Javi Fuego signs for Valencia CF

Javi Fuego who currently plays for Rayo Vallecano as a defensive midfielder has signed a contract with Valencia CF that would keep him with the club for 3 years. He will transfer from Rayo Vallecano to Valencia CF in the summer as a free agent.

This is the same type of deal as Valencia CF did with Andres Guardado where they reach an agreement with the player and get him on a free transfer in the summer. Javi Fuego is the same as his contract expires this summer and he would simply join Valencia CF as a free agent.

I'll list the transfer in the summer and not now, since technically the player still hasn't transferred.

Javier 'Javi' Martinez Fuego is 29 years old and has played for Rayo Vallecano since 2010, featuring 68 times for them. So obviously not the most talented of players and certainly not a young prospect. He has played mostly in the second Spanish division.

Will this guy be a decent replacement for David Albelda? Certainly not and I don't think he will improve the team one bit. He is a mediocre player that has played mostly in the second division and certainly isn't young to hope he can turn out a huge talent. At best he can provide good cover for whenever the first choice defensive midfielder in injured whoever that may be come the summer.

New statistics page and more

Hi there. I've opened up a new page "statistics" in which I track the team performance with some key info, as well as goals and assists per each competition.

The first table is on all matches, (at least the ones there is data for), but there are discrepancies in the data, so for example average passes per game and passing accuracy is only for La Liga and Champions League, while the total minutes played and other data is for ALL competitions.

So you need to have that in mind, as well that additional official competitions like say World club championship or Super cup if Valencia CF were to play would be added to the totals, while friendlies and exhibition matches would not.

After the first table come individual tables for the goals and assists for each competition. 

I'll be adding a lot more data to the statistics page, but a lot more data and statistics and info on the players pages as well, so when you to to the individual players pages you'd find data for them and their key information that isn't necessarily going to be in the statistics data and vice verse. Overall there is going to be a  lot more data and information by which you can determine the players performances and playing style.

So none of this is completed yet and its probably going to take few months before everything is finished and published. 

I'll have a beta page ready within a week or two so you can check it out and provide feedback on it and what kind of data and information you would like on it, if its not already there.

3 matches against Real Madrid

Real Madrid beat Celta de Vigo last night 4-0 and secured their place in the next round of the cup against Valencia CF.

This means Valencia CF will play against Real Madrid 3 times in 2 weeks.The dates are still to be confirmed and could change, but they would be in a span of two weeks, along with the La Liga game against Real Madrid.

Lets all hope Valencia CF wins all three matches.

Fernando Gomez plans to oust Manuel Llorente

Fernando Gomez the former Valencia CF sporting director under Manuel Llorente and previous presidents announced a bid to become president of Valencia CF at the next presidential elections, which are this summer. Everyone with shares over a certain numbers can vote and while Llorente's "Valencia CF foundation" holds the most shares right now, he can easily be ousted if doubts start arising.

He is accompanied by José Manuel Romero and Javier Villalonga. They have launched their campaign which is called "Sempre Valencia" which is basically a set of plans and ideas how to "fix" Valencia CF.

"The delicate situation of Valencia CF is forcing us to act now and start our campaign Sempre Valencia. This is a set of plans to help solve Valencia's problems that have weighted down on the club. We are aware of the gravity of the situation, but we are confident we can solve the situation. Our first step is to solve the internal problems within the club(he means a purge) and current Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente needs to resign right now, as he promised he would if a person who can fix the situation came along" said Fernando Gomez on the press conference.

"We have studied the situation at the club closely and carefully and we will eradicate this erroneous policy that has been followed by Manuel Llorente(he means the amazing job that Llorente has done will be eradicated) and the time is now. My conscience requires me to appear before the Valencisnistas with an exciting project to bring the club back on its feet. I promise not to receive any compensation for the work I will do until we achieve the much needed economic stability and sell the land of the club(Don't know if he means the stadium and which one). Once that is achieved I will only receive a salary that is half what Llorente  earns. If we fail in our plans and within 18 months we can't achieve what we promise we will leave(that is a lot of promises there buddy boy!)." Said Gomez further.

He went on to criticize the transfer policy? of Llorente: "Llorente's transfer policy is terrible and the loss of Isco and Alba is a tragedy to this club and example of the terrible transfer policy by Llorente. Our youth players also also leaving the club and that is normal now. When I was sporting director we didn't have youth players leave for Real Madrid and Barcelona" Gomez boasted.

