UD Logrones 0-3 Valencia CF match report

Valencia played a good game against Logrones and ultimately cruised to a comftorable victory. As expected Unai Emery fielded all out of form, recently injured and with little playing minutes players in the hopes that they can regain their form and be ready for tougher matches.
As expected Valencia started with control of the ball, though maybe unexpected had only a slight possession advantage. Chori and Joaquin were particularity active right from the start side and linked up well, Miguel who returned from injury was playing really well and helped out Joaquin in attack.
With most of the initiative and forward runs the players were making it looked like the final ball was missing, much like in all the previous 4 matches.
There were few chances here and there, but nothing of real importance and the first half ended 0-0.

The second half continued much like the first ended, with Valencia threatening more, but ultimately falling short of any scoring chances. Then in the 51st minute Maduro was substituted and Stankevisious came on, hopefully its not an injury and only a precautionary measure.
Anyways Logrones were attacking in Valencia's box, but the ball was cleared and after a quick counter attack the ball ended outside, but Jordi Alba quickly threw the ball back in, that found its way to Mata who passed the ball to the oncoming Aduriz and he found the goal, it was 1-0 for Valencia.
Just Minuted after Aduriz found itself in a similar situation to Mata previosly, passed the ball to Mata(as if to return the favor) and Mata scored, but the linesman flag was up for offside. Mearly minutes later Mata found itself in a similar position as when he made the assist and this time passed again in a similar fashion, again to the oncoming Aduriz and it was 2-0.
Quick two goals started and converted in a very similar fashion and you can basically see the motivation this gave the Valencia players.
After some calm period there was another chance for Valencia, this time Joaquin got into the opposition box almost getting a goalkick in the process, but ultimately crossing the ball towards Ever Banega, the Logrones keeper punched the ball out of the 16 meters field, only to find its way to Vicente, who calmly took a shot and found the net, it was 3-0 for Valencia.

After the third goal, Valencia came down to second gear and slowed down the game as they now had a high and secure victory and didn't want to risk receiving some crazy goal in the last minutes of the match.

Technical details:
UD Logroñés 0: Rubio, Nacho, Molina, Gibanel (Guira, min. 55), Iñaki (Popo, min. 61), Osado, Gregory (Cervero, min. 70), De las Heras, Pepe, Izquierdo y Gaspar.

Valencia CF 3: Moyà, Maduro (Stankevicius, min. 51), Albelda, Joaquín, Domínguez, Mata (Vicente, min. 67), Aduriz, Dealbert, Ever, Miguel y Jordi Alba.

Goals: 0-1 Aduriz 54min; 0-2 Aduriz 61min; 0-3 Vicente 79min.

Referee: Undiano Mallenco

Player Ratings:
Moya 6 - Didn;t have anything to do at all, though calm and collected when dealing with crosses.
Miguel 6.5 - Had an easy evening as he wasn;t troubled at the back, helped out in attack, good come back for him.
Maduro 6 - Seemed slow to react at times and Logrones attackers didn't really test him.
Dealbert 7 - Very alert and effective, what little threat came from Logrones he dealt with it perfectly, admitedly Logrones are not Barca or Mallorca, he did a great job still and its a question why hasn't Unai Emery started him more.
Jordi Alba 6.5 - Good defensively, but only occasionally threatened and did well to support in attack.
Joaquin 6 - Some good runs of his right side, made the cross that ultimately lead to the third goal, but its clear he is still a bit rusty and not in full fitness.
Albelda 6.5 - Very active in the first half as Banega was unable to find his feet, helped out in attack and disrupted Logrones attacks.
Banega 6.5 - Slow start, he wasn't very active in the first half, but improved and grew in confidence in the second, made few great through passes.
Mata 7.5 - Really anonymous in the first half, but had three brilliant runs in the second, two resulted in assists for Aduriz and one resulted in scoring a goal, but it was decided that he was offside. Good stuff from Mata, but needs to be more active thought the whole game.
Chori 6 - Not very effective in front of goal, missed two good chances and his judgment on two other opportunities was questionable at best, but fought hard, run well and tried to draw the defense to him to open space to his team mates. Needs more practice though and hard work.
Aduriz 8 - Did not have much service in the first half and he was rarely visible, but as Valencia became more dangerous in the second half, he was at the right places at the right times to score two goals.
Subs:
Stankevicious 6 - Replaced Maduro in the 50th minute and played well, though was not really tested.
Soldado 6 - Replaced Aduriz and slotted right into the action, had one try and fought solidly.
Vicente 7 - Great game from Vicente with the limited time he had, made the most out of it and scored a great goal. Hopefully he can continue scoring and contributing and will get a contract extension.

