Valencia CF vs Lille OSC Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Lille OSC Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 02.10.2012; 20:45 CET

2nd matchday, Champions League

                              Coaches: Mauricio Pellegrino and Rudi Garcia

Valencia CF

Valencia CF is coming to this matches after a much needed 2-0 win over Real Zaragoza in the Spanish league and kick-started their challenge for Champions League positions next season. Valencia CF was in a bit of a crisis, performance crisis and injury crisis and to a large extent it still is in a rather big injury crisis with only Fernando Gago having returned to the team and even played last match, possibly the biggest reason why we won, but players like Mathieu, Piatti, Albelda, Banega are still some ways off until they can recuperate fully and recently Ricardo Costa got injured, possibly even Joao Pereira in the last match, though the coach said it was just a precaution and that he is likely to be able to play against Lille.

For Valencia CF playing and doing well in the Champions League is paramount and I know its important for all teams, but for Valencia CF more so because the team is in massive debts and playing in the Champions League helps repay some of the debts, as well as earn back some prestige, which we've lost since 2003/4. It helps boost shirts sales, increases fans and gives Valencia CF big media exposure which sponsors obviously really like.

With Gago now in the team I'm more optimistic as we now have a midfield and its quite good at that, with Tino Costa being able to operate more attacking and adding another dimension to our attacks, rather than just sit back and defend most of the time. So Valencia really has a chance of beating Lille tomorrow night, but doing so would be really tough and Lille should not be underestimated, even though they lost their first match at home against BATE Borisov. They are still a good team and can surely give us troubles, especially since Valencia CF has not been in full form and playing great either. History is on our side though as Valencia CF have won all seven previous home games against visitors from France.

I feel the coach is going to start with pretty much the same squad against Zaragoza, except Rami who due to a red card in the previous match against Bayern, so Valencia are going to have to rely on B team player Carlos Delgado and this is our biggest problem. If Delgado steps up to the occasion and has an amazing match its going to be great, but if not well then qualification in the next round of the Champions League would really be in question.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Guaita.
Defense: Barragán, Joao Pereira, Víctor Ruiz, Carlos Delgado, Cissokho, Gayá.
Midfield: Gago, Tino Costa, Portu, Parejo, Guardado, Viera, Bernat, Feghouli.
Attack: Jonas, Valdez, Soldado.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Guaita; Pereira, Delgado, Ruiz, Cissokho; Feghuoli, Tino, Gago, Viera; Jonas, Soldado.
Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, mixed passing, wing attacks mostly.

Lille OSC

Lille OSC are coming to this match after a 2-0 loss to Rennes in the French league and their start to the season hasn't been going that well either. They have lost two games, and draw 4 games and won only 1 game, putting them at the bottom of the table with only 7 points from 7 matches and also a loss at home in the first Champions League game against BATE Borisov. Sufficive to say Lille are in big trouble with a real bad start to the season and not so unexpectedly if I may say. In the past 2 seasons they've sold few of their top players and at the same time they haven't brought in any good reinforcements and we starting to see the consequences this season and the worst is likely yet to come.

Valencia CF have won all seven previous home games against visitors from France and Lille will be looking to break this tradition and bounce up from their last two losses domestically and in the Champions League. Last time the clubs met was in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage, with Valencia winning 3-1 at home. The first game in France had ended 1-1 with a late goal from Mata to equalize and make sure Valencia CF go through.

Lille OSC finished third in Ligue 1 last season and overcame FC København in the play-offs to reach the group stage of the Champions League. For those that don't know France 3rd place needs qualifying as they are a lower rated league than the Spanish league for example and this third place teams need to qualify for the group stages.

