Sporting Gijon vs Valencia CF preview

Sorry I couldn't watch Valencia last match and had no time to make a preview and review. It was the most interesting match so far, but because it was in mid week I had no time.

Anyways Valencia CF winning streak came to an end as they only managed a draw with Atletico Madrid. David De Gea was the main man of the match as he single-handedly saved Atletico from loosing the game with 3 or 4 goals behind.

Next game Valencia play against Sporting Gijon, before they take on Manchester United for the Champions League match.
Sporting Gijon come of from a good game against Barcelona in which they only lost by one goal. Their coach is also confident that they can win against Valencia. They may have been impressive against Barcelona, but I have a feeling that Valencia is going to produce their most interesting play against them and win with many goals.

Valencia coach Unai Emery said the team is focused on the Sporting Gijon game and will not make substitutions because they play Manchester United next, but that is a lie, a tactical lie to mislead the opposition.
He is going to probably make few substitutions and expect Soldado to play for Aduriz, Fernandes to play for Tino, Jordi Alba for Mathieu and maybe even see Marius play for the first time.

Probable starting line-up:
Cezar; Bruno, Dealbert, Maduro, Alba; Joaquin, Albelda, Fernandes, Pablo, Chori; Soldado

My starting line-up: 
Cezar; Bruno, Dealbert, Maduro, Alba; Pablo, Albelda, Fernandes, Feghuoli, Chori; Soldado

Result prediction:
Sporting Gijon 1-3 Valencia CF

The official players traveling to Sporting will be:
GK: Cezar, Moya
DEF: Bruno, Ricardo Costa, David Navarro, Maduro, Dealbert, Mathieu.
MID: Jordi Alba, Manuel Fernandes, Tino Costa, Pablo Hernández, Mehmet Topal.
ATT: Feghouli, Alejandro Domínguez, Juan Mata, Soldado y Aduriz

Hercuels 1-2 Valencia CF

First of all, my prediction of the result came true, I predicted a tough and close victory for Valencia and that was the case, I also predicted 2-1 for Valencia and that came true also. So I'm glad about my prediction and glad that Valencia won the game against the bitter rival Hercules.

It was a strange opening after only 1 minute and around 20 seconds Juan Mata opened the scoring for Valencia. He met a fine cross from Pablo I think (sorry, watched the game on internet with bad quality) and shot from a difficult angle, but managed to find the net. It was 1-0 for Valencia CF.

Hercules than had two chances, but one was saved from Cezar and one went to the side of the goal. Than came in Joaquin with a great solo run, passed the ball to Mata and this one to Pablo who than fired a long range shot and the ball went in, it was 2-0 for Valencia.

Hercules had one more try at goal, but Cezar was superb once again and saved Valencia. Than came in Trezeguet who tried to cross the ball to the penalty area but it hit Navarro on the hand and it was penalty for Hercules. Trezeguet took the penalty and converted it to goal, Hercules managed 1 goal back.

Five minutes in the second half Navarro and a Hercules player collided, but unfortunately Navarro took the worse end as he ended up injured and with a second yellow card, which meant automatic red card.
Valencia were now with 10 players and it was all Hercules from than on. They had numerous chances, but Cezar made several saves to deny Hercules.

The game ended Hercules 1-2 Valencia and it was a hard fought victory for Valencia.





Player ratings:
Cezar - 8.5: Made countless saves and was the main man, why Valencia won.
Miguel - 6: Not a bad performance, but after Valencia went one man down he had to stay only in defense.
Maduro - 5.5: Not the best performance, between him and Navarro they made several mistakes that could have easily cost Valencia the game.
Navarro - 4.5: Did not play intentionally with hand, but it was a penalty never the less, than maybe unlucky to pick a second yellow card and that was a mistake from the referee, but should have been more careful.
Mathieu - 4.5: Had problems all night long, made few really bad mistakes and lucky none of his mistakes didn't result in goals.
Joaquin - 6: Good performance in the first half, had to play more defensively in the second half due to being one man down.
Topal - 6.5: Great performance for Topal, made numerous tackles and interceptions and was probably the most solid player in this match.
Tino Costa - 5.5: Did not insert his influence and Valencia had pretty bad possession and this was in the first half, in the second with one man down he was lost and early substituted.
Pablo - 7: Had an assist for Mata's goal and than managed to score a goal himslef, great performance.
Mata - 6: Decent performance from Mata, scored a great goal and made the assist for the second, but went in and out of the game and was only on occasion dangerous, more is expected from him.
Soldado - 5.5: Did not have many chances, but could have done better. Not his best match.

Subs:
Dealbert - 6: Came in after Navarro got a red card and was decent in defense.
Chori - 6.5: Did well considering the position Valencia was in.
Fernandes - 6: Did better at least offensively than Tino Costa and run a lot to cover for the defense also.

Technical data:


Hércules 1: Calatayud, Paz, Drenthe, Aguilar, Peña, Trezeguet, Fritzler, Valdez (Portillo, min. 68), Cortés, Pamarot и T. Gomes (Tote, min. 64).

