Valencia CF news and information

Nothing much is happening, since there is no club competition, but tonight most of the world cup qualifiers will be played and Valencia CF has quite few players on national duty.

Some recent news is that Valencia CF is interested in Chelsea's Oriol Romeu as a long term replacement for David Albelda, but from my sources this is completely false. But anyways Oriol comes from Barcelona youth school and he played for Barca's B team for two years, before joining the first team and instantly being purchased by Chelsea. He is a defensive midfielder who can also play as a central defender and is only 20 years old.

Then we have the news that Sofiane Feghuoli is likely going to play with his national team Algeria for the African cup of nations 2013 who are all but qualified. Algeria has played 14 times so far in the cup and next years its likely to be their 15th time. If this happens that will mean Valencia will loose Feghuoli for at least one month, possibly longer if Algeria does good in the tournament.

There is also some info that Roberto Soldado is going to actually start for Spain tonight against Georgia, after missing out completely in the last match.

Valencia CF players on national duty

Yesterday wasn't the best for Valencia CF players on national duty, or at least was a mixed bag.

Brazil: First of all Diego Alves started for Brazil and was very secure on goal, although he didn't have too much to do, thought when called upon was solid and reliable.
Jonas came in for Brazil at 71st minute, but was lacking and doesn't seem to know his role in the team, not doing much of anything.

Portugal: Joao Pereira stared though according to goal he was really terrible in his performances.
Ricardo Costa didn't start for Portugal.

Argentina: Fernando Gago started for Argentina and was the driving force in midfield. A complete performance, considering it was his first start alongside Brana who wasn't very good. Also its his start after coming from injury.

Paraguay: Nelson Valdez came on as a substitute, ran a lot, but lacked service to do something.

Algeria: Sofiane Feghuoli started and played almost all the match, being subbed at the 88th minute. Judging by the ratings he likely played very good.

For the rest of the players Adil Rami didn't start for France, though based on his performances lately and the good showing of the new defensive pair, he might get benched.
Roberto Soldado didn't feature for Spain, though David Villa made his comeback and Soldado is likely to be in the back pecking order.

Valencia wins vs Alcoyano and more news

Valencia CF yesterday played a friendly match vs CD Alcoyano that was set up earlier, because of both clubs special relationship.

There was no stream of the match but from reports Valencia CF won 3-0 over CD Alcoyano, having 1 more goal disallowed.
The first goal was scored by Antonio Barragan who reports say had a great match, second goal was scored by Pablo Piatti on the assist of Jonathan Viera, the disallowed goal was scored by Alex Cortell, finally the last goal was scored by Jonathan Viera from the penalty spot, after Juan Bernat was fouled inside the penalty area.

Technical Details:

CD Alcoyano (0): Adrián Murcia, Javi Selvas, César Remón, J. de Dios, Omar, Jhon Edison, Javi Lara, Dani, E. Silva, F. Tacón y Pereira. También jugaron Alcántara, Devesa, Tortosa, Unai Alba, David Torres, Lolo Ivars, Raúl, Rafa Hernández, Pablo Carbonell and Miguel Chocarro.
Valencia CF (3): Guaita, Cissokho, Albelda, Choco Lozano, Piatti, Barragán, Viera, Tano, Víctor Ruiz, Parejo y Bernat. También jugaron Alex Cortell, Ximo Forner, Dalmau, Gaya, Molina and Felipe Ramos.
Goals: 0-1 Min. 18 Barragán 0-2 Min. 51 Piatti 0-3 Min. 88 Viera.


Valencia sporting director Braulio Vasquez was doing some PR work the last few days and he said that Valencia CF will be looking to purchase a defender and defensive midfield in the winter transfer market, possibly a new right winger if there is a need for it.

He also mentioned that Nelson Valdez may be offered a 3 year contract with Valencia CF if he plays enough games for the team and contributes.

Superdeporte reports that Ever Banega will start playing in about a month and that he has been doing some physical work at training and recovering very well.

