Unai Emery likely to stay

At yestredays press conference Emery was asked whether he would stay or leave and he said that despite having offers from other clubs like Juventus he has identified with Valencia CF and said he will probably stay and try and reach an agreement.

He said there are ongoing negotiations but that his first choice is Valencia as he feels pretty much at home in Valencia. He said that its not the easiest thing to know the club is talking with other coaches, but acknowledged that its part of the job and nature of football.

There were several clubs lining up for the coach in particular Juventus and Sevilla. He is obviously thought of in high regards.

Unai Emery also stated that he wants to continue in Valencia because he thinks he and the club will improve and continue to grow and post better results. He wants to do better next season and is convinced he will do so.

Unai Emery's contract, new players, Manuel Llorente speaks

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente confirmed that Valencia has offered Unai Emery a contract extension and the contract is very similar to the previous one, with 1 year validity. He said that the two sides are now in negotiations and if Emery accepts the contract he will be Valencia's coach for another season.

The president also for the first time publicly announced that goalkeeper Diego Alves from Almeria has been signed and he is basically a Valencia player now.

He also spoke about the reduction in ticket prices as he want to sell 45.000 season tickets in the next season up from the current 24.500 42.500.  Manuel Llorente said any income from the season tickets will go towards reducing the club's debt which according to him in 370 million euros.
The debt was 350 millions, but I guess it has increased once again due to interest.

He also announced that Joma will be the official shirt sponsor next year, something that was already known for a long time.

Llorente also spoke about French striker Kevin Gameiro and said they have a verbal contract and are working to sign the player.

Angel Dealbert worst Valencia CF player this season

Well judging by the poll in which visitors voted it seems you deem Angel Dealbert the worst player this season.
Now yesterday there were 89 votes, but since the poll works so weird and you can recover the vote, now there is only 49 votes, but whatever the case may be I've already seen the result and Dealbert lost by 1 point and even with 49 votes Dealbert and Chori both share worst player.

My ratings for Angel Dealbert is 5.46 and my rating for Chori is 5.68, so Chori is actually pretty average overall at least compared to the rest of the team with the majority of players having a low rating of 5 and very few having a rating of 6. Cezar Sanchez is the best player with a rating of 7.

This is all in preparation for my article on best and worst player for Valencia CF that I'm writing and will publish when the season ends.

Vicente Rodriguez says goodbye to Valencia CF

May 15, 2011, Sunday, Vicente Rodriguez played his last match for Valencia CF. Valencia made a special farewell event at half time, the crowd applauded very loudly showing their support and appreciation for the player and he received a Valencia token for his contribution given to him by the current Valencia president Llorente.

Vicente Rodriguez has played for 11 long years for Valencia and has been one of the absolute best when not injured. He basically had 5 superb years from 2000 to 2005, but then all the injuries started cropping up and his contribution was limited.

Vicente has played 242 games and scored 36 goals for Valencia in 11 years, he has also played for Spain senior squad 36 times scoring 3 times in the process.

Vicente Rodriguez had a good comeback when Unai Emery took charge, but by that time he had to fight for a spot with Juan Mata and we all know how good of a first season Mata had, instantly becoming one of the best players in Spain, if not Europe. Unfortunately for Vicente even more injuries would cripple him and essentially his career end with Valencia right now is because of injuries.

Statistics for official competitions:
Debut: July 20, 2000
League, 1st Division: 242
Copa del Rey: 25.
Spain Super Cup: 5.
Champions League: 38.
UEFA Cup: 20.
UEFA Champions League: 2.
UEFA Intertoto: 5.
European Super Cup: 1.
International Caps: 35.

Titles: 2 League, 1 Cup, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup, finalist in the UEFA Champions League, a member of the best team in the world in 2004.

RCD Espanyol 2-2 Valencia CF - Match Report

Espanyol and Valencia were both left somewhat frustrated following a 2-2 draw at Cornella.

Espanyol needed a win to boost their hopes of making next season's Europa League, but Valencia led until late in the game and will think they should have gone home with the win.

The visitors led twice thanks to goals from Roberto Soldado and Juan Mata, but Unai Emery's side were pegged back by strikes from Dani Osvaldo and Ernesto Galan.

Valencia took the lead thanks to a defensive lapse from Espanyol, when Raul Rodriguez failed to control a Javi Lopez pass and Soldado pounced to slot home a clinical finish and score his 10th goal in seven games.

