good decision I thought. Valencia's best chance of the second half came from a strong shot by Gameiro from outside the box, precisely the sort of thing we needed to see more of.

There's not a lot of good things that can be said about our second half performance. At times it felt like the players had been told not to put more than 2 passes together. We constantly lost the ball, failed to keep composure and suffered from it. There was one ridiculous moment when Cheryshev got the ball on the left and with only one attacker up, still chose to try and find him rather than waste some time holding it up in the corner until support arrived.

Sevilla made some mystifying substitutions. Amadou and Promes, both of whom had done well were taken off quite early. There was some controversy late on with 2 heart-stopping moments when the ref paused things to check if Sevilla should have a penalty, but both were waved away. I didn't see why Sevilla were so livid about the second: both players tangled in a 50/50.

Not sure we deserved the 3 points from that, but it's a huge result, especially with Getafe and Alaves losing and Betis drawing and we are now just 3 points off Getafe, on whom we have a better head to head.

Here are the final fixtures for teams ranked 4th to 9th:

Valencia 0-0 Getafe post-match

Bye bye to Champions league football next season then, unless we can win the Europa league.

Games like these are why I doubt this year's tactics. There is nothing to be gained by trying to play Getafe at their own game as we saw in the first half. We created very little and they were happy to sit back and cancel us out. They were closer to scoring than us: Jaume producing a good one handed save from a header to keep us in. VAR also helped, it looked like they had a good penalty shout, but nothing doing according to the referee. Good first half from Coquelin and Piccini, though they would fade a bit in the second.

Now, here's what I'm talking about. Valencia came out in the second half with a lot more energy and attacking purpose and created a lot more. The key incident was when a cross was whipped in, the keeper pushed it away and Guedes slotted home. The celebrations ended a minute later when VAR showed that it was offside. Gameiro got caught offside quite a lot. But ultimately, we looked much more likely to score when playing this way and this is where "luck" comes into it. You make your own luck. A team that has 20 shots on goal is far more likely to get a "lucky" deflected goal than a team that has 2. The team looked far better when trying this way than the dour first half performance. Guedes looked back to his best and we have flair players like him, Rodrigo, Ferran, Parejo etc and we should use them, by using our better players to outgun teams like this, not let ourselves be stalemated. I really feel that if we had played with the attacking intent that we saw in the second half, we'd have won.

16 draws, just 2 needed to equal the record. Over and out from me.

Krasnodar 1-1 Valencia

Another lame and boring draw then.

In truth my throat is sore, firstly from shouting in anger at some of the tame and timid play we witnessed in much of that game, anger that the inevitable happened when they scored and then relief from celebrating.

Make no mistake, though, we really rode our luck there and, I get tired of saying this, we can't keep on that way, as we are very soon going to get found out by one of the tougher opponents up ahead unless we change it around.

Line-up went mostly as expected

except up front. I expected at least one of Rodrigo or Gameiro to start, but Marcelino gambled on resting them for the Getafe game. A very dubious decision, I thought, and events certainly didn't justify it.

Marcelino said before the game that the team wouldn't be playing for 0-0. He lied. Instead the strategy was to play Russian roulette.

For most of the game Valencia lacked ambition. Passing was sloppy, there was too much blasting the ball aimlessly up front (I counted 4 times in the game when Neto simply kicked the ball up front to the opposing goalkeeper.) All the lost possession gave them ample time to attack.

Valencia's main chances came from a good ball across the box in the first half, which neither Mina nor Soler were able to capitalise on, and 2 headers from Gabriel. He really should have hit the target with one of them.

Trying to defend a single goal lead the whole game is a very high risk strategy and it looked like Valencia had been punished in the 84th minute when Krasnodar scored an excellent goal.

Only then did Valencia finally wake up and the team's habit of scoring at the death was seen again. Gameiro getting to the by-line and cutting the ball back to Guedes, who finished an excellent team goal to put us into the quarters.

In conclusion, overjoyed as we may be at this, it's hard not to have mixed feelings. Apart from the last few minutes of this game and the first 30-35 of the first leg, the team produced a below average performance in this round and was lucky that we didn't have a harder draw. Coquelin was poor tonight and the front two ran around like headless chickens and certainly did their claims for a starting place no favours. Sobrino was mostly invisible while Mina nodded the ball on aimlessly, stood waiting for the ball coming to him and got dispossessed quickly. Neto also had an off day and was fortunate not to be tested more. No clue what Soler was doing but it wasn't helping. Marcelino's strategy of hoping for a 0-0 didn't work and nearly had the team knocked out. I said it last match report and I'll repeat: the team should not sit on one goal leads. We are not Atletico Madrid and should be putting games to bed.