Valencia CF 2: César, Maduro, Navarro, Topal, Joaquín, Soldado (Domínguez, min. 61), Mata (Dealbert, min. 54), Pablo, Mathieu, Miguel и Tino Costa (Fernandes, min. 73).
Goals:
0-1 Min. 2 Mata
0-2 Min 22 Pablo
1-2 Min. 42 Trezeguet

Official Valencia CF squad for the match against Hercules

We know the official 18 players that will feature against Hercules.

Ever Banega and Vicente are out due to injury, R. Costa will be rested and in his place is the returning Dealbert. Feghuoli, Alba and Stankevicious were also left out of the squad.

Valencia CF squad vs Hercules:
Goalkeepers: César, Moyà

Defense: Miguel, Bruno, Navarro, Maduro, Dealbert i Mathieu

Midfield: Albelda, Topal, Tino Costa, Fernandes, Joaquín, Pablo Hernández, Mata

Attack: Alejandro Domínguez, Soldado i Aduriz

Hercules vs Valencia CF match preview

On Sunday night Hercules will host Valencia after 13 years of pause, since Hercules played in lower divisions than Valencia. The two teams and fans have incredible rivalry going on for decades, so expect this to be a fierce match, of not on the field, than on the stands.

Hercules are coming off from a surprising and incredible victory over Barcelona. Hercules managed to get some talented players this summer, namely Trezeguet from Juventus and Drenthe from R. Madrid, so they are no push overs. Even without these players Hercules seem to be tactically sound after two games and are going to prove to be tough opponents.

Valencia on the other side are coming off of a splendid victory over Bursaspor in the Uefa Champions League. They trashed the Turkish champions with 4 goals to zero. Valencia also has two wins in La Liga from two games and will look to continue their good form.
While the win over Bursaspor is great, the team should not loose focus and get over confident, instead the team must work hard and prepare best for this match. Tino Costa also had a lot of praise for his performance against Bursaspor and impressed many journalists, experts and fans, but not me. I'm still cautious and I will only consider him as a great player if he plays brilliantly for a month. He has only played 2 games, one after coming off for the injured Banega and one in the Champions League, so that's 160 minutes total.
He needs to show his worth over several games and perform consistently all the time.

Probable line-up: Cezar; Miguel, Maduro, R. Costa, Mathieu; Joaquin, Albelda, Tino Costa, Pablo; Mata, Aduriz.

My thought on the best line-up: Same as above, but instead of Mata I would put Chori Dominguez.

Result prediction: Hercules 1-2 Valencia CF

Valencia CF coach Unai Emery thrilled with victory over Bursaspor

Valencia coach Unai Emery was thrilled with the win over Bursaspor. If you watched the game, you know this is a no brainier, Valencia t-shirt $50, full Valencia dress $100, seeing Emery's reaction after the second goal priceless.
He almost broke his notepad as he started trashing it on the table, than jumping all around he terrace in which he was sitting.
After the match he stated that he was thrilled with the win and how the players played. He had special praise for Tino Costa, who scored the opening goal, a stunner from 35 yards out and influencing the second goal, after his free kick hit the bar and Aduriz managed to head the rebound.

This was Unai Emery first game and first win in the Uefa Champions League and hopefully he continues winning.

Next match in the Champions League is against Manchester United on home soil.

Bursaspor 0-4 Valencia CF match report

Valencia CF won their debut Champions League game against Turkish champions Bursaspor by 4 goals to zero.

Tino Costa and Mehmet Topal were in the center of the field, Topal replacing Albelda and Tino Costa covering for Ever Banega, and both players had much to prove.
The game started in a pretty erratic fashion, with neither team managing to take firm control of the match. The first chance came for Bursaspor who had a shot on goal. As time passed Valencia took more control of the match and started playing really well.
In the 16th minute Tino Costa fires a powerful shot with his left foot and ended in Buraspor net, the goalkeeper had no chance.
After the goal Valencia got really comfortable and had several runs towards Bursaspor goal, but no firm chance arrived.
41st minute Valencia double the lead and again Costa is in the thick of it as his beautifully-struck free-kick hits the upright. With Dimitar Ivankov well-beaten Aritz Aduriz swoops to head the rebound into the empty net.
Joaquin was quite active on the Right side and had couple of runs till the end, but nothing could come out of it.

The second half started much in Bursaspor favor, clearly determined to level the score. They were very dangerous and were having rins towards Cezar goal constantly, but just when it seemed they are about to score Pablo Hernandez scores in the 68th minute to tripple Valencia's lead. After a mess in Bursaspor 16th meters field the ball luckily came to Pablo who pushed the ball towards the goal and it went in.
From the third goal on it was mostly Valencia, who although did not have much possession had numerous chance to increase the result.
In the 73rd minute Soldado came in Aritz Aduriz who finished his job with a well taken header for the second Valencia goal.
Joaquin had several chance to score, but unfortunately he didn't manage to score and he had really good chances, particularity a smart back-pass from Pablo to find Joaquin and this one only managed to shoot wide.

