Real Madrid 1-1 Valencia CF Match report

First match of the season and Valencia CF is off to a great start, drawing against last season's champions Real Madrid at their home stadium and in the first match of the season. Even though it didn't look like it found finish in a draw, Valencia CF managed to fight off Real Madrid attacks and secure a draw which is a great result for us.

The match started in a normal fashion with Real Madrid as the home team having the initiative and a little bit more of the ball possession. First minutes were played seizing out the opposition with both sides fighting mostly at the middle of the pitch.

Real Madrid would ramp out the pressure though and instantly got off to a flying start as Gonzalo Higuain would score a goal in the 10th minute after a nice cross by Di Maria put him through alone on goal and Ruiz and messed up thinking he could catch him in offside position. But the goal wasn't to come that easy, as Gonzalo needed 3 shots to finally put the ball in the net, as the first two shots were block by Diego Alves, but the rebound went to Higuain three times.

Having scored a goal Real Madrid seemed comfortable in possession, a little too comfortable I would say as they failed to really push their advantage.

Feghuoli would have a decent chance for Valencia CF at the 22nd minute as he tried to shoot, but ultimately failed.

Real Madrid would continue the attacks and would get a pretty good chance in the 34th minute as Ruiz was slow closing down again and would allow Madrid with an opportunity, but Coentrao who shoots, but sees his effort deflected into the side-netting.

Valencia CF would punish Real Madrid for their lack of intent and in the 42nd minute Jonas scores a goal, a header, after a free kick by Tino Costa. Iker Cassilas and Pepe misjudged the flight on the ball and fled into each other, leaving Jonas unmarked to head the ball in the net. Luckilly for Real Madrid both continued the match after some fast medical help, but Pepe was replaced in the second half for Albiol.

Roberto Soldado would score, but the goal won't stand for long after the line referee rules offside, even though by the not so good camera work it seemed like Soldado was at least half a meter before the last Real Madrid defender.

Real Madrid would have a chance to score in the 59th minute as Higuain shoots, but the shot is poor as he fails to hit the ball fully and the ball reaches Ozil, forcing the offside.

61st minute Joao Pereira is beaten by his countrymen Ronaldo, Ronaldo crosses dangerously low, but Costa is in the right place and clears the danger.

Real Madrid would have another chance just minutes later as a bad intervention by Diego Alves gives Real Madrid a chance, but Ruiz was faster than Higuain there and managed to clear the ball for the penalty area. As the action continues from the middle after the clearance by Ruiz Coentrao I think crosses the ball superbly to Higuain, he shoots, but the ball hits the bar and Valencia CF escape by the luck of the draw.
Minute later Ozil would also get a chance on goal and he shoots on goal, but Alves saves.

After a bit of a down time and plays in the middle, with both sides doing substitutions the new substitute for Real Benzema gets in a dangerous position with the ball, shoots, but Diego is well positioned again and saves.

Real Madrid would have one final chance in the 82nd minute as Callejon shoots at goal, after a good pass by Ronaldo, but once again Alves saves.

After that the game was a bit hectic till the end, but no side had any significant chances and Valencia CF managed to close out the game in a draw, which is a great result for Valencia CF and a bad result by Real Madrid.

Technical Details:
R. Madrid (1): Casillas, Pepe (Albiol, min. 46), Ramos, Coentrao, Ronaldo, Ozil, Alonso, Arbeloa, Higuaín, Di María (Callejón, min. 70) y Lass (Benzema, min. 62).
Valencia CF (1): Alves, Gago, Jonas, Feghouli (Valdez, min. 80), Soldado (Parejo, min. 70), Joao Pereira, Guardado (Piatti, min. 65), V. Ruiz, R. Costa, Mathieu y Tino Costa.
Goals: 10min, 1-0 Higuain; 42min, 1-1 Jonas

Player Ratings:
Diego (MotM) 7.5 - Fantastic performance by Diego Alves as he has dozen good saves and managed to defend 2 times on Higuains goal, but he was let down by the defense on that one in the first place.
Pereira 5 - Mixed bad performance. Started quite weak as his marking was quite off and wasn't involved in attack at all, improved later on and made some good interventions, but again he lacked in the marking department and was beaten few times.
Costa 7 - Calming presence in front of goal and he was a solid rock at the back, really showing Ruiz how to defend. Seems to become better with age.
Ruiz 4.5 - At fault for the first goal, allowed Higuain and Coentrao chances to score and while he improved later on and had few good interventions, it was not enough.
Mathieu 6.5 - Managed to restrain Di Maria for most of the time, was not supposed to mark Di Maria for the first goal and was further back, did few good runs in attack, but he obviously lacks communication with Guarado.
Gago 6 - Decent first match for Gago, was good all around with passing and defending, had few good interventions at the back and linked up well with Tino, considering they haven't played together much at all.
Tino 6 - Provided the assist to Jonas goal and was generally a nuisance to Real Madrid midfield as he ran a lot and covered a lot of ground, but couldn't impose himself on the game in more meaningful way, apart from the assist.
Feghuoli 5 - Seemed quite tired for his first match of the season. Last year he was one of the biggest runners, but he seemed out of steam throughout this whole match. Rather poor performance overall.
Jonas 6.5 - Scored the goal for Valencia CF, was not involved too much, but provide some good dangerous passes and would be happy to score the crucial goal for a draw.
Guardado 4.5 - Really lacked any intent and seemed afraid by the importance of the match. Had few decent runs, but couldn't provide the final ball and had suspect decisions like failing to pass quickly to Feghuoli and waiting until he was offside to then pass.
Soldado 5 - Issolated for most of the match, the one time where he got an opportunity he scored, but the referee deemed it offside, even though it looked like he was onside.
Subs:
Piatti 5 - Did not have any significant impact and apart from few short runs that he couldn't finish because no one else was there, he could not do much.
Parejo 5 - Did brings some more stability in the ranks for few minutes and tried some wild passed to get something going, but none payed off and ended up mostly defending.
Valdez 5.5 - Didn't have time to do anything of significance, but I liked his spirit and he seemed really determined and run the whole time after he went in, almost having one opportunity late in the game.

