Valencia CF vs RCD Espanyol Match Preview

Valencia CF vs RCD Espanyol

Stadium: Mestalla

03.12.11; 22:00 CET

17th matchday, La Liga

Expected Attendance: 40.000

Coaches: Unai emery and Mauricio Pochettino

Valencia CF has been in great form the last few weeks with wins in the Champions League and La Liga. We are third position on the table just 4 points behind Barcelona, a feat that would have seemed impossible one or two years ago. Surprisingly though Levante, the other Valencia based club is hot on our heels with just one less point and even though we defeated them in a good fashion 2-0, they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves and are proving to be stiff competition so far.

Valencia CF just needs to continue winning, grinding out wins if it has to and keep close to the big two this season as that is the goal, the overall objective set by the president Llorente and Emery. We welcome RCD Espanyol at the Mestalla today and unlike last season where they were in the top 4 positions with some great defensive displays, Espanyol are at the more modest 9th position on the table right now.

As far as injuries and recovery, Guaita is recovered, but will still not feature just in case and Ever Banega and Ricardo Costa are progressing well, but still got some way to go before they are fit to even be in contention for selection. Victor Ruiz is also in question and probably won't play, but its not exactly sure. In other news Miguel has had a bit of a slip up in his behavior and has missed training by some 30 minutes and as punishment Emery will not include him for this match, which means most likely Barragan is going to start again as he seems to be better than Bruno.

Soldado and Jonas are probably going to be rested and Aduriz and Piatti should take their places. I'd also expect Parejo to feature, but that may be taking it a bit far for Emery and he is probably going to play it safe with Tino Costa.

RCD Espanyol on the other hand are 9th on the table with only 17 points a staggering number of 6 losses so far. They haven't been liking in the back, but have one of the poorest scoring records in the league so far with only 10 goals scored, Valencia in comparison has scored 21 goals. They are also worse when visiting teams and haven't been able to hold out for draws.

Espanyol's last three matches have been decent with two draws and one loss, but they will be hoping for some wins at least in the future if at against Valencia. They are likely to be very motivated for this match and as always I predict that Valencia CF will need to suffer in order to get a result, but we should win over Espanyol and have ease of mind and be comfortable going into the Champions league match against Chelsea!

Result Prediction:
Valencia CF 2-0 RCD Espanyol

Rayo Vallecano 1-2 Valencia CF - Player Ratings

Diego 6 - Did not have too much to do, but did well on the two occasions he had to react. No chance for the goal.
Barragan 6 - Did well defensively not too troubled and was decent going forward as well.
Rami 6 - Did have few header clearances and wasn't particularly troubled, decent display.
Dealbert 5.5 - Mixed bag performance, he did have some nice interceptions and blocks, but had a few lapses as well.
Alba 6.5 - Started really well making some crucial tackles and interceptions in defense and doing well going forward as well, but diminished in effectiveness later on, being passed two times with ease and was involved in the mix up along with Dealbert in Vallecano's goal.
Albelda 6 - Had two good interventions to stop the Rayo attacks progressing, earning a yellow for on of those interventions though.
Tino 6 - Scored a goal and closed down all over the field rather nicely, but not a great performance.
Feghuoli 6 - Always a hard worker and covers a lot of ground going back and helping out in defense, but wasn't too good on the attacking side and apart from the assist did not do much.
Jonas 6.5 - Scored a good goal from a distance and was generally dangerous. Most of his passes failed though, but still a pretty good display.
Mathieu 6 - Had few trademark crosses and provided the assist for Jonas, but again other than that not too impressive.
Soldado 6 - Combined well with Feghuoli on the right leading up to the goal and some good runs deep, but lacked the service today.
Subs:
Aduriz 5.5 - Did have few runs towards goal, but couldn't quite make it. He did come and help out in defense though quite a bit.
Pablo 5 - Apart from being involved in one action just after his arrival went missing and I did not see him again.
Piatti 5 - More active than Pablo and had had few runs, but they all ultimately failed.

Rayo Vallecano vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Rayo Vallecano will welcome Valencia CF at its stadium after eight years of pause and winning promotion to the top division this season. Last time these two clubs played was back in 2003 where Vallecano was destroyed by 4-0.
Since then all but one are still playing for Valencia and yes you guessed rights its David Albelda. All the rest of the golden time guys like Baraja, Angulo, Vicente, etc are now gone. Last one to go was Vicente who currently plays in England's second division.

Rayo Vallecano got promoted this season to the Primera League after playing in lower divisions for 8 years. Rayo Vallecano have so far been decent and certainly the bad start of several bigger clubs like Villarreal, Getafe have allowed them to occupy the quite high 10th position on the table, but that is not to take away anything from Rayo Vallecano as they are playing some good football and are very compact as a unit, as a team. In fact they have a pretty good balance of goals scored and goals conceded and there is no doubt they will be a tough opponent.


Valencia CF on the other hand are coming to this match as the favorites and high from the 7-0 victory over Genk at the Champions League. But that victory should not blind or life from reality our players as reality can hit them in the face real hard and the higher you fall the nastier it is. Valencia CF needs to go into this match fully concentrated and prepared, mentally ready and be ready for a hard fight with lots of suffering in order to win.

This is not going to be a cake walk and we certainly won't be seeing a 7-0 trashing here and hopefully the players will know this and be ready to methodically and patiently chip away at the Vallecano defense until we can score a goal or two and win.

Valencia CF will be without Victor Ruiz though for the first time since he's arrived here and Dealbert is likely to take his place alongside Rami. Ricardo Costa, Ever Banega, Hedwiges Maduro and Sergio Canales are still injured and in the case of the later three they have long term injuries. In fact the earliest to return may be Ever Banega in two weeks or so.

Also most likely to get back on goal in Guaita who has been suffering from a hand injury for some time and wasn't on the goal for Real Madrid. Since Diego Alves did make some big mistakes in that match I think Emery is going to easily put Guaita back between the sticks now that he is supposedly healed.

Valencia CF squad:

Goalkeepers: Guaita, Alves.
Defenders: Miguel, Barragán, Bruno, Rami, Dealbert, Mathieu y Jordi Alba.
Midfielders: Topal, Albelda, Tino Costa, Parejo, Pablo Hernández, Féghouli y Piatti.
Forwards: Jonas, Aduriz y Soldado.

Valencia CF 7-0 KRC Genk - player ratings

Diego 6 - Did not have much at all to do and apart from three saves that was it. Did well to make those though.
Miguel 7 - Did well in defense and provided the assist for Aduriz goal.
Rami 6.5 - Did well enough and had few blocks, but not challenged much.
Ruiz 5.5 - Had two nice blocks and rarely tested, replaced at half time.
Mathieu 6 - Did well enough in defense and provided some good crosses in attack.
Topal 6 - Did good in midfield and then later in defense making some crucial interceptions.
Tino 7 - Very energetic performance, covered a lot of ground and provided good passes, scoring a goal as well.
Feghuoli 6.5 - Covered a lot of ground and made several interceptions in defense, provided decent attacking threat.
Jonas 8.5 (MotM) - Man of the match performance from Jonas, who although was outscored tonight he provided the biggest attacking threat scoring one goal, providing (two)three assists and being involved in most of Valencia attacks.
Pablo 7 - Somewhat reserved in the first half, but improved in the second and became a genuine threat with clever movement and passing, scoring a great goal in the process.
Soldado 8 - Almost man of the match performance, but this time he was outdone by Jonas. Scored a hat trick and was always a threat for Genk.
Subs:
Parejo 5 - Wasn't too visible and didn't do anything of note. Failed to impress once again and his chances are becoming less and less with performances like this.
Piatti 6 - Instant threat and slotted well with the rest of the attackers providing some good runs on the flank, having a shot at goal as well.
Aduriz 6.5 - Came in and in his short time scored a great goal, showing good anticipation, strength and finishing skills. Had two more opportunities, but couldn't quite make it.