Osvaldo then smashed a fierce shot past Cesar to make it 1-1 10 minutes later, but Valencia retook the lead following a quick counter-attack just over halfway through the first period.

Joaquin, Soldado and Bruno Saltor combined for Mata to score a simple second for the visitors.

Luis Garcia came close for the home side after the break, but Valencia looked likely to extend their lead as they threatened through Soldado and Joaquin.

However, the next goal fell to Espanyol after 76 minutes, when Galan poked home a loose ball after Cesar had failed to deal with Luis Garcia's shot.

Valencia remain third and are still five points clear of fourth-placed Villarreal, who could only draw 0-0 at Almeria.

Espanyol, in eighth, moved a point closer to sixth-placed Sevilla, who lost 3-2 at Osasuna.

source: ESPN

Technical Details:
RCD Espanyol (2): Kameni, Chica, Amat, Raúl Rodríguez, Galán, Callejón (Álvaro, min. 62), Luis García (Rui Fonte, min. 83), Verdú, Javi López, Osvaldo, Iván L. M. (Marquez, min. 52).

Valencia CF (2): César, Bruno (Miguel, min. 73), Navarro, Dealbert, Mathieu, Topal, Éver, Joaquín, Mata (Albelda, min. 85), Jonas (Jordi Alba, min. 68), Soldado.

Goals: 0-1 Min. 9 Soldado, 1-1 Min. 20 Osvaldo, 1-2 Min. 24 Mata, 2-2 Min. 76 Galán.

Player Ratings:
Cezar 6 - Decent performance, not really at fault for any of the goals.
Bruno 7 - Good performance in defense as always actually and did quite well going forward for a change, provided the assist for Mata's goal.
Navarro 4 - Had one big mistake, but then saved a certain goal, still left a lot to be desired and such mistakes are just not allowable for a team of Valencia's caliber, I think Navarro may have sealed his own faith with that.
Dealbert 6 - Managed to save two of the errors Navarro made. He seems a lot more comfortable with R. Costa or Stankevicious as his partner in defense.
Mathieu 4 - Bad performance defensively, he has been way too inconsistent and it showed in this game as well. At fault for the 2nd goal of Espanyol.
Joaquin 6.5 - Good performance from Joaquin, created all sorts of problems for Espanyol all game long, but as I've been saying for so long, he lacks the vision and final ball to be useful. His runs should be converted into goals or assists.
Topal 6 - Average performance, failed to provide much of anything really.
Banega 6 - Same as Topal, did have a shot on goal, but he needs to be more active and go forward, unless he is specifically ordered by Emery to stay back.
Mata 6.5 - Scored a goal, but not as influential as he has been the last several matches. Still a good performance overall.
Jonas 5 - Missed two chances and went invisible for long periods of the game. One of his weaker games.
Soldado 7 - Scored a goal and started the action that lead to the second goal for Valencia. He missed a stunner in the second half though that would have sealed the match. Still a fine display and he continues his goalscoring form.
Subs:
Alba 6 - Came in and provided some depth to the left wing, involved in the few rare Valencia attacks.
Miguel N/A - Continued in Bruno's footsteps, but overall he did not have much to do.
Albelda N/A - Cameo appearance to close out the match.

Valencia CF vs Levante UD - Match Preview

This is the defining match this season and the one that is probably going to decide the 3rd place in the league. Basically everything except a loss is going to mathematically confirm Valencia CF gets 3rd place and that means automatic champions league qualification. This is very important to Valencia as just being in the group stages you get money for it, otherwise you need to qualify to the group stages and there is always a chance to fail there.

Anyways Valencia is coming off from a 2-2 draw in mid week against Espanyol and is in good shape, good news is that Tino Costa has returned to the squad and is selected for this match.

This is actually is local derby so its supposed to be competitive, but judging from the previous match between these two, the chances for that are slim to none.

Emery has selected basically the same squad as a lot of the previous matches with the added inclusion of Vicente. He has not played much and with the fact that he is going to leave Valencia at the end of the season, this is going to be his goodbye match and hopefully he will get to play.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: César, Moyá
Defenders: Miguel, Bruno, Costa, Dealbert, Navarro, Stankevicius, Alba, Mathieu
Midfielders: Albelda, Topal, Éver, Joaquín, Tino, Mata, Vicente
Forwards: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado

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

Result Prediction:
Valencia CF 3-1 Levante UD
I feel Valencia is going to win this comfortably. With Mata and Soldado on fire right now and everyone looking to close out the season this will be a win for Valencia CF.

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.