Racing Santander 1-1 Valencia CF - Match Report

Another match, another thriller and another exciting match. While we lost 2 points at least the match was fun to watch and on the positive side we increased our lead over Espanyol.

The first half was not the best, Valencia had possession, but could not convert it into chances, not to mention goals. In fact Racing was quite more dangerous on the counter attack and R. Costa was caught twice out of position. Statistically looking Valencia had only one shot towards Racing goal, while they had 4 shots towards Valencia goal, one of which went in.

The goal for Racing was the luckiest thing I've seen this season, after a corner was cleared the ball was crossed back into Valencia penalty area only for Tino Costa to misjudge his jump and assist Ariel to score a goal in the 32nd minute. Guaita probably should have done a bit better, but its hard to judge since he was alone with 3 opposing players.

The first half was nearing and Valencia wasn't taking advantage of all the possession it had. Tino Costa was making bad pass, after bad pass, Joaquin dribbling too much and loosing the ball too often and Pablo ineffective over the left wing and was making too many inaccurate through passes.

Second half started with two substitutions as Chori Dominguez went in after a long pause from competitive game for Pablo and Soldado went in for Joaquin.

The formation now transformed to 4-3-1-2 with Chori playing just behind the strikers. This seemed to work and instantly you can see improvement in Valencia's play. In fact the reason why Valencia didn't win is probably because Mathieu and Aduriz failed to convert few good passes/crosses.

The trio of Banega, Tino and Chori was functioning well and Tino was playing significantly better in the second half. He actually scored the only goal for Valencia in the 77th minute after a corner with a superb shot. He also made 2 good passes to Mathieu and Aduriz who failed to use the passes to good effect.

Valencia was pressing all the way to the end, but just couldn't find the winning goal. In the meantime R. Costa got a second yellow and automatically a red card, undeserved one actually and then in stoppage time Mehdi from Racing got a second yellow card and automatic red too.

Valencia and its fans are left wishing for the 3 points and if Valencia played 90 minutes like it did in the second half a victory would have been more probable. But anyways we must now look forward towards our next match and hope we win then.

Technical details:
Valencia CF (1): Guaita, Bruno (Miguel, min. 71), R. Costa, Stankevicius, Mathieu, Maduro, Ever, Tino Costa, Joaquín (Soldado, min. 45), Pablo (Chori, min 45) y Aduriz.

Rácing Santander (1): Toño, Francis, Torrejón, Henrique, Christian (Cisma, min. 65), Lacen, Colsa, Adrián, Kennedy, Ariel y Rosenberg (Arana, min. 65).

Goals: 32min 1-0 Ariel; 77min 1-1 Tino Costa;

Player Ratings:

Guaita 6 - Maybe he could have done better for the goal, but its hard to say really. Didn't have much work otherwise and apart from stopping a shot early in the first half was barely tested.

Bruno 6 - Good defensively and covered his side well, but did not offer anything in attack.

R. Costa 5 - Had two mistakes early in the match as he was beaten for the ball first time and then caught out of position. Had two good intervention as well and made some interceptions that keep his score at 5.

Stankevicious 6 - The best defender tonight as he intercepted several balls and defended really well.

Mathieu 5 - Had at least one good chance, but he failed to snatch the ball, maybe was thinking he was offside though. Anyways not the most productive going forward and too many times caught in attack and left the left defensive position vulnerable.

Maduro 5.5 - Had an early blunder as he passed the ball slowly to the goalkeeper and was almost caught by Racing attacker. Also felt down later on, lost the ball and that could have resulted in a goal. Improved in the second with the rest of the team and was more active and actually useful.

Tino Costa 5.5 - Poor first half, great second half. How to rate such performance? Made numerous inaccurate passes in the first half, lost the ball way too often and didn't prove much of anything. Second half he was like another player with a lot more accurate passing, scored the goal and made two brilliant passes. 

His assist to Ariel weighs down a lot though and if it wasn't for that mistake Valencia may have celebrated a win tonight.

Banega 7.5 - The only consistent performer in the first and second half. Was forced to come back and get the ball in the first half as he was not getting the ball from Tino or Maduro. Even better in the second as the whole team improved and was spreading the ball very well, great linkup with Tino and Chori and made several creative passes to get something going.

Pablo 5 - Really ineffective on the left wing. Made several through passes that were too obvious and inaccurate and apart from that nothing more.