Valencia 3-3 Real Madrid - Pre match report

This video clearly shows Valencia CF has been damaged and it should have been 3-3. Higuain should also be given a ban for 3/4 matches for unsportsmanship.

Valencia CF vs Real Madrid - Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Real Madrid

Stadium: Mestalla

19.11.11; 22:00 CET

11th matchday, La Liga

Expected Attendance: 52.000

Coaches: Unai emery and Jose Mourinho

Its that time again in the new season where we face the title chasers and favorites for winning it, the kings club Real Madrid. The matches between Valencia CF and Real Madrid have always been very entertaining and have attracted huge crowds and a lot of viewership not only in Spain, but all over the world.

No doubt this is going to be an interesting clash once again and an entertaining game and in a lot of ways its a measurement for Spanish clubs in recent years to assess their strengths against the giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, but this time will be different though as Valencia CF brought the game to Barcelona when we faced them and managed a strong performance, earning a draw with a chance to have won it. Real Madrid so far look the most solid in La Liga so this will be a sterner test than even Barcelona and a positive showing and result which would include a draw also would be great for the confidence of the players and will enable us to stay up there to Real And Barca.

Unlike Barcelona though all Real Madrid players are in their prime time and have shown better performance this season that the previous ones and with new signings like Coentrao to strengthen the squad even more Real Madrid look very strong. Xabi Alonso is as good as ever, Ronaldo has improved in his overall game and even provides assists now and Benzema has truly become much better.  So unlike Barcelona with aging and diminishing players like Xavi, Abidal, Puyol, Villa, etc... we are going to face a Real Madrid side better than ever.

With all that said Valencia CF is a different team as well and with the defensive duo of Rami and Ruiz as well as the great performances from Mathieu we have a defense better than what we've had in the past 5-6 years and with some re-surging players like Tino Costa, Albelda we have a chance. 

Valencia CF gets 40 million TV rights money, Real Madrid gets 120 million TV rights money. Valencia champions league qualification is considered a success, while for Real Madrid second place in the biggest failure.
The contrast between these two clubs is huge, especially in recent years, but when these two sides meet on the grass what matters is only the performance on the pitch and nothing else.

Head to Head
24/04/2011	SPL	Valencia vs Real Madrid		3 - 6
05/12/2010	SPL	Real Madrid vs Valencia		2 - 0
19/04/2010	SPL	Real Madrid vs Valencia		2 - 0
13/12/2009	SPL	Valencia vs Real Madrid		2 - 3
10/05/2009	SPL	Valencia vs Real Madrid		3 - 0
21/12/2008	SPL	Real Madrid vs Valencia		1 - 0
18/08/2008	Spain Super	Valencia vs Real Madrid		3 - 2
01/11/2007	SPL	Valencia vs Real Madrid		1 - 5
27/11/2006	SPL	Valencia vs Real Madrid		0 - 1
24/10/2005	SPL	Real Madrid vs Valencia		1 - 2
23/10/2004	SPL	Real Madrid vs Valencia		1 - 0

Valencia CF is coming to this match after two good wins in the Spanish league and champions league. In the last match against Levante Tino Costa had an amazing match providing an assist and scoring the second goal. With Banega injured for at least 3 weeks, its up to Tino Costa to organize the midfield and link-up play, Emery has told him to step up his game and he did it against Levante, but this is Real Madrid and he will need to step up his game once again over his stepping up previously.

Valencia is currently third on the table and close within Real and Barca and getting a positive result in this match will do wonders. At this point there are no new injuries and Emery can choose from pretty much of of the squad.

Valencia CF squad: to be announced...

Real Madrid is coming to this match after several convincing victories including a 7-1 mauling of Osasuna, so they will be full on confidence. Cristiano Ronaldo had a little injury scare, but he is reported to be recovered and will feature for Real Madrid. Di Maria is an unknown and Kaka is I believe still inured so we are at least not going to see him. To remind everyone Kaka was the main player to destroy Valencia last season in the second match between these two teams.

Real Madrid squad: to be announced...

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Guaita; Miguel, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Albelda, Tino; Feghuoli; Jonas, Alba; Soldado.
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, double left side cover, high frequency wing attacks, counter attacks, mixed passing.

Technical Details Real Madrid (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Casillas; Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Coentrao; Alonso, Khedira; Callejon, Ozil, Ronaldo; Benzema.
Tactics: low defensive line, all round pressure, interchangeable left side, long shots.

Result Prediction:
Valencia CF 1-3 Real Madrid
Lets be real here we are going to loose and loose badly. We are going to be defending most of the time and concede two goals, we are going to get lucky on the counter attack and score one back, but Real will take control and completely dominate and score a third goal to put the game to rest.

Report: Players on international duty

Turkey; Mehmet Topal
Mehmet Topal did not start for Turkey and unlike the previous match he did not come in as substitute either.

France; Adil Rami and Jeremy Mathieu
Adil Rami started and played the full 90 minutes for France and while I didn't watch the match if we were to trust goal.com they gave him a 5 and said he wasn't too good.
Jeremy Mathieu did not start in France's second match as Erik Abidal took his place, although Mathieu played great when given the opportunity and had decent chances to be called for Euro 2012.

Brazil; Diego Alves and Jonas Goncalves
Diego Alves started and played the full 90 minutes of the match and while he wasn't troubled much he did well on those rare occasions and might as well have secured himself a permanent place in the team.
Jonas Goncalves started and played for most of the match scoring two goals in the process to give Brazil 2-0 win over Egypt.

Spain; Jordi Alba
Jordi Alba did not play in Spain's match against Costa Rica in which Spain drew 2-2 with pretty bad defensive display. Monreal from Malaga was given the spot instead and it seems with his poor performance like Jordi has guaranteed his spot in the Spanish team for the Euro 2012.

Italian teams interested in Jeremy Mathieu

Ladies and gents few days ago I wrote a news article "will our defensive trio be sold?", but that wasn't true, its the defensive quad. Jeremy Mathieu is the latest victim of increased interest from top clubs all over Europe with his great performances.

Roma and Milan have been interested in securing his services, Bayern Munich was at one point interested and recently reports say that Inter are interested in the Frenchmen seeing as how Yuto Nagamoto didn't turn out how they hoped he would and Chivu is unreliable.

Right now Valencia CF is in the middle of a new contract extension work that would increase Mathieu's contract and of course increase his buyout clause.

Report: Valencia players on international duty

Brazil; Diego Alves, Jonas Goncalves
Diego Alves started and played the full 90 minutes in Brazil's match. He wasn't particualry tested, but did well on the few occasions he was called in.
Jonas Goncalves played for three quarters of the match and was decent, but was a bit wasteful with the chances he got.

France; Adil Rami, Jeremy Mathieu
Adil Rami started and played the full 90 minutes in France's match and did great, with France not conceding a goal.
Jeremy Mathieu started for the first time for France after being feature in the squad for the last two matches, but not even sitting on the bench. He did good and just might get a permanent place in the squad.

Tureky; Mehmet Topal
Mehmet Topal did not start in his national team 3-0 beating, although he did come in in the fourth quarter. He stabilized the play in midfield, but didn't offer much.

Spain; Jordi Alba
Jordi Alba started and played the full 90 minutes for Spain against England and did good, with few dangerous runs in the first half and a good defensive display.

Official: Paco Alcacer extends contract to 2016

Great news ladies and gents as Paco Alcacer has just extended his contract with Valencia CF to 2016, it was reported on the official Valencia CF website.

