Unai Emery should leave in the summer

I've been a big proponent and supporter of Unai Emery, but even I can not go on and defend him anymore. Since the defeat from Sevilla at our home ground in the Mestalla and mostly fresh players who were rested against Stoke City it hit me that out team hasn't really improved over the 4 years Emery has been here.

You can read my previous editorial on Unai Emery and find out in more about the details of the sporting and financial situation when he took over and what he's had to deal with to get a better understanding of the pros, but also cons of Emery's reign as Valencia CF coach.

I've been a big supporter because when Emery took over the team was in shambles, barely avoiding relegation under Koeman and most of the veterans on the periphery of the team and bad vibe in the dressing room. I thought that would be it and Valencia CF would become a middle table team and thus a rein will end, but it didn't.

Unai Emery was appointed as coach in the 2008/09 season after successfully leading Almeria to promotion to the Primera League and then finishing 8th in his first year in the top division. After taking over the reigns at Valencia CF, he led the team to a bright start, with a tough middle term battle and a weak finish that put us into sixth position, instead of third or fourth. Still that was a success considering the situation Valencia CF was in, sporting and financially wise, with a bankrupt looming and players not even getting paid for few months.


The next two years he would lead Valencia CF to two consecutive 3rd places finishes amidst loosing some of the best players like David Villa and David Silva and previously Albiol and later Baraja.
What is not so obvious within this is that Villa was towards the end of his sublime form and he literally had one more year in him of the performances we've gotten to know and expect from him and Silva would need a whole year to step up his level and play at the level he is playing right now at Manchester City and with a bit of luck Valencia CF also had some players step up like Juan Mata and Ever Banega. Valencia CF also brought Jeremy Mathieu immediately strengthening the left back spot, something that was weak link in previous years.
So while Emery has been loosing amazing players, he has also been getting new ones, in what one could attribute as luck or even a miracle if you wish and ultimately the team has kept the same level of talent and skill between the changes, what hasn't changed though is the level of play with any and all of the players that have played under Emery, almost always playing at the same level.

The results against teams of equal or slightly less quality is defeating and our results against stronger teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid are even worse. Our play in European competitions is equally defeating with losses against Atletico Madrid in a year when we were realistically stronger, losses against Schalke 04 in a year where they were playing poorly and were in the bottom of the table, but even more defeating are the results in the Spanish cup Copa Del Rey where every time we've faced a little bit of opposition, we've come crumbling down and loosing.

This year I see the same things happening, that has been happening in the past 4 years. Very strong start to the season with few to several unbeaten runs, then loose to a tough opponent, but continue with the momentum even challenging for first place, slowly going out of steam until we hit the winter vacation. Then we start in a slow fashion just as we've finished and sort of frantically adding wet steam to the machine hoping it gets dry fast enough and the machine starts picking steam up and towards the end we have a small push where we gain few places, only for the end to be on a downward spiral, but ultimately finishing strong because we've had weak competition.

So to me it seems that while Unai Emery deserves huge credit and respect for what he's done, the combination of circumstances has allowed him and our team to perform better than it otherwise would and with non existent success in all the other competitions other than La Liga which realistically we can't win, leads me to believe that our team has been performing above the level because of weak competition in Spain and the financial crisis that has engulfed all Spanish teams, but the Spain economy as well.

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.

