Villareal vs Valencia CF Match preview

A very exciting encounter is ahead of us, with Villareal meting Valencia for a fight for 3rd spot and of course pride and bragging rights. It will be a tough match, but it will also be a chance for the teams to size up each other before the also very important Copa Del Ray match.

Villareal are coming off of a defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish League and will be slightly nervous because of that defeat, but otherwise they have been on a winning row in the league and all their players are in top form.
This is also the first time Marchena will play against Valencia, a team that was his home and where he spend 10 years. He said its going to be strange for him to play against Valencia, but confirmed that he is a professional and would play to his best ability in order for Villareal to win. He also said he has settled well in Villareal and he feels comfortable there.

Villareal are a very strong team especially in recent years and this season they have had tremendous success so far in the league, so they will be a very tough opponent, probably even more so than Barcelona was and Real Madrid will. Nilmar, Rossi and Cazorla have been in amazing form so far and will be the attacking players to watch from. Capdevilla is a well known Spanish international and is a great defender that possesses a great attacking skill and is playing almost like a winger for their side.

Villarreal CF squad
Goalkeepers: Diego López y Juan Carlos
Defenders: Ángel, Gonzalo Rodríguez, Carlos Marchena, Mateo Musacchio, Joan Capdevila, José Catalá
Midfielders: Bruno Soriano, Borja Valero, Marco Senna, Javier Matilla, Santi Cazorla, Cani
Strikers: Giuseppe Rossi, Nilmar, Marco Ruben, Jozy Altidore

Valencia CF on the other side are coming off of a win against Getafe CF and will feel a little bit more comfortable than before, where they didn't have a win in 4 La Liga matches. Valencia had problems with Ever Benega who was suspended due to his late night style and coming late to a training session, but he has talked to the coach and seems determined to make up for it, as he has been working to reduce his weight and get back in top form as soon as possible. 

Banega played the full 90 minutes for Argentina against Brazil and while he wasn't great at that match, he showed some good touches and was actually the contributor to the only goal for Argentina as he pressured the Brazilian player to looses the ball, which Messi took and scored a goal.

Hedwiges Maduro also played for Holland for 85 minutes and provided the assist for their only goal against Turkey. So he is in good form right now and that's great, because Topal is injured and Albelda will miss this match due to suspension and so he is the only defensive midfield Valencia have right now. Baenga is also a defensive midfield, though he is a lot more attack minded and works better when forward. 


With so many injuries, Mathieu, Jordi Alba, Topal, Mata and Albelda's suspension Unai Emery has once again called on our super youngster Isco. Also in the squad will be Dealbert and Stankevicious after being left out by the coach for most of the matches. Feghuoli is also in the squad and he seems fully fit and in form after a great showing against Logrones in the Copa Del Ray.


Valencia CF squad
Goalkeepers: Miguel Ángel Moyà, Vicente Guaita
Defenders: Bruno Saltor, Miguel Brito, David Navarro, Ricardo Costa, Ángel Dealbert, Marius Stankevičius
Midfielders: Hedwiges Maduro, Éver Banega, Tino Costa, Pablo Hernández, Joaquín Sánchez, Vicente Rodríguez, Sofiane Feghouli, Isco Alarcón
Strikers: Roberto Soldado, Aritz Aduriz, Chori Domínguez

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line up: Moya; Miguel, Navarro, R. Costa, Bruno; Joaquin, Maduro, Banega, Vicente, Tino; Aduriz.
Tactics: Medium frequency crosses from the wings, positional changes from the 3 attacking midfielders, medium defensive line, low opposing field pressure, long shots.

I believe Unai Emery will change the tactics a bit for this match. Since we are going to probably start with the 4-2-3-1 formation and with one striker, there will be less crossing from the wings. I expect Tino or Isco to play just behind the striker and to see a lot of movement to the left and right wings to help out. I also expect the right winger to to the the left wing from time to time to form a double threat.
The defensive line is not going to be as high, as Villareal posses some very fast attacking players and ablr to do counter attacks very fast, so having a lower line will help in that regards. There will also be quite a bit of long shots if Villareal defense prove to be tough to crack.


Result prediction:
Villareal 2-1 Valencia CF
I can't see Valencia winning or even getting away with a draw here. Villareal have been amazing at home and in great form so far and I don't expect their form to run out in this match. They will ultimately win 2-1, though we have a chance to earn a draw if we keep the ball as much as possible.

New television deal agreed

New television deal has been agreed. at least generally that will see Barcelona and Real Madrid take 34% of the money, with Valencia and Atletico Madrid taking 11%, while the rest will be spread out based on team position.
Sevilla, Villareal, Atletico Bilbao, Espanyol and few other clubs are against this deal and are probably going to take it to sports courts and associations to get it canceled.

Valencia and Atletico have agreed to the deal, even though it will have them take 2% less than the previous deal, but its said there will be more money taken from the deal as a whole, so they would still probably make more money.

