Racing Santander 1-1 Valencia CF - Match Report

Another match, another thriller and another exciting match. While we lost 2 points at least the match was fun to watch and on the positive side we increased our lead over Espanyol.

The first half was not the best, Valencia had possession, but could not convert it into chances, not to mention goals. In fact Racing was quite more dangerous on the counter attack and R. Costa was caught twice out of position. Statistically looking Valencia had only one shot towards Racing goal, while they had 4 shots towards Valencia goal, one of which went in.

The goal for Racing was the luckiest thing I've seen this season, after a corner was cleared the ball was crossed back into Valencia penalty area only for Tino Costa to misjudge his jump and assist Ariel to score a goal in the 32nd minute. Guaita probably should have done a bit better, but its hard to judge since he was alone with 3 opposing players.

The first half was nearing and Valencia wasn't taking advantage of all the possession it had. Tino Costa was making bad pass, after bad pass, Joaquin dribbling too much and loosing the ball too often and Pablo ineffective over the left wing and was making too many inaccurate through passes.

Second half started with two substitutions as Chori Dominguez went in after a long pause from competitive game for Pablo and Soldado went in for Joaquin.

The formation now transformed to 4-3-1-2 with Chori playing just behind the strikers. This seemed to work and instantly you can see improvement in Valencia's play. In fact the reason why Valencia didn't win is probably because Mathieu and Aduriz failed to convert few good passes/crosses.

The trio of Banega, Tino and Chori was functioning well and Tino was playing significantly better in the second half. He actually scored the only goal for Valencia in the 77th minute after a corner with a superb shot. He also made 2 good passes to Mathieu and Aduriz who failed to use the passes to good effect.

Valencia was pressing all the way to the end, but just couldn't find the winning goal. In the meantime R. Costa got a second yellow and automatically a red card, undeserved one actually and then in stoppage time Mehdi from Racing got a second yellow card and automatic red too.

Valencia and its fans are left wishing for the 3 points and if Valencia played 90 minutes like it did in the second half a victory would have been more probable. But anyways we must now look forward towards our next match and hope we win then.

Technical details:
Valencia CF (1): Guaita, Bruno (Miguel, min. 71), R. Costa, Stankevicius, Mathieu, Maduro, Ever, Tino Costa, Joaquín (Soldado, min. 45), Pablo (Chori, min 45) y Aduriz.

Rácing Santander (1): Toño, Francis, Torrejón, Henrique, Christian (Cisma, min. 65), Lacen, Colsa, Adrián, Kennedy, Ariel y Rosenberg (Arana, min. 65).

Goals: 32min 1-0 Ariel; 77min 1-1 Tino Costa;

Player Ratings:

Guaita 6 - Maybe he could have done better for the goal, but its hard to say really. Didn't have much work otherwise and apart from stopping a shot early in the first half was barely tested.

Bruno 6 - Good defensively and covered his side well, but did not offer anything in attack.

R. Costa 5 - Had two mistakes early in the match as he was beaten for the ball first time and then caught out of position. Had two good intervention as well and made some interceptions that keep his score at 5.

Stankevicious 6 - The best defender tonight as he intercepted several balls and defended really well.

Mathieu 5 - Had at least one good chance, but he failed to snatch the ball, maybe was thinking he was offside though. Anyways not the most productive going forward and too many times caught in attack and left the left defensive position vulnerable.

Maduro 5.5 - Had an early blunder as he passed the ball slowly to the goalkeeper and was almost caught by Racing attacker. Also felt down later on, lost the ball and that could have resulted in a goal. Improved in the second with the rest of the team and was more active and actually useful.

Tino Costa 5.5 - Poor first half, great second half. How to rate such performance? Made numerous inaccurate passes in the first half, lost the ball way too often and didn't prove much of anything. Second half he was like another player with a lot more accurate passing, scored the goal and made two brilliant passes. 

His assist to Ariel weighs down a lot though and if it wasn't for that mistake Valencia may have celebrated a win tonight.

Banega 7.5 - The only consistent performer in the first and second half. Was forced to come back and get the ball in the first half as he was not getting the ball from Tino or Maduro. Even better in the second as the whole team improved and was spreading the ball very well, great linkup with Tino and Chori and made several creative passes to get something going.

Pablo 5 - Really ineffective on the left wing. Made several through passes that were too obvious and inaccurate and apart from that nothing more.