Valencia CF 1-2 Sevilla FC - player ratings

Guaita 6 - Maybe could have done better for the second goal, but not really at fault and dealt with crosses and such well.
Bruno 6.5 (MotM) - Was very good defensively and went forward to a good degree, don't know why he was replaced with Barragan of all people when Valencia were loosing.
Rami 4 (FotM) - Missing for the first and second goal and generally looked shaky all night. Should be replaced with Dealbert for some time.
Ruiz 5.5 - Nowhere to be seen for the second goal, but as always did have some nice tackles and marking.
Alba 6 - Failed to offer much in offense and while not troubled when he was back, it was a limited performance.
Albelda 5 - Early card and that prevented him to be more aggressive. Failed to break up Sevilla's attacks and lost the midfield battle.
Tino 5 - With this kind of performance Parejo may prove himself sooner than he'd hoped. Apart from the goal was almost invisible and unable to move the team forward or retain possession.
Feghuoli 5 - Few bright sparks here and there, but a far cry from a good performance.
Jonas 5 - Few nice touches, few bright moves, but ultimately failed to change the outcome in any way and the game mostly passed by him.
Mathieu 4 - Lost Navas for the first goal and was ineffective in attack.
Soldado 5 - Not enough service. In fact the whole team barely had few chances.
Subs:
Aduriz 5.5 - Tried really hard after he came in and had a try and involved in few actions, but couldn't muster a goal.
Barragan 5.5 - Didn't improve over Bruno and I have no idea why he was put on the field.
Pablo N/A - Not enough time, although he was probably the most active of the rest in his time.

Unai Emery 3 - Rami has been playing rather poorly for at least 2 weeks now and should have noticed that and started Dealbert over him. Tino has been playing very poorly for a month or more and Parejo should have gotten the starting spot in absence of Banega. Played with Alba and Mathieu on the left and while its a good move in some cases, its never been a consistent things and performances have been hit and miss.

My opinion: I would have started with Barragan, Dealbert over Rami, Costa and Alba in the midfield. Rami has been playing poorly the past two or three weeks and should have been left out of the starting eleven.
I would have played with Albelda and Ruiz in midfield. I really feel like Ruiz can fit very well in the midfield with his passing range and play style. If that didn't work, I would have probably made a change at half time and bring Parejo over Ruiz.
On left wing I would have started Piatti and I feel like his pace would have caused Sevilla troubles at the back. The rest would have been the same.

I feel like Mathieu, Tino and Rami have been playing rather poorly over the past few weeks and need to be dropped and told to improve their game.

Valencia CF players called to national squads

Days ago Vicente Del Bosque released the list of players to feature for Spain and Roberto Soldado was on that list on the place of Frenando Torres. Jordi Alba was also called in and continues to steadily feature for Spain, but this makes him more and more close to Barcelona as well.

Adil Rami was also called in for France. Jeremy Mathiey did not found his name on the list, as Patrice Evra and Eric Abidal both returned to occupy the left back position.

Ricardo Costa got a call for the Portugeese national team once again, he has been on and off the Portugal national team for the past 2 years.

Mehmet Topal has been called for Turkey national squad for their friendly match against Slovakia.

Jonas and Diego Alves both got called back to the Brazilian team and it seems both are becoming regulars, especially Diego Alves who with the fall of Inter's goalkeeper Julio Cesar has got the opportunity to become Brazil's next starter goalkeeper.

Hedwiges Maduro is still not fit, but he is likely to get a call anyways for Holland, while Victor Ruiz who's shown some good plays is still on the waiting line for Spain, even though Albiol has been removed now and Spain continue to have defensive problems.

Valencia CF 1-0 Stoke City - player ratings

Guaita 6 - Had two wonderful saves to deny Stoke and was commanding in the air.
Bruno 6.5 - Bruno has surprised me with his performances against Stoke. Seems like he doesn't trouble with strong and fast players running at him and his weakness is technically good players.
Rami 6 - Good game by Rami, was good in the air and confident when dealing with the opposition.
Dealbert 6 - Keeps surprising me, yet another good performance, with only one early mistake and was rock solid after.
Alba 5.5 - His size really was important here as he got out jumped every time and got beaten a few times. Wasn't particularly effective going forward either.
Topal 6.5 - Good game by the Turk, made some good defensive tackles and good interceptions in the penalty area and spread the ball with effective simple and short passes.
Parejo 6 - Finally a good match by Parejo, albeit not impressive. He retained possession well and his passes were mostly accurate and and positive.
Pablo 6.5 (MotM) - Good game by Pablo who was really in his element tonight. Provided the assist to the goal, after a fine dribble to leave his defender behind.
Jonas 6 - Scored the goal and was involved in a lot of the attacks, fell back and helped out in midfield as well.
Piatti 5 - Very active on the left, but he really seems to find his stride on the right. So far whenever he has played left has been decent, but not very efficient, but when he's played right on the wing, has been very effective.
Aduriz 5 - Got the spot instead of Soldado, but wasn't convincing. His movement was good and was a big presence with his height in Stoke's penalty area, but failed to get in dangerous shooting positions.
Subs:
Feghuoli 5 - Didn't show very much in his 20 minutes. Lost couple balls and his crosses were fail.
Soldado 4.5 - Same as Feghuoli and didn't show much. Had one great chance after he found himself alone in front of the goalkeeper, but shot straight at Thomas Sorensen.

