Villareal CF vs Valencia CF Match Preview

Tonight is the second leg of the Copa Del Rey clash between Valencia and Villareal. The first match was played in Valencia at the Mestalla and the match ended in a 0-0 draw. This means that Valencia is coming to this second leg without an advantage from the first leg, although if this match ends in a draw with goals Valencia will go through on the away goal rule. If the first 90 minutes end 0-0 as the previous match, the clubs will play in additional time.

Valencia CF is coming to this match after a 2-1 victory over Espanyol with a bit of an lucky goal by Mata in the 92nd minute, because it seemed as Mata was offside when he scored. Still Valencia won and no matter how you win, every win is important. The team played well in the last match and more players have returned from injury and this will give Emery a small boost and more choices.
On the flip side Aduriz will miss the encounter due to his red card against Espanyol and goalkeepers Cezar and Moya are still injure, as well as Albelda.

This match reminds me of last seasons fight in this cup between Atletico Madrid and Valencia as both clubs were so evenly matched, but Atletico won on away goal, so I'm hoping Valencia can play the Atletico Madrid role this time and win on an away goal advantage. This match is very important and in essence serves as testing ground for the Champions League and how much can Valencia expect in the competition. A win tonight would also boost the motivation and self belief of the players and with a tough season ahead every positive thing is welcomed!

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita, Saúl.
Defense: Miguel, Bruno, R.Costa, Stankevicius, Dealbert, Mathieu, Jordi Alba .
Midfield: Maduro,Topal, Éver, Joaquín, Pablo, Feghouli, Vicente.
Attack: Mata, Isco, Soldado, Alcácer.


Villareal CF are also coming strong to this match as they easily beat Almeria the past weekend and are keeping up at the top with Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Villareal are also boosting one of the best home records in La Liga, behind only by Real Madrid and would want to use this advantage. Valencia ha proven to be strong though as we've seen in the La Liga match and it will come down to individual performances most likely.
Villareal are likely to see this match as an advantage due to the 0-0 draw in the previous leg, but would take things cautiously as they can easily loose if there are goals, but it ends in a draw.

Bad news for Villareal is the absense of Marcos Senna due to a hamstring injury, striker Nilmar is also out due to injury and former Valencia player Marchena is also ruled out.

Villareal CF squad: to be announced...


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 5-4-1
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, Dealbert, R. Costa, Mathieu; Joaquin, Maduro, Topal, Mata; Soldado.
Tactics: Low zone defense, double line defensive perimeter, deep zone laying midfield, wing attacks, high frequency crosses.

Valencia is going to play the same way they played against Villareal in La Liga. There are going to be 5 defenders, with the full backs going forward and helping out the wingers. The central midfielders are going to cover a wide area of any weak spot at the back with the wingers also coming back to help. The attack will be through the wings with the full backs adding support and even serving as midfielders to spread the ball.

Result prediction:
Villareal CF 1-1 Valencia CF
This is going to be a very tight match with both sides approaching cautiously. Any mistake can mean a loss and the importance will be on the defense. Valencia managed to get a draw at Villareal in La Liga and its possible now, but draw at 1-1 so that Valencia continues in the tournament.

Official: Valencia signs Adil Rami

Valencia announced today throught its official website that they have signed French defender Adil Rami from Lille.

He will stay on loan with Lille for the remainder of this season and will join Valencia in the summer when the season ends.

Adil Rami, 25, has signed a contract with Valencia that will keep him in Valencia until June 30, 2015.

Its believed that his signature may have cost Valencia as much as 10 million euros, though its more likely that Valencia has signed him for less, though the official sum is undisclosed.

This is of course a great signing for Valencia as Rami is a solid central defender and has also featured in the French national side, though Lille's goals taken is not that good right now and even though they are currently first place in France first division they have taken 21 goals.

Winter transfer market - who should Valencia CF buy?

Goalkeepers - Between Cezar, Moya and Guaita as well as the B team call up goalkeeper Saul Valencia are currently in no need of a goalkeeper and I suspect we won't need one even for the next season, since if there is a need for a 3rd goalkeeper current B team goalkeeper Saul can be called to the ranks.
Cezar is supposed to leave in the summer, but between Guaita or Moya they can finally replace Cezar.