Juan Romero had this to say: "The sale our our top players like Villa, Silva and Mata only went for fat salaries of Valencia CF officials and not to pay off the debt(Gee, from 550 million to 370 million isn't debt reduction, what amazing math this guy has, sure hope this is not the math he will use if in charge of Valencia CF and destroy the club). They promised the sale of these players would go to reduce the debt, but this has not been the case and the transfers have been used to line up the pockets of Llorente and his friends."

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, the presidential contenders for this summer elections. I don't know if you buy this stuff, but I sure don't. In fact I'm so sick and tired of this false charade that I will write a nice, long editorial about Llorente and the facts from my unbiased perspective and huge knowledge of the club history and events.

Valencia CF 2-1 CA Osasuna Match Report

Valencia CF managed to beat CA Osasuna in the second match of the round of 16 of the Copa Del Rey for an aggregate score of 4-1 and moves on to the next round, the semi final to most likely face Real Madrid, if they don't loose to Celta De Vigo of course, but I seriously doubt it.

Valencia CF and CA Osasuna played a fairly equal game tonight with both sides equal in ball possession and for two thirds of the match in chances and opportunities as well. Valencia CF coach decided to shuffle the team for this match and started with a whole set of different players than in the last La Liga match and he gave a chance to all of the bench players so they can try to stake a claim for a starting position. The biggest claim was probably made by Juan Bernat who put in a very good performance, quite mature performance and was active all match long on the right side of the field and I think this side fits him better as he was very good.

The defense was having troubles all match long, starting from the beginning Ruiz and Rami not communicating well, to Ruiz being out of position on few occasions and being at fault for the goal Valencia CF conceded, although Guaita should have done better as well.

But first thing is first, after quite a boring match with battle in the middle of the park, Valencia CF got a free kick some 35 meters away from goal and Tino's direct shot at goal seemed to surprise the Osasuna goalkeeper and the ball ended up in the net, making it 1-0 for Valencia CF vs Osasuna.

The lead would not last long though, as Valencia's defense was caught in a counter attack and Ruiz was way off position and unable to close down Llorente who scored the equalizer. Vicente Guaita could have also done a better job, but it was Ruiz poor positioning and poor closing that allowed that goal.

The bright spark for Valencia CF in the first half was Juan Bernat who was having a great match, being involved in most of the chances Valencia CF created.

CA Osasuna came out with a lot more fervor in the second half and started pressing harder and higher on the field, forcing Valencia players into mistakes and stealing the ball effectively in the middle and starting attacks. Ernsto Valverde saw this problem and took off the ineffectual Viera and replaced him with Ever Banega. This change would prove key as the game instantly shifted with Banega on the field with Valencia CF controlling the ball a bit more and Ever Banega providing some great passes and spreading the play.

The Soldado came in for Valdez and that lifted up the team even more, with the last third of the match belonging to Valencia CF as the team was having chance after chance that Jonas kept ruining and missing. In fact he had 3 great chances that he pretty much ruined. One in particular was when Soldado lobbed the ball over to Jonas, but this one's first touch failed him miserable as he basically kicked the ball to the goalkeeper. Then later on he had another chance, against provided by Soldado that he failed to convert.

Ultimately after a lot of probing and prodding, Valencia CF would manage to get another goal, this time courtesy of Ever Banega and Roberto Soldado. This was one amazing through pass by Banega, one of several great passes he provided in this game.

Next stop is Sevilla and I hope Ever Banega will be at this level of performance for that match and hopefully with the first team back playing we'd have more solidity in the defense as well.