UD Logrones vs Valencia CF match preview

In a hour and a half the Copa Del Ray match between UD Logrones and Valencia CF will start.
UD Logrones was formed only in 2009, so they are a very inexperienced team and basically the biggest minnows Valencia can face.
Valencia on the other hand has played 3 matches in a row without victory, 2 losses to Barcelona and Mallorca and just a fraw against Rangers in the Champions League. This is a great opportunity to bounce back and regain some of the form and confidence.

There is not much to talk to about this game, everything except a high 3/4-0 victory for Valencia will be considered failure, especially taking into consideration Unai Emery did not call up any youngsters for this match.
Most of the out of form or recently injured players are expected to play and ones that have no or little playing time are also probably going to start in the match.

Technical:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Guaita; Miguel, Dealbert, Maduro, Alba; Joaquin, Albelda, Banega, Vicente; Chori, Aduriz
Tactics: High frequency crosses from the wings, deep zone defensive midfielders, very high defensive line, positional change for the secondary attacker that Chori is probably going to start at, long shots by Banega/Tino.

Result prediction:
UD Logrones 0-4 Valencia CF
Basically Unai Emery will be playing with a full strength squad, with the usual rotation policy, there are no youth players and the team is going to play the tried and reliable 4-2-3-1 or possibly 4-4-2 formation, so anything less than a high victory will be considered big failure and may even question Emery's job.

Official squad for Copa Del Ray match against UD Logrones.

Valencia coach Unai Emery chose not to bring any youth player to the first Copa Del Ray match against UD Logrones, instead some of our players who were injured or didn't play much will be featured.

The biggest surprise is the inclusion of Pablo who has played all 4-5 last matches and I think should have received a little rest.

Feghuoli and Cezar are injured and are not expected for at least another week, while Joaquin and Miguel have recently returned to normal training after quite long injuries. Also featuring will be Dealbert who is yet to start in the first eleven.

Official Valencia squad:
Goalkeepers: Moya and Guaita
Defenders: Miguel, Stankevicius, Maduro, Dealbert and Jordi Alba
Midfielders: Albelda, Éver, Tino Costa, Joaquín, Pablo, Mata and Vicente
Forwards: Chori,Soldado and Aduriz

Jaoquin and Miguel fit and set to return to action

Valencia duo Miguel and Joquin are fit and have been training normally for the last few days, the coach didn't risk them in Valencia's last game vs Mallorca, but they could be given some time in the next game, which is against Logrones in the Copa Del Ray on Wednesday, in order to boost their form.

Ever Banega also seems a bit rusty after coming from a long injury and may be given full 90 minutes in order to regain his form.
Feghuoli and Cezar are still injured and will need probably one more week to recover.

I would like Emery to field a team with some of the more rusty players or ones who returned recently from injury to give them chance to sharpen their skills and get to full form and then mix them up with some of the more standard players.

I would like to see this line-up against Logrones:
Guaita; Miguel, Maduro, Dealbert, Alba; Joaquin, Banega, Topal, Vicente; Chori, Soldado.

Valencia CF 1-2 RCD Mallorca

Okay so my formation, line-up and score prediction went completely in the water. Coach Unai Emery started with a 4-2-3-1 formation, fielded different players to what I expected and lost in what was the poorest games Valencia has played this season.
Unai Emery admitted his mistake after the match saying he is completely responsible for the loss, because he made some big changed in the selection and I will add that he also made an error in judgement for the formation and tactics.
He played a high defensive line again and had Albelda play quite above the defense, so this created a huge hole between the two central defenders that was exposed for the second goal. He also made a big mistake of starting Stanklvisious, instead of gradually introducing him to the team with late substitutions.

Anyways the game started in a similar fashion as other game, Valencia having most of the ball and doing absolutely nothing with it, until Mallorca manages to steal it and mount a counter attack.
Mallorca had several chances early on that spelled problems right from the start, I knew we were going to receive goals with such a shaky defense and was only a matter of time.
The first goal for Mallorca came through a non existent penalty though, but R. Costa allowed Pierre Webo to get away from him. This one actually managed to trip himself and the referee as if he was blind showed to the penalty spot. Gonzalo Castro converted the goal and it was 1-0 for Mallorca.