Defense - Valencia's defense has always been the weak link since Ayala left the team. Since then Valencia has been unable to find another Ayala and there is always room for improvement in the back. Having said all that there is currently no real need for a defensive player since all slots are full and there are few players that can play on different defensive positions.
If we were talking about next season than few names would pop up for selling and several will appear as potential purchases, but in this winter transfer all positions are covered and due to Valencia's financial situation any potential buy will have to be carefully considered.

Midfield - This season is possibly the best one in terms of midfield players in the last couple of years. Manuel Fernandes has already been offloaded to Besiktas on a loan deal. With Ever Banega and Tino Costa playing in a similar role and position there was just too much players on the same profile and with Emery's preseason 4-3-3 formation not working it was the logical choice to off load Fernandes.
Valencia are still filled with midfield players and have 2 or even 3 players ready to take positions. For example Maduro can play as offensive and defensive midfield and he also can play as a central defender. Tino Costa can play as a natural midfielder in a standard 4-4-2 formation or as an attacking midfielder.
Albelda is also still strong and fully fit and he still has playing time in him left. Topal is steadily going to be replacing Albelda as a defensive midfielder and he has already shown he is a good player and has had some great matches.
On the wings there are Vicente, Joaquin, Mata, Pablo, Alba who is also the deputy left back as well as Feghuoli who even though is an attacking midfield also plays on the right wing.

Attack - This is probably the one area where Valencia needs reinforcements, not because the current duo of Aduriz and Soldado are bad, but because they are the only natural strikers in the team and when Valencia play the 4-4-2 formation there is a need of a third striker, but also when one of the two gets injured.
This position is tricky because Valencia don't really need a top class striker, but he also needs to be good and at the same time willing to spend a lot of time on the bench, so a top class or at least a very good striker is out of the list.

There has been a lot of transfer rumors going around lately and there has been few names that are really worth purchasing and are great players, but the problem is that in order for Valencia to strengthen its squad it also must offload some players and that is hard to do. Also strengthening the squad now may not be whats going to be best for the next season and that is why Valencia is probably going to take its time and consider very carefully who if any they are going to buy.

My thoughts are that if we are to buy players now they need to be compatible with Valencia's next season squad, meaning they must be long term purchases, they occupy the positions of players that are going to leave in the summer and are good but cheap players. Having all this in mind here are my views:

IN: Leighton Baines (purchase, 7m), Ireneusz Jeleń (purchase, 4m)


OUT:  Manuel Fernandes (loan), Sofiane Feghuoli (loan), Chori Dominguez (sell, 2.5m)

Leighton is a left back who has played all his life in the Premier league, but at 26 he could adapt to Spanish football. Going for him is that he has a sight for assists and this is just the kind of left back any club would want. He is also strong and due to his experience in England can cope with most Spanish wingers. He may not come cheaply, but I think this can be a really good long term investment and the price of this guy is just going to go up.
I'm sure in the summer he will attract attention from bigger clubs and his price may rise skyhigh, so getting him now for a bargain of a price in comparison to his abilities would be a great decision. The problem would be that Everton would not be likely to let him go and a lot of negotiation would be needed to buy him.

Jelen is a Polish attacker that currently plays for Auxerre. He has been their best goalscorer and is highly regarded in France, but due to Auxerre position on the table and financial problems they may be willing to sell him, especially since at 29 he is not getting any younger. I think he would be the perfect addition for Valencia because he has played for a weaker French team and he would probably be delighted to come to Valencia and can be a substitute, but he is also very capable of scoring goals. So this would be a win win situation, though the slightly high 4 million euros transfer fee may be a little bit too much for Valencia to swallow, especially for a winter transfer.
Anyways I think these two players would fit really well with Valencia current squad and due to their positions Valencia would have an easier time in the summer market. Jelen can also play as a winger so he can be of ream value to Valencia.

Valencia CF 2 - 1 Espanyol Match Report

What a match. Full of surprises and thrills from start to finish. Valencia CF won against Espanyol by 2-1 with all goals scored by Valencia players. It was a bit excruciating to watch towards the end thinking that Valencia lost yet another 2 points in what should have been an easy victory, only for Mata to score a whirlwind of a goal and get Valencia all the 3 points.