Real Madrid vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Real Madrid vs Valencia CF

Stadium: Santiago Bernabeu

Coach: Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pellegrino

Date: 19.08.2012; 19:00 CET

Its that of the year again as the new season starts and Valencia CF goes up against last year's league champions Real Madrid in the first game of the season. The luck of the draw couldn't have been harder for Valencia CF for the opening 3 games, going against Real Madrid first, week later Deportivo La Coruna and then FC Barcelona. Of course this could mean easier finish, though that is not true as we go against Sevilla in the last of the matches.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid are the defending champions from last season and they will be looking to add some more trophy's and start this season with a win to put them on a good momentum which is very important these days for the battle for the title against Barcelona as every point in the later stages counts.

Real Madrid are certainly the favorites to win the title again this season as they have the core team from last season with possibly one new addition in Luka Modric from Tottenham, but the team has grown and some new and youth players could break through. Luka Modric didn't feature yesterday for Tottenham so he is likely very close to joining Real Madrid and is probably going to serve as a backup to Xabi as their central midfield is already packed.

Real Madrid had a good preseason as they won all but one of their matches, against Benfica they suffered a surprising and large loss of 5-2. After that though it was all straight wins, beating Milan 5-1 in the process. Players like Kaka and Di Maria and Nuri Sahin also fully fit, after struggling with injuries for long parts, they will be ready to battle to prove themselves, unless Sahin leaves of course which there are still rumors that he may.

Real Madrid Squad:

Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Casillas; Arbeloa, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrao; Xabi, Khedira; Di Maria, Kaka, Ronaldo; Benzema.

Valencia CF

Valencia CF are the defending "champions" from the second tier, second league within La Liga and third season in a row Valencia CF is the "champions". Realistically its only 3rd place, which is a good result no doubt, but the top two clubs are so much better that in the past several years it has been a two horse races and the points difference between second and third 30 points.

Valencia CF broke ties with Unai Emery at the end of last season on a good note, as he went on to coach Spartak Moscow and Valencia CF brought in former player and one of the best defenders at Valencia CF Mauricio Pellegrino, who was assistant coach to Rafael Benitez at Inter and then previously Liverpool. So while he doesn't have too much experience leading a team, he knows how to coach and has also worked with many coaches in his career as a player for Valencia CF. He also brings that champions mentality the team had when they were finalists in the Champions league and winning La Liga.

Valencia CF strengthened significantly this season with some great signings, but also lost several good players as well, like Jordi Alba who transferred to our rival Barcelona, Topal who went back to Turkey as he missed his home, Aduriz who went to Bilbao and so on.
While we lost players we also got some as well, Valencia CF managed to capture a rising star, a huge talent who is considered the successor to Silva in Jonathan Viera for only 2.5 million euros. Andres Guardado joined Valencia CF from Deportivo as a free agent after he refused to extend his contract with Deportivo and signed for Valencia CF. Valencia CF looked long and hard at a right back and at the end we ended up with the cheaper option in Joao Pereira, but judging from the Euro 2012 it turned out we made a great decision as he showed he is a secure defender and consistent in his form.
We also bought Fernando Gago from Real Madrid and bought Sergio Canales in a deal that featured both of them and just few days ago we also brought in a new attacker Nelson Valdez who comes in as a back-up to Roberto Soldado as the coach gives Paco time to mature.

Valencia CF preseason was very good, with a bit of a surprising loss at the end there, but ultimately it was a good preseason with good results and we won the most important match of the preseason the match against Tottenham. In the preseason Viera really shone and showed off his talent multiple times, finding some amazing passes that resulted in goals and in the very near future he will turn into a star. Paco also showed signs of his talent and Jonas confirmed that he is going to be a very important player for Valencia CF this season.

Valencia CF Squad: 
Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Felipe Ramos.
Defenders: Barragán, Joao Pereira, Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Ricardo Costa, Mathieu.
Midfielders: Albelda, Gago, Parejo, Tino Costa, Feghouli, Pablo, Piatti, Guardado.
Forwards: Viera, Jonas, Valdez, Soldado.

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Line-up: Diego; Pereira, R. Costa, Ruiz, Mathieu; Gago, Tino; Feghuoli, Jonas, Guardado; Soldado

Result Prediction:

Real Madrid 2-1 Valencia CF

We must admit to our-self that Real Madrid are realistically the better team and with such talent as Cristiano Ronaldo, Di Maria, Ozil, Benzema already at such a high level and playing all the time reaching their potential we only have developing talent like Viera, Canales, Guarado, Bernat and Paco some of which may need at least 2 more years to develop and be ready. 

The one thing going in Valencia CF favor is the international friendlies that were played as Real Madrid had a lot more players go and many of them played so that would make them slightly more tired, though we had quite a few players go with their national teams as well. 

Both teams had very good preseasons so we can't give the advantage to any club from the preseason, so taking all into account, the home terrain for Real, the fact that they are the more stable team as Valencia CF changed coaches this summer and we had a lot more players leaving and coming, Real Madrid is likely to win this match, although I'm not giving them a huge advantage and expect them to win 2-1.

Valencia CF transfers summer 2012

Jonathan Viera was signed first of the new arrivals for a fee of 2.5 million euros. He joins from UD Las Palmas and is one of the biggest talents in Spain right now, many considering him to be the next Silva. He has a direct style of play and while not as technically skilled as Silva, he has flair and more strength and brute force.

He did amazing in the preseason matches and showed why he is held at such high esteem and why people consider him such talent. His passing has been inventive and accurate, his movement superb and as I said he has flair and strength. Great signing for Valencia CF and a talent for the future and likely for the very near future.

Andres Guardado signed a personal deal with Valencia CF over 8 months ago and became a Valencia CF player officially on 01.07.2012 when his Deportivo La Coruna contract was officially over.
This means he comes for free and after his best season as a player. He scored 11 goals and provided 12 assists for Deportivo last season and was their main player. He is a great dribbler with amazing speed and acceleration and has also been representing Mexico since 2005 as well. His last season shows that he can also bring in more than just speed and dribbling as he can rack up assists and score goals. He featured heavily in the golden cup win in 2011.

Joao Pereira comes from Sporting Lisbon for a fee of 3.5 million euros and at the height of his career. For defenders the years from 28 to 32 are the best and so Pereira comes at such a time. He is an explosive players with great attacking prowess, fast and powerful with great crossing ability. He lacks a bit in the defensive department and sometimes tends to forget himself in attack, but is a powerhouse in attack, while with good defensive tactics he can be reliable in defense as well. On one on one situations he tends to be quite good.
He did great in the Euro 2012 and cemented his position as a great and secure right back and so far is preseason has showed that he is going to be a key player for Valencia CF and a reliable defender.

