Official: Unai Emery fired

Earlier today I wrote an article explaining how Emery was under immense pressure to produce a win against Levante in order to stay as coach, but with the unfortunate draw he's been fired.

This was cooking up for months now as Valencia CF were getting bad results since Januray and it seems like today's draw was the last straw.

Reports have it that Mauricio Pochetino is the coach that will replace Unai Emery.

Unai Emery's last match vs Levante?

Valencia CF coach Unai Emery has been under increased pressure for the past month, after a very poor start to the second half of the season in which if we don't count the points from the first half would be fighting to avoid relegation.

On the back of few new losses in Spain and in the Europa League he is given an ultimatum to win and if Valencia don't win he could be out of the team. Manuel Llorente is supportive of the coach, but he is also pressured from the board and if he wants to stay president of Valencia may succumb to the pressure to fire Emery.

So tonight's match may as well be Emery's last and unless the team form changes drastically and we gets several wins in a row he is going to be under constant pressure. A little bit reassuring is the fact that Valencia CF has beaten Levante pretty easily 3 times before this season.

Manuel Llorente had a meeting with the players

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente attended yesterday's Valencia CF training and after the training had a meeting with the players, before giving a small interview with the official website.

The president said he wanted to observe the training and talk to them later and give the coaches and player support.

When asked why he was present on the training he said:"I wanted to tell them to change the attitude, be optimistic and to have belief in ourselves as we do have the quality."
"The next couple of days we are playing very important matches and our players must have confidence. We have great coaching staff and great players."
When asked about the fans calling for results and the removal of Emery, Llorente said:"Our fans just like all fans want to see their teams do the best and have good results, but our fans must be patient as we can't have results as we had a decade ago overnight and they must be patient."

This is a great turn of events as if you recall one week ago I started the call for Llorente speak with the players and also for Albelda as the captain to react and we got both things.

Manuel Llorente talked to the players and Albelda had a press conference with positive words, so hopefully this will have a positive effect and allow Valencia CF to get back on winning ways!

Getafe CF 3-1 Valencia CF - Player Ratings

Valencia CF lost yet another match and this is getting really ridiculous. The team has been absolutely terrible ever since the winter break and things have gone from bad to worse. Right now there must be something done, even firing Unai Emery within the season in order to have a small boom to propell us to a third place spot. Right now not only is 3rd place under threat, 4th place is also under threat.

Guaita 4.5 - Could have done better for Burno's own goal, but his punch was weak and the ball went into the net. Not to blame for the other goals, but a poor match overall from him.
Bruno 4.5 - Unable to do anything forward and wasn't really convincing in defense either with the own goal being the highlight.
Rami 5 - Not responsible for the goals, but where is the communication between the defense, must take blame.
Ruiz 4.5 - Was gone for the second goal and this allowed Getafe to have more men in the penalty area and score. Nowhere to be found on the other goals either.
Alba 5 - Poor challenge for the cross that lead to the second goal, was nowhere for the third either and did nothing in attack.
Topal 5 - Obviously wasn't very effective helping out in defense and didn't contribute anything in attack either.
Parejo 5.5 - Has no clue in defending and while he is decent in keeping possession his passes are safe and not good enough to help spur on attacks.
Feghuoli 5 - Useless. Failed to do anything at all. Did not dribble, cross or anything, just returned the ball as soon as he'd get it.
Jonas 5.5 - Good movement and pass to assist Soldado for the goal, but took to many touches and dribbles after and failed to be dangerous at all.
Piatti 5 - Invisible. Barely had any effect and didn't contribute anything.
Soldado 6 - Scored a goal, but that was about it. Not much service from his teammates.
Subs:
Pablo 6 - Better than Feghuoli, but that doesn't say much. Wasn't too effective.
Mathieu N/A - Game was over when he arrived
Aduriz N/A - NET

 There is no top or flow of the match because everyone was a flop and that is just the sad reality of our play tonight.

Getafe CF vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

Getafe CF vs Valencia CF

Stadium: Colliseum Alfonso Perez
24th, March, 2012; 22:00CET
30th fixture, La Liga
Expected Attendance: 15.000

  Coaches: Luis Garcia Plaza and Unai Emery

Getafe CF has had a mediocre season so far and that has been quite disappointing for them as they hoped for a strong season just like the one they had two years ago, but it seems that is not going to happen as some of their best players have been taken and while Pedro Leon has returned to them on load they are have a weak team overall. One could say that this season is panning out good for them, as last season they barely avoided relegation.