Copa del Rey round 16 draw will see Valencia face Villareal

Valencia got Villareal for the round of 16 in the Copa Del Rey draw and face a very tough road to the finals.

This was possibly the worst draw Valencia could get, as even if they win against Villareal, they will face the winner of Sevilla vs Malaga in the round of 8.
Going to the final would mean Valencia is likely going to face all top Spanish teams and is looking really grim right now.
Unai Emery said Valencia is looking to go far in this competition and possibly win it, but our chances aren't looking too good right now!


The first leg of the matches take place on December 22, with the return match on January 5.
Full draw:
Valencia – Villarreal

Barcelona – Athletic Bilbao

Cordoba – Deportivo la Coruna

Getafe – Real Betis

Almeria – Mallorca

Sevilla – Malaga

Real Madrid – Levante

Atletico Madrid - Espanyol

Valencia players international performances

Ever Banega started the match for Argentina in what was a pretty dull match against Brazil that ended in 1-0 victory for Argentina after a solo Messi run and goal in stoppage time.
Ever Banega played the full match and he had a good performance alongside Mascherano as they seem to form a good defensive line for Argentina, that is really tough to brake. He could have done better in attack, but considering he wasn't getting too much playing time in Valencia he seemed a bit rusty in that regard.

Hedwiges Maduro started the match for Holland in a defensive midfield position and played for about 85 minutes, before being substituted. He played a good match and actually provided the assistance to Huntelar for Hollands only and winning goal. He was a bit unsure in the closing periods when Turkey started attacking and needs to gain some confidence, but considering he is coming from a injury just 10 days ago it was a great performance for Maduro.

Manuel Fernandes came on for Portugal in the 60th minute in what was a really exciting match in which Portugal just trashed Spain like they were playing against school yard kids and not the world champions. Portugal won 4-0 over Spain, as Spain hit a new kind of low. Manuel Fernandes played okay in the time he had, he wasn't very influential and lost few balls in bad situations, but corrected his mistakes and made a few decent runs and passes.

Those were the only called up Valencia players for international duty and Vicente Del Bosque may be kicking himself in the head right now why he didn't call Aduriz and Pablo, especially since Navas is injured and Mata was also injured, so there were at least 2 free spaces in the team.
Admitedly Pablo hasn't been in form for Valencia, but he has been performing good for Spain every time he plays.

Valencia players called on international duty

Valencia has few players that have been called on International duty with their countries.
First one is Manuel Fernandes who has got a recall for Portugal squad after being left out of the squad for their last match. Miguel Brito has previously announced his resignation from the Portugal national team and decided to focus on club level fully.
Hedwiges Maduro has also been called up for Holland and it seems he has become a regular in the squad. He has so far to my knowledge played one full match for Holland as a defensive midfielder.
Getting his call up is also Ever Banega for the Argentine national team who will be facing off against Brazil in what will certainly be the most interesting match tomorrow. Ever comes to the Argentina squad after having missed one friendly match against Japan, in which Argentina lost.
Mata was called to the Spanish national squad, but due to his injury he is not available now and his place could be taken by either Pablo or Aduriz from Valencia.

I'd really like to see Ever Banega play for Argentina, as their match against Brazil is going to be a real challenge and test. Hopefully he gets to start and play a superb.

Valencia CF 2-0 Getafe CF - Match Report

Valencia CF have finally achieved a victory in the Spanish league, after a series of poor results, especially at home. Tonight Valencia CF won against Getafe CF by two goals to zero and has climbed to 4th position on the table with 20 points, 3 points behind Villareal and with goal advantage over Sevilla.

The match started great for Valencia, as we had more possession and were immediately from the start pressing on Getafe. The first goal came very early after a great combination between Mata and Tino Costa, Mata returning the ball towards Tino, who took the ball with his chest and fired immediately when he had the opportunity and scored a goal. This play was probably play of the week in La Liga.

After that Valencia continued to dominate until Navarro made a huge mistake and allowed an opposing player to steal the ball from him and managed to create a chance, which thankfully Getafe somehow screwed it up.
From that moment on Valencia seemed to be scared and played more defensively.
There were few chances on both sides, but the first half ended 1-0 for Valencia, but the negative thing was that Mathieu got injured and was substituted.

The second half Getafe started as the attacker and Valencia were on the defense, with rare counter attacks to threaten Getafe's goal. In a rare attack Valencia got a free kick, Tino made the cross and Navarro found himself unmarked and headed the ball towards the goal, but got denied by Getafe's goalkeeper, only for the rebound to fall back short to Navarro and this time his shot went into the net.
Few minuted after that Mata got injured as well and was replaced by Vicente.
In the 72th minute Isco came in for Aduriz and seems like he brings a spark in the Valencia players, as all started playing all of a sudden and we had couple of chances to score more goals. First Isco had a great chance, but he hesitated to shoot at first and ultimately shot at the wall of Getafe defenders, than Soldado had a chance, where he back-passed the ball to move towards goal and than Joaquin had a chance that hit the post.
Ultimately the match ended 2-0 for Valencia.