Lille OSC squad: Mickaël Landreau, Steeve Elana, Mouko Barel, Debuchy Mathieu, Digne Lucas, Florent Balmont, Idrissa Gueye, Dimitri Payet, Tulio De Melo, Mendes Ryan, David Rozehnal, Djibril Sidibé, Benoît Pedretti, Franck Beria, Gianni Bruno, Rodelin Ronny, Laurent Bonnart, Aurélien Chedjou, Marko Basa, Nolan Roux, Klonaridis Dorian,

Technical Details Lille OSC (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Vercoutre; Mathieu, Basa, Chedjou, Digne; Mavuaba, Gueye, Pedretti; Bruno, Roux, Payet.
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, counter attacks, mixed passing, trying to suffocate VCF midfield.

Result Prediction
Valencia CF 2-0 Lille OSC
With Valencia CF returning to winning ways and Lille OSC still struggling I can't see any way for Valencia CF to looses this. The slight chance Lille has is that our B team defender Delgado plays really poorly and Lille are allowed to easily score. I think Delgado is going to play decent between Pereira, Ruiz and Cissokho he'd step up and be comfortable.

Valencia CF vs Real Zaragoza Match Preview

Valencia CF vs Real Zaragoza Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 29.09.2012; 16:00 CET

6th matchday, La Liga

Coaches: Mauricio Pellegrino and Manolo Jiménez

Valencia CF

Valencia CF finds itself it the bottom of the table after an unexpected and devastating loss last week at the hands of RCD Mallorca. Even though Mallorca is always a tough club to crack away, Valencia CF needed that win and needed to show off its League ambitions this season. Mallorca did its job though and they mostly sat back and defended in numbers, catching Valencia out on counter attacks and being really devastating with the few attacks they had, while Valencia players had no clue how to unlock a tightly packed and organized defense.

So out of 5 matches Valencia CF has only one win and that was against the newly promoted Celta Vigo and it wasn't very convincing either. We also drew at home against the newly promoted Deportivo La Coruna and even though it was expected to loose away to Barcelona, there was a hope we can get away with at least a point.

Valencia is also having an injury crisis and has had it since the start of the season basically and with news that Ricardo Costa is also injured now and will be out for a month, we are left with only two defenders and need to rely on B team member Delgado. Even Victor Ruiz was sick as he had some virus of sorts, though he is likely to start and play through it. Good news is that Fernando Gago has returned and that will give us some stability in midfield, although how fit is he likely to be is another questions. 

Valencia CF squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Guaita.

Defenders: Joao Pereira, Barragán, Rami, Víctor Ruiz, Carlos Delgado, Cissokho.
Midfielders: Tino Costa, Gago, Parejo, Guardado, Bernat, Feghouli.
Forwards: Viera, Jonas, Valdez, Soldado.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Guaita; Barragan, Rami, Ruiz, Cissokho; Feghuoli, Tino, Gago, Viera; Jonas, Soldado.
Tactics: High defensive line, all round pressure, mixed passing, wing attacks mostly.

Real Zaragoza

Real Zaragoza is coming to this match after a big win against Osasuna at home and they really needed that win as they were 3 looses and 1 win before that, so that last win against Osasuna put them several positions up to 12th place on the table. They've had a mixed start to the season loosing their first match at home to Real Valladolid, win against Espanyol and then two looses.

Last season Real Zaragoza finished in 16th position, barely within a point avoiding relegation and were saved in the last 4 matches as they went on a four matches winning streak beating Bilbao, Levante, Racing and Getafe to avoid relegation. This season is likely to be the same, and even harder as Deportivo and Celta have shown they are quite strong coming from second division. With that said Zaragoza are likely to sit back this match and defend against Valencia and hope they can catch us on the counter attack just as Mallorca did.

They are likely to start with the same squad that beat Osasuna 3-1, maybe in a more defensive formation. Some of their more known players are Hélder Postiga who so far has scored 2 goals for them and Romaric.
Zaragoza have so far in the competition scored 6 goals and conceded 9 so not really bad and not very significant at this early in the season to be able to draw conclusions about their defensive and offensive capabilities.