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente on the other hand hosted the Chinese corporation WANDA which is the world’s largest cinema owner, with more than 400 theaters, having recently purchased the US based AMC entertainment company. Representatives met with Llorente for the program "Future Promises WANDA Chinese football" where 10 kids were brought in Valencia where they will train in the clubs youth ranks, while WANDA covers most of their expenses.

The other two clubs include Villarreal and Atletico Madrid. Valencia CF certainly gets a lot of exposure participating in this program and is likely to pike the interest of Chinese investors and sponsors.

Valencia CF may sell Adil Rami

Valencia CF sporting director Braulio Vasquez is not satisfied at all with Adil Rami. Speaking with Spanish radio station "Cadena Copa" Braulio said he is not satisfied with Adil Rami performances and that is he doesn't return to his old form, the form the had at Lille and early when he came to Valencia CF there is a big possibility he will be forced to sell him.

He added that Adil is an important player and that Valencia needs him, but in his top form.

Last season Adil Rami earned 5.65 rating, based on all his performances, you can find all my ratings, all the old fixtures and goals and assists on the Archive page. Its not the worst rating, but when coming as such a big reinforcement he really fell short of his expectations. In fact the last 2 seasons I've had Dealbert rated higher than Rami and Ricardo Costa in defense.

Also telling is the fact that last year we conceived more goals than the year previously. So as many of you know I'm not a big Rami fan and have always been critical of his defending. I think he is way overrated, always was and I don't think he is good enough for us. What Braulio is saying now is what I've been saying all along and I really feel better knowing we may sell Adil Rami, because he just hasn't improved our defense.

Interview with Aaron from Barca Blaugranes website

Hey everyone, I've interviewed Aaron from http://www.barcablaugranes.com/ and he is a Barcelona supporter since around 2006. He is the manager there and along with several other people write news, articles and reports about Barcelona.

• How long have you been a supporter of Barcelona and what prompted you to become one?
Well, I caught my first Barcelona match back in February 2006 when they faced off against Chelsea in the Champions League. I was young at the time, and over the past decade or so the Premier League has become so mercenary, so to watch these guys, eleven players that appeared to be playing football not to win, not for money, but to enjoy themselves, it was so refreshing. There was something amateurish about their play that was so appealing, especially in these matches against Chelsea and as youngster; you are always drawn to the star names. Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Deco; Barcelona had the star names and as time progressed I found myself watching more and more Barcelona matches, reading about their history and their youth teams, until at some stage I guess I became a “real” fan!

• Are you a fan of any other clubs?
The mighty Colchester United, who are currently (and I fear always will be) plying their trade in League One after a couple of brief, but glorious seasons in the Championship.

• How long have you been writing about Barcelona?
It’s got to be approaching two years now; I started out in 2010 knowing little about blogging and I was lucky enough to join Barca Blaugranes within a few months and somehow I have been then pretty much ever since.

• Last season Barcelona lost the Spanish title to Real Madrid, what do you think were the key reasons for this?
Well, where to begin? Squad depth was a major factor, accentuated by injuries as Barcelona had to turn to the B team for replacements when David Villa broke his leg at the Club World Cup. Isaac Cuenca and Cristian Tello were excellent, but when your rivals have the likes of Kaka and Higuain in reserve, it’s hard to compete. Both mental and physical exhaustion played their parts as well, especially away from home where the Blaugrana really struggled to keep up with Mourinho’s juggernaut. But let’s not take anything away from Real Madrid; they played a virtually perfect season from Jornada 6 onwards.

• How does this season’s Barcelona team compare to last season’s and what are the key differences?
In terms of personnel, very little has changed. Obviously we bought Jordi Alba from you guys, at an absolute bargain price, Alex Song was brought in from Arsenal and most importantly, El Guaje is back. We all know that Villa is a fabulous player, and his return is arguably the key difference as Lionel Messi often lacked goal-scoring support from his teammates in the latter stages of last season. Tactically, Sergio Busquets has been told to pressure higher up the field and so far, it hasn’t really worked as well as Tito might have hoped, while Messi tends to drop a little deeper which is frustrating a few Culés. Other than that, it’s the same-old style of play with the same-old weaknesses.

