RCD Espanyol vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

Another match, another final, another crucial game and all for that still elusive 3rd position. With Valencia CF failing to secure 3rd place earlier, we must now go to Barcelona to face Espanyol and win in order to theoretically secure 3rd place, even though mathematically we'll probably be fighting for until the last matchday.

RCD Espanyol is a team that has been on the decline for much of the second half of the season. Even though it entered the new year as a top four contender and competitor to Valencia CF as it all too often the case in Spain this team was over-performing and slowly but surely has been playing worse and worse.

Espanyol are currently sitting in 8th place with 48 points, just recently outpaced by Atletico Madrid and Sevilla and it looks like this is going to be their final position with Sporting Gijon down with 43 points and Atletico Madrid and Sevilla clearly the better team at least in the second half of the season.

Espanyol is one of those team that is great at nothing and bad at nothing, they play good football and are decent defensively and pretty good offensively, although great at nothing. The biggest threat is probably going to come from Pablo Daniel Osvaldo who is the top scorer with 11 goals.

Espanyol last seven matches have been terrible with only one win against Bilbao and their latest result is a loss to Barcelona which isn't that bad in itself, but combined with the fact that they only won once in the last 7 matches is a problem.

RCD Espanyol squad:
Goalkeepers: Kameni, Cristian Álvarez.
Defense: Amat, Canal, Galán, Chica, Raúl Rodríguez, Víctor Álvarez.
Midfield: Javi Máquez,Verdú, Javi López, Rui Fonte, Isaías.
Attack: Callejón, Luis García, Osvaldo, Álvaro, Iván Alonso, Thievy.

Valencia CF on the other hand are coming off from a convincing 3-0 win against Real Sociedad and is still in 3rd position, with now 5 points clear from Villarreal. So a win tomorrow against Espanyol is a must if Valencia CF is to secure automatic Champions League qualification. Everything else except a win would put our 3rd place in danger from Villarreal who actually have 2 easier fixtures before the end of the season.

Latest news in the Valencia camp is that Unai Emery stopped a potential fight between Cezar, Alba and Vicente after they had an argument in training, which I already write about. Other bad news is that Vicente Guaita has a flu and won't be available for selection, while Pablo Hernandez has complained to pains and it seems like he may have some sort of muscle rupture that will have him miss the rest of the season.

Isco has been included in the squad in the absence of Pablo and if the results goes Valencia's way he may get some minutes of playing time.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: César, Moyá.
Defence: Miguel, Bruno, Navarro, Stankevicius, Dealbert, Alba, Mathieu.
Midfield: Albelda, Topal, Éver, Joaquín, Isco, Mata.
Attack: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado.

Technical details:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Cezar; Miguel, Stankevicious, Dealbert, Mathieu; Joaquin; Banega, Topal, Mata; Jonas, Soldado.
Tactical: medium defensive line, mid field opposing team pressure, wing and central attacking play, mostly short passing with high frequency crosses from the wings.

Result prediction:
RCD Espanyol 1-2 Valencia CF
Espanyol has had 6 bad matches in their last 7, but watching them against Barcelona last week they didn't play bad, they were pretty organized and played well. Also how much more can they really looose? Valencia should play good football as well and I think the players are fairly motivated to play for the win. I think Valencia will just barely edge out Espanyol.

Emery stops a fight between the Valencia players

Well you'd think that after so many suspensions and disciplinary actions these things won't happen, but they do.

The players returned to training today following the 3-0 victory over Real Sociedad and you'd think it'll be a relaxed or at least pretty happy session, but the reserves played with big intensity, trying to get in the first place by showing the coach what they know, but as the heat got up and the competitiveness went through the roof, an argument started between goalkeeper Cezar Sanchez and Jordi Alba.

Cezar was unhappy with Alba's performance and displayed his frustration with Alba's performance several times with the culmination happening when he approached Alba and told him that he is playing bad, well Alba replied in an inappropriate manner and all while Vicente was dissatisfied with how Cezar treated Alba and went on to confront the veteran goalkeeper, luckily Emery was in close proximity, ran at Vicente and stopped him, separating the players and certainly getting things under control and stopping a major fight or something that everyone is no doubt going to later regret.

These things are unacceptable in Valencia and players should be more flexible, especially after playing together for 2 or more years. I'd give everyone a monetary punishment and Alba a sporting one as well, since he is young and needs to learn that these things are inappropriate.

Valencia CF 3-0 Real Sociedad - Match Report

After two disappointing matches to say the least, Valencia CF has come back and won convincingly against Real Sociedad. But lets not get carried away as Real Sociedad's defending was terrible and two of the goals Valencia scored should have been stopped if the defense was a little bit better. Still a win is a win and Valencia is right now 6 points clear of Villarreal again, but they play tomorrow and a win for Villarreal will once again put them only 3 points behind Valencia.