Valencia than had few smaller chances if I can call them that, but nothing really dangerous that's going to inspire confidence that we can break Mallorca's defense. After those few mini chances it was Mallorcas turn once again, this time it was Maduro and Stankevisious who felt asleep in front of the ball and allowed Diego Castro to score his second of the match.

Play forward several minutes later and Vicente was fouled in Mallorca penalty area and I think the referee having realized his mistake from the previous penalty couldn't wait to reward a penalty for Valencia. Soldado took the spot and converted the penalty.
The match ended 2-1 for Mallorca in the first half with Mallorca the better side, although Valencia had most of the possession.

Second half started and Unai Emery brought in Bruno for Stankevicious and Aduriz for Ever Banega to try to solidify the defense and strengthen our attack. These changes had a mild effect, the defense was somewhat better and the attack slightly more dangerous, but ultimately we were still seeing much possession and no chances, shots, something at that point.
Valencia kept on pushing and pushing and pushing, but could not create anything in front of Mallorca's goal and most of the ball were lost, allowing Mallorca to frequently threaten in counter attacks.
The match ended 2-1 for Mallorca in what has been the poorest game by Valencia of the whole season.



Technical details:

Valencia CF 1: Moyà, Maduro, Albelda (Tino Costa, min. 69), Soldado, Vicente, Stankevicius (Bruno, min. 46), Fernandes, Pablo, Ricardo Costa, Ever (Aduriz, min. 46) и Jordi Alba.

Mallorca 2: Aouate, Ratinho (Pereira, min. 46), Joao Victor, Ramis, Nsue (M. Crespi, min. 65), Webó, Castro, Nunes, Ayoze, Martí (Pina, min. 72) и De Guzmán.

Goals:
0-1 Min. 7 Castro (pen.)
0-2 Min. 28 Castro
1-2 Min. 36 Soldado (pen.)

Referee: Álvarez Izquierd

Stadium: Camp de Mestalla (40.000 viewers).

Player ratings:
Moya 6- Could not be faulted for the goals, made a good save before the second goal and looked rather confident with any smaller threats he had coming.
Marius 4- Couldn't have hoped for a worse start, out of position and poor marking for his first match.
Maduro 4- Asleep for the second goal, made numerous mistakes and really out of form.
R. Costa 5- Somewhat better than Maduro, but poor performance still, often lost Mallorca players and allowed them space to create chances.
Jordi Alba 7- The was the second best player on the night, solid in defense and a thorn for Mallorca in attack together with Vicente. Was full of energy tonight and another great performance for him.
Pablo 4- Bad night for Pablo, while he has been brimming with energy and doing great in previous matches, I think he was just too tired for this match, having played several matches in a row now.
Albelda 4- Maybe a victim of emery tactics, he covered the defense from above, instead of serving as a fifth member and there was too much room, he is the most experience player though and should have done more.
Fernandes 5- Lost way too many balls, his passes were slow and often inaccurate and didn't help out in defense.
Vicente 7- The best player on the field for Valencia no doubt about that, he managed to earn a penalty and his runs were often dangerous.
Ever Banega 4- Not his best night, he was almost invisible and when he poped up, he usually either lost the ball or made a ridiculous inaccurate pass.
Soldado 5.5- He did not recieve much service at all, had to often come high to receive the ball.
Subs:
Aduriz 5.5- Little to no service and couldn't really do anything.
Bruno 6- Offered a little more calmness in the defense and was more available in the middle and attack and offered some support for the rest of the attacking players.
Tino Costa 6- Came in late and while he did brought a spark and a flux of energy with him, it was too little too late.

Valencia CF vs RCD Mallorca match preview

Valencia have a chance to bounce back after a recent string of poor results, that are beginning to question the squad depth to fight on all fronts for the whole season for silverware.
Valencia players are coming from a poor 1-1 draw against Rangers in the Champions League and a 2-1 loss to Barcelona in the Spanish Liga. The team is playing at home and few players have come out of injury and will be available for selection as well, so this will be a huge chance for Valencia to start winning again and continue their fight for top spot in the Spanish competition.
Everything but a win will be considered a huge failure and there is going to be questions starting to rise and pressure starting to mount on the squad, so this is the perfect opportunity to confirm the title credentials, regain confidence and boost morale.
Unai Emery will probably rest few players that started against Rangers and its also likely that we'll see a more offensive formation as 4-4-2 with two attackers from the start.