• Barcelona lost the Super Cup to Real Madrid, what are your thoughts about this?
It was a tough defeat, and it will be interesting to see how Barcelona recover on Sunday against such difficult opposition. Personally, I think the Super Cup was a huge opportunity to really put some pressure on Jose Mourinho, and in relinquishing the first-leg lead, Barcelona might find that the momentum has shifted back in Madrid’s favour. Watching Real Madrid celebrate a trophy is never easy, although I just hope it is the wake-up call they needed to make the most of that early five-point lead.

• Who would you say is Barcelona’s most influential player and the weakest player?
Hmm, I’m going to have to say that Xavi is Barcelona’s most influential player, as without him, the entire team suffers. There’s always a chance that someone else can score the goals that Messi provides the team, even more so now that Pedro has found his scoring boots again, but at current there is no-one that can dominate a game as well as Xavi does. As for the weakest player, I think it’s a 50-50 between Victor Valdés and Alexis Sanchez at the moment if we are going by starters. Valdés is mostly excellent, but is making too many mistakes in goal, and Alexis (10 games without a goal for club and country, only three goals since the middle of February) is virtually wasting a space in attack.

• Who is going to be Barcelona’s key player this season?
Lionel Messi is undoubtedly the key player. After all, he is the one who is going to be getting the goals, and probably the majority of the assists as well. Aside from Messi, I think Barcelona need Pedro in top form if they wish to replicate the success of seasons gone by.

• What would you say are the strengths and weaknesses of your team this season?
The strengths of the team remain the same. Our form at the Camp Nou is absolutely terrifying and Messi is equally terrifying. Our attack is possibly the quickest in the league, while the Alves-Alba combination could either contribute to a more well-rounded offense, or put more pressure on an already shaky defense. There are a lot of weaknesses though, starting with the defense who are often beaten for pace or made to pay for poor positioning. Set-pieces are another concern and what happens if Barcelona goes through another injury crisis?

• Any young players to watch out for that could be on a “break-out year”?
Thiago is the man to watch out for. He ended last season brightly despite carrying a stress injury similar to the one that led to David Villa’s broken leg, and hopefully he will be able to pick up where he left off. Sergi Roberto could see more game-time this season, but looks set to continue in Eusebio’s B team along with Gerard Deulofeu, who would otherwise be on this list.

• Can Barcelona win this season’s Champions League, what would be the biggest obstacles in doing so and what about the Spanish cup?
Barcelona are the favourites for the Champions League, although at this early stage, I feel it would take a lot of luck for them to win it. Real Madrid clearly want this to be the year they complete La Decima, although I think the true challenge will be from the likes of Bayern Munich who look incredibly strong and the English clubs. In a one-off game, Barcelona can beat any other team in World Football, but at the moment I am not convinced that they possess the concentration to do so. As for the Copa del Rey, it isn’t going to be their primary aim, but it’s always a nice feeling to retain a title.

• How good do you think Valencia will do this season? Is it feasible to think that Valencia could win the Spanish championship or at least challenge Barcelona and Real Madrid?
I think given the disparity in terms of TV revenue and global brand power, Valencia do not have anywhere near the resources needed to compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona over the course of a 38 game season, but they will pose a significant threat in the individual matches – as we saw in the league opener. I think Valencia could challenge for a top two place though, especially if Mourinho continues to prioritise every competition over La Liga, and I also think that they could challenge for the Copa del Rey as well.

• What do you think are Valencia’s strengths and weaknesses?
Despite selling Alba, I think Valencia’s left flank is one of their greatest assets. Jeremy Mathieu always plays well against Barcelona even if he does struggle against the rest of La Liga at times, his partnership with Guardado has the potential to be just as, if not more devastating against the Blaugrana. Aly Cissokho should improve that left-flank as well. Soldado is one of the best pure strikers in World Football and Jonas continues to improve in the #10 role behind him. Diego Alves and Guaita are both fantastic keepers as well, capable of winning points on their own and I think the squad depth is good as well, at least once everyone recovers from injury.
Weaknesses? Well I think what stands out from the season so far is how many chances Valencia have allowed their opposition, and the pressure it places the keeper under. Depor and Real both created plenty of chances – more than Los Che anyway – and they also got the better of the possession stats as well, which is a concern ahead of a trip to the Camp Nou.