Fernando Gago comes from Real Madrid after 2 seasons of sitting on the bench and being down the pecking order for Jose Mourinho. He came to Real Madrid as a huge young potential and actually featured in his early days there quite a bit, but since then he's failed to really impose himself and has been lurking in the shadows. He comes at a good time in Valencia CF for his career and at a time when he has reinvented himself and been playing consistently for his national team Argentina.

Fernando Gago comes as a defensive midfielder at Valencia CF, but I regard him as a central midfielder with very good defensive skills, he is actually very good on the ball, has great passing range and vision and is a natural playmaker. Either way for the price he comes he is a steal and is a good business for Valencia CF.

Nelson Valdez comes from Russian team Rubin Kazan on a year long loan deal with an option to buy for Valencia CF. He comes as a back-up to Soldado, since Paco is still considered too young for consistent football and also comes as a different type of player to Soldado and Jonas.
Nelson Valdez is not a natural goalscorer as evident from his spell at Rubin Kazan with only 3 goals scored, but in previous clubs as well he hasn't been a big goalscorer. While he lacks scoring abilities though, he is a wide, strong player that can force situations and gets additional defenders on him, possibly opening up space for other players to exploit. He is a cheap option of course, he is not likely to be used too much, but with the need to buy a quality left back he is a decent cheap option.

Pablo Hernandez wants to leave

Swansea City AFC have bid for Pablo Hernandez, Valencia CF rejected the bid noting that Pablo Hernandez is not for sale, but Pablo Hernandez had a talk with Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente and send a clear signal that he wants to leave.

Swansea is said to have bid around 5 million euros and the bid may go up to 7 million euros, but more important than that is that we don't really have a cover if Pablo leaves. Yeah Piatti's best position is right wing, but we can't count on him seriously as he was very inconsistent last year, so this creates a huge problem for Valencia CF, especially since we don't have time to find and purchase a suitable replacement.

Right now it seems likely that Pablo will leave, but Llorente is meeting with Valencia CF sporting director Braulio Vasquez and coach Mauricio Pellegrino to discuss this and make a decision.

Valencia CF players market value

Valencia CF has some really talented players in its squad, but how much are they really worth?

This is a tough process because there are no measurable element, there is no mathematical formula to form the price of a player, its basically how much the club values its own player and at what price is the club willing to sell the player.

The following list is based on current values and it can change depending on performance.

1. Roberto Soldado, 27 years old; positions: ST - 25 million euros
2. Ever Banega, 24 years old; positions: CM, AM - 13 million euros
3. Adil Rami, 26 years old; positions: CD - 12 million euros
3. Jeremy Mathieu, 28 years old; positions: LB, LW - 12 million euros
4. Diego Alves, 27 years old; positions: GK - 11 million euros
5. Jonas, 28 years old; positions: AM, CF, ST - 10 million euros

5. Sofiane Feghuoli, 22 years old; positions: AM, LW - 10 million euros

6. Fernando Gago, 26 years old; positions: DM, CM - 9 million euros

6. Paco Alcacer, 18 years old; positions: ST - 9 million euros

7. Pablo Hernandez, 27 years old; positions: RM, RW, AM, LW - 8 million euros
7. Victor Ruiz, 23 years old; positions: CD - 8 million euros
7. Andres Guardado, 25 years old; positions: LM, LW - 8 million euros
8. Joao Pereira, 28 years old; positions: RB - 7 million euros

8. Vicente Guaita, 25 years old; positions: GK - 7 million euros

9. Tino Costa, 27 years old; positions: CM, AM - 6 million euros

9. Daniel Parejo, 23 years old; positions: CM, AM - 6 million euros

9. Ricardo Costa, 31 years old; positions: SW, CD - 6 million euros

9. Sergio Canales, 21 years old; positions: AM, LM - 6 million euro

9. Jonathan Viera, 22 years old; positions: AM - 6 million euros

9. Pablo Piatti, 23 years old; positions: RW, LW, AM, ST - 6 million euros

11. Juan Bernat, 19 years old; positions: LW - 5 million euros

12. Antonio Baragan, 25 years old; positions: RB - 4 million euros

13. Nelson Valdez, 28 years old; positions: ST - 3 million euros
14. David Albelda, 34 years old; positions: CD, DM - 2 million euros

Tottenham bids 30 million for Soldado Roberto, bid rejected

Valencia CF reject a 30 million bid by Tottenham for Valencia CF striker Roberto Soldado. Tottenham is having striker deficiencies and Villas-Boas tried to get his reported favorite striker Roberto Soldado, with Tottenham biding 30 million euros for the transfer of Roberto Soldado to Tottenham.

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente rejected the offer though and reiterated that Roberto Soldado is not for sale.

Official: Chori Dominguez signs with Rayo Vallecano

Its official, Chori Dominguez rescinded his contract with Valencia CF and signed for Rayo Vallecano. Chori has to pass the medical exams though to make it final.

AS I've reported earlier Chori wanted to get a chance this summer and fight for a place in the team and the new coach Pellegrino was willing to give him a chance until he talked to Braulio who made sure Chori isn't welcomed and it was probably the right decision.

He was a bad influence on the team when he was at Valencia CF and especially Banega, so just like Miguel, he is let go from the team for the same reasons.

Nelson Haedo Valdez join Valencia CF on loan

Nelson Haedo Valdez finally joins Valencia CF on a one year loan deal, after a lot of speculation around him. Valencia CF has a 2.5 million dollars purchase option at the end of the loan deal, though it is likely Valencia CF won't use the option unless Valdez by the luck of the straw has a really breakout season and does amazing.

Nelson Valdez joins Valencia CF from the Russian team Rubin Kazan who Valdez joined in 2011 and only scored 4 goals for them. He's also played for Paraguay 59 times and scored 12 goals. Overall he is not a great goalscorer and is not the tall type player either, so its not exactly what Valencia CF coach Mauricio Pellegrino wanted, but he will have to do.

We've also been linked with Nelson Valdez before, in fact 2 years ago and then 1 year ago, so I guess Braulio got his long time wish to bring him to Valencia CF.