Technical Details:
Valencia CF (2): Guaita; Barragán, Rami, V. Ruiz, Cissokho; Albelda, T. Costa; Viera (Éver, min.57'), Jonas, Bernat (Guardado, min.87'); Valdez (Soldado, min.67').
C.A. Osasuna (1): Andrés Fernández; Echaide, Rubén (Miguel Flaño, min.69'), Arribas, Nano; Lolo, Timor; Cejudo (Onwu, min.), Oier (Puñal, min.62), Lamah; Llorente.
Goals: 1-0 Min 33’, Tino Costa. 1-1 Min 36', Llorente. 2-1 Min 92' Soldado.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 5.5 -Didn't have much to do all night, but could have done better for the goal and was rather insecure at the start, making some suspect decisions.
Barragan 6 - He had a good time, unlike the other defenders at the back and offered big help to Barragan going forward.
Rami 4.5 - Poor performance by the Frenchmen, he was better than Ruiz, but the partnership between them didn't work out very well at all in this game.
Ruiz 4 - Terrible defending and was guilty of poor positioning at least 3 times, failing to cover properly for the goal and generally being a weak link the defense.
Cissokho 5.5 - Did decent at the back, not great and offered a lot of support forward, making some great runs, but to little to no effect.
Albelda 6 - Good performance by the captain, offered enough protection to the defense and provided some good short passes.
Tino 5.5 - Not one of his better performances. Failed to exert any influence in the middle and failed to provide any kind of forward momentum. Scored the first goal, but that was his only contribution.
Bernat 6.5 - He was the only one in attack that worked and provided some good crosses and passes, beating his marker often and creating one man advantage for the team.
Jonas 3.5 - What terrible performance by Jonas, his long range shots are terrible and they aren't even that long, like 25 meters shot is too hard for him and made all the wrong decision in this game and missed several opportunities.
Viera 5.5 Was ineffectual as a winger and often overshadowed by Cissokho, he did try some through balls and had some sucess, but Valdez wasn't on the same level as Viera.
Valdez 5 - Very ineffective performance, mistimed many of his run and didn't contribute anything of significance.
Subs:
Banega 8 (MotM) - Came in and instantly changed the game, providing energy, ball control, accurate passing and some good positional play. Provided some terrific passes and one of them found Soldado for the goal. Just amazing performance.
Soldado 7 - Came in and instantly made an impact, having more chances in 10 minutes than Valdez has all game and he timed his runs so perfectly and found himself in all the right places, definitely showing his top qualities and managed to score a goal.
Guardado N/A - Not enough time, but he was very active in the short 5 minutes he was on the field.

Valencia CF vs CA Osasuna Match Preview

Valencia CF vs CA Osasuna Match Preview

Stadium: Mestalla

Date: 08.01.2013; 21:30 CET

Round of 16, Copa Del Rey

Coaches: Ernesto Valverde and José Luis Mendilibar

Valencia CF

Valencia CF met CA Osasuna two times before and won both games. First Valencia CF played against CA Osasuna away in La Liga and managed to 1-0 and just few days later played Osasuna away again, this time for the Copa Del Ray and managed to win 2-0 then as well. This is now the second match of the fixture and Valencia CF is coming to this match with 2 goals lead, so its looking very likely that Valencia CF is going to go through to the next round, unless something really unexpected happens and Valencia players all of a sudden loose their skills.

Valencia CF is coming to this match after a small 2-1 win in La Liga over Granada CF on the weekend and has now come closer to the Champions league positions in the league, falling only 4 points from them and with a good chance to overtake Malaga and the rest of them if the team plays good. Now that said Valencia CF will be meeting Sevilla next and then Real Madrid and FC Barcelona is quick succession, so some hard matches ahead in the short term, but Valencia CF should look to win them all. Sevilla are playing poorly, Real Madrid are playing poorly and have big troubles right now, so that is a chance for two wins against big rivals and against Barcelona getting a draw would be great and Valencia CF has a chance, as Barcelona have to falter sometime, they can't go on winning forever.

Valencia CF coach Ernesto Valverde has said that he will do few changes to the team and the first change is going to be Vicente Guaita who will be on goal, second change is going to be Cissokho at left back and then he said its likely that he will give a chance to Bernat or Viera. So quite a few changes are expected, its also likely that Neslon Valdez is going to start over Soldado. 

Valencia CF squad:

Goalkeepers: Guaita, Diego Alves.
Defenders: Barragán, Rami, Ricardo Costa, Víctor Ruiz, Cissokho.
Midfielders: Albelda, Tino Costa, Dani Parejo, Éver, Viera, Piatti, Guardado, Bernat.
Forwards: Jonas, Valdez, Soldado.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):

Formation: 4-3-3

Line-up: Guaita; Pereira, Rami, Ruiz, Cissokho; Albelda, Tino; Piatti, Viera; Bernat, Valdez.

Tactics: High defensive line, own half pressure, mixed passing, mixed attacks.

CA Osasuna

CA Osasuna were beaten twice by Valencia CF the last two times the teams met, once in La Liga and once in Copa Del Rey, so they are coming to this match with a deficit of 2 goals and the added pressure of playing at the Mestalla. But apart from the two losses suffered at the hands of Valencia CF, Osasuna has lost 2 of the last 3 matches or if you count the 2 losses from Valencia, then they've lost 4 of their last 5 matches.

Osasuna are also rock bottom on the table right now with only 14 points out of 18 matches and is struggling in the relegation zone, battling with Deportivo and Espanyol. While Osasuna's defense is actually really good, they have only conceived 20 goals, their attack has been very poor scoring only 14 goals and most of the matches they've lost has been by one goal difference, so they definitely are better than their position on the table would show and could turn their season around with a bit of luck.

