Valencia CF 2-1 Atletico Bilbao

First of all my result prediction came absolutely true and hopefully they will be true all season and Valencia will keep winning. Now to the game...

Valencia needed to bounce back from the loss to Manchester United and it had an opportunity to do it at home against Atletico Bilbao and the team did not disapoint.
Valencia started the game furiously, you can see the desire to win in the players eyes and it didn't take long for Valencia to threaten Bilbao's goal. Few crosses in the 16 meters, but no one could head the ball to the net, until the 11th minute which started from a superb back pass from Pablo to the oncoming Soldado, who got rid of one defender and crossed the ball to Aduriz who calmly headed the ball in the net, it was 1-0 for Valencia.
In the 20th minute Aduriz headed the ball just wide after a good cross, mere minute later Mathieu dribbled his way into the opposition lines but could not put a final pass. Than we had a chance in the 36th minute when Aduriz had a clear chance on goal, after being released by Mata but could only shoot wide. It was a terrific chance and would have put Valencia into a comfortable lead.
In the final minute of the first half Pablo crosses towards Aduriz, but he misses again.

In the second half Atletico Bilbao were far more dangerous and had more control of the ball, essentially the first half belonged to Valencia, while the second to Bilbao.

In the 50th minute Llorente had a good chance and he shot towards the goal, but it wasn't to be, that just two minutes later Bilbao created another chance and shot towards Ceraz's goal again, but couldn't get the ball into the net.
In the 55th minute Topal had a good cross from the left side, but Aduriz missed the cross, only to find its way to Soldado who shot wide.
Several runs and decent chances on both sides for about 10 minutes and Vicente came in for Mata.
66th Minute Pablo had a good opportunity as he shot at goal, but it was a weak shot and Bilbao's goalkeeper caught the ball. Minutes later there was a big mess in Valencias defensive field and Bilbao had 3 shots towards Cezar blocked and luckily we did not receive a goal.
There were many chances still on both sides and in the meantime Chori came in for the frustrated Soldado and than Feghuoli for Pablo.

While the game seemed set to finish 1-0 for Valencia Chori Dominguez and Vicente had other plans. Chori got the ball, run on the right side, managed to pass 2 defenders and assisted Vicente, who made a false move to negate two defenders and than calmly slotted the ball into the net with his right foot.
But the game did not end there, no all Valencia fans had to endure a huge scare after Atletico Bilbao managed to score a goal from a free kick less than a minute after Vicente scored the goal.
After additional 2 minutes of scares and mess in front of Valencia's goal the referee stopped the game and Valencia won 2-1.

Player Ratings:
Cezar 6: While usually he is a calming presence, he wasn't at his best in this match, clearly wasn't ready for the free kick as he was still positioning himself when the shot was taken.
Bruno 6.5: Good display in both defense and attack, linked well with Pablo.
Navarro 7: Good defending, managed to overcome the threat of Llorente.
R. Costa 7: Also a good performance from Costa, made several tackles and denied Bilbao from scoring.
Mathiey 7: One of the more complete performances from Mathieu, he did great in defense and attack.
Pablo 8.5: The liveliest player on the field and the most dangerous one, made the pass to soldado leading to the first goal, had 2 shots at goal and created many chances for his team mates.
Fernandes 7: Controlled the game greatly in the first half, but as Bilbao pushed out in the second he lost that control, though he did great still.
Topal 7: You could not see him do anything, but his positioning and covering for the defenders is great and although usually overlooked, I'm noticing it and he gave a good performance.
Mata 6: While he provided few dangerous passes, he is the player that one minute can play a superb pass and open up the field and the next 15 minutes you see nothing of him. Must be more active and must penetrate the left side more.
Soldado 5.5: Missed numerous chances that he should have converted into goals. Had the assist to Aduriz though.
Aduriz 6: Would have scored better if he also didn't miss so many chances. Took his goal nicely, but missed a stunner chance in the 36th minute, than missed several more.
Substitutions:
Vicente 7: Good performance from Vicente, didn't have many runs on the left, but got deep in defense to help out and calmly slotted the second goal for Valencia.
Chori 7: Provided the assist to Vicente's goal and also returned deep into defense to help out.
Feghuoli NA: Not enough time, though he did provide the pass to Chori and also defended well.