The biggest fear that Valencia will have to overcome is the ability to score, since 3 goals in 4 games does not spell wins and Soldado and Aduriz will have to be very concentrated and effective in front of goal if Valencia is to win the match.

Mallorca on the other side have managed to draw against Barcelona when they took them on in the Camp Nou, but couldn't really carry on their form and lost at home to Espanyol by one goal to zero.
Mallorca are sitting 11th on the table, 8 points behind Valencia and just 5 points above the lowest team. Mallorca are having trouble scoring this term and are one of the teams with the lowest possible goals, but are actually quite decent in defense and can defend strongly as showcased against Barcelona.

Mallorca coach Michael Laudrup expects a tought test against Valencia and is weary about them saying:"We will have to be very concentrated," he said, according to Sportinglife.com. "Valencia are a very competitive team with players of great quality".

Squad news:

Valencia: Joaquin and Miguel are still injured, Feghuoli has also been injured, while Maduro is fit and should probably be included in the team. There has been reports that Cezar may be injured, but that's still to be confirmed.

Mallorca: Mallorca have no injury worries and the whole squad is available.

Valencia CF official squad:

Goalkeepers: Miguel Ángel Moyà, Vicente Guaita

Defense: Marius Stankevičius, Bruno Saltor, Ricardo Costa, Hedwiges Maduro, Jérémy Mathieu, Jordi Alba

Midfield: David Albelda, Mehmet Topal, Éver Banega, Tino Costa, Manuel Fernandes, Vicente Rodríguez, Pablo Hernández, Juan Mata

Strikers: Chori Domínguez, Artiz Aduriz, Roberto Soldado

RCD Mallorca official squad:

Goalkeepers: Dudu Aouate, Germán Lux

Defense: Edson Ratinho, Iván Ramis, Ayoze Díaz, Nunes, Martí Crespí, Kevin García

Midfield: Joao Victor, Emilio Nsue, Micheal Pereira, Chori Castro, Jonathan de Guzmán, Luís Martí, Tomás Pina

Strikers: Fernando Cavenaghi, Victor, Pierre Webó

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Moya; Bruno, Maduro, R.Costa, Alba; Pablo, Albelda, Ever Banega, Vicente; Soldado, Aduriz
Tactics: High frequency crosses from the wings, positional transformation by Pablo to the middle field and left wing, mid defensive line and deep zone covering by Albelda.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 1-0 RCD Mallorca
After 4 matches with little scoring opportunities and only 3 goals, as well as playing a match just 3 days prior I can't see Valencia scoring many goals, coach Unai Emery will be weary of the Mallorca attack after a bad display from the defense against Rangers and will probably set up a mid defensive line in order to not concede goals. Mallorca have a tough time scoring goals so I don't see them scoring against Valencia either and Moya will be ready to show his worth and deny any shot Mallorca manage towards the goal.
Valencia will ultimately be able to score a goal and win and out biggest threat should come from Vicente and if we score an early goal, you may expect even more goals, but if we don't score early I expect a small 1-0 victory.

Rangers 1-1 Valencia CF match report

The match between Rangers and Valencia ended up being very exciting and thrilling encounter with both sides having many opportunities to win, with Rangers having the clearer cut chances. Fortunately for Valencia Rangers couldn’t convert their chances and their hero and top player of the match Maurice Edu was also the flop and tragic one as he scored both goals, one in Valencia’s net and one in his own net. The game ended 1-1 and both clubs will ruin their missed chances.

The match started as expected with Valencia in possession and dictating play, while Rangers were contempt to sit back, defend and try on the counter attack to score. The biggest battle though happened in the midfield though with Valencia unable to close down to Rangers penalty field and they were reduced to long crosses that were inaccurate and not dangerous at all.

Valencia had two dangerous early chances and looked like that was just the tip of the iceberg of what was to come, but after those chances faded away for all the possession and pretty play, Valencia were not creating anything dangerous to threaten the Rangers goal.

When Rangers came attacking the Valencia defense was extremely nervous and looked very shaky, it was clear from the first Rangers attack that we are going to have troubles coping with their attacks. Soon enough Rangers had a really great chance on goal after a bit of confusion and lack of positional sense from Valencia defenders. As if the attack gave Rangers a renewed confidence and motivation they really started pushing and were extremely dangerous on the attack with several chances.