The fact that he comes on a loan deal makes this move bearable and Valencia CF now has around 7 million euros to spend on a left back and it looks like its going to be Aly Cissokho from Lyon.

Chori Dominguez to go to Rayo Vallecano

Chori Domizguez is likely to continue his career in Rayo Vallecano after reaching personal agreement with them and is now negotiating the rescind of his contract, which Valencia CF want to be able not to pay damages to Chori, and he's likely to back down from his request of damages, since he knows there is no alternative than to basically stay at Valencia CF and not play or train with the rest of the team and waste one year.

Chori Dominguez had really bad relationship with Unai Emery and had some bad moments, but most importantly influenced Ever Banega in a bad way and was loaned out to River Plate, since the load ended and coming to Valencia CF he had an intent of getting on the good side of Pellegrino, but after a meeting Braulio and Pellegrino had it was decided he'd be a bad influence on the team and he was shut out of the team and allowed to train by himself.

But on to another topic I've set up a custom league at the Premier League fantasy league. Last year we had about 20 people join up, so I expect us to at least equal the numbers, certainly from the Euro 2012 custom league I set up we had I believe around 35 people join so I'm hoping to have at least 20 people join my new custom league. Please join and tell your friends, family co-workers and everyone you know to join. All you need to do is basically click the following link and you'll be automatically joined to my custom league. http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/170044/join/?autojoin-code=671528-170044

Eintracht Frankfurt 4-2 Valencia CF

Valencia CF played its last match of the preseason and lost to Eintracht Frankfurt 4-2. Mauricio Pelegrino started with a weaker side, as he gave all the key players a rest and started with a completely different team than from the match against Tottenham.

With so much changes you can clearly see the results as Frankfurt started controlling the match and pressing Valencia CF in front of goal immediately. One would have hoped it was just starting warm up and Valencia CF would start dominating, but it wasn't going to happen as Frankfurt continued having possession and attacking, probing Valencia CF defense.

Frankfurt would have few chances to score, but the goal would fall after a cross from the left side and Aigner would head the ball into the goal. Just 2 minutes later Frankfurt would score a second goal as Diego Alves came out of goal to punch the ball, but the ball traveled low and Inui would volley the ball, only to fall to Occean who slotted past Diego Alves easily.

Valencia CF would score few minutes later as well, after a great one-two pass with Viera and Piatti, Viera released Piatti in front of goal and this one scored to put Valencia CF back into the game.

First half pretty much ended there, with both sides having no particular effect in attack till the whistle blew. The second half started with Valencia CF improved a little bit, keeping the ball more into possession and having few chances. This would pay off and as early as the 50th minute Pablo would score an equalizer after another great assist by Viera.

Unfortunately while the general play improved a little the defense didn't and in fact Valencia CF would recieve another goal in the 63rd minute after no one was found marking on the right side and Frankfurt players were able to combine and Occean to score again.

Today all of the defense sucked. I mean they could not have played worse, and Rami was miserable as well, you can say the young B team players lacked experience and stuff, but Rami was just as bad, if not worse and Barragan was too much forward, forgetting about his defensive duties and with no one to cover that side.

Little later Rami would be substitured with Quintanilla and 3 minutes of him coming in, Frankfurt would score again, again creating one more man in attack that wasn't marked by anyone and scoring.

I'm going to write player ratings for this match, to get ready for the new season and get in the groove of things, so bare with me this time.

Technical Details:
Eintracht Frankfurt (4): Trapp, Butscher, Demidov (Anderson, min. 46), Oczipka (Hoffer, min. 65), Inuim (Djakpa, min. 65), Occéan (Kittel, min. 65), Meier, Aigner (Kempf, min. 65), Rode (Lanig, min. 46), Jung y Schwegler (Kittel, min. 65).

Valencia CF (2): Alves, Rami (Quintanilla, min. 77), Albelda (Alcácer, min. 77), Piatti, Barragán, Viera (Portu, min. 68), Pablo H., Parejo, Bernat (Feghouli, min. 77), C. Delgado y Salva Ruiz.

Goals: 1-0, 19min Aigner; 2-0, 22min Occéan; 2-1, 26min Piatti; 2-2, 51min Pablo H; 3-2, 62min Occéan; 4-2, 80min Hoffer.

Player Ratings:

Diego 6 - Did everything he can, had few good saves, but was totally left down by the defense today.

Barragan 5 - Active in attack and was involved in few actions, but forgot his defensive duties and was no where to be found at the back in several of Frankfurt's attacks.

Rami 3 - Miserable performance. Made several mistakes, two big amateur mistakes and was directly responsible for one goal.

Delgado 3 - Just terrible performance, didn't know how to position and was involved with few mix ups with Salva Ruiz. 

Salva 3 - Like the rest of the defense he did poorly, got outjumped for one of the goal, his marking was off and had few mix ups with Delgado for positioning.

Albelda 4 - Didn't quite see him play a lot, wasn't too good at covering for the defense either, he is old, but should have used his experience better.

Parejo 6 - Decent performance, was largely alone in trying to control the midfield and did what little he could.

Pablo 6 - Mixed performance, he did score a goal and had one good shot at goal, was involved in few other actions as well, but failed to exert his influence and failed to link up with the rest of the team.

Viera 8 - Amazing performance, great first touch, amazing vision and really good short passing. Provided two assists today and was largely involved in all of Valencia CF attacks.

Bernat 4 - Some nice dribbles here and there and showed off some technical skills, but where it matters he lacks  Didn't start, build-up or finish any actions, was too secure and didn't seem like he wanted to take any chances. Was missing for long periods of time.

Piatti 6 - Scored a goal and had good link-up play with Viera, not a striker, but he certainly showed he can play there possibly as an impact sub. Certainly a versatile players and did pretty good today.

Subs:

None played enough to be rated.

Valencia CF 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur FC

Valencia CF won 2-0 over Tottenham at the Mestalla. Pellegrino called this match a real test for Valencia CF and said he is taking it seriously and the team would show its strengths at this match.

The match started with Tottenham being in control of the ball possession and Valencia CF was on the defensive, but the team was organized and Tottenham failed to orchestrate a dangerous attack. In fact it was Valencia CF that came to scoring first with a great chance by Feghuoli, then Paco and then Jonas who got the ball, run downward avoiding 2 Tottenham players and shooting at goal. He wasn't lucky with his shot the first time, but only few minutes later Paco and Jonas would play a fast one-two and Jonas would shoot from long range and score.