FC Barcelona 5-1 Valencia CF - Player Ratings

Diego 5.5 - At fault for the second goal. Made several great saves after, but when you are responsible for the opposition leading after such a goal, it doesn't matter. He also received 4 more.
Miguel 6 - Great start to the match, was very firm in defense and combining well with Feghuoli, but then got injured.
Rami 0 - Absolute disaster. He was Dealbert at his worst minus 100 times. Horrendous performance tonight.
Ruiz 4 - Did better than Rami, but that doesn't say much. To his defense he was let down by Mathieu time and time again and was forced most of the time to be a left back as well.
Mathieu 3.5 - Mathieu's worse performance. I don't know what his problem was, but he just didn't run, didn't block, just mindlessly stood in defense.
Albelda 5.5 - Did what he could. It was another reliable and industrial performance, but wasn't at his best as he received a yellow card very early in the match and under pressure for red.
Tino 4 - Completely overrun in the midfield and this his his straight 3rd or 4th game where he has been sub-par, in this one Barcelona danced around him.
Feghuoli 6.5 - Had a good game, amidst a poor team performance, had several runs and some good passes, but couldn't do it alone.
Jonas 5.5 - Two amazing passes and very calm on the ball, but failed to help out the midfield or do much more than few passes.
Piatti 6 - Great run to score the first goal, tried really hard thought and helped in defense, but just didn't happen.
Soldado 5 - Completely isolated at front, only received 1 useful ball in the whole game. No service today at all.
Subs:
Ricardo Costa 4 - Bad performance, was beaten over and over again and with the incompetent Rami made a mess out of the game at the back.
Alba 5.5 - Improved upon Mathieu in defense and had one good run after he came on, but the team was not up to it and so he couldn't really do much.
Topal N/A - Not enough time

FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF

Stadium: Camp Nou
18th, February, 2012; 21:30CET
24th matchday, La Liga
Expected Attendance: 90.000

  Coaches: Josep Guardiola and Unai Emery

Its that time again in the new season where we face the title defenders and not so favorites for winning it again right now, as Real Madrid is leading the table by a big margin. The matches between Valencia CF and FC Barcelona have always been very entertaining and have attracted huge crowds and a lot of viewership not only in Spain, but all over the world. No doubt that is going to be the case this time around as well, with millions of people all over the world watching this match.

No doubt this is going to be an interesting clash once again and an entertaining game and in a lot of ways its a measurement for Spanish clubs in recent years to assess their strengths against the untouchable Barcelona. This time no different and FC Barcelona are the huge favorites, especially after winning over Valencia CF just a week ago in the Copa Del Rey. And while the games have mostly been fairly equal result wise with 2 draws and one not so big loss, Barcelona has always looked the one more likely to win and has been the better side overall.

Valencia CF gets 40 million TV rights money, Barcelona gets 140 million TV rights money. Valencia champions league qualification is considered a success, while for Barca winning only La Liga is somewhat of a disappointment.
The contrast between these two clubs is huge, especially in recent years, but when these two sides meet on the grass what matters is only the performance on the pitch and nothing else.

Head to Head

Sep 21, 2011 Valencia CF 2 : 2 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Mar 02, 2011 Valencia CF 0 : 1 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Oct 16, 2010 FC Barcelona 2 : 1 Valencia CF Primera Division
Mar 14, 2010 FC Barcelona 3 : 0 Valencia CF Primera Division
Oct 17, 2009 Valencia CF 0 : 0 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Apr 25, 2009 Valencia CF 2 : 2 FC Barcelona Primera Division
Dec 06, 2008 FC Barcelona 4 : 0 Valencia CF Primera Division 

FC Barcelona has been in a somewhat of a semi-crisis with a loss to Osasuna just last weekend when they really needed a win to catch up to Real Madrid and two games before that only managed a draw with Villarreal who were still in a bad form and just changed coaches just two weeks prior.
Even though they've been in a rather 'poor' form in La Liga, they've been in great form in other competitions like the Copa Del Rey where they beat Valencia CF and they just beat Bayer Leverkusen away from home 3-1 in the Champions League.