Valencia president Manuel Llorente was very happy and said that Paco Alcacer showed interest to stay at Valencia even with several clubs being interested in him; "Paco is an important player in our club and I'm sure that we'll see him in the first team soon and that would make out fans very happy."

Paco said "It's a joy for my family and I to play at a club as big as Valencia, who has shown confidence in me. Valencia is doing things right."

Defensive trio of Rami, Ruiz and Alba to be sold?

The great performances from Adil Rami and Victor Ruiz have not been left unnoticed unfortunately and several clubs have shown huge interest in taking their services.

Real Madrid and Manchester United are currently interested in Adil Rami with both Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson two of the best coaches in the world keeping close tabs and keen to get the defender. In fact with all the interest being show in Adil Rami even so early Valencia CF are going to start negotiations to extend Rami's contract and improve the buyout clause.

Victor Ruiz has also been very impressive and he is also very young so he has still a long way to improve, he is also a Barcelona youth school product so Barcelona have shown considerable interest in him in this past week and there is serious consideration to strengthen their back line either in the winter transfer market or in the summer and with Puyol, Abidal and Maxwell all on their last year probably Ruiz is their prime target.

Another Barcelona youth product that is also friends with Ruiz from the Barca days is Jordi Alba and his been impressive on the left side either in defense or attack and has also caught the interest of Barcelona.
Milan have also reportedly shown interest in Jordi Alba and few other clubs are closely monitoring his performances and situation.

Mathieu to extend his contract with Valencia CF

The French left back Jeremy Mathieu is likely to extend his contract with Valencia CF as his current deal is supposedly to keep him until 2014, but his release clause is very low at only 3 million euros and the club wants to increase the clause to at least 10 million euros, as not to loose him to the cheap.

Right now Mahtieu is worth around 10 million euros and is you go to Mathieu's profile page I have him valued at 11 million euros, so loosing him for 3 million would be terrible.

Mathieu has also recently been called to the French squad and although unlikely to feature more at least this year, with Evra and Abidal on the end of their careers, Mathieu is going to have increased chances to feature for France, especially since he plays with Rami and can form a great defensive partnership.

The new contract should keep Mathieu until at least 2016 and have a release clause of at least 10 million euros, although Valencia CF will probably want more like 15 million clause, which is the same we sold Albiol few years back to Madrid and Mathieu is on that level.

Angel Di Maria out for one month

Yeah I know this isn't about Valencia CF, but in a way it is news concerning Valencia CF. Angel Di Maria sustained a hamstring problem in Real Madrid's 7-1 victory over Osasuna. The initial reports is that he will be sidelined for one month and that means that he is not going to be in the squad to face Valencia.

As you know Kaka is also injured, although he may return by then, but certainly won't be fit enough. So this is great news for Valencia CF as Di Maria has been great on the right side for Madrid.

Levante 0-2 Valencia CF - Player Ratings

Guaita 7 - Had to make few saves, including two difficult shots and did so superbly. Another quality performance from the keeper.
Bruno N/A - Got injured in the early stages and was replaced by Barragan.
Rami 6 - Not as good as he usually is, got beaten twice by direct running and got bailed out by Ruiz, quite poor performance.
Ruiz 7 - Great performance from the young defender, stopped few crucial attacks and bailed out Rami on few occasions as well. Was a rock at the back and even helped out in midfield plentifully.
Mathieu 6 - Had one solid cross that Soldado just barely failed to get to and provided few good attacking opportunities, but defensively was rather weak and got beaten quite a few times.
Feghuoli 7.5 - Great performance by Feghuoli, was all over the pitch involved in pretty much every attack and provided some much needed attacking threat.
Albelda 6 - Did quite well to stop Levantes attacks and provided few basic passes, reliable as always.
Tino 7.5 - Stepped up his game and provided the assist to the first goal and then scored the second goal. Was dominant in the midfield and kept things working. If he continues having performances of this level he can easily dethrone Banega.
Alba 6 - He did quite well in attack, linking up with few of the players, but when going back to defend made a lot of mistakes. Also got tired towards the end and apart from his goal, it wasn't a great performance.
Aduriz 6 - Found himself with few half baked opportunities, but couldn't quite make something out of it.
Soldado 5.5 - Quite lacking and apart from few defensive contributions that was it. Rightfully substituted over Aduriz.
Subs:
Barragan 6 - Provided a good attacking outlay, went forward as much as possible although with limited success and did well enough defensively. I actually felt more at ease with him playing then with Bruno.
Piatti 5.5 - Full of running in the time he had and did have some good solo runs, although could not create something as Valencia were on the defensive at the time.
Pablo N/A - Not enough time, although he did make quite a bit of mistakes in his short time.

Valencia CF vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Match preview

Valencia CF vs Bayer Leverkusen

Stadium: Mestalla

01.11.2011; 20:45 CET

4th fixture champions league

Expected attendance: 47.000

Coaches: Unai Emery and Robin Dutt

The fourth fixtures of the Champions League are upon us and Valencia CF will welcome Bayer Leverkusen at the Mestalla for a footballing spectacle, well okay maybe not quite, but this is going to be a very interesting match nonetheless as Valencia CF try to exact revenge for their loss in Germany and try and make a strong push to win all their remaining games to continue in the Champions League.

This is a must win match for both clubs and a loss here will probably mean going down to the Europa League or worse yet maybe even finishing last in the group. A draw will not serve both clubs and will mean Valencia CF is surely falling out of the Champions League and going down to the Europe League, although that wouldn't be sure either.

Valencia CF is coming to this match after a convincing win on 3-1 in the weekend against Getafe CF and the team are looking to build on that momentum and try and get a so desired win against Bayer Leverkusen that is going to allow Valencia to be in contention for second place in the group and going to the round of 16. This is a desperate situation and anything but a win would spell the end for Valencia CF in the champions league.
While the Europe league isn't bad either, you get a lot less money out of it and of course its not as prestigious, although its actually very competitive.

If you haven't heard Valencia CF have two long term injured players in Maduro and Canales, but other than that everyone so far is in good health and fitness and Emery's got the full squad to choose from. Who he chooses to start is a different matter though as Feghuoli has been playing better and better, while Pablo has been playing worse and worse and will he deem Alba or Mathieu better at left wing that say putting Pablo there or Piatti. If anythign our options on the left are quite big, but not very quality and previously Mata was so good there providing assists and scoring goals frequently and helping out the team.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Alves, Guaita.
Defenders: Bruno, Miguel, Barragan, Rami, Victor Ruiz, R.Costa, Dealbert, Jordi Alba, Mathieu.
Midfielders: Albelda, Topal, Éver, T. Costa, Pablo, Feghouli, Piatti, Parejo.
Forwards: Jonas, Adúriz, Soldado.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen on the other hand is with one foot in the round of 16 and even a draw would benefit them, and of course a win would mean they are in the round of 16. They are likely to defend though and try and get a draw, which in a way pretty much guarantees they go in the round of 16. The one thing they wouldn't want though is to loose as that would open up a chance for Valencia CF.

Bayer so far have not been too good in their national championship and are currently in the middle of the table with 17 points out of 11 played games. Of course in Spain that would probably put you in 6th or 7th position and so in that regard they are not weak and are certainly not in a crisis or anything. 

Bad news for Bayer Leverkusen is that Ballack broke his nose in the last match and is not going to feature for his team, so that is a relief for Valencia CF and a big negative for Bayer as they loose their most influential midfielder. Since Bayer met Valencia CF they lost a game to Schalke and won their last match against Freiburg.

Bayer Leverkisen squad: to be announced...