It was a shock to Tottenham who realistically had a lot more ball possession and a lot more efforts in attack as they had few shots at goal and wide off goal. First a shot off goal through the middle of the field and then a good attack started by Assou-Ekotto from the right and Tottenham players were able to shoot twice at Diego Alves who saved the goal.

It was Jonas who was the most dangerous in the first half with most of the attacking moves coming from him, with Guardado being reserved defending and Feghuoli drifting in attack. Paco Alcacer did have two chances, one after a failed shot by Feghuoli(possibly a pass)and he missed the ball and a header.

The midfield lacked punch, it allowed Tottenham to dominate, but there was no surprise here as with Tino Costa starting you should expect that. Again I was really disappointed by Tino Costa, his play was really sloppy, really stiff, with no runs through the middle, no good passing range, he just failed to spread the ball in any shape or form.

In the second half we can see Fernando Gago took the playmaker responsibility and we were instantly and visibly better in the middle, but the statistics showed it as well, and I'm impressed with Gago in his overall play, although I still don't consider him a defensive midfielder, he is more of a playmaker than Tino will ever be and has better vision and higher passing range than Tino Costa and possibly even Parejo.

About the 70th minute Pellegrino made few changes with Piati coming in for Alcacer and Parejo for Jonas and instantly there was success. My stream was laggy and really blurred so I couldn't see who made the pass, but I believe it was either Piatti or Parejo who just moments after arrival passed the ball to Feghuoli who ran from his marker and scored the second goal for Valencia CF.

At this point seeing Villas-Boas face you could see he realized he made the wrong choice of club and was wishing he's chosen Valencia CF over Tottenham.

Then to make his play even more miserable Tino Costa went into huge argument with the referee and even though nothing happened, after the free kick Tino decided for some more confrontation at which point he got a red card, leaving Valencia CF to 10 players.

Tottenham would have a decent chance through Towsend as he shot towards goal, but ultimately inaccurately and Valencia CF were able to close out the match at 2-0 with actually few more chances till the end.

Technical details: 
Valencia CF (2): Alves; J.Pereira, V.Ruiz, R.Costa, Mathieu (Barragán, min 87); T.Costa, Gago (Albelda, min 89); Feghouli, Jonas (Piatti, min. 75), Guardado (Pablo Hernández, min. 85); Alcácer (Parejo, min. 75).

Tottenham (0): Friedel; Walker (Naughton, min. 78), Gallas, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto; Jenas (Van der Vaart, min 62), Livermore (Carroll, min 88); Lennon, Sigurdsson (Kane, min. 81), Bale (Towsend, min. 78); Defoe.

Paco Alcacer will stay with Valencia CF

Valencia CF coach Mauricio Pellegrino announced at a press conference yesterday that Paco Alcacer will stay with Valencia CF and be part of the first team, but said that this does not mean Valencia CF won't purchase new striker and said that they already are looking to bring a new striker, but didn't mention who exactly, although various media think its Kevin Gameiro.

Valencia CF play today at 22:00 hour against Tottenham and Paco Alcacer is likely to start again, since Soldado is still injured and Jonas is likely to start in the attacking midfield role.

We may also see Rami, Viera and Albelda coming in as substitutes in the second half as they have overcame their injuries, but this is going to be a real test and so Pellegrino may not want to make many changes and may test the starting team that is going to be for the match against Real Madrid.

New Fantasy League for VCF fans

Hey guys, join me for another season of fantasy premier league football. I want to be Spanish fantasy football, but the Spanish football body doesn't even have a proper website.

Join my Premier League fantasy league Valencianistas: http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/170044/join/?autojoin-code=671528-170044

Nacho Monreal outside of Valencia CF budget

There were reports that Nacho Monreal may join Valencia CF since Malaga announced their yard sale of players due to financial reasons, but it seems Malaga has put a steep price tag on him and Valencia CF isn't ready to pay as much as they ask, so we are once again in the lookout for a new left back.

Valencia CF brought Didac Vila from AC Milan on loan, but an extensive medical exam unveiled a serious injury and Valencia CF returned him back to Milan, before that Siqueira didn't work out because of the transfer fee and Jose Angel from Roma got loaned out to Real Sociedad.

Right noe reports are we are looking at Emiliano Insua and he is Pellegrino's favorite because of the Liverpool days, but I don't think Sporting will sell him and his price is set to be around 8 million, which would make this deal impossible.

Sergio Canales signs 5 year contract with Valencia CF

Sergio Canales today signed a 5 year contract with Valencia CF. Valencia CF agreed the transfer of Sergio Canales with the deal for Gago, Valencia CF wanted at first to extend Canales loan to 1 more year, but Real Madrid weren't going to let that happen, so Valencia CF decided to purchase Sergio Canales.

So far Sergio Canales hasn't shown much, mostly because he's suffered with 2 injuries of the knee and has been out for pretty much a full year.

Valencia CF will pay 7.5 million euros for Canales, steep price, but in the deal was also included Gago, so it balances itself out.

Didac Vila returns to AC Milan

Didac Vila our supposed new left back has returned to AC Milan after it was officially confirmed that he has a serious injury by Valencia CF medical staff.

When Didac Vila arrived he was subject of a series of medical tests at which it was determined he had a injury, but further tests were needed to determine how long he would need to be out. The newest tests show its a more serious injury and thus Valencia CF decided to return him to Milan.

Some blog news

So the month is past us and here are some of the numbers on the amount of pageviews per country. There was also more than 18.000 pageviews total for the past month of July.

Entry Pageviews:
United States 2812
United Kingdom 1413
Germany 624
Spain 442
Sweden 340
Indonesia 335
Belgium 302
Malaysia 288

Trinidad and Tobago 240
France 193

Valencia CF 1-1 FC Porto PG(2-0)

Valencia CF won the self hosted tournament Naranja or Orange, though it took penalties to do so.

It was a fun match for a preseason match, Pellegrinho starting with the strongest squad, while Porto started with a little bit possibly weaker squad than normal. Match started slowly with Valencia CF having more possession and using the speed on the flanks to penetrate Porto. The duo of Parejo and Tino Costa seemed good, with both dropping in and out of defense, so obviously no clear defensive midfield and while it seemed to work against Porto at a preseason match, its yet to be tested against strong competition in a competitive environment.