Joaquin 5 - Similar performance to Pablo, but this one dribbled until he lost the ball. Not much creativity or energy.

Aduriz 5 - In offside position 3 times, failed to control the ball twice and ruined the potential chances. Improved somewhat in the second, but largely useless.

Subs:

Chori 6 - Better than Pablo and Joaquin certainly and ran well creating spots for the attacking players, had few good passes, but few bad judgements also and seems a bit rusty.

Soldado 7 - Twice in a row a match changer. Came in and instantly provided an attacking threat. Very active, seeked out good positions and provided a much needed attacking threat.

Miguel 6 - Had one good cross and one more cross that became more of a shot. He also had a real shot on goal and did quite better in attack than Bruno.

Racing Santander vs Valencia CF - Match preview

Racing Santander will host Valencia CF at El Sardinero tomorrow in what will be another crucial match for Valencia CF.

Racing Santander has two losses and one draw in the last 3 matches and is currently sitting 16th on the table with only 20 points, just 2 more above relegation zone clubs.
The main threat for Valencia CF will probably be Markus Rosenberg, Racing's top goalscorer with 5 goals.
Racing have scored a total of 15 goals in La Liga, but have received 29 goals, though they are still one of the best defensive sides in the bottom 10 clubs.

Only thing going for Racing is their good form in their home stadium where they have not been beaten since last September.

Tono had this to say when interviewed about the match against Valencia CF: “Against Valencia CF, we must keep our good results at El Sardinero stadium, where we’ve added quite a lot of points and have been scored just a few goals. That’s the way we must go on”.

Racing Santander squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF on the other hand are on a winning streak of 5 matches in a row and haven't lost in the last 6 matches in La Liga. Valencia CF managed to somehow continue its streak last weekend against Malaga with a bit of luck and refereeing decisions going in its favor, but the play wasn't really great for the Valencia CF fans, maybe for the neutral viewers, but not for anyone else.

Since the match against Malaga Valencia CF has purchased Brazilian striker Jonas from Gremio for 1.2 million euros and he should complete our attacking options, as previosly Valencia CF had only 2 natural strikers with Soldado and Aduriz. Jonas won't feature in tomorrow match as he is yet to fully complete his transfer, but should be available for selection next week.

After the big defensive mistakes suffered against Malaga, Emery has been working on tightening up the defense and practicing R. Costa and Stankevicious in a partnership and Dealbert with Navarro as the second partnership in short match practices.

The biggest problem would be who to choose for the midfield roles after last weeks obvious problems in the midfield as well. Does he start Tino Costa or Ever Banega in a more advanced midfield role and the second choice would be to either start Topal or Maduro in a defensive midfield role.

Vicente is injured for almost two weeks now and Mata was injured in training after a collision with Navarro. David Albelda, Cezar Sanchez and Moya are still injured, though the two goalkeepers are slowly recovering and I wouldn't be surprised in they are fully fit in a week or so. Dealbert has been left out of the squad after last weeks miserable game.

Anyways you can expect a tough match in which Racing is going to play mostly defensively and will try to get a draw in order to continue their good home and form and Valencia will search for a win in order to get away from either Espanyol or Villareal, as tonight these two clubs are playing each other and one is bound to loose points.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita, Saúl.
Defense: Miguel, Bruno, David Navarro, Stankevicius, Ricardo Costa, Jordi Alba, Mathieu.
Midfield: Maduro, Topal, Tino Costa, Banega, Pablo, Joaquín.
Attack: Domínguez, Aduriz, Soldado.

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Mathieu; Joaquin, Topal, Banega, Pablo, Soldado, Aduriz.
Tactics: High frequency crosses from the right wing, low defensive line, medium opposing team pressure.
The biggest change in tactics would be the defensive line and in this match it will be set to low in order to tighten up the defense and allow the defensive midfielder to fall back faster and be able to more effectively break up opposition attacks. With Vicente and Mata injured, Pablo is probably going to play on the left wing, but he will also be free to roam the field in attack and at times even play as a creative midfielder just behind the attackers.

Result prediction:
Racing Santander 0-2 Valencia CF
I can see Valencia CF winning this match and anything less will be considered a failure, especially since Racing is fighting for survival. If Valencia is able to play good football with good ball possession and iniciative I can see Valencia winning 2-0. Its not going to be easy though as seen from the past matches  and if Racing put enough pressure we may concede a goal.
Anyways I strongly believe will see a better game from Valencia and we should be able to win.