Valencia started the better of the two teams and immidiately started dictating the match. Pablo had a few good runs at the start and Joaquin on the right side provided 2 crosses, but no one really could make much of it.
The midfield was working great and Topal after coming from injury and not having played for so long was having a good match as he was always recieving and spreading the ball around, while Maduro acted as a more defensive midfielder.

After a few missed opportunities or scrambled attacks Valencia got a corner. Joaquin was the man who took the corner and managed to found Aduriz who headed the ball past Kameni and it was 1-0 for Valencia CF.
Valencia continued to pretty much dominate the match, but towards the end Luis Garcia passed Mathieu and made a cross only for Ricardo Costa to head the ball into his own net. Guaita wasn't careful as well and the ball easily went into Valencia's net and Espanyol were back in the match.

The Second half started and now Espanyol were a lot more organized and dangerous, probably boosted because of the New Year's gift Ricardo Costa gave them.

As Joaquin was leaving the pitch and Vicente entered, Aduriz made a stupid and irresponsible move and earned a red card and it was not the referee's bad call this time, as the red card was fully deserved. With such an disadvantage it proved hard to attack and Valencia's chances were spare, although Espanyol's defense and goalkeeper made some serious mistakes that Valencia's players couldn't convert into goals.

Towards the end Pablo and Mata had few other small chances, but nothing concrete or dangerous. Injury time started and just as the match was about to end Pablo made a good cross towards Espanyol's penalty area and found Ricardo Costa who headed the ball towards Mata and luckally Mata managed to score in the 2nd minute of the injury time.

Overall an interesting match and one that looked a lot like last years one between these two sides in which Zigic scored a goal exactly in the same way and in the same time as Mata scored tonight.

Technical Details:
Valencia CF (2): Guaita; Miguel (min. 81, Bruno), R. Costa, Stankevicius, Mathieu; Maduro, Topal (min. 70, Banega), Joaquín (min. 58, Vicente), Mata, Pablo; Aduriz.
RCD Espanyol (1): Kameni; Amat, Forlin, Chica, Didac; Verdú, Márquez (min, 66, Dátolo), Baena, Luis García; Callejón (min. 81, S. Garcia) y Osvaldo (min. 15, Alvaro R.).
Goals: 1-0 Aduriz (min. 28). 1-1. R. Costa (o.g. min.45). 2-1 Mata (min. 90).

Player Ratings:
Guaita 6 - Made one good save in the first half and that was the most he had to intervene, but was a bit distracted when Costa headed the ball into his own net and should Guaita have been more concentrated he could have catch the ball.
Miguel 6 - Good defensively and helped out in the midfield, but was limited in his offensive runs.
Stankevicious 8 - His best defensive display and one of the best of any defensive player this season. Made numerous saves and tackles and was rock solid at the back, covering for the shaky Costa.
R. Costa 5 - Would have had a worse mark, but made the assist to Mata that lead to the winning goal. Overall he missed tackled, lost his mark and had an own goal, match to forget for him.
Mathieu 4 - Awful performance from the French. Lost way too many battles and didn't contribute much offensively either. Seems like he lacks the strength and stamina to do anything and still has troubles marking his man.
Joaquin 7 - Not the best display, but he had few good crosses and took the corner kick that led to the first goal.
Topal 6 - Very good performance in the first half and managed the gameplay greatly, but lost a lot of intensity in the second half probably due to low fitness after such a long injury and having not played a match for so long.
Maduro 6 - Put in a more defensive display tonight than Topal and covered for the defense in good and timely fashion, but went off the radar for too much of the match at times.
Pablo 7 - Good display tonight and although he had few sloppy dribbles and seems kinda of slow, he always found himself in dangerous positions and bothered the Espanyol defense a lot.
Mata 7 - Scored the winning goal and even though he seemed to fall a bit too much when touched, he had a few good moments and had few assists that other players couldn't make them count.
Aduriz 6 - Would have had a rating of 8 or 9 this match as he played superbly until his stupid move that got him the red card.
Subs:
Vicente 6 - Slow start for Vicente as he too has not been getting too much playing time, but grew into the match and made couple of good crosses and passes. Defenately brought some danger to the left side.
Banega N/A - Average display, though did not have much time to assert himself into the game.
Bruno N/A - Not enough time

Valencia CF VS Espanyol Match Preview

On Sunday night the most interesting match of this round will start between 4th and 5th place Valencia and Espanyol. Whoever wins this match it will be a big step forward, especially since its the first match in the new year and it decides the 4th place team.