Technical details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Diego; Bruno, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Banega, Topal; Pablo, Jonas, Feghuoli; Soldado.
Tactics: ?

Technical details Bayer Leverkusen (probable setups):
Formation: ?
Line-up: Leno; Kadlec, Reinartz, Castro, Schwaab; Sam, Renato, Balitsch, Bender; Schurrle, Derdiyok.
Tactics: ?

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
If we play at 100% and there aren't any defensive mistakes we should win this game. With Ballack injured Valencia should have an easier time dealing with Bayer's midfield.

Valencia CF 3-1 Getafe CF - Player Ratings

Guaita 6 - Made few easy saves, confident every time he was called on.
Miguel 6 - Made a mess for the Getafe goal, but improved later on and went on to made few crucial interceptions.
Rami 6 - Not his best match, but did good overall.
Ruiz 6 - Same as Rami, did not have too much to deal with though.
Mathieu 6.5 - Had few defensive mistakes, but did very well going forward though and started few of the attacks.
Albelda 6 - Had few blocks in the middle and provided some passing outlet, nothing of note though.
Banega 7.5 - At the heart of every Valencia attack. Was involved in all of the goals and provided the assist for the third goal. Made few smaller mistakes, but overall a great match for Banega.
Feghuoli 7.5 - Scored two goals and was a decent attack threat overall. Good game by Feghuoli.
Jonas 6.5 - Great link up play, good movement and was generally a threat to Getafe. Provided the assist to the second goal.
Pablo 6 - Involved in most of the attacks and provided few good passes, but nothing great.
Soldado 5.5 - Tried to get into dangerous positions and make something of the few balls he got, but generally ineffective.
Subs:
Alba 5.5 - Linked up 2-3 times with Mathieu and provided some speed on the flank, failed to constantly threaten Getafe and seemed to fall back to left back later and let Mathieu go forward more.
Aduriz 6 - Came in and scored a goal and it was a great goal, well timed run and great composure to push it into the net.
Piatti N/A - Not enough time

Overall this was a good match with some good attacking moves, though Banega lacks a passing partner. In Albelda you have a good cover and a simple passer, but there needs to be someone else who can also make the occasional through passes and control play.

As far as the attack I think Emery should play Aduriz more, he just showed that he can be more dangerous than Soldado at time, especially when Soldado is out of form. Although I wouldn't mind seeing Soldado and Aduriz starting as a duo against weaker teams and see how it goes, as last season we had very good games with both of them on the field.

Real Zaragoza 0-1 Valencia CF - player ratings

Guaita 6 - Had a very quiet match with no saves apart from few punches.
Bruno 7 - Good defending and decent in attack, managed to provide a brilliant assist for the goal.
Dealbert 7 - Great defending and is showing that he can be relied upon when needed. Made few crucial interceptions and blocks.
Ruiz 6.5 - The weaker of the defending duo and while he was good on average he did make small mistakes.
Alba 7 - Made few mistakes early on in the first half, for example had two back-passes that went to Zaragoza and didn't do much it attack. Improved in the second half as he was put as a winger and made few good runs and scored the only goal.
Topal 6 - Made two great interceptions stopping Zaragoza's attack and provided some nice passes at times, but very limited in his contribution.
Banega 7 - Great performance with few mistakes, though what he has going for him is that everyone knows he's our main player and is immediately pressured. Still did great though and all play started from him.
Piatti 5.5 - Put on the right side, but it didn't have any positive effect. He was still very limited and couldn't really do anything even though he tried really hard as always.
Parejo 5.5 - Had few touches here and there and provided some outlet to pass to, but not much else. Needs to really step us his game and step it up soon.
Feghuoli 7 - The most active member of the team, run as if there is no tomorrow and was everywhere on the field left, right, attack, defense, midfield, everywhere. Had some good passes too and some slick one-two play with Soldado and others.
Soldado 6 - Was involved in some of the actions and link-up play and that brings him points, but he needs to score its pure and simple and should be in more dangerous positions and be able to score in any way.
Subs:
Mathieu 5.5 - Did well enough defensively and had one or two forward runs, but did not contribute too much.
Jonas 6 - Good showing as he immediately started linking up play and provided some much needed attacking depth, but did not threaten the goal directly.
Aduriz N/A - Not enough time

Lucky win as we were destined to get a draw with no shots on goal in the first half and no real chances in the second half. That Bruno assist was one off and I wouldn't expect him to get another one even in a million years.

So yeah even though we won it was a lucky win and it could have easily resulted in a draw, but luck was on our side this time. This doesn't mean that we are good to go though, as our attacking play is really lacking and we either can't score the chances we create or don't create any chances other times.

I'd like to suggest to Emery who probably has a translator reading him my blog to try and play Tino Costa as an attacking midfielder. That is his actual position and even though he played good last season as a CM, I think this season we should play him AM and I'm sure we are going to have a lot more chances going on, as well as someone that can shoot from far.

I also think Emery should play some of these "weaker" teams with two attackers in a 4-4-2 position and put Aduriz and Soldado in. I mean do you remember last season how many times the 4-4-2 formation with the Aduriz-Soldado duo has saved us from defeat? So why play Jonas so much with mixed results and not start Aduriz and Soldado together. Plus they complement each other very well as one is a more direct poacher type attacker and the other is a more powerful header attacker.

Real Zaragoza vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

 Real Zaragoza vs Valencia CF

Stadium: La Romareda

26th October, 2011; 20:00CET

10th matchday, La Liga

Expected Attendance: 28.000

Coaches: Javier Aguirre and Unai Emery

Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. is a Spanish association football team from Zaragoza in Spain. Founded on 18 March 1932, Real Zaragoza have spent the majority of their 78 year history in the Spanish top-flight. Real Zaragoza are Spain's 9th highest ranked team in overall league points. They are ranked 6th overall for cup wins with 6 victories in the Copa del Rey, and also have a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (forerunner to the UEFA Cup/Europa League), and a Spanish Supercup.

Real Zaragoza have had a poor start to the season with two losses, two draws and only one win, but they've also had some tough opponents like Real Betis who started magnificently, Malaga who are considered top 4 contenders this season with their big spending in the summer transfer window and have drawn with Villarreal, who although are having a bad time themselves are still a great team.

Zaragoza are currently 14th place on the table with only 9 points and they have the worst defensive record currently so if Valencia CF can't beat the team with the worst defensive record currently with 16 conceded goals its not saying too well about our strength. While their defense is atrocious and worst in the league right now, their attack is actually decent and floats with the rest of the teams.

Real Zaragoza squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF on the other hand are coming to this match after another failure on the weekend in which we only managed a draw and this was basically a rescued draw in the last minutes after Bilbao led for much of the second half. Our attack has been pretty bad this season and it seems like the departure of Mata is really hurting Valencia as right now there is yet to be someone who can step it up on the left wing and provide some much needed attacking threat. Currently the best we have is Mathieu and the fact that he is a left back, but playing as left wing speaks of the limited options Valencia has. Some of our summer purchases haven't turned out as hoped and whether its because they haven't had the time to settle in and/or gel or other it doesn't make the slightest difference as our results would any way still be bad.

The fact that Soldado has also been out of form and unable to score from few meters with an open net is also worrying, with Jonas being of similar form and Aduriz has just not had a full start to show himself and when he's been introduced as a substitution has failed to impress. We also have Paco in the wings, but knowing Emery the chances of him actually starting a match is slim to none.

Valencia also has some bad news from the doctors as Canales will be out at least 3 months with his current injury and this is if he doesn't undergo surgery, but chances are he is going to need surgery and is going to be out for at least 6 months, essentially making the season over for him. With Maduro also out for the next 3 months our options are quite reduced, although we still have depth and maybe this will allow Parejo to get more chances in his preferred position and that is attacking midfielder and not central midfielder where Emery has played him.