Official: Sofiane Feghuoli joins Almeria on a loan deal

Valencia have confirmed that Sofiane Feghouli has joined fellow Spanish Primera Division club Almeria on loan for the rest of the season.

Feghouli has made just three Liga appearances and played just once each in the Copa del Rey and in the Champions League.

The loan contract doesn't have any buy-option for Almeria.
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Brazilian striker Jonas from Gremio transfers to Valencia CF

While its still not official, the transfer can only fail if the player has failed his medical exam, so its a pretty done deal.

Brazilian striker Jonas Gonçalves Oliveira has signed for Valencia CF from Gremio for a fee of 1.2 million euros. Jonas signed a contract with Valencia that will have him stay in Valencia 4 and a half years, starting from this January. It seems that Valencia used the players low release clause of 1.2 million euros to snatch the player from Gremio and has also offered him a better salary of around 1.000.000 euros.

The player considered this his big chance and happily accepted the offer from Valencia CF.
If you ask me I'd say this is a very good deal at a bargain price for a good striker. If he settles well in Valencia and with the Spanish style of football he could become an important player for Valencia. Whatever the case at least now Valencia has 3 strikers and Valencia can play more often with the 4-4-2 formation as there would be no fears now of Aduriz or Soldado getting fatigued or injured.

How should Valencia CF improve its shortcomings?

I don't have the time to analyze the whole season for now, although I'm going to take the time in the future, but for now I'm just going to analyze the Malaga match and draw some conclusions on how to improve aspects of Valencia's game.

As you can read from the match report Valencia had a dreadful first half, was outplayed by a 10 men Malaga and they managed to score two goals.
In the second half things improved, but Malaga was still playing with a men down and 20 minutes later with only 9 men.

The main problem was in the first half and although Valencia received a goal in the second half with 2 men advantage it was more of a unlucky circumstances and individual mistakes.

When the match began the 2nd minute told me everything how this match is going to be played out. I lost the pre-match confidence and I knew we were going to be defending and tracking the ball, instead of dominating the game and setting the path of the game.

The weakest source was Valencia midfield as Tino Costa and Maduro failed to keep possession and regain possession when we lost the ball quickly.  The primary job of a defensive midfielder is to break opponents play by either winning the ball back and regain possession, or make a tackle with or without a foul to give the defense time to organize.
Maduro as a defensive midfielder failed miserably to do any of these things and all he did is mark opposition players, but without putting pressure on them or making strategic tackles. If you watch only Maduro's moves you'll easily see that his decisions were mostly wrong, depending on where he was on the field at the time of the decision he made.
For example tackling a player 25 meters from goal is considered bad, as he gives away a free kick to the opponent in a close and dangerous area. Another example would be not tackling the opposing player few meters after the half line on Valencia's side of the pitch.

The job of Alberto "Tino" Costa is to keep possession, pass the ball around and be available at all times to receive the ball, only in order to bring it back into circulation. In few occasions he can make a dribble or go to the wings to support the attacking players.
For example you don't see Xavi from Barcelona dribbling or going to the wings or making too many direct passes, because his job is to keep possession and circle the ball around so that other players can exploit a possible opening. He will sometimes put a through ball from the center or make a cross when there is a real chance to make an assist or threaten the opposition goal.

Tino Costa did everything wrong and everything he is not supposed to do. He made several inaccurate passes, dribbled too much and often went to the left wing to support the attacking players when he just shouldn't have, as this created huge space in the middle for Malaga to exploit.

When Malaga was one man down is the prime example of Tino's wrong moves, as instead of Valencia gaining possession, Malaga was still the team with more possession and constantly attacking.

Tino Costa is by nature a more attacking midfielder or AM, as he can dribble, shift position and make a dangerous pass. He is not a natural deep laying midfielder or a playmaker and this is really exposed in matches where the opponent tries to control the ball and this is why Valencia loose possession.

Banega is a player suited for the playmaker role from a deep laying midfield position as he spreads the ball around, makes himself available to receive the ball back and then passes the ball again. There are moments when he will dribble or push forward, but usually he keeps his position back in the midfield and this is why it works for him.
Last season with an experienced and great defensive midfielder like Albelda who can break up opponents play, make a foul at the right time it worked so good. Even if Banega was out of position on rare occasions and Valencia lost the ball, Albelda was there to intercept and make the right move to cripple and stop the opponents.