Getafe CF have had a pretty good run of form for a while now and in their last 5 matches they've won 2 times, draw 2 times and lost once. While this isn't something to write home about or to put you into top 6 competition, they've been collecting important points to stick in the middle of the table.

Getafe have lost their last four league meetings with Valencia. The Madrid side are without a clean sheet in their last seven Liga clashes with Los Che, conceding an average of 2.7 goals per game.
Right now they have a solid defensive record with only 35 goals conceded, one that can match even Valencia CF actually, while they are average in terms of goals scored, keeping up with the mid table teams.

Getafe CF squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF are coming to this match in really bad form and after a devastating loss against Real Zaragoza just 3 days ago even though Zaragoza  was playing with one less player for 70 minutes. This was a huge loss, especially after a great victory over Atletico Bilbao earlier.

Valencia CF second half of the season has so far been miserable with tons of losses and draws and very little wins, and as if that isn't enough the team hasn't even been playing well. This will be a start test for the team and especially Unai emery who is sitting on the hot chair right now and his position and job is threatened. We've been seeing for 3 matches in a row the crowds at Mestalla waving white clothing, meaning  that they want Emery done and gone.

Fortunately for Valencia CF, the first half of the season was rather great and we've had a big cushion of points, that and the competition just hasn't been there, with Levante being the closest rival for most of the season and that says something about the competition or lack thereof.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Guaita.
Defenders: Bruno, Víctor Ruiz, Rami, Ricado Costa, Jordi Alba, Mathieu.
Midfielders: Albelda,Tino Costa, Topal, Parejo, Feghouli, Pablo, Piatti.
Forwards: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado.

Head to Head

Date	Home		Away	Competition
Oct 29, 2011	Valencia CF	3 : 1	Getafe CF	Primera Division
Apr 02, 2011	Getafe CF	2 : 4	Valencia CF	Primera Division
Nov 14, 2010	Valencia CF	2 : 0	Getafe CF	Primera Division
Feb 22, 2010	Valencia CF	2 : 1	Getafe CF	Primera Division
Sep 23, 2009	Getafe CF	3 : 1	Valencia CF	Primera Division
Apr 05, 2009	Valencia CF	4 : 1	Getafe CF	Primera Division
Nov 09, 2008	Getafe CF	0 : 3	Valencia CF	Primera Division

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

Result Prediction:
Getafe CF 0-4 Valencia CF
Valencia CF has always done well against Getafe and in the past 2 years Los Che has been winning significantly against Getafe. Soldado has also been very potent against them and I'm expecting a strong reaction after the loss and a demolishing of Getafe of 4-0.

 Betting odds:

Getafe CF	5.00
draw	4.00
Valencia CF	1.30

Valencia CF 1-2 Real Zaragoza - Match Report

Valencia CF coach Unai Emery has lost the team and there is no other option than to let him go in the summer and appoint a new coach. The players he brought to the match, the players he started and the formation he used were wrong and some bad decisions, other bad luck and we once again loose at home to a relegation zone team that has lost most of its matches and to make matters worse we loose with Real Zaragoza playing more than 70 minutes with one less player.

Yeah sure the penalty was a huge mistake by the referee and shouldn't have happened in the first place, it was as big mistake as one can make and the referee should suffer the consequences, but that doesn't excuse the team for the loss.

Valencia CF started brightly, controlling the match from the start and very soon came the first goal courtesy of Soldado and Pablo Hernandez. Pablo has been in rather poor form for some time now, but today he had a great match, unfortunately the rest of the players had a poor one. Pablo scored in the 11th minute to give Valencia CF the lead. Valencia CF kept attacking and forming actions, but our attackers kept missing and missing. For example Aduriz missed a huge chance from few meters, later on him and Jonas would miss several chances between them.

In fact Aritz Aduriz best contribution was being fouled, that led to the dismissal of Pablo Alvarez for Real Zaragoza.

At this point it seems to me, if things don't improve drastically over the next week or two we may be looking at a possible coach change within the season in order to save 3rd position.

For example starting with Albelda was a bad decision as he has been in rather poor form for the past two weeks and starting all 3 of out attacker, but not bringing Paco was a mistake and where did Maduro go? I haven't heard that he got injured, so him missing in the squad is a bit strange.