Valencia CF squad:

Goalkeepers: Guaita, Diego Alves.
Defenders: Barragán, Víctor Ruiz, Dealbert, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
Midfielders: Albelda, Topal, Tino Costa, Parejo, Éver, Piatti, Pablo Hernández, Féghouli.
Attackers: Jonas, Soldado, Adúriz.

Technical Details Real Zaragoza (probable setups):
Formation: ?
Line-up: Jimenez; Meira, P. Da Silva, Paredes, Mateos; Ponzio, Barrera, Juarez, Postiga; Luis Garcia, Lafita.
Tactics: Low defensive line, park the bus, crosses and counter attacks.

Technical details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Guaita; Bruno, Costa Dealbert, Ruiz, Alba; Pablo, Banega, Albelda, Piatti; Jonas, Soldado.
Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, mostly flank attacks, mixed passing.

Result prediction:
Real Zaragoza 1-3 Valencia CF
Zaragoza defense is the worst in La Liga and even though our attack is really ineffective right now we should have enough quality to put few in their net. Our defense is going to be shaky with Costa in once again and its likely we are going to concede one goal.

Valencia CF 1-1 Athletic Bilbao - player ratings

Guaita 6 - Made two great saves in the first half and was confident when coming forward punching. Let down by the defense for the goal.
Miguel 5 - Mixed bag as he and Costa failed to react to clear the ball early on which could resulted in goal, but Guaita saves two times and was after called offside. Had one more blunder in the second half.
Costa 4 - What a bad performance from Costa. Miscommunication with Miguel for the chance and goal that was ruled offside and again miscommunication with Ruiz for the goal. Lost Llorente twice in dangerous positions and couldn't really cope with the attacker.
Ruiz 6 - Cleared up for Costa so many times, but with Costa on his side our defense looked vulnerable.
Mathieu 6.5 - Did really well in the first half with few attacks one after another and generally did well in defense.
Topal 6 - Wasn't good in the first half, he was slow to react and failed to link up well with Banega, but improved in the second half and provided a good performance.
Banega 7 - Had a good first half with few great through passes, but failed to control the game as he was put under pressure, a lot better in the second half though and provided the assist to Soldado for the goal.
Feghuoli 6 - Really fought for every ball and covered every position, but wasn't the threat on the flank that Emery would have hoped him to be. Provided good support, but largely ineffective.
Canales 5 - Had a good chance in the 4-5 minute which he missed from a very close range, complained to injury from the start and guess it weighted down on him hard as he failed to do anything.
Jonas 6.5 - Had a good showing tonight with few tries and especially the try in the first half with an empty goal, was a bit unlucky there. Did well overall, but needs to start scoring himself and be more of a threat.
Soldado 6 - Way out of form and even though he scored didn't look particularly good.
Subs:
Piatti 6 - Replaced Canales in the 36th minute and did better, but lacks the cutting edge and failed to threaten Bilbao's goal.
Pablo 4 - All he did was enable Bilbao to score. Would have been better if he didn't come on. I feel like Pablo is once again in one of his slumps and hopefully this time it lasts shorter and not two months like last season.
Aduriz N/A - Was very active on the field and tried hard, but ultimately didn't add anything to the attack that Jonas didn't provide.

I think we were unfortunate in this match and for that matter against Mallorca as well. We also had a penalty rejected twice and things would have been different in we were awarded a penalty. I think maybe Emery should think playing Tino or Parejo in the attacking midfield role that Canales is currently playing, because so far I've only seen really one great game by Canales and in all the others he has been rather mediocre.

As we know Tino Costa and Parejo are both attacking midfielders and actually not central midfielders, so I think Emery should try with one of them being behind the striker.

We also lack the depth on the wings and this is where Mata came in last season. Right now we are basically forced to play Mathieu as left wing, because he is our best winger.

Valencia CF vs Athletic Bilbao - Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Athletic Bilbao

Stadium: Mestalla

23 October, 2011; 20:00CET

9th matchday, La Liga

Expected Attendance: 36.000

Coaches: Unai Emery and Marcelo Biesla

So Valencia CF is in sort of a mini crisis right now, with the last two matches now going the way we would have liked them to go. This is a chance for Valencia CF to go back on track and start winning again and especially important will be how goof our attack will be.

Valencia CF as I've mentioned in the opening has not done very well in the last two matches with stalling a little bit in La Liga and having lower chances to go through the Champions league group stages, although not impossible.

Valencia CF will be without central defender Adil Rami for the first time this season after he was send off in the last match for insulting the referee and he is suspended for two matches. Out of this match will also be Albelda who is probably a little bit fatigued after playing few matches in a row without rest. 

Valencia CF is currently in fifth position on the table with 14 points from 7 matches and with a win tonight we will go to either third or fourth depending on Levante's result.

Right now the biggest problem for Valencia CF is the inability to score and other time the inability to create chances. So its a weird problem because when the team creates a ton of chances no one seems able to score and then other times we just plain don't create any chances. So right now Emery has had enough time to work with the squad and hopefully some of the attacking issues will be resolved.

Valencia CF squad:

Goalkeepers: Guaita, Diego Alves.
Defenders: Miguel, Bruno, Ricardo Costa, Víctor Ruiz, Jordi Alba, Mathieu.
Midfielders: Topal, Tino Costa, Éver, Pablo, Feghouli, Piatti.
Forwards: Jonas, Canales, Adúriz, Soldado.

Athletic Bilbao is an association football club from Bilbao in Biscay, Spain. The club has played in the Primera División of La Liga since its start in 1928. They have won La Liga on eight occasions. In the historical classification of La Liga Athletic Bilbao are in 4th place and one of only three clubs which have never been relegated from La Liga (the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona). The club also has a women's team, which has won four championships in the Spanish Superliga.

Athletic Bilbao had quite the terrible start to the season under their new coach as they tried to play a different football than what they played last season and went from mostly long balls and crosses with strong physical play to a more finesse, short passing style of play this season. The results so far tell a bad story, although Bilbao have been on the upraise in their last two matches having won against Osasuna and Sociedad.

Athletico Bilbao squad: to be announced... 

Result Prediction:

Valencia CF 2-1 Athletic Bilbao

I feel like we are going to score more than one goal for a change and this season we play better at home anyways, so I expect a 2-0 or 2-1 win, probably 2-1 because I won't trust our defense that much with Ricardo Costa and Ruiz.

Interview with Allen from the Villarreal USA website

Hi everyone, I've interviewed Allen Dodson from www.villarrealusa.com and he is a Villarreal supporter since 2005 and writes all kinds of stuff on the website from news to editorials. Go check them out for Villarreal news and articles.

• How long have you been a supporter of Villarreal and what prompted you to become one?
I started following the club in about 2005--they were just starting to make an impact and with players like Riquelme and Forlan they were enjoyable to watch. Plus I grew up a Liverpool fan and hated Arsenal, so when they beat Everton and then played Arsenal in the CL semis I had reason to pay attention to them!

• Are you a fan of any other clubs?
Yes, Port Vale and Shrewsbury Town, in that order.

• How long have you been writing about Villarreal?
Since about a year ago when I joined the Villarreal USA team.

• Villarreal season so far has been pretty bad, why do you think this is?
Three reasons: first, the sale of Santi Cazorla really affected everyone mentally, fans and players. Secondly, we had too many moves late in the transfer window. Between that and international duty taking away some players, this team just hasn’t played together enough. Third: injuries. Nilmar only had one game where looked OK and now has had surgery, Angel’s recovery from knee surgery has been slower than expected, and Gonzalo is still regaining form after his broken leg.