What works and what doesn't work?

Of course Tino has been generally playing well this season and this is because weaker teams or teams who don't try to control the ball and attack on the counter, his shortcomings are not exposed and he can in those matches make a move or a pass that has a positive result.

Another disadvantage is that Valencia lack a true leader on the pitch. While Miguel and Joaquin may be a captains they lack the leadership skills that Albelda has. Even Vicente lack those skills and the two players that have these leadership skills are Cezar and Albelda.

If you watch matches when Cezar was on goal you can see that the defense is a lot more stable and calm. They don't do stupid mistakes, don't get disorganized, because they know they can fall back to a stable and reliable leader on the goal. This is what our current young goalkeeper Guaita lacks and he probably won't have until he is 32 years of age.

Albelda is the other example case. With him as a defensive cover the defense is again much calmer and stable, as they know that in front of them in an experienced leader that is going to make the right move to help out the defense.

Leading the way!

With Albelda and Cezar injured there is absolutely no leader on the pitch and what Valencia this season lack also from the previous one is a top, top player like Villa was. David Villa was so good that people relied upon him to make a miracle and score a goal, saving Valencia from a defeat or a draw and Villa was actually more than capable of doing such things. He will move from the left wing towards the opponents goal, dribble past two defenders and score a goal from a 90 degree angle.

Right now neither Aduriz or Soldado are capable of such feats and in the whole squad there isn't a top player that adds and shares that aura of greatness that players will feel.

What Valencia is trying to do is positive and its a future project of bringing young and talented players to the squad, but its also the case Arsenal for example have won the title so little, apart from the two seasons where they absolutely dominated in the Premier League. Also don't forget that at that time they also had Denis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Vieira.

What is the best formation and which are the best working players together?

Every team that wants to be a competitor for a title must have these experienced and leader material players to fight for top honors. Valencia right not only has Albelda and Cezar and when the season is over its possible it will loose both.
With no top player also its even more crippled and there is always that sense of vulnerability.

So what can we conclude out of all this? Well we can conclude that Valencia needs Albelda and Cezar back, even if they are only on the bench or training sessions and Valencia need to buy or create a top player to share his aura of greatness around the squad.

Who is the leader?

Valencia also need starting eleven players that are going to work great together, players that can cover each others weaknesses and shortcomings. For example you need a player that can keep possession to cover for Tino's shortcomings, you need a solid defensive midfielder than can cover for Banega's shortcomings and so on...

You need a team of great mixture of strengths to cover for the apparent weaknesses. This is of course the job of the coach to find the "perfect" starting eleven and players that work best when fielded together.

Of course such starting eleven may need a formation change and those don't change easily as we've already seen how formation changes are devastating to the performance of Valencia. This is why a formation change needs to be smooth and gradual, especially at mid season.

Valencia has a weaker defense, so make sure you cover it with great possession football play and a stable defensive midfielder that can really help out in troublesome situations. I don't have the perfect formation since I only see the team play on official matches and I'm not in all those training sessions, but Unai emery must look deeper than before and find out exactly which players and where are most efficient.

Can the team work like a well oiled machine?

Valencia CF 4-3 Malaga - Match Report

What a crazy match this turned out to be. Valencia struggled for 90 minutes to win this match against 9 men Malaga who from the 15th minute played with one man less and than from the 65th minute with two man less.

The first half was a disaster for Valencia, we had almost no ball control, no chance and no shot towards Malaga goal. In one word the team sucked and did not deserve to win.
Malaga had a clear chance from the second minute when Guaita saved Valencia goal, the ball reflected to another Malaga player, but Miguel blocked the shot.

Malaga was dominating on the filed and in the 10th minute after a blunder from Dealbert Rondon scored a goal.
Malaga kept pressuring and kept attacking as they were playing at home against some second division team.
Dealbert was just awful as he made 4 huge mistakes and frankly speaking after such a performance he should sit on the bench for the remainder of the season.

Anyways going back to the 16th minute Pablo released a pass that found Mata, but newly signed Demichelis fouled Mata and the referee awarded Valencia with a penalty and a bit harshly awarded Demichelis a red card.
Mata set up to shoot the penalty and scored with a low shot in the far right corner of the net.