• Who do you think will win the Champions League and Europa League this season?
I don’t want to tip Barcelona for the UCL just yet, but I think it will be between Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. As for the Europa League, I think Inter are the obvious choice, but I also fancy Atletico to go far with Falcao still at the club.

I'd like to thank Aaron Duckling for taking the time to answer my questions, really apreciate it and once again you can find Aaron's articles about Barcelona at http://www.barcablaugranes.com/

Victor Ruiz goal onside

Every time Valencia CF plays against the big two, more like the protected two, refereeing decisions go against us. I mean last year vs Real Madrid and Barcelona, the year before that, this year at the start, every time there are decisions going against us. I mean if its just random chance why don't decisions go our way? Why is the last 3 years decisions constantly go against us and big decisions mind you, from disallowed goals to getting red cards.

The goal Victor Ruiz scored against Barcelona was 100% ONSIDE. This needs to be investigated, there can't be suspicious decisions every year against Valencia CF and be forgotten like its nothing. I really think there is something here, I really think the referees are getting paid or forced somehow to help these two teams.

From the image we can clearly see that Ruiz was at least 1 step behind the defender there.

More proof:

Barcelona 1-0 Valencia CF Match Report

Another classic ends and what can I say, I expected us to loose, maybe not with that results, but I knew that without a strong midfield we'll get overrun and barely be able to mount a counter attack or create a decent build-up play to threaten Barcelona seriously and I was right.

Barcelona dominated for most of the match, had several chances and managed to score one goal. Valencia CF on the other hand had few chances as well, but nothing really serious, except maybe at the end the Ruiz header.

The match started with Barcelona in complete control and Valencia CF willing to sit back and defend and possibly do the damage on the counter attack. Barcelona were probing and playing the channels, but it was Valencia CF and Roberto Soldado that would have the first big chance with Soldado one on one against Pique I think, placing a good shot that forced Valdez to react, but went just wide.

Barcelona would continue attacking and pressuring until it finally payed off it the 22nd minute of the match. Adriano got the ball on the right hand side, he was unmarked and with a powerful long range shot scored a goal. Diego Alves could do nothing as the shot was perfect, probably goal of the week in Spain.

Few minutes later mistake by David Albelda would give the ball away to Messi, who plays on Fabregas who is unmarked and has clear sight of goal, but his shoot was very poor and shoots wide.

30th minute Alves would get a chance from the left, going through alone on goal, but his shot goes wide as well.

Valencia CF finally wins a foul in the middle of the park, Tino Costa takes the free kick and the ball finds Feghuoli who shoots, but his shot is miserable and flies way above the goal.

44th minute another chance for Valencia CF after Joao Pereira steals the ball from Dani Alves at the back, he quickly passes to Jonas, he shoots, but his shot is way off. Really poor shooting by Jonas, it could have been a goal if he was accurate.

The first half would end with Barcelona attacking of course, with actually a corner kick for Barcelona, but the referee whistles for the end.

Second half starts in the same fashion as the first with Barcelona continuing their attacks and in the 54rd minute Alexis Sanchez provides a great pass to Fabregas, this one has time and space to shoot and score, but his shot is once more really bad and shoots above the goal. This match was really market by poor shooting on both sides.

Then in the 60th minute another controversial decision by the referees going in the favor of who else if not Barcelona. They had a controversial decision in their match against Osasuna, now again against Valencia CF, this is of course after the crazy decision that went towards Real Madrid ruling Soldado offside. This one was pretty much the same as this time its Ruiz goal that is deemed offside, even though he appeared to be in line.

After that there was few more controversial decisions, some smaller like neglecting to whistle foul on Valencia CF players and protecting Barcelona players. I would say this refereeing must stop, I mean there needs to be major investigation about some of this stuff.

But anyways Valencia CF improved a little bit with the arrival of Fernando Gago and Viera for Albelda and Guardado respectively. We gained more possession and were able to have few decent build-up plays, but intimately it would be too little, too late.