Guardado was very active on the right flank as expected and we managed to see several of his penetrating runs with good dribbles to go along with it. He did have few good crosses and decent play with Jonas, though nothing to brag about, on the other side Feghuoli was a lot more suppressed and wasn't able to influence the game as much, although he did have some good runs, especially just in the start when he managed to intercept and then steal the ball from Porto's defense. He also had one good opportunity of goal, but poor shooting skills destroyed the opportunity and one amazing cross for Soldado that should have been a goal.

The defense seemed decent, but clearly not played-in and baked so to speak, you need regular defense and players to know each other, so right now even with Pellegrinho as coach the defense seems shaky, although as a defensive unit we do seem somewhat improved.

Jonas wasn't very active and had some poor ball control and some wasted passes, so even though he scored the goal, he wasn't particularly effective. Soldado had received great cross from Feghuoli, putting him alone on goal and he completely missed the goal, that was very poor shoot and overall a very poor performance from him.

The second half exposed some more defensive mistakes, including the one that lead to the Porto goal, though Valencia CF would instantly return the favor and equalize with a good assist from Guardado for Jonas, who headed the ball into the net.

Then Viera, Bernat and Pablo came in, though not much changed and the play stayed the same. After a ton of changes on both sides the play became more chaotic and Bernat had 2 good chances, first a run alone, but failed to deliver the last pass and then a shoot opportunity, but his youth and inexperience showed.

Ultimately the match was decided on penalties in which Porto didn't score even once. Diego Alves had some comedy time though and that was fun to watch.

Didac Vila on loan to Valencia CF

Valencia CF and AC Milan have reached an agreement for a one year loan deal for Didac Vila to Valencia CF. Valencia CF have a purchase option at the end of the loan deal that is said to be 5 million euros.

Armenia Bielefel 1-1 Valencia CF

Valencia CF played its third preseason match against Armenia and only managed to get a 1-1 draw. There was no TV stream or internet stream, so all the information we got is from VCF official website and superdeporte.

According to them Valencia CF played very good and controlled the game, in the 75th minute Armenia scored a goal, but only 4 minutes later Valencia CF equalized through Feghuoli on the assist from Viera.

From what I could read and watch some of the highlights from the matches so far it seems that Viera is really playing superbly and really seems ready for action, but again the real test we'll be against Porto this Saturday at 21:30 O'clock.

DSC Arminia Bielefeld (1): Ortega, Riemer, Hübener, Jerat, Testroet, Hornig, Riese, Langemann, Kullmann, Turhan y Agyemang. También jugaron Appiah, Lorenz, Burmeister, Yesilyurt, Schütz, Klos, Salger, Rahn y Schönfeld.

Valencia CF (1): Alves, Jonas, Soldado, Barragán, Guardado, Víctor Ruiz, Pablo, Ricardo Costa, Parejo, Mathieu y Tino Costa. También jugaron Bernat, Joao Pereira, Gago, Piatti, Albelda, Viera, Alcácer, Feghouli, Quintanilla y Carlos Delgado. 

Goals: 1-0 Min. 74 Burmeister; 1-1 Min. 77 Feghouli

Here is a new Valencia CF song, I'll be adding it to the music player shortly, when I download it and convert it to mp3.

LBapuestas new Valencia CF sponsor

Valencia CF got a new sponsor today, as online casino LBapuestas signed a one year sponsorship deal with Valencia CF worth over 1 million euros. Details of the deal are not fully clear, but it seems its primarily based on set money rates with few performance based payments.

SV Rödinghausen 0-4 Valencia CF

Valencia CF second pre-season match went well with a 4-0 win over amateur league wanna be's SC Rödinghausen.

Jonas scored the first goal for Valencia CF, Piatti scored the second goal, Carles Gil and FEghuoli scored the 3rd and 4th goal on assist by Viera.

Good play by Viera, but then again it was against a really weak team and the real test will be against Porto.

Technical Details:
SV Rödinghausen (0): Saur, Schiffbanker, Buddecke, Leenemann, Arifi, Schonwalder, Ruter, Plog, Owusu-Ansah, Juarez and Kalkan. They also played Bruggemeyer, Schneck, Buba and seronegative.

Valencia CF (4): Diego Alves, Joao Pereira, Ricardo Costa, C.Delgado, Bernat, Pablo, Parejo, Tino Costa, Piatti, Jonas and Alcácer. They also played Guaita, Barragan, Quintanilla, Victor Ruiz, Mathieu, Gil Carles, Feghouli, Guardado, Viera, Soldado, Brown and Dalmau.

Goals: 25m, 0-1 Jonas; 45m, 0-2 Piatti; 57m, 0-3 Carles Gil; 86m, 0-4 Feghuoli.

Draw in Valencia CF first preseason match

Valencia CF only managed a draw in its first preseason match again Eintracht Braunschweig.

Next match is tomorrow against SV Rödinghausen.

Eintracht Braunschweig (1): Davari, Bicakcic, Dogan, Krote, Kratz, Reichel, Correia, Korte, Pfitzner, Kruppke y Ryong Pak. También jugaron Kessel, Vrancic, Boland, Bohl, Theuerkauf, Turan, Merkel, Edwini-Bonsu and Drüppel.
Valencia CF (1): Guaita, Salva Ruiz, Alex Quintanilla, Albelda, Jonas, Soldado, Barragán, Guardado, Víctor Ruiz, Pablo Hernández y Tino Costa. También jugaron Mathieu, Alves, Portu, Feghouli, Piatti, Pardo, Pereira, Ricardo Costa, Parejo, Alcácer, Bernat, Viera, Carlos Delgado and Dalmau.
Goals: 1-0 Min. 9 Dogan; 1-1 Min. 27 Jonas

There was no stream for the match and don't expect one for the next match as well.

Official: Fernando Gago joins Valencia CF

Well its official, Fernando Gago has accepted Valencia CF offer and joined the team today. His salary is going to be around 1.2 to 1.5 million euros, a huge downgrade from Real Madrid, but he is likely to get more playing time here at Valencia CF.

The transfer fee is reportedly 4 million euros, but we won't have an official confirmation, so whether its 3.5 or 4 or 4.5 million isn't even that important, its pretty cheap.