Technical details:
Valencia CF 2: César; Bruno, David Navarro, Ricardo Costa, Mathieu; Topal, Fernandes; Pablo (Feghouli, min. 82), Mata (Vicente, min. 65); Aduriz and Soldado (Domínguez, min. 75).
 
Athletic Club 1: Iraizoz; Iraola, San José, Aitor Ocio, Aurtenetxe; Orbaiz (Susaeta, min. 46), Javi Martínez (Muniaín, min. 69); Gurpegi, Gabilondo; Igor Martínez (Toquero, min. 58) and Llorente

Goals: 1-0 Aduriz (min. 10), 2-0 Vicente (min. 91), 2-1 Gabilondo (min. 93)

Valencia CF vs Atletico Bilbao match preview

Valencia is going to meet Atletico Bilbao at the Mestalla and will be hoping to bounce back after a demoralizing loss to a weka Manchester United side.
Valencia dominated possession and play for most of the game and committed to full attack without thinking about the consequences. United’s young Mexican striker Javier Hernández found the only goal, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side securing a robbed win.
Valencia currently lies top of the La Liga table with 13 points after five games; a point ahead of Barcelona and Villarreal. A win now and they will continue to lead the table and it will be a nice morale and confidence boost.

Even though Valencia lost they at least played good football, but I was not impressed with few of the players namely Tino Costa, Mata and Chori. They were the players one would expect to take the initiative and step up in order to bring Valencia the victory, but they all failed to do so. Mata was too scared to do anything and returned every ball back to the defense, Tino Costa was virtual spectator for the whole time he was in and Chori really didn't do much of anything, apart from passing few balls.

That said Joaquin looks more and more as a leader on the pitch and one of our best players so far, and having said that, hopefully he doesn't go to his old bad ways just to counter what I say.
It also shows how good Banega really is and how important he can be for us with his ability to control the game and spread the ball. His assists and vision are a great plus and he has recovered and is training with the squad as normal, though he probably would not be risked in this match.
Going back to Joaquin he still hasn't recovered and will miss out this match. Sofiane Feghuoli will be taken in the squad as cover and will probably start from the bench.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: César Sánchez, Miguel Ángel Moyà
Defense: Marius Stankevičius, Bruno Costa, David Navarro, Ricardo Costa, Jérémy Mathieu, Jordi Alba
Midfield: Mehmet Topal, Manuel Fernandes, Tino Costa, Sofaine Feghouli, Pablo Hernández, Juan Mata, Vicente Rodríguez
Strikers: Aritz Aduriz, Roberto Soldado, Chori Domínguez

Atletico Bilbao are coming off of from a loss to Barcelona at home and apart from home their away record is quite poor, but they are a quality side, a very physical one and are always dangerous. Lets hope that their poor away history continues and Valencia goes on to win the game.
The biggest names and the biggest threats are going to come from their striker Fernando Llorente and midfielder Javi Martinez. If they are neutralized than Valencia is going to have a calmer game.

This game will finally be broadcasted on a channel and I can watch it in full quality and not a crappy internet stream.

Athletic Bilbao squad:
Goalkeepers: Gorka Iraizoz, Raúl Fernández
Defense: Mikel San José, Andoni Iraola, Mikel Balenziaga, Aitor Ocio, Jon Aurtenetxe
Midfield: David López, Igor Gabilondo, Markel Susaeta, Pablo Orbaiz, Carlos Gurpegi, Javi Martínez, Igor Martínez
Strikers: Gaizka Toquero, Fernando Llorente, Iker Muniain, Ibai Gómez

Valencia probable line-up:
Cezar; Bruno, Navarro, R.Costa, Alba; Pablo, Topal, Tino Costa, Mata; Aduriz, Soldado

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 2-1 Atletico Bilbao

Valencia debt reduced by 150 million euros

Valencia CF reduced their debt by 150 million euros this year, which last year was 550 million euros. Now the debt is at a more reasonable 400 million euros and most importantly the expenses which last year were at 120% percent of the profits are not at 77% percent.

Valencia president Llorente had this to say: "Last year in July our debt was 550 million euros, a year later it was 430 million euros and for less than two months the debt has been reduced by another 30 million euros. This speaks by itself how important it is for us to play in the Champions League, because the majority of the money we earned in that competition."