As soon as you think Valencia will be on the way to dominating the match from there on and playing good, just the opposite happened with Valencia pinched back and defending. This is the time that Dealbert made all those mistakes, though only 1 resulted in a goal, but the whole defensive line and cover was pretty disastrous. After a cross in Valencia's penalty area Aduriz, Maduro and Dealbert were outjumped, someone from Malaga headed the ball on the right side and found Rondon once again who easily scored totally unmarked by anyone. It was 2-1 for Malaga and a well deserved lead, because Valencia was not even playing football.

The first 45 minutes ended and change was necessary in order to restore some decency into the performance.

To Emery's credit he made the two perfect and logical choices and the ones I would pick to change the match around. He brought Soldado for the poor Dealbert and Banega for the ineffective and barely visible Jordi Alba.

Second half was different and Valencia immediately started strongly with possession and determination with Banega pulling the strings in midfield.The goal Valencia seek would come quickly in the 52nd minute from Soldado. The actions started with Banega as he made a long pass towards Pablo and this one made the assist to Soldado who scored a fine goal.

Just when it seemed there can be no more drama, Malaga defender Rosario was shown a red card for making some gesticulations to the line referee. The nervousness in the Malaga defense would be used by Valencia and Banega would score a goal to put Valencia ahead. After some chaos in the Malaga penalty area and bad judgement from Sergio Asenjo who failed to punch the ball out and the ball was traveling out of the penalty area and towards the oncoming Banega who placed a low shot in the low left corner of the net and scored a goal.

If this wasn't enough drama then Malaga would go on to score again and this time it was the collective mistake of Maduro who was out of position, Stankevicious and even Miguel who failed to get the ball out of Baptista's feet and he scored a brilliant trade-mark goal like the ones he used to score back in him prime days.

Valencia struggled to find the winning goal and just when all hope was lost, Malaga just couldn't fight anymore. The ball somehow luckally found Aduriz who after missing several opportunities managed to score a goal and put Valencia in the lead again with 4-3.

In the end a disapointing match for the Valencia fans as realistically Valencia really deserved to loose this match. The first half play was a tragedy and even though Valencia improved in the second, with a 9 man Malaga it would have been absolute even worse than tragedy not to win.

Technical details:
Valencia CF (4): Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicius, Dealbert (Banega, min. 45), Mathieu; Maduro, Tino Costa, Pablo (Joaquín, min. 70), Mata, Jordi Alba (Soldado, min. 45); Aduriz.

Málaga CF (3): Asenjo;Eliseu, Rosario, Demichelis, Gámez; Maresca (Gaspar, min. 20), Camacho, Apoño, Duda (Fernández, min. 70), Rondón (Recio, min. 67); Baptista.

Goals: 0-1, Rondón, min. 10; 1-1, Mata, min. 15; 1-2, Rondón, min .34; 2-2, Soldado, min.53; 3-2, Banega, min. 67; 3-3, Baptista, min 79; 4-3, Aduriz, min. 90.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 7 - The only man in the team that actually performed good, he made two absolute great saves to save Valencia from loosing 4-1.
Miguel 4 - Not directly at fault for any of the goals, though should have probably covered Rondon for the second one and didn't really provide any support in attack.
Stankevicious 4 - At fault for the 3rd goal as he failed to tackle Baptista and allowed him a clear shot on Valencia's goal that resulted in a goal.
Dealbert 2 - Dreadful display as he made 4 huge defensive errors and always looked nervous and unsure.
Mathieu 5 - Maybe the best on the defenders and no threat came from his side, also offered some support going forward in the second half when Valencia took more initiative.
Pablo 7 - I'm going to put Pablo as man of the match once again. He was the only player that looked dangerous and offered a creative spark. He made the pass to Mata in the first half and after Mata was fouled the penalty was awarded. The also made the assist to Soldado for Valencia's second goal.
Maduro 4 - Failed in his defensive duties and partially at fault for the second recieved goal as he along with Aduriz and Dealbert were out jumped and failed to clear the ball out of Valencia's penalty area.
Tino Costa 3 - Absolutely dreadful performance in this match. He failed to provide any pass, lost the battle in the midfield and basically did not do anything for 45 minutes, until the second half when Banega came in and provided some stability in the midfield. Don't forget that Valencia were also playing with 1 man more from the 15th minute and Tino still lost the midfield battle.
Alba 2 - Barely visible. Apart from one run and one missed header I did not see him in this match.
Mata 6 - One of the few people that actually was useful. He provided the penalty, scored the penalty and generally was useful and dangerous.
Aduriz 4 - Scored a goal, but missed 3 chances to make Valencia's job a whole lot easier. Barely even touched the ball, apart from 3 failed chances and one scored goal.
Subs:
Soldado 7 - Came in for the dreadful Dealbert and immediately provided a much needed attacking threat. Scored a quick goal after he came in and make the assist to Aduriz for the winning goal.
Banega 7 - Came in and Valencia got back control of the midfield. Started the action that lead to the second goal, scored the third goal and was always threatening when going forward and also instrumental for Valencia keeping possession.
Joaquin 5 - He failed to surpass Pablo and apart from few crosses didn't really add much to Valencia attack.