Last year the most trouble that Barcelona had was against Valencia CF in both the matches and Valencia CF was the best and only team to take the game to Barcelona and have as much as 49% possession. Valencia CF also scored first in the second match and had several more opportunities to increase their lead, but just didn't have enough luck. In the second half though Barcelona pressed and managed to get more of the possession and were the more dangerous team and ultimately scored two goals and won.
This season its been a similar case with the first match being rather equal in the first half with Valencia CF even more dangerous towards goal, in which Soldado missed a sitter of a chance to give us basically the win. Then in the second half Barcelona came back and almost won, but Valencia CF barely held to the 2-2 draw. Possession was 44%-56% with Barcelona just slightly in the lead there.

Iniesta has returned from injury and Xavi for the most part has been rested in easier games and will be fully fresh for this match. Of course the most dangerous man for FC Barcelona is Lionel Messi, who is especially dangerous against Valencia and has been responsible for Barcelona having better results against Valencia singlehandedly. Alexis Sancehz has also been accustomed to life and play at Barcelona and has excelled in recent time, scoring important goals for Barcelona.

Barcelona squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF is coming to this match after a big victory against Sporting Gijon in La Liga and a good result over Stoke City at an away match in the Europa League. Valencia CF is also currently in 3rd place, only 8 points behind 2nd placed Barcelona.

The biggest surprise comes from the obvious absence of Ever Banega for this match. Superdeporte reports that he has some sort of knee problem, but they are getting their info from official channels on this one and we know this can be a lie, although at this point I don't think it is and don't see it as a problem between Banega and Emery.

With Albelda getting a contract extension for one more season and Topal having a good games after quite a while, we have things to be optimistic about going into this game. Its likely to be a very tough game, especially at Camp Nou which has always been a tough venue for Valencia CF.

Valencia CF squad:

• Goalkeepers: Diego Alves, Guaita.
• Defenders: Miguel, Bruno, Ruiz, Dealbert, Ricardo Costa, Rami, Alba, Mathieu.
• Midfielders: Topal, Albelda, Feghouli, T. Costa, D. Parejo, Pablo, Piatti, Bernat.
• Attackers: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado.

Technical Details FC Barcelona (probable setups):
Formation: 4-3-3
Line-up: Valdes; Puyol, Mascherano, Pique, Abidal; Xavi, Busquets, Cesc; Thiago, Messi, Alexis.
Tactics: High defensive line, interchangeable right wing, bore VCF to death with endless circle passes that pose no danger and when all fell asleep score a goal.

Technical Details Valencia CF (probable setups):
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Alves; Miguel, Rami, Ruiz, Mathieu; Albelda, Tino; Feghuoli Jonas, Piatti; Soldado.
Tactics: Low defensive line, own half pressure, double left side cover, high frequency wing attacks, counter attacks, mostly long passing.

Result Prediction:
Barcelona 2-0 Valencia CF
Barcelona already beat Valencia 2-1 at home in the Copa Del Rey match and this time its going to be the same, with the only difference that Valencia is not going to score.

David Albelda contract extended, Mathieu and Alba next

David Albelda extended his contract just before the match with Stoke City and will stay at Valencia CF for one more year. Albelda has been very consistent this year and overtook Topal as a starter in the team and thus earned himself  a new contract.

He is also Valencia's captain and oldest member of the club and most standing, having played at Valencia for 15 years.

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente said that the team needs Albelda as he brings so much to the team and more recently he's said that they are going to extend the contract with Jeremy Mathieu very soon and how they have an agreement with Mathieu. He also said Jordi Alba is also likely to extend his contract with Valencia.