Unai Emery gives the marching orders to several Valencia players

Unai Emery has personally talked with several players who did not know their future and right now everything is clear.

Unai Emery gave the marching orders to goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya, Miguel Brito, David Navarro, Marius Stankevicious, Nacho Gonzales and Chori Dominguez.

Unai Emery wants Cezar as 3rd choice goalkeepers and thus Moya doesn't fit in his plans, while the board and Braulio want a goalkeeper from the youth team as third choice in order to reduce the payroll for the goalkeepers.

Miguel Brito basically sealed his own future with a series of criminal behaviors and it was well known that he won't be getting a contract extension, now its just official.

Marius Stankevicious to my surprise is likely to leave,  I've already reported that I expect him to stay and not because I have him in such a high regard, but because he has been a starter most of the time and I thought Emery would want to keep him.

David Navarro was known to be leaving, he is not getting any younger, has only one more year on his contract, hasn't been performing well and had an argument with Emery about his choices.
The biggest winner coming from this is Angel Dealbert who very likely to stay with the club, althoug with Valencia searching for one more central defender he is going to be low in the pecking order for starters.

Chori Dominguez has failed to live up to the expectations ever since arriving in Valencia. The man who single-handedly beat Barcelona in the Champions League failed to mark his stay at Valencia and with often confrontations with the coach and late night shenanigans he was destined to leave.

Nacho Gonzales is also on the leave list, but he hasn't been playing for Valencia at all so it isn't surprising, Manuel Fernandes is on the sell list as well, and negotiations with Besiktas are still ongoing.

It seems that Isco could be the huge beneficiary from the departure of Chori and SuperDeporte reports that Emery is likely to call him in the Valencia squad for good, meaning he is going to be a senior Valencia CF player from next season. But still until its official I won't get my hopes high.

Valencia CF 2010/11 season review

Valencia won the last match of the season and now the 2010/11 season is officially over. The club has already celebrated for reaching the objectives of 3rd place and the end of the season. The players are going to be going on their summer vacations or in negotiations with different clubs.

Players like club legend Vicente Rodriguez, bad boy Chori Dominguez, criminal behavior Miguel Brito, and aristocrat Asier Del Horno are all on the leave list. David Navarro and Joaquin Sanchez are so-so, while David Albelda is likely to sing a one year contract, while Marius Stankevicious future depends of whether Navarro stays and possible defensive reinforcements.

The transfer list:
Players 100% staying:
Vicente Guaita, Angel Dealbert, Ricardo Costa, Jordi Alba, Mehmet Topal, Alberto Tino Costa, Hedwidges Maduro, Pablo Hernandez, Juan Mata, Jonas Gonclaves and Roberto Soldado.

Players likely to stay:
Bruno Saltor, Jeremy Mathieu, Marius Stankevicious, Ever Banega, Sofiane Feghuoli.

Players likely and/or certain to leave:
Cezar Sanchez, Miguel Angel Moya, Renan, Miguel Brito, David Navarro, Manuel Fernandes, Joaquin Sanchez, Vicente Rodriguez, Chori Dominguez and Aritz Aduriz.

The play:

The one thing Valencia CF leads all other teams in the Primera league is the amount of crosses. Valencia has the most amounts of crosses, 887 to be exact, which is about 100 more than the third placed team.  This is a telling statistic as it tells us that Valencia’s passing play is lacking. In fact most of the crosses have not found a Valencia player and that is all lost balls. 

Real Madrid and Barcelona have 719 and 663 crosses respectively and yet have scored so much more goals.

Valencia needs to improve the passing play, especially short passing play and must do it more often, of course crosses are important as well, but the players must work on their crossing accuracy as well. 

Depending too much on crosses has also been such a weakness at times for Valencia, because when they are out of ideas all the players do is cross and as already stated with such bad accuracy or tactic behind those crosses it’s just lost possession.

Valencia has scored most goals (15) between the 75^th-90^th minute, while is has conceded most goals (11) between the 30^th-45^th minute. Overall Valencia has scored 62 goals which put it in 3^rd place behind Barcelona and Real Madrid and has conceded 44 goals which put it in 4^th place, same level as Villarreal and behind to Barcelona, Real Madrid and Real Sporting.

Overall Valencia has scored 66 goals, conceded 44 goals and has a difference of 20 goals.

Team	GOALS	ASSISTS	SHOTS	SOG	CROSSES	CK
Valencia	64	51	469	204	887	241

Tactically speaking Valencia hasn’t been very consistent, with changing tactic and formations almost on a weekly basis. Valencia started with the 4-2-3-1 formation in the first few weeks, but after the first loss Emery started experimenting more and changing up the formation.

The players were already changing week in, week out so for a long time there wasn’t one set of staring eleven of basic formation.