Anyways the match against Real Sociedad started very good for Valencia, as there was a chance right from the first minute when Joaquin released a powerful shot after a combination with Jonas, but unfortunatelly the shot was not accurate and went above the goal.

Then in the fourth minute Valencia Cf had another chance, this time Dealbert had a decent header after a corner kick, but the ball went above the goal once again.
Just two minuted later though Soldado had a good chance to open the scoring for Valencia after a good pass by Joaquin, but again it wasn't to be.

After a complete domination by Valencia the goal would come in the 16th minute after a superb through ball by Albelda to Mata who assisted Soldado for the goal. It was a great combination between the players that resulted in a goal.

Sociedad tried to counter and two minutes later Xabi Prieto had a great cross than found Aranburu I think who's shot went straight into Guaita, but then from the rebound there was another shot, but someone from the players managed to block the shot and clear the danger.

Valencia pushed forward again and had few more chances, but nothing particularry serios until the 25th minute when after a poor defending from the Sociedad players the ball found its way to Miguel who's cross found Joans who in turn managed to head the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net. It was 2-0 for Valencia CF.

In the 31th minute after a free kick Arnaburu found himself alone in front of Valencia's goal and with just Guaita to beat, but somehow managed to shoot wide of goal. Minutes later Sociedad had another shot towards goal from a free kick, but this time Guaita saved. After that free kick for Sociedad, Mata had a chance to score, but was brought down in the penalty area, though there was little reason for the referee to blow for a penalty.

The third goal came in the 37th minute, Mathieu crossed from the left wing and Soldado managed to get past a Sociedad defender and then easily head the ball into the net.

With this lead Valencia slowed down the match a bit and carefully closed it out till the half time whistle.

The second half saw Valencia throttling down the gas and playing slowly and with less intensity. Basically the match was already won so the players were conserving energy for the newxt match, which will be played mid-week.

Anyways there were few chances on both sides, though nothing really serious and the vast majority of the play was happening in the middle of the field. Real Sociedad were slightly more dangerous, but their shooting was terrible and even what little half-chances they got, they just ruined them.

Long story short, Valencia really slowed down towards the end and the last 10-15 minutes were all about Sociedad who had few chances to score. First there was a threat on the left side by Prieto who was Sociedad's best player in this match, then there was a slip-up by Guaita who almost gave away a free goal, but managed to recover in the last second.

Ultimately the second half was very boring, with very few chances with no concrete chances for both sides and endless passes in the middle. In the end the 3-0 from the first half was enough for Valencia CF to win and get the much needed 3 points and get back to 6 points difference against Villarreal.

Technical Details:

Valencia CF (3): Guaita; Miguel, Dealbert, Ricardo Costa, Mathieu; Albelda (Topal, min. 80), Éver, Joaquín (Pablo Hernández, min. 63); Jonas, Mata y Soldado (Aduriz, min. 63).

Real Sociedad (0): Bravo; Martínez (De la Bella, min. 45), Demidov, Mikel, Estrada; Markel, Aranburu (Elustondo, min. 62), X. Prieto, Zurutuza, Griezmann; Tamudo (Ifrán, min. 68).

Goals: 16th min. 1-0, Soldado; 25th min. 2-0, Jonas; 37th min. 3-0, Soldado.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 6 - Not the most assured performance from him, had two or three questionable responces.
Miguel 6 - Not troubled much at the back went forward a bit and did reasonably well.
R. Costa 6 - Not much to do, generally took care of everything that came on his way.
Dealbert 6 - Same a R. Costa, pretty good performance.
Mathieu 6.5 - Had a little bit more difficult time against Prieto, but ultimatelly did a good job and provided an assist as well.
Albelda 7 - Superb performance from the veteran who provided great cover for the defense and really accurate passing, had a great through ball to Mata that lead to the first goal.
Banega 6 - Kept possession well as usual, was more reserved to defending this time around and rarely venture forward.
Joaquin 5.5 - Not the best display from him, had few runs and a shot on goal, but his contribution ended there. Really needs to work on his vision and final ball.
Mata 6.5 - All over the pitch, good combinations with every player and provided an assist, but needs to be a little bit more on his own position at left wing to help out Mathieu more.
Jonas 6 - Some nice combinations with Joaquin, Soldado and Mata, scored a goal, but his movement was rather poor at times and should have been in better positions at crucial moments.
Soldado 7 - Two goals, for the first one he found himself in the right place and the right time and for the second he past a defender and headed the ball into the net, good performance overall.
Subs:
Aduriz 5.5 - Came on for Soldado and failed to follow in his footsteps with a rather poor showing.
Pablo 5.5 - Came for Joaquin and he pretty much the same effect with few runs and a shot which he missed terribly.
Topal N/A - Not enough time.

