Valencia CF vs PSV Eindhoven - Match Preview

Valencia CF vs PSV Eindhoven

Stadium: Camp Nou
8th, March, 2012; 21:05CET
R16, leg 1, Europa League
Expected Attendance: 52.000

  Coaches: Unai Emery and Fred Rutten

Valencia CF is coming to this match after a long and much needed win against Granada, that puts the team back to the front seat to clinch 3rd place again this season. The performance against Granada wasn't great and our team was overrun and outplayed, but the team was defensively solid and prevented Granada from scoring.

Tino Costa has especially been performing poorly for the past month now and Daniel Parejo is going to start ahead of Tino as he and Unai Emery held a press conference and the coach pretty much confirmed it.

The team is full and apart from the long term injuries everyone is fit and ready to play. Last time Valencia CF played PSV Eindhoven was this past summer in their first friendly match and Valencia CF easily beat PSV I believe 2-0. This time is going to be different though and PSV Eindhoven will prove more of a challenge and its probably going to be a very tough match.

Valencia CF squad:

• Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Vicete Guaita.
• Defenders: Barragán, Ricardo Costa, Víctor Ruiz, Adil Rami, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
• Midfielders: Albelda, Tino Costa, Parejo, Pablo Hernández, Feghouli, Pablo Piatti, Bernat.
• Attackers: Jonas, Aduriz, Roberto Soldado.

PSV Eindhoven on the other hand are coming off from a miserable 6-2 loss by their rivals FC Twente at the Phillips Stadium, their fierce title competitor. With the loss Twente are now in third place with only 1 point behind Twente and 2 points above Ajax. PSV are in a 4 way race for the Championship and that is likely to be the case till the end. Last season PSV finished 3rd behind the likes of FC Twente and AFC Ajax

PSV Eindhoven is a club with rich history and while its usually overshadowed by the likes of Ajax its one of the best teams in the Dutch league and has produced a lot of great footballing names like Jaap Stam, Phillip Cocu, Ruud Van Nistelroy, Mark Van Bommel, Ajren Robben and so on... The team has got a very long and rich history, it was founded in 31 August 1913.

PSV most lethal players are Dries Mertens and Ola Toivonen with 16 and 15 goals respectively. PSV are very attacking minded team and have scored 62 goals in the Dutch league, but their defense is only average.

PSV Eindhoven squad: to be announced...

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Diego; Bruno, Rami, Ruiz, Alba; Topal, Parejo; Pablo, Jonas, Piatti; Soldado.
Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, interchangeable attacking trio, mixed passing.

Result Prediction:
Valencia CF 2-1 PSV Eindhoven
Valencia CF is playing at home and after the win against Granada the tension will be reduced and the players will play more freely and easily, thus allowing them to grind out a win. PSV have a strong attack and are likely to score one goal as well.

 Betting odds:

Valencia	1.50
draw	3.30
PSV	5.00

Valencia CF push to sign Gregory van der Wiel

With more and more options opening up for the right back position for Valencia CF, the club will make another and probably final push to seal the deal for the transfer of Gregory van der Wiel with Ajax.

Ajax currently want 10 million euros for the transfer of Van der Wiel, but Valencia CF is only willing to pay 8 million euros. There are also differences about the time to pay the full amount with Valencia CF planing on paying for him over a year in few instances, while Ajax is pushing for two part payment, one at the day of the transfer and then about 6 months later the rest of the payment.

With good options like Mathieu Debuchy opening up, Valencia CF is in a hurry to make a deal and not to miss out on the few great players that they are tracking.

Expect in the next month to find out if Van der Wiel will join Valencia CF or not. Valencia CF will also like to seal a transfer deal before the summer, when there will be more competition and prices are likely to go up!

Should Emery leave in the summer poll results

After writing an article how Unai Emery should leave in the summer and after getting mixed responses I decided to put a poll and see what you thought about it. Here are the results:

Should Unai Emery leave in the summer?

Yes	17 (48%)
No	10 (28%)
Not sure	8 (22%)

Total Votes: 35

Seems more people think he should leave, but its fair to mention that there are 8 undecided and should Emery retain third position and Spain and go further in the Europa League he may return some of the support.

Valencia CF interested in Jose Manuel Jurado

Reports have it that Valencia CF is interested in Schalke 04 attacking midfielder Jose Manuel Jurado who is set to be the perfect replacement for the out of favor Daniel Parejo.

Jurado can also play on the left wing, making him even that more attractive for Valencia CF as currently that position is rather weak and Emery is forced to use Mathieu the left back as a winger constantly.

Jurado's contract with Schalke 04 is set to expire in 2014 and his asking price is about 8 million euros, about as much as Parejo cost.

Sporting Lisbon interested in Ricardo Costa

Its not a secret that Ricardo Costa is going to leave this summer, as Valencia's and Ricardo's interests are the same. Ricardo Costa has said he is likely to leave and it seems as though he may find his next club in his country Portugal at Sporting Lisbon.

Real Betis was also interested in Ricardo Costa earlier and may still be interested, other possibilities would be Lazio who've shown interest for the player last summer.

Whatever the case Ricardo Costa is very likely to leave this summer and the only way for him to stay if he doesn't have any offers, which is unlikely to be the case as there are few teams interested in him right now.

Angel Dealbert to leave Valencia CF?

Angel Dealbert has been offered a contract extension by Valencia CF and only the details are left up to negotiation, but he is right now considering offers from other clubs and has said he'll make his decision closer to the end of the season.

Dealbert has not featured too much for Valencia CF this season, as Rami and Ruiz have been the standard duo. The times when he played he actually did a great job and was very reliable. Dealbert is also one of the least paid players at Valencia CF which is another reason the club wants to keep him.

Teams like Levante, Espanyol, Bilbao and few others are interested in the player and would like to get him in their ranks and the price of 2 million euros is affordable to most of these teams.

Valencia CF looking at Andre Villas Boas as Emery's replacement

With Andre Villas Boas being sacked by Chelsea FC the media frenzy is on and there are many reports on who might Andre coach next. There are strong reports that Valencia CF top branch are interested in Andre Villas Boas and see him as the perfect replacement for Unai Emery who is likely to leave in the summer, unless he gets to the Europa League finals.

Rumor has it Andre Villas Boas fancies Valencia CF and would accept a position over Inter, but the main problem is money as he requires about 3 million salary, something Llorente isn't quite ready to offer yet.

One of the advantages with Valencia CF is that he is not going to be under pressure to win the league and will have the time and support to improve the team. He is also vary of taking over in this time of the season and would much easier accept a job in the summer.