Valencia coach Unai Emery has tried a lot of formations from the 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 5-4-1, 4-1-2-1-2 and variation of the mentioned. Whatever the case might have been Valencia has had good performances most of the time, at least in the Spanish league, while luck wasn’t on Valencia’s side when we faced Villarreal CF in the Copa Del Rey or when we faced Schalke 04 in the Uefa Champions League, even though Valencia were by far the better team against Schalke 04 and realistically deserved to go through..

It wasn’t until the last stretch of the season when Unai Emery became more consistent with the formations and starting line-up with very slight changes if any. This did not brink spectacular results, but Valencia did manage to beat Villarreal 5-0 with it, just so that it crumbled against Real Madrid.

Overall 2010/11 season has been positive with the objectives reached and a good enough run in the Champions League to put Valencia on the European map again and bring in some much needed cash to the treasury.

However the team is still not out of the woods and destined to be in the champions league by automation. The team needs to strengthen this summer, because its rivals will certainly will, as Atletico Madrid look to rebuild their squad, Sevilla look to find a great coach to help them build on the winter acquisitions they’ve made and Villarreal certainly will look to continue their good form this season.

This is why Valencia needs to strengthen the squad this summer and the players that are going to stay at Valencia to continue improving and giving 110% percent in training so that we can at least guarantee 3^rd place again next season and possibly come closer to the dynamic duo – Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Deportivo La Coruna 0-2 Valencia CF - Match Report

The 2010/11 season is officially over. Congratulations to the players, coaching team, medical staff, management staff, the fans and everyone else. Even though our place was secured before this match its good to finish the season on a high note, but it was also a bitter sweet victory since Deportivo La Coruna was relegated because of Valencia and Deportivo is a club with a pretty rich history in Spain. Once upon a time they actually were in the top 4 teams for a few seasons and fought for the title.

Lotina's face tells it all

The match started off with an early lead for Valencia CF after Joaquin Sanchez cross found Aritz Aduriz in the penalty area and this one managed to luckily place the ball in the net.

After that there were some early exchanges with mostly crosses and long passes that weren't really threatening from both sides and the teams were pretty equal in everything from possession to crosses and shots.

There were few exchanges until the whistle for half time blew.

In the second half Deportivo La Coruna went all out and started attacking more dangerosly, there were quite a lot of crosses from the wings and Deportivo players easily crossing past Alba and Bruno, luckily most of the time there wasn't any particualr danger towards Valencia goal, though Deportivo did come close to scoring few times.

Aritz Aduriz towards the end also had a good chance and the ball was going through Aranzubia legs, but the ball barely hit his leg and went outside.

Deportivo were getting desparate and they started threwing all men forward, in the end after a failed corner kick in a Valencia counter attack Joaquin found Soldado alone and this one easily scored a goal and increased his goal tally to 18.

Technical Details:
Deportivo de la Coruña (0): Aranzubía; M. Pablo, Lopo, Colotto, Laure; J. Rodríguez, Rubén, Guardado (Lassad, min. 81); Valerón; Riki (Xisco, min. 66) y Adrián.

Valencia CF (2): César, Bruno, David Navarro, Dealbert, Jordi Alba; Albelda, Topal; Joaquín, Éver (Tino Costa, min. 61), Mata (Jonas, min. 70); Aduriz (Soldado, min. 81).

Goals: 1-0 Aduriz (min. 4), 0-2 Soldado (min. 94).
Player Ratings:
Cezar 7 - Great performance from the veteran keeper, showed he still has fight left in him and made few important saves.
Bruno 5.5 - Not very active going forward, a bit poor on the marking side and allowed a few too many crosses.
Navarro 6 - Had a somewhat silly mistake in the first half when he threw himself on the ground to try and tackle a Deportivo player that way and was fortunate it wasn't a goal, otherwise did well.
Dealbert 6 - Had 2 or 3 shaky moments, especially when forming offside traps, but did well overall.
Alba 6 - A bit better than Bruno with the marking and going forward, but he as well allowed few too many crosses.
Joaquin 7.5 - Great performance from Joaquin, ended the season with a bang, just the way as he started it.
Albelda 6 - Very standard, very secure, good passing and good cover for the defense.
Topal 6 - Same as Albelda.
Ever 6 - A bit slow with his passing and a bit too stationary. Not the best performance from him and needs to work really hard and show a lot more.
Mata 6 - Decent performance, missed two good opportunities to score, lost a few balls a bit too easily, but overall a decent performance.
Aduriz 6 - Scored a goal, but was largely ineffective and his movement was very predictable. If VCF get Gameiro he is probably going to be sold.
Subs:
Tino Costa 6 - Continued similarly to Ever, not better, but not worse either.
Jonas 5.5 - Had one shot on goal, had a a bit limited time to make an impact though.
Soldado 6 - He is on fire, came in and in 10 minutes had 3 runs on goal, one of which ended in a goal. Even though Deportivo wasn't too focused on defense he still showed great positional sense and skill.

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.