Deportivo La Coruna vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

The season is about to close, its been a roller-coaster of a ride with ups and downs, frustrations and happiness, but the objective in the end has been met. Valencia CF is in 3rd place with this last match against Deportivo not meaning anything.

Its been a long season, it the Spanish championship as well as in Europe. Valencia CF got knocked out of the Champions league in the R16 from Schalke 04. The domestic cup fight also ended prematurely with Valencia CF being knocked out from Villarreal.

Still I guess 3rd place is better than most of Valencia's direct opponents did, clubs like Villarreal, Atletico Madird, Sevilla and Atletico Bilbao.

Without straying too far off from this match, Valencia will play with 3rd place secured, but the players will try to win as Unai Emery has suggested and finish the season officially on a high.

Deportive La Coruna on the other hand need a win if they are to avoid relegation, but any other result other than that and they will depend on Real Zaragoza result.

I would have liked Emery to bring some of the youth players to this match and see how they perform and test out the squad for next season, but no he is sticking to his guns and will probably play the best squad.

Valencia CF transfer rumors

There are reports that Manuel Fernandes is close to signing to Besiktas. Supposedly the player has agreed personal terms with the club and wants to stay there. The two clubs are now in negotiations, but Valencia want money closer to 6 million euros because the buy-out clause is set at 8 million euros, but Besiktas thinks that is way too much and is willing to give between 2-4 million euros.

In other news there are reports that Malaga has agreed personal terms with Joaquin and its up to Valencia to negotiate the right price to let Joaquin go. Malaga has been interested in Joaquin for quite a while now and it seems reports have been true. Valencia are likely to sell Joaquin if they get an offer of 8 million euros, but Malaga is likely to bargain with the fact Joaquin has only 1 year left in his contract with Valencia.

He is one of the most expensive paid players lagging behind to only David Albelda and Del Horno and at 30 years old he is not getting any younger.

BTW here are the top 5 paid players in Valencia CF right now:
Del Horno - 4.200.000€
David Albelda - 3.200.000€
Joaquín Sánchez - 3.000.000€
Vicente Rodríguez - 2.600.000€
David Navarro - 2.100.000€

As you can see Del Horno who hasn't even played for Valencia in the past two season is the most paid player and older players such as Albelda, Joaquin, Vicente and Navarro who are past their prime are in the top 5.

The fact that Mata is paid less than these players just shows how big of an financial strain these players are on the club and no wonder the club wants to release or sell all of them but Albelda.

In fact Albelda is probably the only one that is going to stay, but at a much reduced salary.

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.