On the plus sides, what a week for Guedes. After going off close to tears just 7 days ago he is now in his best moment of the season. Also, as I said last time, the team's morale is obviously good: this is the 7th time just in 2019, that the team has scored in the 90th minute or later. Draw for the quarter finals tomorrow. Chelsea and Napoli are definitely through, with Villarreal looking highly likely.

Girona 2-3 Valencia

Valencia made a strong and determined effort to keep up their push for the most draws record today, only to fall at the last hurdle, Ferran spoiling the team's efforts with a last minute goal to give three points when all seemed lost.

I expected more changes, but the only ones were Gaya replacing Lato, Roncaglia in place of Diakhaby and Ferran instead of Soler. All those changes would play their part for good or bad.

Most importantly, Marcelino kept faith with Guedes, despite the latter's personal problems and poor performance last game.

An even start saw Girona force a save low from Neto. Valencia broke the deadlock in the 13th minute, Gameiro challenging well for a header, Rodrigo picking up the ball and threading an excellent pass between the defence for Guedes to run on to and slot home for his first goal of the season.

Valencia blundered away the lead 8 minutes later. Stupid challenge from Gaya gave them a free kick at the edge of our area and we always seem to be weak at defending them. Girona hadn't scored at home in the league since 12 January, but not to worry, Valencia are in town. Poor marking from Kondogbia and they equalise. 1-1 at half time.

Valencia started the second half stronger and a shot from Guedes rebounded off the keeper, but a defender cleared it off the line. Guedes was involved in the next action, when his shot was blocked, Parejo hit a crisp shot inside the keeper's near post to restore our lead.

In the 61st minute the ref made a poor decision which nearly cost us the points, booking Roncaglia after a defender had kicked the ball against him. Free kick was fair, the booking wasn't and it made the difference 10 minutes later when Roncaglia overbalanced and stuck his foot up to bring the defender down, getting a second booking and reducing us to 10 men, which put us on the back foot.

Marcelino had taken off Rodrigo and Gameiro to rest them for next Thursday, so during the game our forward line went from Rodrigo-Gameiro to Rodrigo-Cheryshev to Cheryshev-Guedes before finally Ferran was playing in an unfamiliar position as lone forward. I understand the need to rest players, and to his credit, Marcelino has generally managed it well, but I'm not a fan of these makeshift and ever changing forward lines.

Diakhaby came on for Guedes and conceded a penalty which gave them the equaliser. Down to 10 men, with Girona attacking and Ferran as lone striker it didn't look good and looked more a question of whether we could hold the draw. However, Girona lost the ball, Kondogbia threaded the ball through to Ferran who used great pace to round the keeper, who seemed indecisive and caught in no man's land, to score and give Valencia a victory that had seemed unlikely.

Girona are the only team apart from Juventus to win at Mestalla this season, so beating them at their own patch gives us revenge against an annoying team. 4 wins in a row for Valencia in all competitions, unbeaten in 9 with the last defeat coming at Getafe in the cup in late January. A hard fought win but one which pushes Valencia to sixth temporarily. Sevilla are currently drawing with Sociedad at half time. If it stays that way (hopefully) Valencia will end the round in our highest position of the season, 6th with a 6-point gap separating us from Getafe in fourth. 2 huge games in the next week: the second leg with Krasnodar and then Getafe at Mestalla. At least the team is in winning mood and seems to have figured out how to score more than 1 goal in a game.

Valencia - Krasnodar match thread

Valencia's non-stop push on three fronts continues tonight. By the time of the Getafe game on 17 March, the team will have played 21 games in 72 days (!) Luckily, the team is now largely injury free. Garay is the only one out, while Roncaglia and Kondogbia are suspended. That leaves a squad of

As I said in a previous post, Parejo and Gaya have played against another Krasnodar team, while Roncaglia and Wass came up against Krasnodar 2 years ago while playing for Celta, Wass scored in the first game. Despite that, they're an unknown quantity. Doing well in the Russian league and could win it. Russia's winter break ended last weekend and they achieved a decent draw at Spartak Moscow. The break could go two ways, it could mean they're fresher, but could also mean they're rusty. They usually play 4-1-4-1 or occasionally 4-2-3-1, so Valencia will have to be solid in the middle.

Marcelino said this week that Europa league is a priority so I would expect a strong line-up. Likely Neto;
Gaya - Diakhaby - Gabriel - Piccini;
Guedes - Parejo - Coquelin - Soler;
Rodrigo - Gameiro.