• Do you think Villarreal can bounce back and finish in the top four?
Yes, but it will be difficult. We’ll need to get hot and go on a good run!

• Who would you say is Villarreal’s best player and biggest flop so far?
Best players have been Giuseppe Rossi, who has worked his tail off but hasn’t had the support around him he needs, and Bruno Soriano, probably the most underrated player in La Liga.
Biggest flops: Cristian Zapata sometimes has looked fine, but other times he has just been horrible. I haven’t been impressed with the return on that money yet. Otherwise, it’s hard to point fingers at particular players--I just think almost everyone can step it up from what they’ve shown so far.

•Who is going to be Villarreal’s key man this season?
If I have to pick one, I’d say de Guzman, because he, Cani and Borja Valero are going to have to control midfield and produce opportunities for us to score.

• For all those unfamiliar with Villarreal, what would you say are the strengths and weaknesses of your team?
Our strengths are the duo of Rossi and Nilmar (when he’s healthy), the insight and creativity of our midfielders, especially Borja Valero, and our style of attacking play. Diego Lopez is an excellent goalkeeper as well.

• Do you support a new deal for TV money spreading and why do you think it’s so hard for all the clubs to come to an understanding?
I ABSOLUTELY support a new deal for TV sharing. People are kidding themselves if they think the league is become more competitive unless TV moneys are more equitably distributed. It’s hard to come to an agreement because Barcelona and Real Madrid are used to getting their way and seem to have the votes of many of the smaller teams in their pocket. They pretty much control the playing field.

• Any young players to watch out for that could be on a “break-out year”?
Mateo Musacchio has been playing so much for us, it’s hard to remember he’s still very young. Wakaso Mubarak is someone to watch for--he’s tremendously exciting even though he doesn’t know what he’s going to do a lot of the time--he’s very quick but also quite raw. And Hernán Perez, who was promoted to the first team this year and plays on Paraguay’s national squad, is one to watch as well. He is a very polished attacking midfielder with good instincts and pace.

• Can Villarreal get out of the Champions’ League group stage with the opponents they have and if so how far do you think Villarreal will go and what about the Spanish cup?
I think the Champions League draw really took the wind out of our sails (if submarines had sails). I said when the draw happened I thought getting out of this group would be as great an achievement as making the semifinals when we did that, and I still feel that way. I don’t think we will get out of this group, no. Not only is it an incredibly strong group, they’re teams that we don’t match up well with.
As for the Spanish cup, how we do in the CL (and whether we drop into the Europa League) will affect things, as well as the draw. We’ve never done well in the Copa, so maybe this is our year.

• Obviously this is Valencia blog, and we have to ask: How far do you think Valencia will go? Is it feasible to think that Emery’s team could win the Spanish championship?
No. I say that not because Valencia isn’t a good team, which it is, but the big two will run away with the league again. I think Los Che will finish third again, assuring CL football next year.

• Who do you think will win the Champions League and Europa League this season?
I’m gonna pick Bayern Munich to win the Champions League. It just seems like it might be their time.
As for the Europa League, I’m going to wave the Spanish flag. I think Athletic or Atleti will make the final, and so might either of our clubs (Valencia and Villarreal) if they drop into it from the CL.

I'd like to thank Allen for taking the time to answer my questions, really apreciate it and once again you can find Allen articles about Villarreal on www.villarrealusa.com

Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Valencia CF - Match Report

Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 Valencia CF

Goals: Jonas, Schurrle, Sam

Assists: Soldado, Kadlec

Possesion: 40%-60%

Attempts on target: 7-7

Attempts off target: 3-4

The match started in a calm tempo with Valencia CF being the more dominant side and slowly increasing the tempo and attacks on Bayer Leverkusen's goal.

The first chance would come in the 10th minute with Pablo putting a dangerous cross in the Germans penalty area that just misses Soldado, who still manages to get to the ball and passes to Jonas, but his shot was blocked.

Just few minutes later Soldado with a nice dribble after a Banega pass, but he was fouled and brought down, but the referee waved play on. Just a minute later Valencia CF did get a free kick after I believe Mathieu was fouled. Banega took it and passed the ball to Jonas who in turn passed in to the lonely Pablo in front of goal, but Pablo was too slow to reach and the ball was kicked out of his legs and the danger was cleared.

17th minute Pablo once again founds himself in a dangerous position after a Soldado cross from the right, but Pablo couldn't quite reach the ball. 3 minutes later the ball comes to Soldado after a rebound from a shot from I think it was Jonas, but Soldado managed to miss an empty goal from like 5-6 meters and hit the post.

Luckilly enough Valencia CF would find the back of the net just minutes later after a forced error by a Bayer defender who was under pressure from Mathieu gifted the ball to Soldado who then crossed in to the lonely Jonas in front of goal and this one put the ball in the net, no mistakes.

31st minute Soldado starts a counter attack by stealing a ball from the Bayer midfield, Soldado goes close to the penalty area and passed the ball to Jonas and he shoots, but the goalkeeper punches the ball, only for the rebound to come to Pablo, but he shoots straight in the goalkeeper.

This is the point I start worrying that Bayer would punish us for so many missed chances and I was almost right when in the 38th minute Diego Alves makes two brilliant saves in the span of a minute. First save was from a brilliant and powerful lob and the second time a reflex save after a shot from just few meters after a corner kick.

Bayer Leverkusen pushed hard, but luckily we managed to hold in the first hald in the closing several minutes.

The second half started with Bayer really pushing forward and putting Valencia under pressure as they searched for a goal. And their pressure would pay off in the 52nd minute as Bayer Leverkusen scores a goal with a cross from the left that wasn't cleared properly by Miguel and no one standing in Schurle's way he was able to easily score.

Just 3 minutes later Bayer would score again this time it was Sam from an counter attack. He was basically clear on goal on the left side and slotted the ball in the far right corner of the net with no chance for Diago to save it.

After this Valencia CF started playing again and started winning back possession slowly and gained some initiative, but things were moving slowly so Emery made few attacking substitutions to try and put some urgency into our attack.

It wasn't until the 72nd minute when Valencia had a decent chance after Banega released Soldado on goal with a great through pass, but Soldado once again failed to score.

Then in the 88th minute Jonas had a try, but his shot went straight into the hands of the goalkeeper.Valencia couldn't muster anything in the closing minutes and it was actually Bayer that had the last chance.

In retrospect I don't know what went wrong, but I've noticed several times this season the whole team looses focus and ability for like 10-15 minutes from the 50th to the 60-6th minute. We've seen it against Chelsea, Genk, Sevilla, etc...

Technical Details:
Bayer Leverkusen (2): Leno; Castro, Toprak, Reinartz (Friedrich, 46), Kadlec; Rolfes, Bender; Ballack; Sam (Schwaab, 90), Schürrle; Kiessling (Derdiyok, 80).

Valencia CF (1): Diego Alves; Miguel, Rami, Victor Ruiz, Alba (Canales, 65); Albelda (Aduriz, 82), Banega, Pablo Hernández (Reguli, 65), Matthieu; Soldado y Jonas,

Goals: 0-1: min.26, Jonas, 1-1: min 52, Schürrle, 2-1: min 56, Sam.