Real Zaragoza squad: Roberto, Leo Franco, Movilla, Paredes, Alvaro, N. Aranda, Edu Oriol, H. Postiga, Apoño, Montanes, N. Romaric, Jose Mari, Loovens, Stefan, Sapunaru, Zuculini, Abraham, Javi Alamo and Victor Rodriguez.

Technical Details Real Zaragoza (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Jimenez; Sapunaru, Abraham, Alvaro, Paredes; Apono, Romaric; Paco, Zuculini, Victor; Postiga.
Tactics: Low defensive line, own third pressure, counter attacks, mostly long passing.

Result Prediction:
Valencia CF 3-2 Real Zaragoza
Both sides have so far played fairly open football and while I expect Real Zaragoza to try and play defensively I can see Valencia CF scoring early with all the notion that this is a must win, so they team is going to start strong score early and the match will open up leading to more goals with both defenses leaky.

New injury troubles Ricardo Costa injured

Ricardo Costa Valencia CF

Well ladies and gentlemen it was bound to happen, just no one expected it this soon, but as if the situations wasn't bad enough with all the current injuries, it was reported today that Ricardo Costa is injured and will be out for a whole month.

This is particularly troubling since Adil Rami is suspended in the Champions League and Pellegrino is left with basically no options at the back, except calling up B team players.

Even Victor Ruiz was suspect with some virus, but he seems to be okay now and will be ready for Zaragoza.

This is another summer transfer window mistake that came around to bite us and now we are going to pay the price. We can only hope some of the B team players step up to the challenge and do good.

Valencia CF Wallpapers

Hey guys, this would be I believe the fifth batch of Valencia CF wallpapers in total since I started the initiative and its been decent, mostly I created the wallpapers, but I've had people send me as well.

I'm going to report the initiative here again and say that if you have already cool and not seen before Valencia CF wallpapers or have the skill and want to create new ones, then please do so and send them to me at slickr12345[at]yahoo[dot][com] so I will post them on the blog.

Right now I have two new wallpapers coming from "Domagoj Gemeri" or beter known as Gem_mhz. So thank you to him.

MSC Cruises extend sponsorship with Valencia

Valencia and cruising company MSC today extended the sponsorship agreement to additional two years, after a positive year. Valencia CF president Llorente said that the economic situation will get better and used MSC cruises as an example of the good business Valencia is doing.

MSC cruises CEO Emiliano Gonzalez explained that this renewal "once again reinforce our commitment to the sport and one of the best football teams Spanish league."

He said he was glad to be extending the collaboration with Valencia CF and that this agreement strengthens their to the sport and Valencia CF.

Fernando Gago recovered fully

Fernando Gago

Fernando Gago was given two weeks rest last week, but by all accounts he has already fully recovered and there are no side effects from his head injury. He did his final in door training yesterday and he will start training with the rest of the team from today.

This means he will be available for Valencia CF next match against Real Zaragoza and he comes as a big boost to the side, especially after recent results.

David Albelda still needs more time though and is not set to return for another two weeks. Ever Banega on the other hand is progressing nicely and should be ready in about a week time to start training normally and should be available for selection in less than a month.

Unai Emery thankful to Valencia CF

Unai Emery at Spartak Moscow

Former Valencia CF coach had nothing but good things to say about Valencia CF and his time spend there. He was interviewed by Russian international television RT(Russia Today). When asked how he felt that he left Valencia CF he said: "Valencia has given me a lot, I have no words of anger to anyone. I just feel grateful".

When asked about the time spend at Valencia he said: "We worked four years to meet important goals, I leave with my head held high and no one can complain that I have not done everything possible. I left after reaching 2 semifinals".

He said he was happy in Spartak Moscow and that his dream is to win a title.

His current side are currently sixth in the Russian premier league after nine matches played with 16 points, 5 bellow the leaders CSKA Moscow. Emery's side also played against Barcelona in the Champions League and almost won against Barca in a thrilling match that finished 3-2 in favor of Barcelona.