Technical details:
Valencia CF (2): Moyà; Miguel, Navarro, R. Costa, Mathieu (Jordi Alba, 41); T.Costa, Albelda, Mata (Vicente, min. 66), Joaquín; Soldado y Aduriz (Isco, min. 72).

Getafe CF (0): Codina; Pintos, Cata, Rafa, Mané; Borja; Ríos (A. Sardinero, min. 55), Casquero (Albín, min. 66), Parejo, Manu del Moral; Colunga (Miku, min. 66).

Goals: 1-0 Tino Costa (min. 8), 2-0 David Navarro (min. 63)

Player ratings:
Moya 7 - Made some good saves to deny Getafe scoring a goal.
Miguel 6.5 - Great in defense, though rarely did he go forward.
Navarro 6 - Redeemed himself for a stupid mistake that could have cost us a goal, by scoring a goal just when it was needed.
R. Costa 6.5 - Good in defense and did not allow any danger on his side.
Mathieu 6.5 - Good until substituted, defended well and went forward to good extend.
Joaquin 6 - Had little support from Miguel so that affected him and lost way too many dribbles, though had two or three good runs and a great shot late in the match.
Albelda 7 - Very effective in his tackles and in his cover of the midfield. Stopped numerous Getafe attacks.
Tino 7.5 - Scored a beautiful goal after a great one-two with Mata and was generally useful in attack and defense.
Mata - 6.5 - Made the assist to Tino with a beautiful one-two play and seemed the liveliest member of the attack in the first half.
Soldado 6 - Played against his former team and did not allow that to affect him, was full of determination and had a few chances in the second half.
Aduriz 5.5 - Quite a bad match as he failed to do much of anything and didn't seem too involved with what was going around him.
Subs:
Jordi Alba 7 - Seems better and better every time he plays and this match was no exception. Added a great attacking threat on the left wing and performed his defensive duties admirably.
Vicente 7 - Presented a lot more direct threat than Mata and the Getafe defense had to put a lot of effort in stopping him, which opened up space for the other players.
Isco 7 - Came in and created a chance immediately, moments later he found himself in a scoring position and added great depth to our attack as everyone all of a sudden started playing better. He has a great future in front of him if he keeps up his performance.

Valencia CF vs Getafe CF - Match preview

Sunday, November 11th at 21:00pm Valencia CF is going to welcome Getafe CF at the Mestalla in what is going to be a thrilling match for the Valencia fans.
Valencia is going to trash Getafe so hard, that Gerafe players would not know where their heads are. Valencia have lost 11 points from 12 in the last 4 matches, always performing substandard and apart from the Copa Del Ray win are not on best of levels, but all that is going to change tonight. Enough is enough and there is just no room for failure anymore and I can't see any Valencia player not working 110% for this match in order to win it. There are no more excuses and everyone needs to perform.

I'm absolutely certain that we would see Valencia wipe the grass with Getafe and trash them with 4 or 5 in what would be a thrilling and exciting match for all Valencia fans..


Official Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Moya and Guaita
Defense: Maduro, R. Costa, Navarro, Miguel, Mathieu and J. Alba
Midfield: Albelda, Ever, T. Costa, Joaquin, Pablo, Mata and Vicente
Attack: Aduriz, Soldado and Isco

Official Getafe CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Oscar Ustari and Jordi Codina
Defense: Cata Díaz, Mané, İbrahim Kaş, Rafael López, Pablo Pintos and Iván Marcano
Midfield: Borja, Dani Parejo, Pedro Ríos, Pedro Mosquera, Javier Casquero, Juan Albín and Adrián Sardinero
Attack: Adrián Colunga, Miku and Manu del Moral

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Moya; Miguel, Navarro, R. Costa, Mathieu; Joaquin, Albelda, Banega, Mata; Soldado, Aduriz.
Tactics: High frequency crosses from the wings, positional changes from the 3 attacking midfielders, very high defensive line, high opposing field pressure, deep zone defensive midfielder, strikers going wide.
Lets be real, its going to be mostly crosses for out attack with the occasional center passes. Emery experimented against Logrones with short direct passes and center filed play and it worked out great, but it was against a third divisions team and he won't change the tactics so suddenly, but he is going to instruct the forwards to come wide and try to force the Getafe defense to collapse and thus creating gaps for someone to exploit. Its going to be an full out attack all night long, as anything but huge victory won't be enough.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 5-1 Getafe CF
The time for results has come, after several bad results and poor matches there is no way down, only up. Emery has building pressure to get the results and the players would be also hard press to perform great. Emery is a serious coach and he will be really pushing the players to perform. I expect everyone to get to their senses and show their best form and play to crush Getafe. I would be really surprised and gutted if Valencia didn't win 5,6 goals to zero or one.