Valencia CF vs Malaga - Match preview

Time for Valencia CF vs Malaga match preview:
The second half of the season begins for Valencia tomorrow when they face Malaga at the Mestalla. The club has made an interesting innitiative for the fans to come to the stadium and tomorrow will be for all the fans to wear their scarf's and lift them in the air. There will also be prizes for hand out to the "best" supporters.

Valencia CF has been in great shape the last few matches and is on a great winning streak that it hopes will continue in the second half of the season and the first obstacle will be Malaga, who just purchased 4 new players in the winter transfer market.

Unai Emery has his hands full this time around and will have problems selecting the starting eleven. For a lack of better term the "problem" comes with the recent string of good results and which players to choose, as players like R. Costa and Navarro are back for a while now, as well as midfielder Ricardo Tino Costa and Joaquin.

Valencia CF has played great with Stankevisious and Dealbert at the defense and Maduro and Banega in midfield and so choosing the right starting eleven will be difficult.
Last match Vicente got a chance to start and really impressed with his performance. Pablo has also been out of his slump for the last few matches and is currently in top form and again do you play Pablo who is currently in great form or the more consistent Joaquin who has returned from his 2 matches suspension after the verbal assault on one of the referees after the Villarreal match in the Copa Dell Rey.

Valencia cf managed to win the first match against Malaga by 3 goals to 1 and it was a fairly comfortable victory without too much struggle. This time around Malaga has been reinforced with few new names and is hoping to make a positive start of their own.

There has been some reports that suggest Vicente got injured on today's training session and will not be able to play. This is yet to be confirmed though and I'm hoping its a false alarm.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Vicente Guaita, Saúl Figueroa
Defenders: Miguel Brito, Ángel Dealbert, Ricardo Costa, Marius Stankevičius, Jordi Alba, Jérémy Mathieu
Midfielders: Hedwiges Maduro, Mehmet Topal, Éver Banega, Tino Costa, Pablo Hernández, Joaquín Sánchez, Sofiane Feghouli, Juan Mata
Strikers: Aritz Aduriz, Roberto Soldado


Malaga on the other hand has been quite poor for much of the first half of the season and their rich owner was forced to spend a few more millions in the winter transfer market to strengthen the squad.

Even Pelegrini who is a renowned coach in Spain couldn't make Malaga team work and they are still in real danger of falling to the second division and only achieving good results in the second half of the season can guide them above any danger of relegation.

Julio Baptista is one of the new names in Malaga and although a little short of match fitness he is quite big reinforcement for the team. He was also quite confident that they can win against Valencia and is hopeful of a great start to their "new" season. Fact is that several Malaga players and their coach have called this a new start and the team is full of optimism, which in turn is bad news for Valencia, as Malaga probably won't be pushovers and will put up a fight this time around.

Malaga squad: to be announced...


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Maduro, Tino, Mata, Dominguez, Aduriz.
Tactics: Low frequency crosses from the wings, positional changes from the 2 wingers, very high defensive line, high opposing field pressure, forward rotation.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 3-1 Malaga
I am going to predict the same result as in the first match between these two sides. Malaga may have strengthen their squad in this transfer window, but Valencia are still a far superior side to them and with the latest calls of Unai Emery for improved efficiency in front of goal, I have every reason to believe that they have achieved good results in that department with the whole week they had of training.
Malaga new players also lack match fitness and are even unlikely to feature, since they mostly sat on their previous clubs benches.
It is also possible that Valencia will keep a clean sheet as the recent results suggest such an option, though I don't want to be too optimistic and I'm calling it a 3-1 win for Valencia.