The considerations that could affect that are that only 2 central defenders are available and Parejo needs rest, in which case we could see Coquelin starting on the bench to conserve him in case we need a reserve defender, then replacing Parejo at half time.

A good win to nil is essential. If the team wants to have a good chance of progressing 2-0 or 3-0 is needed and that won't be easy.

Valencia - Athletic Bilbao preview/match thread

A giant of Spanish football, having a disappointing season. A brief flirtation with relegation due to too many draws and serious difficulty in scoring goals, with the 25 scored the second lowest in the division. Nonetheless, some improved performances in 2019 have pushed the team up the table to the fringes of the European places, with one of the tightest defences in the league helping.

All said, Bilbao's situation will sound very familiar to Valencia fans. After an opening day win at home to Leganes, 8 draws and 5 defeats left the club in the bottom 3. Since Christmas, they've rallied, with a 6-4-1 record putting them 10th, one place behind us. Today's game is therefore crucial, we need to win to put distance between us and a challenger for the Europa league places and to capitalise on the slip-ups of teams ahead of us. Sevilla lost yesterday to bottom club Huesca. While Valencia fans will enjoy their travails, it's pointless if we can't capitalise. If we have any ambitions of 6th or higher, we need to win the home games. Especially when we consider the schedule ahead:

Girona (A)
Getafe (H)
Sevilla (A)
R.Madrid (H)

Bilbao will be tough, since a defeat in the Basque derby at the start of last month, they've won 2 and drawn 1 without conceding. Aduriz, who always seems to score against us, is injured. Inaki Williams will be the main focus of their attack, though he hasn't score in the last 6 games and is having a disappointing season overall. Other players who will pose a threat are central midfielder Raul Garcia, who has scored all their last 3 goals and left winger Iker Muniain.

Marcelino, at least can call on nearly a full squad. Kang-In, Lato and Sobrino have been left out, leaving

Neto will return, with Gaya on the left. In the centre, Diakhaby's rest means he'll likely start and probably with Gabriel. I'd expect Piccini to start on the right instead of Wass. In midfield, Chersyhev, Kondogbia and Soler all had some rest on Thursday, so expect to see them, with Parejo ever present and, at best, subbed off late in the second half if the game is going our way.

Up front, again, Mina's rest makes him favourite to start and it's a toss-up which of Rodrigo or Gameiro will partner. (I'd guess Rodrigo.)

A critical game. If we don't get the three points today then top 4 seems gone.

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Some quick comments post-game due to the late hour. Selection mostly as I predicted, I forgot that Roncaglia is banned for next two European games, so he started. A typical first half and not in a good way. Too many mishit passes, too much diddling around when we have the ball. The team lacked decisiveness. Good to see the tandem of Parejo and Kondogbia controlling the midfield. Diakhaby mostly secure, though Bilbao had a very good penalty shout turned down when he brought down their player. Looked like it to me.

Roncaglia probably his worst game so far but not awful. Disappointing half from the front four, there were numerous times when Parejo or Kondogbia or Wass had pushed up but had no through ball  available.

Great goal after the break, nice one two between Mina and Rodrigo and excellent volley from the latter. Still not secure but the team wrapped it up at the end with good link up between the three subs, Guedes finding Soler and great ball across the box for Gameiro to finish. Our forwards are finally starting to produce: 7 goals in 10 games for Rodrigo and 4 in 9 for Gameiro. Another home game coming up on Thursday against Krasnodar, but good to see the team back in European positions.

Valencia 1-0 Betis (Copa del Rey semi-final)

Valencia have done it! First cup final in 11 years

Marcelino went with a risky enough game plan, trusting Valencia's defence to hold out, while aiming to steal a goal on the counter. It worked. Betis had very limited opportunities, mainly a couple of shots from distance. The Valencia goal was well worked. Piccini burst through and played a nice pass to Gameiro who had made another intelligent run. As usual, he showed his unselfishness, chipping it to Rodrigo, who couldn't miss an empty goal.

Rodrigo came off to protect him for the final, since he was on a yellow and Cheryshev, Soler and Diakhaby came on, with Guedes ending as the lone striker up front. If there's a minor grumble, it's that we fluffed a number of chances to kill the game with a second goal on the break.

This is a quick post, since I have to sleep, but I was happy with the performances of the team particularly Roncaglia, Piccini and Jaume among others.

Next cup game on the 25th....

gives us the first chance of silverware since 2008. Just a reminder, cup runners-up no longer qualify for Europe, so we have to win it and doing so would guarantee a place in Europa league group stages, whereas finishing 7th would mean sacrificing our late summer playing 3 qualifying rounds of Europa league.