CA Osasuna squad:

Goalkeepers: Andrés Fernández, Imanol Elías.

Defenders: Marc Bertrán, Nano, Miguel Flaño, Lolo, Arribas, Echaide, Rubén.

Midfielders: Puñal, Oier, Cejudo, Timor, Lamah, Armenteros.

Forwards: Kike Sola, Onwu, Llorente.

Result Prediction:

Valencia CF 2-0 CA Osasuna

Valencia CF is in good position to win this match with a 2 goal difference from the first match of this fixture and is expected to win. The team is performing well, has already beaten Osasuna twice and Osasuna aren't known for their goal scoring prowess. So I think Valencia CF will score two goals, while not conceding and win by 2-0.

Valencia CF year in review and future outlook

Warning: long text ahead...

Valencia CF has had a mixed bag 2012 year in which it finished 3rd in the Spanish premier league, dropped out the Champions League in the group stages, but that made it possible to reach the semi finals in the Europa league at which point Valencia CF lost to Atletico Madrid. Valencia CF also had success in the Spanish cup Copa del Rey in which it reached the semi finals as well, but lost to FC Barcelona.

While on paper the club did very good that season, in reality things were different and Valencia CF was playing one of the worst football in recent years. In fact Valencia CF went into the new year of 2012 back then with a huge cushion on the table and so even with bad results in the second half of the season it managed to stay and keep 3rd place at all times, although by the end every match was terrifying and the team felt like climbing a 180% degree mountain.

The problems were becoming evident towards the end of 2011 when Valencia CF missed out on Champions League football and went on to loose 3-0 to Chelsea, which even though Chelsea went on to win the Champions league, it was strange because Chelsea were playing a defensive style football, attacking only on counter attack and scoring goals only on the counter, so loosing 3-0 to them was really terrible and meant Valencia CF would go on to play in the Europa league instead of the Champions league.

Playing in the Europa league isn't bad within itself, its just that you really need to reach the final to be noticed and you got to win the final go get the prestige and money and even then its bread crumbs compared to the Champions League. So whichever way you look at it, its better to play in the round of 16 in the Champions league and loose there, than to even reach the final of the Europa League. If you don't win it, its not worth as much, as Athletic Bilbao can testify.

So the fact that Valencia CF lost in the semi final against Atletico Madrid, who then went on to win it, meant playing there was for nothing, as the monetary gains were minimal and the team suffered in the sporting department, playing more fatigued in the Spanish league.

Valencia CF was also playing in a more sensible competition which is the Copa del Rey as it is a Spanish competition and it has long tradition and most of Spain watches it. It also serves as the morale booster competition if you manage to win it and haven't won a trophy in a long time. The whole competition serves as a jumping board for teams and puts them into the spotlight and gives fans something to cheer for. Valencia CF also did very good in the cup until it met FC Barcelona in the semi final and that would be the end of that journey for Valencia CF.

Valencia CF only managed to win 7 times in the second half of the season out of 18 matches and basically started its poor away form since March of 2012, where after it beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 away, it never went on to win an away match that season and that poor away match form continued under Pellegrino. That isn't to say the team was terrible, ultimately the team gained quite a bit points in the second half of the season as well and managed to snatch up 3rd place and qualify automatically for the group stage in the Champions league.

The end of 2011/12 season was eagerly awaited as fans just wanted the season to be over and for Valencia CF to secure its 3rd place so it can play in the Champions League competition again and stay on top of the field from the rest of the pack. Towards the end it was widely known that Unai Emery would be leaving the club and a lot of fans were happy about that as they thought that Emery did his best he could at Valencia CF and its now time to bring in someone else who can do even better.

I was one of the persons who had similar thoughts and wrote about why I thought it would be best if Unai Emery left in the summer. Here is the summary of that article: "I think Valencia CF should part ways with Unai Emery this coming summer with both coach and club head held high knowing its on a good line. That said Valencia president Manuel Llorente should only bring in a coach that can improve and build upon Emery's reign and not start over, destroying everything that has been build and achieved over the past 4 years. We need a coach that can sort of take the pieces which are in place already and give them that final polish to be able to reach the next level.
The new coach must also be more experienced and must be proven that he can win and manage a winning team.". As you can see while I was making the case for Emery to leave, I also made the case that the replacement needs to be an experienced coach that can build and improve upon Emery and not start over and that the new coach would have to basically polish the team to get them to the next level.