"Losses from 2005 to 2009 raised to 213 million euros, and it the new season we managed to reduce the debt to fairly reasonable levels of 400 million euros." said Llorente.
"Llorente said how Valencia won't have many expenses this season in order to have between 7 million to 18 million euros for reinforcements in the next season."

“We still have outstanding issues, however, for example the new stadium, where we have invested €150m but still lies unfinished.”

The goal for Valenca's management is to reduce the debt by 35% in the foreseeable future. In the next management meeting the officials will discuss plans for the new Mestalla and its said there will be a lot more information on what the plan is with the new stadium.

Valencia CF 0-1 Manchester United FC match report

The worst game we've played so far. Lots of possession for nothing and in the end 10 players forward and 1 back, how can you expect not to take a goal on the counter attack.

It was Manchester United who stole the victory from Valencia at the Mestalla. The hopes were high and players confidence beaming, but I think the strategy failed us and its probably Unai Emery's fault.
We went all-in attack from the 60th minute when Emery introduced Aduriz for Chori Dominguez, that attacking mentality fortified with the introduction of Fernandes for Tino Costa. It was mostly 9 man in attack and just 2 defending and we were made to pay for it.
We were surprisingly bad at attack, while we had most of the possession and initiative we could not muster up good chances and the few we had, Soldado missed them.
Maybe Aduriz should have played from the start as he has been very energetic and deadly finisher for most of the time.
Anyways it was 2 Manchester subs that combined to score the wining goal in the 86th minute.
Perhaps this is a lesson for the team and Emery not to go all in attack, especially in a Champions League match. A point is always better than no point.

Valencia missed Ever Banega so much in this match, its obvious. Tino Costa can perform against lesser opposition, but in the 2 big games we had against Atletico Madrid and Manchester United he was nowhere to be found. Valencia need a leader in those cases on the pitch, someone who can take the initiative and dictate play. Pablo Hernandez tried to be that man, but he is a winger and although he tried to be everywhere on the pitch due to lack of Tino Costa, he couldn't do it as he is not a central midfielder and works best as a winger.
Fernandes was way more active than Tino and Valencia got even more dangerous, but it was too late and opened up lots of holes in the back.

Player Ratings:
Cezar 8: Did excellently to deny Berbatov and made all saves he could made.
Miguel 7: Excellent in defense and in attack, linked up magnificently in attack with Pablo.
Navarro 5.5: Made two blunders that could have been goals.
Maduro 6: Better than Navarro and in the end almost defended alone.
Mathieu 5: Pretty good in defense but offered nothing going forward, until the very end and it was too late.
Pablo 7.5: The most lively member of the squad, made numerous runs and passed, though he lacked that one killer pass.
Albelda 8: Great performance from the veteran, broke up Manchester play and also organized the midfield and attack.
Tino Costa 4: Virtual spectator for the whole time he was in, rightfully substituted and its clear he doesn't have what Banega has.
Mata 2: Did nothing, he had few runs and could have done way better with them, but always gave away the ball to the opposition or when he gets the ball he immediately returns it back. He can't get a pay rise with these kind of performances, he is an attacking player and needs to attack and not return every ball back. Guess he idolizes Giggs way too much and lost focus from the game.
Chori 2: Same as Mata, run around, passed a few balls, but nothing concrete or dangerous.
Soldado 5: Had several chances but could not convert them, all of them except one though not very good.
Subs:
Aduriz 6: Really spiced up the attack, was positioning himself well and had an excellent cross for Soldado.
Fernandes 6: With him in Valencia did attack a lot more and seemed more threatening in attack, but the game opened way too much and with just 1 or 2 defenders at the back we received a goal.
Topal NA: Not enough time.