Unai Emery 5 - Obviously directed the players better this time around and a good change in defense, but he was lucky that Topal got injured and wasn't fully fit so he started Banega and VCF won, otherwise it would have been a draw or loss for sure. So quite lucky that destiny/random chance/luck made the decision for him to start Banega instead of Topal.

Valencia CF close to signing Chori Castro

Valencia CF are considering purchasing players and strengthening the squad this summer and one of the favorites to be purchased is Chori Castro, the left winger from Mallorca.

With Vicente Rodriguez almost surely leaving this summer, since his contract will run out and the team won’t renew with him, there is a need for a back-up for Mata on the left wing and Chori Castro fits perfectly, as he is a good player and will come cheaply.

Valencia has followed him this whole season and it’s said that Braulio Vazquez went to watch the Mallorca match several hours before the Valencia match and was specifically watching Chori Castro and defender Ivan Ramis. Both have impressed this season and have shown some great games, especially Castro.

Now Radio 9 program 'La Taula Esportiva' is reporting that Braulio has been in contact with Mallorca and that the teams are very close to agreeing about the transfer of Chori Castro, which the radio reports is in the region of 1-2 million euros.

Juan Mata and Pablo Hernandez to be sold?

Well what would the newspapers be without some much needed transfer speculations.

Pablo Hernandez is reportedly in the transfer plans of many clubs, but the most serious offers are from Italy. Juventus has shown interest for the player and this is not the first time either, they've been interested in Pablo for 2 years now. There are also mentions of Roma and Inter being interested in Pablo Hernandez.

Valencia CF stance on the transfer of Pablo is that he is not for sale, but they will look at substantial offers and make a decision from there.

The other transfer news is that Juan Mata could potentially leave Valencia CF and various teams from England are showing interest in the winger. The likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and even Manchester United have reportedly made contact with his agent/father.

Valencia CF stance on a possible transfer for Mata is that he is not for sale and won't listen to any offers, though that can change if a huge offer comes, along the lines of 30 million euros.

Aritz Aduriz out, Kevin Gameiro in - Valencia CF

Do you remember my Aprils fools post about Aduriz being sold and Gameiro purchased in the summer? Well turns out the joke may be that it isn't a joke at all.

Various reports from Spain and France suggest that Aduriz lack of playing time is due to the fact he will be sold this summer and the cash gathered from his sale would be used to purchase Gameiro. Lorient wanted 12 million euros for the player, while Valencia was offering only 8 million, but since he would have only 1 more season left this summer and Llorient can loose him next summer for free, its said they are going to listen to offers lower than 12 million euros.

As far as where would Aduriz go, there are reports suggesting he will move to Athletico Bilbao or transfer in England where with his stature he would fit perfectly.

Osasuna 1-0 Valencia CF - Match Report

Another week, another lackluster performance from Valencia, so whats new you ask? Absolutely nothing. I think there is sort of stagnation and lack of enthusiasm going on in the camp right now. There is no other way to describe these two looses, two weeks in a row.

Right from the start, from the first minute you can see Valencia started off with lack of ambition and lack of enthusiasm and lack of direction as well. Osasuna started the match as the dominate side and for most of the match they were in full control, absolutely outplaying Valencia.

The goal from Osasuna came from a deflection, so it wasn't as if the defense was bad or anything like that, but the problem is that it wasn't good either, against if R. Costa commits to these challenges he will actually block these shots.

I will say it last time and I've been saying from 5-6 times so far this season about Ricardo Costa, he needs to commit more, he is like every time about 3 seconds slower, shorter or back for these shots and all of them end up in the back of Valencia's net. If he is to stay with Valencia he needs to commit more in these kind of challenges and stretch out his legs, block the shots, he is not a ballerina, he is a football player and needs to get this sorted out.

Its really bothering me now as he has made the same mistake 5-6 times now and I'm starting to think he should be sold this summer as clearly he has no clue how to play football.
I wish someone would slap R. Costa and everyone else for that matter several times in the head to wake them up.

These kind of performances in such crucial stages of the competition can't be overlooked. Villarreal won its match against Getafe earlier and is now to only 3 points behind Valencia, with 4 more matches to play. All of a sudden 3rd position isn't really guaranteed and the team is in danger of loosing the 3rd place at the table which would be terrible and knowing the president Llorente heads are going to be flying for sure if 3rd place isn't achieved.

So why did Valencia CF loose, what are the reasons for such a bad performance? - Well I seriously know that the team lacked enthusiasm, lacked ambition and had absolutely no self belief, did not the the champions material and when I say champions material I mean the stuff when they think, no they know they are better than the opposition and they would rather die that loose.