This would have been the perfect occasion to start Maduro and Piatti and Pablo to get their fair share of football and to have a more motivated squad from the start with players wanting to prove themselves.

I would have probably even started Paco with Soldado with Pablo and Piatti on the wings and Parejo and Maduro in the middle. If things don't go well, then bring in Jonas for Paco.  I mean this should have been an easy match to win.

Valencia (1): Guaita, Barragán, Rami, Dealbert, Mathieu (Jordi Alba, m.62); Albelda (Feghouli, m.70), Parejo, Pablo (Piatti, m.82), Jonas; Aduriz and Soldado.
Zaragoza (2): Roberto, Álvarez, Paredes, Lánzaro, Abraham (Luis García, m.75); Pinter, Dujmovic, Apoño, Juan Carlos (Zuculini, m.50); Lafita y Aranda (Obradovic, m.64).
Goals: 1-0, m.9: Pablo; 1-1, m.23: Apoño, pp; 1-2, m.77: Apoño.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 5 - Didn't have anything to do for all of the match, except for the penalty and goal. Should have done better for Zaragoza's second goal.
Barragan 6 - Good match by Barragan with dangerous runs and crosses in the penalty area, once again started brightly, but faded off a bit in the second half.
Rami 5.5 - Didn't have anything to do and wasn't at fault at all for any of the goals.
Dealbert 5 (FotM) - Unlucky to be the victim for the penalty, but guilty for the second Zaragoza goal, as it was his mistake that lead to the goal.
Mathieu 6 - Didn't have any defensive troubles and was free to roam forward and provided several good crosses to the penalty area.
Pablo 8 (MotM) - Man of the match with a great performance. Scored the goal, provided countless passes and crosses and was all over the field.
Albelda 6 - Decent match from the veteran, but nothing special that can really help the team in these kind of situations. Maybe the contract extension was a bit premature as he's been really been on a downward spiral.
Parejo 6 - Fed the ball to the forward players with good precision and was controlling the midfield great, but wasn't able to produce a ppiercing pass or some cross that would make the difference.
Jonas 5 - Found himself in good position thought the match, but misses all of them. He could have scored at least one goal had he been more accurate with his shots.
Soldado 7 - Good performance by Soldado, provided the assist to the goal and very active all over the pitch, had few chances, but couldn't quite convert them, way better than his fellow attackers.
Aduriz 5 - Some big misses from Aduriz and right now doesn't look certain if he is going to stay at Valencia CF. He's had chances to score, but he just misses way too often.
Subs:
Alba 6 - Replaced Mathieu and continued with a similar fashion, wasn't really better or more effective than Mathieu, but did a good job overall.
Feghuoli 5.5 - Few good moves and passes, but failed to produce anything of bigger significance.
Piatti N/A - Not enough time.

Valencia CF in the top 13 teams in the world

Valencia CF is in the top 13 teams in the world according to the results released by the Institute for history and statistics in the last decade.

This places Valencia CF as the third best team in Spain, behind Barcelona who are first and behind Real Madrid who are fourth. Sevilla is the forth team at 18th place.

Of course Barcelona is first overtaking Manchester United, Arsenal surprisingly is 3rd, while Real Madrid has made some strides last year and this one, reaching the 4th spot.

List:
1. FC Barcelona (ESP) 2.917,0 points
2. Manchester United (ING) 2.793,0
3. Arsenal (ING) 2.618,0
4. Real Madrid (ESP) 2.569,0
5. Inter Milán (ITA) 2.567,0
6. Bayern Múnich (GER) 2.544,0
7. Liverpool (ING) 2.538,0
8. Milan (ITA) 2.490,0
9. Chelsea (ING) 2.412,0
10. Roma (ITA) 2.140,0
---
13. Valencia (ESP) 2.074,0
18. Sevilla (ESP) 1.799,0
23. Villarreal (ESP) 1.732,0
38. Deportivo (ESP) 1.545,0
47. Atlético de Madrid (ESP) 1.404,0
73. Athletic Club (ESP) 1.126,0
81. Espanyol (ESP) 1.092,0
88. Mallorca (ESP) 1.053,0
89. Osasuna (ESP) 1.038,0
98. Zaragoza (ESP) 966,0