Valencia has been the better of the teams before the break, coming off a win in La Liga and a draw with Villareal in Copa Del Ray, but in which Valencia played surprisingly good and overplayed Villareal.
The team is suffering with a lot of injuries right now, especially in midfield and Emery will need to be very careful who he chooses. Cezar Sahncez, Miguel Angel Moya, Albelda, Tino Costa. Dominguez and Ever Banega are all suffering from injuries.
Banega has been training with the team, but he still feels some pain in his muscles and even Topal has not been fully healed and has yet to play since returning from injury.
To make matters worse Navarro and Soldado will also miss the match due to suspension and this leaves Valencia with only 1 striker. This is why Emery has called in few youngsters to the squad that may be in the official team to face Espanyol.



Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Vicente Guaita, Saúl Figueroa
Defenders: Miguel Brito, Bruno Saltor, Ricardo Costa, Marius Stankevičius, Ángel Dealbert, Jérémy Mathieu, Jordi Alba
Midfielders: Mehmet Topal, Hedwiges Maduro, Éver Banega, Joaquín Sánchez, Pablo Hernández, Sofiane Feghouli, Juan Mata, Vicente Rodríguez
Strikers: Aritz Aduriz, Isco Alarcón, Paco Alcácer


Espanyol on the other side are coming to this match in a worse shape than Valencia, after suffering 3 defeats in a row in all competitions. They lost 5-1 to Barcelona and lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish cup.
Before their bad roll Espanyol was on a high roll in the Spanish league and were 4th on the table and playing some great football, but luckily for Valencia their good roll stopped and are coming to this match after 3 demoralizing defeats. 
Valencia has even more luck as Espanyol's top defender Victor Ruíz, who picked up a red card in a 1-0 loss against Atlético in the Copa del Rey will not be featured for this match.

RCD Espanyol squad:
Goalkeepers: Carlos Kameni, Cristian Álvarez
Defenders: Javi Chica, Dídac Vilà, Juan Forlín, Jordi Amat, Raúl Rodríguez, Víctor Álvarez
Midfielders: Javi Márquez, Raúl Baena, Joan Verdú, Aldo Duscher, Jesús Datolo
Strikers: Pablo Osvaldo, José Callejón, Luis García, Sergio García, Iván Alonso, Álvaro Vázquez


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Dealbert, R. Costa, Alba; Joaquin, Maduro, Banega, Mata, Isco; Aduriz.
Tactics: Medium frequency crosses from the wings, positional changes from the 3 attacking midfielders, high defensive line, high opposing field pressure, doubling down in the penalty area.

Valencia will surely play mostly standard in this match as it has been all season so far, but I suspect Isco will be included in the squad due to Soldado being suspended and will start just behind Aduriz. He and Mata will double down in the Espanyol penalty area on all occasions they can and effectively creating 3 strikers in the penalty area. Joaquin, Mata and Isco are likely to change positions from the left wing, center to right wing and often times Isco helping out in the wings.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 2-0 Espanyol
Valencia are coming to this match as the better side and from a mini series of good results, while Espanyol are coming demoralized ti this match after a streak of 3 defeats. If the pitch is decent enough to play on it I can't see Valencia not taking this match, although Espanyol will surely prove to be a tough opposition.

Valencia Mid season awards

Valencia has ended the mid season in 4th place in the Spanish premier league and is still in the Uefa Champions League ready to face German Schalke, with Copa Del Ray progress still up for grabs.

So who was the best summer signing for Valencia CF and how do we come to such a conclusion!? Do you look at the official statistics, personal ratings, overall skill, team work all of the above or a mix of some.