He is going to be officially presented at 19:00 O'clock Spanish time and will instantly join the group in the preparations.

So there you have it people, another central midfielder, on top of Banega, Tino and to a great extent Parejo and still only 1 defensive midfielder the old Albelda. Hope you are happy and willing to finish 6th position or worse this season!

Hottest girl competition, get involved and get posting

Hi there. I'm hosting "hottest girl competition" at the forum, so you better get involved and post which girls you'd like to see in the competition. Right now is the preliminary rounds and I need all of you to get there and get active and post which girls you'd like to see in the competition. The start of the competition will be when we have 32 girls selected, and the girls must be somewhat famous to qualify for the competition, girlfriends and random chicks are not allowed. http://valenciacflosche.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=230

Get on the forum thread or be gay and for the record I have nothing against gays, I'm just saying.

Fernando Gago to Valencia CF?

Well it seems Fernando Gago is going to be signing with Valencia CF, as his agent has met with Valencia CF staff and has agreed most terms with Valencia CF, with of course Real Madrid remaining to accept the offer, which is said to be 4 or 5 million euros and an offer that Real Madrid is willing to accept, as Mourinho has no plans for Gago and is a surplus in his plans.

To me this isn't a quality reinforcement and not a defensive midfielder. I mean I've seen Gago play and I can tell you right now, you are sorely mistaken if you think he is a defensive midfielder, he is absolutely not, in fact he is very attack minded.

So I don't know who Gago is supposed to cover for, because he certainly isn't covering for Topal, let me tell you. And yes he was a big talent 5 years ago, it has been 5 years people, he hasn't stepped it up, he hasn't done anything in the last 5 years.

So I don't like this signing, I don't think it will work out, I think our defensive play will suffer immensely with Fernando Gago as our defensive midfielder.

This seems like a done deal with a cheap price and so this is going to be the reality people, it will happen just wait and see.

Valencia CF news

Well first of all few days ago Walter Gargano's agent came to Valencia CF to talk with the Valencia CF sporting director Braulio, as Valencia CF is interested in the services of Napoli's defensive midfielder Walter Gargano. Knowing what we know today, its likely that Watler's agent had a positive response to possible move for Gargano and we now know that Valencia CF has forwarded a 5 million offer to Napoli to sell Walter Gargano.

This offer is probably going to get rejected, but Valencia CF are willing to go as far as 7 million euros to bring Walter Gragano to Valencia CF, knowing that alternatives like Bruno Soriano and others will cost 10 million euros and more.

Walter Gargano is 27 years old, has played at Napoli since 2007 and has also feature for Uruguay's national team since 2006.

Reports have it that Tino Costa has agreed terms for a new contract at Valencia CF and this means he has decided to stay at Valencia CF for the foreseeable future, while Valencia CF is readying a new contract for Sofiane Feghuoli in order not to loose him, like so many players as he is becoming better and better and more and more important for Valencia CF.

His current contract would expire in 2014 and so a new contract deal was in order anyways, so it comes at a good time. His new contract would improve his salary close to one million euros, but much is in bonuses and he could earn more or less than 1 million euros, depending on his performances and appearances.

24 Valencia CF players traveled to Germany yesterday and are going to continue the preparations for the new season there. The 24 players were: Alves, Guaita, Felipe Ramos, Mathieu, Barragán, Víctor Ruiz, Albelda, Parejo, Tino Costa, Pablo, Piatti, Viera, Canales, Banega, Guardado, Feghouli, Soldado, Jonas, Carlos Delgado, Portu, Dalmau, Carles Gil, Pardo and Alex Quintanilla.

Andres Guardado officially presented

Yesterday Andres Guardado was officially presented as Valencia CF player. The event was held at the Royal Monastery of Simat de la Valldigna at which most of the Valencia CF board and staff were present.

Top 5 visitors by country

Hi there, so while we are not braking any visitor records, set from last summer, although there are two more months of summer to do so, I'll post the top 5 visitors by country:

United States

25,312

United Kingdom

20,101

Spain

9,475

Indonesia

6,044

Malaysia

5,033

As you can see the United States leads with over 25.000 visitors, close second is the United Kingdom with over 20k and far away for 3rd to 5th are Spain, Indonesia and Malaysia. 


I've had some nice boosts from China as well and some months they've been in the top 3, but they haven't been visiting regularly though.

From 6th to 10th place are visitors from European countries with Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Poland and Denmark, which are in no particular order.

So yeah either Valencia CF has the most fans in the US or Kyle is visiting my blog over 100 times a day. :)

News Dump

Okay so I haven't been posting the news lately, so I'm going to give you a big news dump in this one post.

Valencia CF renewed the contract with Carles Gil, Valencia CF B team player and he has the option to join in the first team, Pellegrino will probably give him a chance to prove himself.

Jonathan Viera was officially presented as a new Valencia CF player. He was very excited to join Valencia CF and said he'd work hard and fight for a place in the starting eleven team.

Joma and Valencia CF unveiled the rest of the dresses, with a blue away shirt and the popular yellow and red shirt as a third kit.

Bruno Soriano's agent went to Valencia CF and reports have it he met with Valencia CF staff to negotiate the transfer of Bruno Soriano, who is Valencia's first target since Mehmet Topal's transfer to Fenerbahce. Even new coach Mauricio has called for the arrival of Bruno Soriano and it seems like Valencia CF will officially mount a move to get him.

Mauricio Pellegrino's favorite player to replace Jordi Alba is Guilherme Siqueira and Valencia CF has mounted a move to sign the player, who now playes for Granada, but its said to cost as much as 8 million euros, which is way overpriced for his quality and especially for the economic situation.

Didac Villa is still an option, but Milan won't release him on loan and would only sell for 6 million euros, which would actually cost less than Siqueira, so no logic in going after Siqueira, but maybe Braulio knows something we don't, so we'll see.

Tino Costa will likely not leave after all, especially after the meeting he had with Pellegrino and the coach reassured him, he is an important player for the club. That said Unai Emery with his new team Spartak Moscow is interested in acquiring Tino Costa and reports have it they've launched a 8 million bid for the player.

The club unveiled the 10 objectives for next season and its the standard ones, that we've had for at lest the past 3 years. Its basically keep third place, try to get closer to Barcelona and Real Madrid, go as far as you can in the European competitions, improve the defense, play better, etc... I mean pretty standard stuff.