In other words the players take this as their job, you know come in the office, run around for 90 minutes, quote filled and go home. What they should be taking these matches are like finals, like every eye in the world is pointed towards them and a failure to win would mean all kind of nasty things for them, a failure to win would be the most tragic thing that has ever happened to them. They need to carry the club in their heart, in spirit and in mind and not look at it as job.

Why this is the case is another thing though and I don't have an answer for it. I seriously can't think of anything to justify or explain it.

Having written all of that I can't and wont forget Unai Emery. If they players played badly, he set up the tactics, line-up and formation badly. The moment I heard he was planing the 4-4-2 with Topal and Albelda in the middle I had a bad feeling about this match, but thought a miracle would happen and VCf would somehow win, but this is the second time I'm making this mistake.

First of all lets look at the formation, 4-4-2. It was the wrong formation, especially if you plan to play two defensive midfielders that have absolutely no organization or possession skills. If Osasuna is good somewhere its at midfield, their defense is okay, but nothing special, their attack is okay, but again not really good, that leaves their midfield where they are best, so if you are going to be going for two DM you need to play a different formation in order to gain control of the midfield. With Albelda and Topal in the squad I would have went for a 4-2-3-1 formation, it would give us better defensive coverage, more midfield control with small sacrifice in attack, but using counter attacks more often to try to score goals.

If I was to go with 4-4-2 for some absurd reason I would at least play Banega alongside Topal in midfield in order to have more ball possession and in order for the attacks to be more organized and there to be some build-up. Also with the way Mathieu performed last week I would have benched him and put Alba in his place instead. I would have also given the chance to Aduriz to partner Soldado just because he hasn't played too much lately and this would have provided him with a good morale boost and provide him with a challenge.

Anyways these kind of wrong choices from Emery frustrate me, and in these cases I really want for him to be sacked and someone else put in his place. The biggest problem though is that for the amount of money Valencia have for a coach, our options are limited and its debatable if we could bring a better coach without breaking the bank, which is empty anyways.

Sorry this wasn't the standard play by play analysis or even a normal match report, but I feel its more important to address the bigger issues here, rather than just the simple play by play. I can just hope that next week Valencia win 5-0 in order to erase my bad memory from these matches.

Technical Details:
CA Osasuna (1): Ricardo; Nelson, Lolo, Sergio, Monreal; Puñal, Nekounam; Cejudo (Soriano, m.82), Camuñas, Calleja (Damiá, m.66); and Kike Sola (Josetxo, m.90).

Valencia CF (0): Guaita; Miguel (Pablo, m.79), Stankevicius, Costa, Mathieu; Joaquín, Albelda (Banega, m.64), Topal, Mata; Jonas (Aduriz, m.69) and Soldado.

Goals: 1-0, m.59: Stankevicius, own goal.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 6.5 - Had several saves to keep Valencia in the match, a bit lucky though in his first major intervention as the attacker sort of shot into him, rather that Guaita making some kind of superb save.
Miguel 6 - Very good defensivelly, very little threat coming from his side and was able to help out in attack, but did not have a good understanding with Joaquin and they both sort of play as individuals.
R. Costa 3 - Once again if he commited just a tad more he probably would have blocked the shot that lead to the goal, he is just not the winner material and I think its best if he was sold.
Stankevicious 5 - Suspect at times, sort of unlucky to have an own goal, not necesarilly bad performance though.
Mathieu 5 - Decent in defense, but nothing special and he just did not go forward often enough, similarly as Miguel had very little collaboration with Mata.
Joaquin 4 - Absolutely impractical, when he managed to dribble past anyone he would just either return the ball back or dribble even more and loose the ball, very bad decision making and lacks the final ball to be useful at all.
Albelda 5 - Did well defensively and realistically nothing more should be expected from him, he is not a playmaker or some wizard of a passer that can find the tiniest hole in a defense and provide the killer pass, so not much to blame him for.
Topal 5.5 - He is similar to Albelda in that he has a bit more flair and can be a bit more offensive, but he is just not a type of player to keep possession or organize the play. He is a simple passer with good defensive skills.
Mata 5 - He was totally cut off from the action for large periods of time, did not link up at all with Mathieu and for most of the match struggled to do anything.
Joans 5 - Had very little to no balls to work with, often had to come down deep to get the ball and then circulate it himself in attack.
Soldado 5 - As Jonas had very little to go on to, often forced to come out wide right to get the ball and get something going, but that just left no one in the Osasuna penalty area.
Subs:
Banega N/A -  Even though he came with some time left, it just wasn't soon enough to have any influence on the match.
Aduriz N/A - Came on too late to change the outcome of the match.
Pablo N/A - Came on too late.


Unai Emery 1 - Chose the wrong formation in my opinion and the wrong line-up for this formation. He basically set up the team to loose.