In the 76th minute in a half counter attack Chori unleashed a well timed through ball towards Soldado who than managed to score with ease for a result of 4-0 for Valencia.

Than came several substitutions Mata in for Chori and Manuel Fernandes for Tino Costa and the match slowed down and both teams just waited for the end to come.

In the end Bursaspor 0-4 Valencia CF.

Technical data:
Bursaspor 0: Ivankov, Gökcek Vederson, Omer Erdogan, Huseyin Cimsir (Sercan Yildirim, min. 59), Insúa, Volkan Sen, Ozan Ipek, Ali Tandogan, Ergic, Núñez (Turgay Bahadir, min. 59) and Stepanov.

Valencia CF 4: César, Bruno, Navarro, Topal, Joaquín, Domínguez, Aduriz (Soldado, min. 71), Pablo, Ricardo Costa, Mathieu and Tino Costa (Fernandes, min. 81).

Goals: 0-1 Min. 15 Tino Costa, 0-2 Min. 40 Aduriz, 0-3 Min. 67 Pablo, 0-4 Min. 76 Soldado

My prediction felt short in the water, but I'm happy since Valencia trashed Bursaspor and played a great match.

Uefa Champions League group C standings after matchday 1:
Valencia 3 points, Man. U. 1 point, Rangers 1 point, Bursaspor 0 points.

Player Ratings:
Cezar - 6: Didn't have too much to do, but great when called upon.
Bruno - 6: Great in defense, but did not support Joaquin well and made a horrible lapse towards the end of the match.
Navarro - 6: Good display but still needs improving.
R. Costa - 6: Same as Navarro, good display but will need to up his game for the likes on Manchester United.
Mathieu - 6: Good at defending and good going forward, but did have some problems at times.
Joaquin 6.5: Would have had better score if he had taken his chances, otherwise he had a great game.
Topal - 6: Not the brightest of performance and pretty anonymous, but did well to support the defense.
Tino Costa - 8.5: Great performance and the man of the match tonight. He scored the first goal with a powerful 35 meters shot and hit the cross-bar from a free kick which lead to the seconds goal. Had good vision and passing and will be feeling great about his performance tonight.
Pablo 7.5: He was quite isolated in the first half but improved a lot in the second half. Was moving everywhere, combined well with the rest, scored a goal and had a wonderful backpass to Joaquin.
Chori - 7.5: Inspiring game from Chori. He clearly has some ways to go still, but it will come with play time. Was involved in a lot of Valencia attacks, opened spaces for his team mates and had the assist for the forth goal.
Aduriz - 7.5: Great movement and placement, took his his chance with a good header after Tino's free kick hit the woodwork and the ball bounced to him.

Subs:
Soldado - 7.5: He came in and scored a goal, what more could anyone asked. And it was a well taken goal and had the perfect sense to avoid an offside ruling leading up to his goal.
Mata - 6: Didn't achieve anything for the time he had, except one good cross to Soldado. Should be more explosive and effective if he is to keep his starting place.
Manuel Fernandes - 4: Came in the last minutes of the game but did not put a foot right in the time he had. Should have taken command of the center field and dictate play but he got lost.

Preview: Bursaspor vs Valencia CF

Valencia CF has landed earlier today in Turkey. The team was awaited by Bursaspor club officials and Turkish media and than escorted with police to their hotel where the players will rest before having a light training session.
This is Bursaspor first Champions League game, after they surprisingly became Turkish champions last season. This means they are inexperienced in these kind of competitions, but the home support will surely give them some confidence.
Valencia on the other hand are also quite inexperienced, with only few players having played in the Champions League, the most experience one being Albelda, followed by Vicente, Joaquin, R. Costa, Navarro and Miguel.

Tomorrow will be a tough game for Valencia and with the absence of Ever Banega who got injured in the Racing match there will surely be a huge hole in the midfield. Tino Costa played good after coming in for Banega, but he is far from the perfect replacement. Unai Emery will have to choose between Topal who is Turkish and knows the team best, Albelda who has the most experience in the CL and Tino Costa who is the most offensive player of the three, but lacks experience and playmaker skills that Banega for example possess.Manuel Fernandes has a very limited experience, I believe he has only played a total of about 90 minutes, but could very well be in contention for a starting place.

This is also Unai Emery's first Champions League game, but the history says that all Valencia managers have managed to win their first game in international competition, so hopefully this will be the case tomorrow.

Unai Emery may also choose the 4-3-3 formation tomorrow with theoretically very strong midfield, but knowing how it doesn't suit Valencia at all, I'm not sure if Emery will risk it.

Possible formation:
Guaita; Miguel, Navarro, R. Costa, Mathieu; Topal, Fernandes, Feghuoli, Pablo, Chori; Soldado.

My thoughts on the best formation:
Cezar; Miguel, Maduro, R. Costa, Mathieu; Albelda, Topal, Joaquin, Pablo, Chori; Aduriz.

Result prediction:
Buraspor 1-2 Valencia