As of today the new training season is underway and most of the team will be present at the training, with few players getting extended vacations as a reward for playing qualification matches or in Euro 2012.
The players on the first training are: Diego Alves, Vicente Guaita, Albelda, Jonas, Roberto Soldado, Barragán, Pablo Piatti, Víctor Ruiz, Pablo Hernández, Parejo, Jeremy Mathieu, Tino Costa and Viera, with Banega and Canales set to contineu their recovery with some light exercises.

The team will train every day at 8:00 O'clock till they move to Germany and continue the preparations there.

It seems as our target Kevin Gameiro has injured himself in the first training for PSG and initial reports say its a bad injury that will keep him out of training for at least 2 weeks.

Valencia CF is now looking at PSV's Strootman as a cheaper option than Bruno, but its actually a question if this guy is cheaper as PSV were asking 15 million euros for him last season.

So there you have it most of the news in one post and hopefully I can post more frequently, although I doubt it, at least until the preparation matches start and I almost always follow those if there is transmission of them.

EA new Valencia CF sponsor

EA or Electronic Arts the well known gaming company has signed a two year sponsor agreement with Valencia CF.

EA is most known for their Fifa and The Sims games which have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide combined.

We don't know the details of the sponsorship, like what are they paying, will they be on the dress and why they decided to become Valencia's sponsor.

Euro 2012 Fantasy League

Thanks for joining in the Euro 2012 Fantasy League, we've had a lot more people than I expected joining and we had 36 people by the end of it. Here is the final table, you can check out the full table at http://en.euro2012fantasy.uefa.com/my-leagues/35532/standings/

Congratulations to Digital Monsters winning the championship by only 2 points above Tom&Jerry.

#	Team	Manager	MD	TOT
	1	Digital Monsters	Happy Ankit	63	322
	2	Tom & Terry	Lucky As MI6 007	60	320
	3	Villa's Nederland	alex chatziioannou	52	319

Official: Mehmet Topal transfers to Fererbahce

Fenerbahce confirmed on their official website the transfer of Mehmet Topal from Valencia CF to Fenerbahce.

The reported transfer fee is 4.5 million euros, which is at least half million less what Valencia CF demanded and I believe full 1.5 million less of what I wrote Mehmet Topal was worth.

The midfielder nicknamed the 'Spider' has signed a 4 year contract with the Istanbul giants. Topal will receive €2 million per season and a €10,000 bonus per appearance.

Official: Jordi Alba transfers to Barcelona

Its official, Valencia CF reached an agreement with FC Barcelona for the transfer of Jordi Alba and as of today Jordi Alba is a Barcelona player.

This comes after weeks of negotations and a lot of back and forward as for the transfer fee and finally Valencia CF agreed on a 14 million transfer fee for Jordi Alba.

Valencia CF will now start searching a possible replacement for Alba and Didac Villa is the prime target.

Official: Aduriz to Bilbao, Michel to Levante and more

Aritz Aduriz has transfered into the ranks of Atletico Bilbao after a two year spell with Valencia CF. Arutiz Aduriz transfer fee is 2.5 million euros.

In related news Michel Herrero signed for Valencia CF neighbour club Levante for no transfer fee, but Valencia CF has a biy-back clause in the first two years.

Kevin Gameiro is said to have reached a personal agreement with Valencia CF as he is aware PSG won't require his services next season, as they are looking for a top level striker and are looking at Zlatan Ibrahimoovic, Falcao and few other top names.

Roberto Soldado extends contract with Valencia CF

Its official, Roberto Soldado has extended his contract with Valencia CF to 2017 and his boyout clause has also been extended to about 40 million euros.

The new contract has increased salary for Roberto Soldado, although much is said to be in bonuses and this guarantees Soldado is not going anywhere unless Valencia CF want to sell him.

This contract extension comes after Roberto Soldado said he is feeling happy at Valencia CF and wants to stay and Manuel Llorente said he'd like to see Soldado retire at Valencia CF.

Mehmet Topal still Valencia CF player

Mehmet Topal has been linked with a transfer to Fenerbahce and Turkish media in the past few days reported how its a done deal and how Topal is already a Fenerbahce player. Well Mehmet Topal demanded all the rumors and said that he is on vacation and has no intention of making a decision while on vacation and only after his vacation is over will he speak to the Valencia CF staff and decide about his future.

If Valencia CF can't get Bruno Soriano its likely that it will keep Mehmet Topal, although the biggest problem right now is Bruno's price tag which is at least 10 million euros.

Ultimately we'll see how things go and nothing is certain at this point, this could go either way.

Villarreal president to listen to offers for Bruno Soriano

Villarreal president Fernando Roig went public that he will listen to offers for Villarreal defensive midfielder Bruno Soriano and will decide whether to accept or reject them.

Previously he was adamant that he will not listen to offers and didn't plan to sell Bruno, but he seems to have changed his opinion now.

He said that so far there is only one offer for Bruno Soriano from Malaga and he rejected it because it was too low.

Valencia CF is keen to bring Bruno Soriano to its ranks, but only if it sells Mehmet Topal who's been a long target for Fenerbahce who've they already reached an agreement with over his contract.

Valencia CF interested in Kevin Gameiro again

French media are reporting that Kevin Gameiro has started contract negotiations with Valencia CF and could be on his way to sign a 3 years deal. They report the biggest obstacle is the salary, he gets 3.5 million in PSG and in Valencia CF its said receive about 1.6 million euros, which would put him in the high middle of earners.

Kevin Gameiro scandalously rejected Valencia CF last year in the last moment and signed for PSG his boyhood favorite club, but it instantly turned out to be a huge mistake as he wasn't getting too much playing time at first and when he started getting it he wasn't scoring goals. He managed to score only 14 goals in all competitions and PSG had a better striker in Nene who scored 21 goals in the French division alone. PSG have also signed Napoli striker Ezequiel Lavezzi and are looking for another big name to add to their list, which would mean there is no room for Kevin Gameiro.

PSG bought Gameiro for 11 million euros last year, but they are now full of money and challenging Manchester City for the top spot so they are said to be willing to sell Kevin Gamiero to Valencia CF for 6 million euros.

Question is even if Kevin Gameiro transfers to Valencia CF how will the fans react and will they accept him after last season's scandalous reject by him?