Valencia CF vs Manchester United FC Uefa Champions League preview

Valencia CF VS Manchester United FC
Stadium: Camp De Mestalla
Uefa Champions League matchday 2
Wednesday 29.09.2010; 20:45pm

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Valencia	1	1	0	0	4	0	4	3
2	Man Utd	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
3	Rangers	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
4	Bursaspor	1	0	0	1	0	4	-4	0

Group C	Bursaspor	Man. United	Rangers	Valencia
Goals scored	0	0	0	4
Goals against	4	0	0	0
Yellow cards	0	1	2	0
Red cards	0	0	0	0
Attempts on target	2	3	4	5
Attempts wide	4	9	0	8
Offside	5	2	1	1
Corners	9	3	0	9
Fouls committed	13	19	12	13
Possession (time)	27	40	26	34
Possession (%)	43%	60%	39%	56%

  Valencia CF vs Man. United FC

Valencia CF play their biggest match so far this season in all competitions. This match is going to show if Valencia's dreams of playing with the big boys can become reality or it will remain just a dream.
Valencia are coming to this game undefeated for 11 home matches in the European competitions and will look to continue and build on those results.
Valencia leads the La Liga table with 13 points and are unbeaten this season in the domestic competition also, they are also coming in after a Champions League game against Bursaspor in which they won by 4 goals to 0.

Manchester United FC are coming to this game with a series of mixed results, they drew the last game in the Premier League with Bolton and failed to capitalize on Chelsea loss. They are also coming off from a draw against Rangers in the Champions League.

This is probably the most interesting match in the second round of the Champions League and both teams have much to prove. Although Manchester United are favorites on paper they haven't had much luck against Spanish teams and have failed to score on their last three visits. United have won just once in 18 visits to Spanish opponents, with eight draws and nine defeats.
Valencia are going to want and build on this as historically their record against English teams is W7 D4 L2.

Valencia played last game against Sporting Gijon with 2 attackers in a 4-4-2 formation and it was probably a testing field to see how the team behaves. Valencia won the game by 2 goals to 0 and offensively it was probably a good game. Valencia coach Unai Emery also rested few players in that game that will most surely feature against Manchester United.

Manchester United played their last game with all regular first eleven starters and their squad at full force, but they only managed a draw with Bolton. Rooney was the biggest flop in that game and has been playing badly from the start of the season, he has also been in the news for his off-field actions and alleged affair.

Press conferences and interviews:
David Albelda had shown up in a press conference in which he talked about Valencia next game against Manchester United, he said: "We play at home and we are confident we can win against Man. Utd."
To end his press conference he said" Manchester United have a great team with known players. Their strengths are known to all, but they are also a team with weaknesses and I think we can use their weaknesses to win."

Valencia president Manuel Llorente also showed up in a press conference and had a swing at Real Madrid, who have been angry why Barcelona are ahead of them, he said: "Seems like news about who is top of the league hasn't reached Real Madrid yet", talking about how Valencia is currently leading the table with 13 points ahead of Barelona and Real Madrid.
He also spoke about the match against Man. Utd." Its an important match in every way and we think it will be one of the most important matches this season. We'll play against a big team and I hope we can win."
Valencia reached two finals in the Champions League after being in a group with Man. United and Llorente commented on that: "I hope history will repeat itself".

Hedwiges Maduro spoke to goal dot com and said how the match against Manchester United will be the biggest test of the season. "We want to show our qualities in our stadium against such a great opponent. Its a big test because Manchester are always one of the favorites to win the Champions League. They're a really big team with a great coach, so this will be a tough game and a really big test for us."

Manchester United midfield Darren Fletcher wants his team to work hard at keeping the ball when they take on Valencia in the Champions League.
He said how they have experience playing in Europe and how they can cope with the travel and different styles of play. He said: "Against Spanish sides, keeping the ball is key. If you give the ball away cheaply, you might not see it for a few minutes and they will punish you."

Squad news:
Manchester United FC will be without Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs, both are out due to injuries.

Valencia will have to do without Ever Banega who is still injured and will probably need one more week of recovery. Chori and Mata had a scare as they felt some discomforts, but the team doctors have confirmed it wasn't anything serious and are back with the squad and in full training.

Valencia will be without winger Joaquin who has started in all but one match this season for Valencia CF. He picked up a muscle strain in training and has been redrawn from training and will not play against Manchester United.

Rio Ferdinant may feature against Valencia, but Sir Alex Ferguson said it will be a last minute decision whether he plays or not. Manchester have leaked 9 goals in 5 matches in the premier league and with Rio Ferdinant recovery Ferguson will be hoping he is fit enough to feature against Valencia.

