Valencia CF vs RCD Mallorca - Match Preview

Valencia CF is coming to this match after a pretty good win over PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League and while the team could have managed to have a 4 goals lead going into Holland, the match ended 4-2 and Valencia CF has 2 goals lead for the second leg. First though Valencia CF face RCD Mallorca in the Spanish league and need to get a victory today in order to create a distance over few rivals who are mounting assault on the 3rd position like Atletico Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and even Malaga and Levante.

Malaga are now in 4th position after beating Levante yesterday and are only 3 points behind us, so this is a key match and one Valencia must win. Failure to win and this can put Valencia's cherished 3rd position in question and we can all agree that automatic qualification to the Champions League is a must.

Valencia CF coach Unai Emery has pretty much all players available and for the first time in quite a while Emery has taken Hedwiges Maduro in the team, after a long pause because of an injury. Bruno is also back in the squad and is likely to start over Barragan. Bernat was also with Emery holding a press conference before the match, so we might see Juan Bernat start for Valencia CF, in what would be his second start.

Valencia CF squad:

• Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Guaita.
• Defense: Barragán, Bruno, Dealbert, Maduro, Rami, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
• Midfield: Albelda, Tino Costa, Topal, Parejo, Feghouli, Piatti, Bernat.
• Attackers: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Guaita; Bruno, Rami, Dealbert, Alba; Topal, Tino Costa; Feghuoli, Jonas, Bernat; Soldado.
Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, interchangeable attacking trio, mixed passing.

Technical Details RCD Mallorca (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: D. Aouate; Jose Nunes, Ramis, Caceres, Chico; Pereira, Marti, Gonzalo Castro, Victor; Alfaro, Nsue.
Tactics: Low defensive line, wing attacks, crosses and counter attacks.

 

Valencia CF 2-0 RCD Mallorca

I have a feeling that after the good match against PSV Valencia CF is going to win and I think the team will score two goals, one in each half.

 

Betting odds:

Valencia	1.30
draw	3.00
Mallorca	9.00

Javi Martinez and Bruno Soriano on Valencia's radar

Valencia CF is interested in Javi Martinez from Atletico Bilbao and Bruno Soriano from Villarreal.

Javi Martinez has been Bilbao's star for at least 2 years now and has had tremendous success with his club and national team in all range groups he's played.

Valencia's top officials want to get rid of Maduro in the summer and whispers have it that they are not too pleased with Topal either so they are looking for someone young and talented to strengthen that position and be a long term investment as well and Javi Martinez fits the bill perfectly.

Another player Valencia CF is monitoring and has expressed interest is Villarreal's Bruno Soriano. Valencia CF is impressed with Soriano and has contacted Villarreal to ask about the player. With Villarreal being is such a bad shape financially and sporting wise its very likely a deal can be made if the price is right and the player is likely to want to join Valencia CF.

Valencia CF 4-2 PSV Eindhoven - Player Ratings

Diego 6 - Had one good save and decent in the air punching several crosses. Couldn't do anything about the goals.
Barragan 6 - Started brilliantly and involved in a lot of attacks, providing 1 assist and dealt with danger at the back, but then in the final moments allowed PSV to score the second goal.
R. Costa 5 - Not troubled when he was on the field, injured himself and replaced by Rami.
Ruiz 7 - Great performance by Ruiz, defended very good and scored a goal as well.
Mathieu 5 - Decent performance in attack and defense, allowed the cross to be made that lead to the second PSV goal and gave away the penalty.
Albelda 5 - Quite ineffective, run away from the ball and never available to be played on. Got tired towards the end and allowed PSV to mount attack after attack.
Parejo 7 - Good performance by the former Getafe man, good skills on the ball and good passing all round, provided an assist as well.
Pablo 5 - Not too involved and while he had some forward forays, wasn't particularly effective.
Jonas 5.5 - Did well with his passing and has good vision, but should have done better with some of the shooting opportunities he had.
Piatti 7.5 (MotM) - Man of the match performance from Piatti who created the first goal, scored the fourth goal and was very active and dangerous thought the match.
Soldado 7 - Scored two goals, albeit one from a penalty.
Subs:
Rami 4 (FotM) - Miserable performance from the French. I'm starting to dislike him and I don't think he should be allowed to play for the rest of the season. I just don't think he is good enough.
Bernat 4 - Did nothing of note and missed a great opportunity to put Valencia up by 5 goals.
Aduriz 5 - Had one decent chance, but other than that wasn't very threatening.

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.