Well I'll be looking at the official statistics, my own ratings I give to the players and just generally assesing who did better with the amount of playing time he got.

The three runners for the award are: Roberto Soldado, Aritz Aduriz and Tino Costa.

Roberto Soldado has scored 5 goals and provided 2 assists in La Liga, but he has not played as much as Aduriz. He works hard and has good shooting ability and good speed as well as heading ability, but lacks pace and explosiveness, he isn't very agile and looses his cool way too much as we have witnessed in few matches.

Aritz Aduriz has score 6 goals and has provided 1 assist in La Liga and has played the most of any Valencia player. He is a very hard working player and his headers are superb, but his shooting abilities not so much and in fact he has missed quite a few opportunities due to bad shooting. Aduriz is also slow and while he has strength he lacks agility and technique.

Tino Costa started slowly only featuring after Banega was injured, but has come off strong in recent weeks. He has scored 2 goals, but has no assists and has 6 yellow cards so far. Tino Costa lacks the possession ability where he can spread and dictate the match, but he is good in defending and tracking the ball as well as linking up with the attackers when really offensive. He also has great shooting ability as seen vs Bursaspor, but he lacks in other areas such as dribbling, pace and long passing.

Judging by my own ratings Tino Costa comes first, than Aduriz and than Soldado, but it must be noted that Tino has a lot less playing time and he has been left frustrated and unable to do anything on several occasions.

 The best summer signing for Valencia is Aritz Aduriz.
- He came in for 5 millions if I'm not mistaken, 5 million less than Soldado and 1 million less than Tino Costa, but has had the most playing time, has scored the most goals and has been very hard working. He does not loose his cool easily and fights to the very end for the team. He has scored some crucial goals for Valencia and if he keeps up the good work, he may become an important Valencia player.
Right now he is the best summer signing for Valencia.





Best Valencia player overall
The three runners are: Cezar Sanchez, Jordi Alba and Joaquin Sanchez.

Cezar Sanchez has been a rock, no a mountain on Valencia's goal and if we look at it statistically he is the third best goalkeeper in Spain at the moment. Since Valencia has conceeded more goal than R. Madrid and Barcelona due to the poor defense he could easily be the best goalkeeper in Spain. He has single-handedly saved Valencia on numerous occasions and has been the most consistent player.

Jordi Alba hasn't played too much and one may say the matches he has played in have been easier, but that is just not the case. Every opportunity he has been given he has used it to the fullest and not being a natural left back he has slotted perfectly in that position with good defensive displays and great offensive displays.
He has also been more consistent than Mathieu and has often contributed more to the attack.

Joaquin Sanchez has been reinvented this year and this may well be his best season in a Valencia shirt since coming here from Betis. He has scored 2 goals, provided 2 assists and more often than not provided real threat on the right wing. Pablo may have taken this place if he hasn't been playing so badly for the last month, after a very good start. Joaquin has provided a lot of pace on the right wing and on his day he is the best player in Europe, if not the world.

The best Valencia player overall is: Cezar Sanchez
-Cezar has been so influential since coming to Valencia that its hard to imagine the success Valencia has achieved without him. He has been responsible for so many good results Valencia has achieved that its really even amazing. Recently he has been struggling with injuries, but when fit he is just top class. He has also been influential on the younger players and has helped Valencia immensely.

Valencia CF player ratings

Here are the players rankings for Valencia so far in the season. I've ranked the players in 17 matches and regretably missed to watch 5 matches and were unable to rate them in additional two with my internet being down.

The best rated player as you can see is Cezar Sanchez and rightfully so as he is one of the best goalkeepers in La Liga statistically speaking with more saves than any other goalkeeper based on minutes played and saves made.

Second player may surprise someone, but its Feghouli because he has only played one match with enough minutes that he can be ranked and he played good in that match, earning him a rating of 7. So you will want to watch the cumulative points also as it determines how many matches they've played and their rating.

Realistically the picture would be: Cezar, Vicente, Alba, Pablo and Joaquin.

I know Pablo hasn't been playing well for a month, but I've failed to rate him in the last 4 or 5 matches he played, and he was getting good ratings at the beginning of the season.

Best overall player, best summer signing and who should Valencia buy article will come shortly.