Player Ratings:
Diego 7.5 (MotM) - Once again man of the match. Had two brilliant saves and few more as well, basically keeping the team into the game so many times.
Miguel 6 - Had an okay match, should have cleared better for the first goal, but it was an owkward thing as that is where Albelda should have been, but he was covering the right flank in the first place, so there was no man where Miguel cleared. Still should take most of the responsibility for that goal.
Rami 6.5 - Best of the defenders, had several interventions and always in good positions.
Ruiz 6 - Did well generally, but exposed for the second goal and couldn't catch up to Sam.
Alba 6 - Not a particularly attacking display, but the only time he went attacking the goal from his flank came.
Pablo 6 - Very active in most of the first half and found himself in good scoring opportunities, but missed some good chances that should have been goals. Went missing in the second half though.
Albelda 5.5 - Made few tackles to stop Bayer from mounting attacks, but didn't provide any passing and generally went out of the way and didn't want to recieve the ball.
Banega 6 - So so performance. When given space he was very dangerous, but when under pressure made quite few mistakes and gave the ball away cheaply. Still provided the only passing outlay in the middle.
Mathieu 6 - Decent display as he was the reason Valencia scored after he forced the Bayer defender to error and give the ball to Soldado. Not a big contribution otherwise.
Jonas 6.5 - Was quite the attacking threat tonight, scored a goal and had few shots on goal and tries.
Soldado 6.5 - Provided the assist to Jonas for the goal and made few good passes towards Pablo and Jonas that weren't converted. Found himself in good positions, but what is the point when he missed them all and a sitter from just 5 meters.
Subs:
Canales 5 - Didn't do anything of note. Few touches and runs, but that's about it.
Feghuoli 5.5 - More involved than Canales, but failed to do anything of note.
Aduriz N/A - Not enough time.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Bayer Leverkusen vs Valencia CF

Stadium: BayArena

19 October 2011;  20:45CET

3rd fixture champions league

Expected attendance: 30.000

Coaches: Robit Dutt and Unai Emery

The third fixtures of the Champions League are upon us and on the second day Bayer Leverkusen will welcome Valencia CF at the BayArena for a footballing spectacle, well okay maybe not quite, but this is going to be a very interesting match nonetheless as this is likely going to be the deciding match of who stays in the champions league and who goes to the Europa League.

This is a must win match for both clubs and a loss here will probably mean going down to the Europa League or worse yet maybe even finishing last in the group. A draw will not serve both clubs and will just extend the lock down in the group for one more fixture. So expect both team to go in it to win it.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen is a recent success story in German football, something similar to Villarreal in Spanish football. After a near disaster in 1996 when the club faced a relegation battle, Bayer Leverkusen established itself as a powerful side, offering a technically pleasing offensive style of play under new coach Christoph Daum, who was also helped by the signing of players such as Lúcio, Emerson, Zé Roberto, and Michael Ballack. Daum was later to be famously fired for a cocaine scandal that also cost him his ascent to the role of the national team coach.

With such players the club went on to a consecutive top 4 finishes in the Bundesliga and even challenged Bayern Munich and Borusia Dortmund back then for the title. Of course Bayern Munich strategy was and still is to purchase the best players in the Bundesliga from other clubs and that's what they did, taking Ballack and Ze Roberto from Bayer Leverkusen and had a terrible season, only for the team to bounce back next season and finish third place. From 2005 up to last year the team was kind of in the background of other teams and not really able to mount any sort of offensive towards the top.

Things changed last season when they finished second to Borusia Dortmund with the help of players like Arturo Vidal and the returning Michael Ballack in 2010/11. 

This season though with their best player Arturo Vidal gone they are not doing quite so good and are currently in 8th position on the table with 14 points. So far their biggest problem seems to be their defense that has been leaking goals and this is of course chance for Valencia to get away with the victory even with our weaker attack in recent weeks.

Bayer Leverkusen squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF on the other hand has had quite the miserable week with a draw against Mallorca. But what is more worrisome than the result itself which was only achieved by Mallorca through a late controversial penalty is the way Valencia CF played. The team lacked cohesion, teamwork, vision and drive. It was like they were just random people put on a field together and run like headless chickens all over the pitch. The only good news is that our defense is still solid(hit in wood 3 times) and I'm expecting us to ride on its back for tonight's match. Maybe the team will surprise me and come out really strong and powerful, we also have Banega returning so that is good news, but somehow I'm loosing confidence that we can win this match.

Unai Emery has taken all the players with him for the trip to Bayer Leverkusen. The only player who is going to stay behind in Maduro who's season is almost over. He will be out for at least four months and that means the earliest he can hope to play is March when he is to regain some fitness.

Valencia CF squad:

Goalkeepers: Guaita, Diego Alves, Cristiano.
Defenders: Miguel, Barragán, Bruno, Víctor Ruiz, Ricardo Costa, Rami, Dealbert, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
Midfielders: Albelda, Topal, Éver, Parejo, Tino Costa, Feghouli, Pablo, Piatti, Canales.
Forwards: Jonas, Aduriz and Soldado.

Technical details Bayer Leverkusen (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Leno; Kadlec, Reinartz, Castro, Schwaab; Sam, Ballack, Balitsch, Bender; Keibling, Derdiyok.
Tactics: ?

Technical details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Diego; Miguel, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Banega, Topal; Pablo, Canales, Feghuoli; Soldado.
Tactics: ?

Result prediction:
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-1 Valencia CF
Bayer are decent in attack and they are likely to cause us problems at the back, but their defense has so far in the season been quite poor and so this is shaping up to be a draw with Valencia CF attack too weak to fully exploit Bayer defensive weakness and Valencia CF defense being too good for Bayer attack to manage to score more than one goal.

RCD Mallorca 1-1 Valencia CF - Player Ratings

Guaita 6 - Wasn't really threatened, but was confident coming out and punching the ball out. Unfortunately didn't guess the side the penalty was shot and not his fault.
Bruno 5.5 - Did well in defense, but could not help out in attack and lost the ball too few many times in dangerous positions.
Rami 7 - Did well in defense and scored a goal. Wasn't particularity troubled at any time.
Ruiz 6.5 - Same as Rami, did his job well and never really troubled.
Alba 6.5 - Wasn't very convincing in defense especially when run at directly and Chori did get the better of him few times, but he did good going forward and helped out quite a bit in attack.
Albelda 6 - Good cover in the midfield and helped out immensely in defense, but lacks any passing vision.
Parejo 5.5 - Very ineffectual with lots of mistakes. Tried hard and had some nice crosses, but just didn't deliver too much.
Pablo 5.5 - One of the worst performances from Pablo this season. He did absolutely nothing. Couldn't tie up even two passes, his dribbling was way off and just a very poor match overall from Pablo.
Canales 5.5 - Same as Pablo. Was good in the first half with few nice touches, but completely gone in the second half.
Piatti 5.5 - Tried very hard on the left, but he just can't seem to dribble past anyone and his passes lack precision and creativity.
Soldado 6 - Worked hard and while he himself wasn't particularity threatening he set up few nice passes to his team mates. He lacked service all match long.
Subs:
Feghuoli 5.5 - A lot more dangerous than Piatti and the rest of the attack, but did not have enough time to influence the match and apart from few nice passes didn't have time to do more.
Topal N/A - Made one mistake when he came over and that indirectly set in motion the events that would lead to the penalty call. Did not play with his hands though and the referee is blind or payed off.
Aduriz N/A - Not enough time.

Unai Emery 6 - Decided to rest Banega, but looking from this point in time it was a mistake. Parejo wasn't able to influence the game and when Mallorca opened up and started attacking Valencia lost all possession.
I feel like Emery wasn't at fault for the result, as all players played pretty bad overall.

Referee -10 - If you want to destroy someone wait till the 92nd minute and blow the whistle for an unexisting penalty with no chance for the team to come back.

RCD Mallorca vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

RCD Mallorca vs Valencia CF

Stadium: Iberostar

15 October 2011; 18:00CET
8th matchday, La Liga

Expected attendance: 20.000

Coaches: Joaquín Caparrós and Unai Emery

The international fixtures are over and club football is about to start again with Valencia CF traveling to the town of Palma, Majorca at the Iberostar stadium to face the home team RCD Mallorca. 