 

Their good attacking play will pay off, after a corner kick Valencia goalkeeper Cezar came out and tried to punch the ball away, but he was out jumped by Edu and Rangers were all of a sudden winning.

The goal brought urgency in the Valencia players and they really started pushing, with Pablo Hernandez really having a great day and being all over the field, passing, linking play, crossing, making himself available, tracking the ball back and forth, with Tino Costa following suit closely. Unfortunately Chori and Aduriz weren’t very active and really presented no option or a threat to Rangers goal.

The push lasted for 15 minutes with countless crosses and passes, but nothing decisive and the first 45 minutes ended with Rangers leading 1-0 against Valencia.

Second half started and in less than a minute Edu scores a second goal, though this time in his own net, previously he was a hero and now a tragic.

This goal would be welcomed by Valencia as it relieved so much pressure and put the game back on level playing terms. Valencia continued to dominate possession and play in the second half also, but apart from Pablo and occasionally Mata there was no player that could create danger towards Rangers goal, not even Soldado who was brought in in the second half for Chori Dominguez had a particularly good game.

Game continued on with Valencia having most possession, but Rangers actually being closer to scoring on several occasions, luckily Cezar was in top form and managed to save at least 3 sure goals.

Anyways there were several substitutions made as Fernandes came in for Tino Costa and Vicente came in for Mata, but nothing changed and while Vicente had few dangerous runs towards the very end it wasn’t to be.

Final result Rangers 1-1 Valencia and both teams take a point from this encounter, with Valencia now having no option but a win, when they take on Rangers at the Mestalla.

Technical details:
Rangers FC 1: McGregor, Weir, Papac, Edu, Davis, Miller, Foster, Naismith, Whittaker, Weiss (Lafferty, min. 87) и Bougherra.

Valencia CF 1: César, Bruno, Navarro, Topal, Domínguez (Soldado, min. 46), Mata (Vicente, min. 84), Aduriz, Pablo, Ricardo Costa, Mathieu и Tino Costa (Fernandes, min. 75).

Goals:
1-0 Edu (min. 33),
1-1 Edu (o.g.) (min. 46) 

Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy).

Yellow Cards:
Bougherra, Edu и Weir, (Ran),
Aduriz, (Val). 

Stadium: Ibrox Stadium (40.000 viewers).

Player ratings:
Cezar 7- At fault for the first goal, may have been actually fouled by Edu, but should have done better, othervoise several saves to keep Valencia in the game.
Bruno 5- Went a lot forward, but didn't make anything out of it as he lacked the killer pass, and cought a lot of times out of position, struggled all match to cover his side.
Navarro 5- Really bad game for Navarro, caught out of position and beaten several times, would be lucky Valencia didn't receive more than one goal.
R. Costa 5- Same as his defensive partner, very bad game, made a huge error early in the game that may as well have cost us the game and had several other blunders thought the match.
Mathieu 5.5- Did decent going forward and didn't really have much support from Mata, but was not too good defensively, similar to our while defense.
Pablo 7.5- The best player for Valencia, run wild and all over the field, created the only chances for Valencia and always positioned in dangerous places, full of running and came back every time to help defend, if Valencia had one more player like him on the night it might have won the game.
Topal 6- Good is taking the ball from defense to offense and battled hard in the middle, but somewhat rusty in his defensive duties.
Tino Costa 6-  Good set pieces delivery and passed the ball well, but not very influential in attack where he should have been.
Mata 4- Failed to do anything, had only 3 bright moments in the whole game and that was it, he needs to be more direct when attacking and not just pass the ball like headless chicken.
Chori 4- Did absolutely nothing, he provided himself to receive the ball and had few dribbles but other than that he did nothing.Rightfully subbed at half time.
Aduriz 4.5- Same as the other attacking players(except Pablo) did nothing in this game, truth be told he had to come wide or out of the penalty to recieve the ball, but should have run into more dangerous positions.
Subs:
Soldado 5- Brought in some dynamism in attack and linked well with couple of players, but like the rest attacking players nothing to really threaten Rangers goal.
Fernandes 5.5- He was brought in for Tino to bring in more attacking play, but he failed to deliver. Too many times lost or gave the ball away.
Vicente NA- Not enough time