Manuel Llorente had different thoughts though and he decided that Mauricio Pellegrino the former Valencia CF central defender and two times Champions League finalist with Valencia CF would become the new coach. Obviously he was neither experienced, nor fully knowledgeable as he had never before coached a team and only had two and a half years as a second coach to Rafael Benitez. So this meant that he would be incapable of building upon the existing team and bringing that level of polish that was needed and he would need to rebuild the team yet again, which he stated he would be doing and was the excuse for many of the losses.

Mauricio Pellegrino garnered huge support from Valencia CF fans who knew him as this sung hero and Valencia CF icon. While most Spanish fans were very happy, the international fans, at least people who read this blog and voted on the poll thought that it was a risky choice. Out of 72 votes, 39 voted him as a risky choice, while 22 voted him as a good choice, with only 4 voting as him as bad choice and I guess ultimately they were right, so have a +1.

Mauricio Pellegrino didn't start terrible or anything, in fact he started in great fashion, leading the team to a draw in his first match against last years champions Real Madrid, who just 3 months ago broke all the records to become champions of Spain and were the most feared team in the world. Unfortunately this big draw would not ammount to anything as Valencia CF went on to draw at home against the newly promoted team of Deportivo La Coruna who were weakened by the loss of Andres Guardado their best player and he just so happened to transfer to Valencia CF.

That match started great for Valencia CF who pretty much dominated the first half and were running circles around Deportivo La Coruna, scoring 3 goals in the process and lead Deportivo 3-1 at half time. I remember watching an English commentary stream and the English caster was showering Valencia with praise how they were playing with such ease and how the team could easily challenge the Real Madrid and Barcelona duopoly and that this match was proof that Valencia CF can muddy the waters for the champions title this season and boy I agreed with him. Then the second half started and everything changed. It was like a whole other team came out, that was some low level, bottom of the table team. It was just incredible and Valencia conceded 2 more goals and went on to draw with Deportivo La Coruna in that match. Read my match report.

While Valencia was playing poorly in La Liga, the team was performing very good in the Champions League, having only lost once and that was away to Bayern Munich. By the last match the team was fighting to finish first in the group, but just felt short of it as Bayern Munich also won their last match and had better direct score against Valencia CF. That didn't save Pellegrino though as he pretty much sealed his own faith by loosing two matches in a row in the Spanish league, first against Malaga 4-0 and then a week later 5-2 against Real Sociedad. Those were two huge losses in a row and coupled with the terrible away form and mid table position on the table at that time he was sacked.

Since then Ernesto Valverde was appointed as the new coach and the rest is the present. Valencia CF has performed better under him and the team has looked more alive and more capable, although the judgement is obviously still out and the final conclusion can be made at the end of the season.

So what is going to happen in the new year, what is the future outlook of the team? From my deep research and analysis and I have been right 100% in all cases, not just with Valencia CF either, I predicted Barcelona would fail last season and that Real Madrid would go on to win the league and I was right. Barcelona lost the title and wasn't as convincing as in years previous. This year I wrote an article that Real Madrid would fail and explained to great detail why that is going to happen and I was right. I said Barcelona would win the title and its looking like it.

So from my deep research and high level analysis I can see Valencia CF improving a lot and probably finishing in 3rd place, most likely above Real Madrid. Now again there are a lot of factors going in here, I'm yet to see any of the different clubs transfers in the winter transfer window and this could change the situation completely. Real Madrid could strengthen, Atletico Madrid could strengthen, then of course Valencia CF could weaken if they bring in some poor reinforcement, but overall if there are little changes in the top 6 teams right now, I fully expect Valencia CF to finish 3rd, possibly 4th place if the schedule turns out to be bad and fatigue plays a big part of the performance.

So what am I basing my analysis on you ask? I base it on whole set of points, from just the schedule of matches that we have, the training schedules, from reading, watching videos and seeing pictures of the team's training sessions, to understanding the team dynamics and following the players very closely individually and assessing the situation and then from all of them combined, assessing the situation team wide. Then I asses the performance of other clubs, I asses Valencia's performances and why the team hasn't been performing good, but most importantly I've come to the conclusion that the team has been underperforming for months now. So if you have a team who's been underperforming for months, you can either hit a bottom and then bounce back or you can start performing to the level of optimal performance. So I'm betting that we won't hit bottom and I have proof of that in the past several matches under Valverde, so there is basically no other option but for the team to start performing to its full extent and possibly even over performing, but hopefully it will not peak too soon.