The last match for Valencia CF was against Granada and resulted in a small win for us, courtesy of a Canales goal in the first half. Since then we've had few players go on international duty with their countries. Jordi Alba actually got his first call up to the team and also debuted as starter and played great, providing an assist to Silva for the first goal and defending calmly and easily. Other players that were on international duty were Ever Banega, Rami, Mathieu, Ricardo Costa, Maduro, Pereira and Jonas. Unfortunately Maduro got injured in training and recently had an operation and would be out for at least 4 months.

As far as Mallorca goes I think only Chori Castro was called up, as he's a regular in Uruguay since 2005, Dudu Aouate as well and maybe Pablo as well, but don't take my word for it on this one.

RCD Mallorca is the oldest club in the Balearic Islands, Mallorca was originally founded in 1916 by Adolfo Vázquez, a republican engineer, who named the club Junta Directiva del Alfonso XIII FBC after the then Spanish king.

RCD Mallorca has had a mixed start so far with 3 loses in the first three matches, but it has come around the last two matches and won against Real Sociedad and drew their last game with Osasuna away from home. Right now they are 9th position on the table and facing Valencia.

RCD Mallorca finished 6th in 2010 and was supposed to play in the Europe League, but due to the poor financial situation at the club, UEFA decided on 22 July 2010 against granting Mallorca the licence to play in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League.

RCD Mallorca fired Michael Laudrup and brought in new coach Joaquin Caparros who is a very experienced and great coach that led clubs like Villarreal and most importantly Sevilla for 5 years achieving quite the success and setting up the team for great things in the future with transferring players like Jose Antonio Reyes and Sergio Ramos from the B team to the first team and earlier he also discovered someone by the name of Marchena. With the signings of Júlio Baptista, Adriano, Daniel Alves and Renato he made a team to be reckoned with, but of course the Sevilla leadership wasn't looking to win titles, but to make profits and one after another sold his best players like Dani Alves and Sergio Ramos to the current top two clubs. 

Anyways he is a very experienced coach and will deeply analyze Valencia's play and try and counter us directly. Mallorca players would also not be short of motivation for this match and will likely go 110% percent ready and try to get a positive result.

RCD Mallorca squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF on the other hand is fifth on the table with 13th points, same as Real Madrid and Malaga and only one point less than Barcelona and Levante who are top two in the table. Even though Levante are playing really good right now I'm expecting them to fizzle out in the next three or four fixtures, while on the other hand I'm expecting Sevilla and Atletico Madrid to start climbing and possibly threatening out position.

This week though we have an easy fixture considering and we should be looking to take three points when we visit Mallorca. We must take these easier games so that if we fail against tougher or equal opposition we have sort of safety cushion.

The last two weeks were for national football and Unai Emery had ample time to work with the team on the shortcomings, like the attack for example and I'd expect our goalscoring to be more proficient and improved.

Most players are available to the coach except for Hedwiges Maduro who got injured in training with the national team and Tino Costa who just got injured in training and the extent of his injury will be known at a later date. David Albelda and Mehmet Topal are fully fit now though and ready to play.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita, Diego Alves
Defenders: Barragán, Bruno, Víctor Ruiz, Rami, Dealbert, Jordi Alba, Mathieu
Midfielders: Albelda, Mehmet Topal, Parejo, Feghouli, Pablo Hernández, Piatti, Canales
Forwards: Jonas, Soldado, Aduriz.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Guaita; Barragan, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Albelda, Parejo; Feghuoli, Canales, Pablo; Soldado.
Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, interchangeable attacking trio, mixed passing.

Technical Details RCD Mallorca (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Aouate; Zuiverloon, Ramis, Caceres, Chico; Pereira, Marti, Pina, Victor; Alfaro, Nsue.
Tactics: Low defensive line, park the bus, crosses and counter attacks.

Result Prediction:
RCD Mallorca 0-2 Valencia CF
RCD Mallorca just changed coaches two weeks ago and even though they have done decent in their last two matches they probably still are ways off tactically and individually so a team like Valencia CF should and must take advantage of that. I'd expect Emery to have worked with the team in attacking moves and tactics and I expect improvement in that area. Our defense is also pretty good, so I don't expect any leaks there.

Valencia CF players on international duty

Spain 3-1 Scotland; Jordi Alba
Jordi Alba had his debut match for Spain and he didn't disappoint. Immediately he grew comfortable and started playing to his potential setting up David Silva for the first goal. He continued to bombard forward and linked up well with former Valencia CF players Villa and Silva on the left.

In fact Jordi Alba outdid Sergio Ramos who played on the right and I think this just earned him a call up for the Euro 2012 tournament.

France 1-1 Bosnia&Hercegovina; Adil Rami, Jeremy Mathieu
Adil Rami was a rather poor match against Bosnia&Hercegovina as he allowed Edin Dzeko to score the opening goal. He did marshal everyone in the air, but this wasn't his best performance in a French shirt.

Jeremy Mathieu did not have luck once again and will wait for a other time to try and get into the French team. Right now it doesn't seen as Blanc will take him to EURO 2012.

Argentina 0-1 Venezuela; Ever Banega
Ever Banega didn't start the match, but was put in rather quickly in it after Argentina went down 1-0 to Venezuela. Surprisingly though he was unable to steer the match in favor of Argentina, but its hardly his fault as the whole team before him was performing terribly.

Turkey 1-0 Azerbaijan; Mehmet Topal 
Mehmet Topal started and played the full 90 minutes for the Turkish national team in their win over Azerbaijan.

Brazil 2-1 Mexico; Jonas Goncalves
Jonas once again played for the Brazilian team, but just like the last match he only had few minutes and wasn't able to do much.

You already know that Hedwiges Maduro is injured and Ricardo Costa did not feature for Portugal once more, just showing that Portuguese coach doesn't trust him, contrary to what Ricardo Costa claimed.

International players report

Valencia CF had quite a few players representing their national teams, but only a few actually played.

Argentina 4-1 Chile; Ever Banega
Ever Banega who was one of the first players to get called up for his national team played in Argentinas win over Chile of 4-1. Ever Banega played for 72 minutes and did a good job in midfield, albeit unspectacular until he was substituted.

France 3-0 Albania ; Adil Rami, Jeremy Mathieu
Adil Rami also played for France and was their main defender with several defenders being injured that used to be in the first team.
Jeremy Mathieu on the other hand wasn't even on the bench for the French team, but could find himself easily on the bench and even playing as Abidal is still not injury free, Adil Rami also injured himself and even Patrice Evra got injured and removed at half time.


Brazil 1-0 Costa Rica; Jonas Goncalves
Jonas managed to play for his national team, but only for a few minutes in the closing stages of the match and could not do anything in the time he had. At least he played a little bit.

Ricardo Costa, Cristian Pereira for Portugal and U-21 respectively did not play and Costa wasn't even on the bench. Jordi Alba also watched from the stands and did not feature for Spain and Hedwiges Maduro got injured in training and so he obviously did not feature and should be actually coming home in few days.

Maduro bad mouthing comes back to haunt him

Karma is a b****. Just about two weeks or so after Maduro came out public and said he wasn't getting enough playing time at Valencia CF and would consider leaving at winter, well he got injured in training with the Dutch national team and the extent of the injury is big and Maduro will spend at least two months recovering.

The MRI scan showed that its a deep fracture and this means that the earliest Maduro can start playing again is in 2012. This of course is bad news for Valencia as Topal is still injured, but he is expected to be back before the club fixtures begin.

Something tells me tough that staying home won't be so inconvenient for Maduro