Victor Ruiz actually almost scored just in the end after a corner kick, his header was really close, but still above the goal and that was the end of the match.

I could stop there as those were pretty much most of the major happenings in the match, but I got to continue and say that we are now three matches and no wins, in fact we have 2 draws and 1 loss, which even though we passed two of the major obstacles this season and on their terrain, it still goes into the heads of people and will create pressure on the team, make no mistake about that.

The important thing right now is to analyze the match, improve on the mistakes, with the return of Gago we are going to have a stronger and more stable midfield so that is very important, but there are some worries.

For example our defense is still fragile, I get the sense that anytime they are going to break and allow the goals, Barcelona certainly penetrated our defense and only poor shooting on their behalf saved us from a bigger loss, so there are cracks, there are frailties and that needs to be improved. The wings this season were supposed to be better and faster, but has so far not been the case. In fact as I've mentioned in my last match report Guardado seems really out of sorts. I don't know if its just because his start was a very difficult one going against Real Madrid, then his former team who he just left, then against Barcelona, but he hasn't been the player we all expected him to be.

Now that said he needs more time to gel and get to know his fellow players, but I think Pellegrino may have put him on the field way too soon. Maybe he should have sat him back and played Viera or Piatti more and then slowly build him into the team.

Valencia CF other wing is rather weak as well, Feghuoli hasn't shown anything this season and I would say he is one level weaker than last season. He also seems tired all the time, last season he was one of the biggest runners and this season that is not the case at all. He has also been unable to pass defenses or create any chances.

So we need to keep in mind these things and even though its very early and the schedule was such that we couldn't have done much better, there needs to be some action to address some of these issues if we are not to be caught with our pants down.

Technical details:

FC Barcelona (1): Valdés, Dani Alves (Jordi Alba, min. 46), Piqué, Fàbregas (Iniesta, min. 63), Xavi, Alexis (Busquets, min. 86), Messi, Mascherano, Pedro, Adriano, Song.

Valencia CF (0): Alves, Cissokho, Rami, Albelda (Gago, min. 76), Jonas, Feghouli (Valdez, min. 81), Soldado, Pereira, Guardado (Viera, min. 76), Víctor Ruiz, Tino Costa.

Goals: 22min 1-0, Adriano.


Player Ratings:
Diego 6 - Had one good save and several smaller saves, did well and nothing he could do about the goal.
Pereira 5.5 - Did decent in attack, he should have pressured Adriano more so he couldn't shoot, was beaten few times with no consequences. Did really great going forward, caused trouble all the time and was his saving grace.
Rami 6 - Did well enough and made few tackles, but for all his strength he goes down to Messi. He really needs to start using his strength and bounce opponents.
Ruiz 6 - Made few interceptions and tackles, was dangerous going forward on corner kicks and almost scored a goal in the end. Improved performance over his last two.
Cissokho 5.5 - Beaten two or three times and he lack burst of speed to close down opponents, but his positioning seemed great even though its his first match for Valencia CF. Really good going forward and caused trouble on his few runs.
Albelda 6 - He covers really well and doesn't show age. Really closed down Barcelona and what was up to him shut down Barcelona. His weakness is when he goes forward, he just doesn't know how to play forward.
Tino Costa 6 - Some great small plays and runs, did really well in defense as well, but couldn't get things going in midfield and Valencia CF had no possession.
Feghuoli 4.5 - Really out of sorts. He was very slow on the wing, slowing down the actions and didn't really threaten once.
Jonas 5.5 - Was the main threat and when Valencia CF had the ball he instigated most of the actions and plays, but he just didn't have enough space to do something.
Guardado 5 - Helped out in defense immensely and doubled down the left side, but couldn't do anything in attack. He had some space and time to try something, but decided to just return the ball backward.
Soldado 6 - Dangerous and active, he had few good runs and some nice link-up play with Jonas, but just didn't have the service to make a difference.
Subs:
Viera N/A - Didn't have enough time to change anything.
Gago N/A - Not enough time, though he did improve our ball possession.
Valdez N/A - Not enough time.