Official Squads:
Valencia CF
GK: César and Moyà.
DEF: Miguel, Bruno, Ricardo Costa, Maduro, Navarro and Mathieu.
MID: Topal, Albelda, Tino Costa, Fernandes, Feghouli and Pablo.
ATT: Domínguez, Mata, Soldado and Aduriz.
Probable starting line-up: Cezar; Miguel, Maduro, R. Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Topal, Tino Costa, Mata; Aduriz and Soldado.
This is also my own thinking of the best squad to face Manchester, since Joaquin is injured.

Manchester United FC: Van der Sar, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson, Owen and Berbatov.

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Result prediction:  Valencia CF 2-1 Manchester United FC
I expect a tight and very competitive match with chances on both sides. Valencia are playing at home and will have huge support from the home crowds, they also have enough firepower upfront to score goals, but Manchester are a strong team and are likely to get a goal of their own also.
It will all come down on who controls the ball the more and who takes their chances. I still predict a narrow victory for Valencia.

Sporting Gijon vs Valencia CF Aftermath

Sporting coach Manuel Preciado reckons Valencia can be an alternative to the two big teams for the Championchip this season, after his team lost 2-0 to Valencia. He said "Valencia are proving to be a real alternative to the larger teams. Our start was disastrous, we did things badly wrong and a team like Valencia have made us pay dearly."

Coach Unai Emery said that the team has learned how to win in away matches and that the players have learned the team is more important than individuals. He said "To win at El Molinon takes skill and experience, and today Valencia learned to do both."
 He mentioned how Valencia can do better, especially in keeping the ball, but was still happy that Valencia won and got the three points.
Valencia are now first on the table with 13 points, 1 more than Barcelona. Next game is against Manchester United in the Uefa Champions League and this will be a real test for Valencia's La Liga Championship desires.

Sporting Gijon 0-2 Valencia CF match report

Valencia CF won against Sporting Gijon 2-0 in what was a pretty dull match with mostly long balls and half counter attacks.

Valencia started furiously, I was still getting prepared to watch it and its 1-0 for Valencia with Mehmed Topal the scorer. Not even 3 minutes later its 2-0 and this time Soldado scores the goal. Sure the game looked like it will become a goal fest as I predicted, but after a decent chance ruined by Mata in the 20th minute the game slowed down, almost to a full stop.
From there on it was like another Valencia went on the field, they gave the ball to Sporting Gijon and were content to sit back defend and occasionally try on the counter attack.
This was happening from the 20th minute, until the final whistle. Both sides had few chances with Valencia's chances looking more dangerous, but those were mostly half baked counter attacks, no wonder they didn't score a third goal.

Anyways tactically it was a mess, I give Unai Emery a score of 1, he even made a ridiculous decision to bring Chori in for Aduriz, only to take him out minutes later for Jeremy Mathieu. WTF were you thinking Emery?
Soldado or Pablo would have been the logical choices as they were tired, but to substitute a substitution?

Strange decision, hopefully we'll hear from him what was that all about.

Player ratings:
Cezar - 7: Assured performance, wasn't really stretched, but made two impressive saves.
Bruno - 7: Great display from Bruno, really confident in defending and wasn't afraid to go forward.
Navarro - 6.5: He had a good game, pretty clean and straightforward.
R. Costa - 7: One of his better performances, was very solid at the back and had a great calming presence.
J. Alba - 7: Run tirelessly all match long, very lively in defense and attack and made several good tackles to deny the opposition.
Topal - 7: Did very well defensively, needs to work on combining passes with the team, but scored a goal.
Fernades - 5.5: Good defensively, but didn't control the game well as Ever and recently Tino Costa have been doing. Was expected to bring the back forward, but failed to do so.
Pablo - 6: Had a decent performance, involved in attacks, but gave the ball away too much.
Mata - 6: Also had a decent game, but as Pablo he gave the ball away too much.
Aduriz - 6: Had limited chances and had to feed off of scraps.
Soldado - 6.5: Managed to score a goal, otherwise had few half chances and mostly had to feed off of scraps like Aduriz.
Subs:
Chori - NA: Ridiculosly substituted for Mathieu.
Feghuoli - NA: Had few touches with the ball, but Gijon had full control of the game for him to show anything, though could have celebrated if he managed to do better with a run he had.
Mathieu - NA: Not enough time.
Unai Emery - 1: What happened to the Valencia of the first 20 minutes? Was it a tactical thing to preserve energy? After half time the team played or not played at all, just defended. And what was with substituting Chori who came in as a substitution himself?