Joaquin 5 - Similar performance to Pablo, but this one dribbled until he lost the ball. Not much creativity or energy.

Aduriz 5 - In offside position 3 times, failed to control the ball twice and ruined the potential chances. Improved somewhat in the second, but largely useless.

Subs:

Chori 6 - Better than Pablo and Joaquin certainly and ran well creating spots for the attacking players, had few good passes, but few bad judgements also and seems a bit rusty.

Soldado 7 - Twice in a row a match changer. Came in and instantly provided an attacking threat. Very active, seeked out good positions and provided a much needed attacking threat.

Miguel 6 - Had one good cross and one more cross that became more of a shot. He also had a real shot on goal and did quite better in attack than Bruno.

Racing Santander vs Valencia CF - Match preview

Racing Santander will host Valencia CF at El Sardinero tomorrow in what will be another crucial match for Valencia CF.

Racing Santander has two losses and one draw in the last 3 matches and is currently sitting 16th on the table with only 20 points, just 2 more above relegation zone clubs.
The main threat for Valencia CF will probably be Markus Rosenberg, Racing's top goalscorer with 5 goals.
Racing have scored a total of 15 goals in La Liga, but have received 29 goals, though they are still one of the best defensive sides in the bottom 10 clubs.

Only thing going for Racing is their good form in their home stadium where they have not been beaten since last September.

Tono had this to say when interviewed about the match against Valencia CF: “Against Valencia CF, we must keep our good results at El Sardinero stadium, where we’ve added quite a lot of points and have been scored just a few goals. That’s the way we must go on”.

Racing Santander squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF on the other hand are on a winning streak of 5 matches in a row and haven't lost in the last 6 matches in La Liga. Valencia CF managed to somehow continue its streak last weekend against Malaga with a bit of luck and refereeing decisions going in its favor, but the play wasn't really great for the Valencia CF fans, maybe for the neutral viewers, but not for anyone else.

Since the match against Malaga Valencia CF has purchased Brazilian striker Jonas from Gremio for 1.2 million euros and he should complete our attacking options, as previosly Valencia CF had only 2 natural strikers with Soldado and Aduriz. Jonas won't feature in tomorrow match as he is yet to fully complete his transfer, but should be available for selection next week.

After the big defensive mistakes suffered against Malaga, Emery has been working on tightening up the defense and practicing R. Costa and Stankevicious in a partnership and Dealbert with Navarro as the second partnership in short match practices.

The biggest problem would be who to choose for the midfield roles after last weeks obvious problems in the midfield as well. Does he start Tino Costa or Ever Banega in a more advanced midfield role and the second choice would be to either start Topal or Maduro in a defensive midfield role.

Vicente is injured for almost two weeks now and Mata was injured in training after a collision with Navarro. David Albelda, Cezar Sanchez and Moya are still injured, though the two goalkeepers are slowly recovering and I wouldn't be surprised in they are fully fit in a week or so. Dealbert has been left out of the squad after last weeks miserable game.

Anyways you can expect a tough match in which Racing is going to play mostly defensively and will try to get a draw in order to continue their good home and form and Valencia will search for a win in order to get away from either Espanyol or Villareal, as tonight these two clubs are playing each other and one is bound to loose points.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita, Saúl.
Defense: Miguel, Bruno, David Navarro, Stankevicius, Ricardo Costa, Jordi Alba, Mathieu.
Midfield: Maduro, Topal, Tino Costa, Banega, Pablo, Joaquín.
Attack: Domínguez, Aduriz, Soldado.

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Mathieu; Joaquin, Topal, Banega, Pablo, Soldado, Aduriz.
Tactics: High frequency crosses from the right wing, low defensive line, medium opposing team pressure.
The biggest change in tactics would be the defensive line and in this match it will be set to low in order to tighten up the defense and allow the defensive midfielder to fall back faster and be able to more effectively break up opposition attacks. With Vicente and Mata injured, Pablo is probably going to play on the left wing, but he will also be free to roam the field in attack and at times even play as a creative midfielder just behind the attackers.

Result prediction:
Racing Santander 0-2 Valencia CF
I can see Valencia CF winning this match and anything less will be considered a failure, especially since Racing is fighting for survival. If Valencia is able to play good football with good ball possession and iniciative I can see Valencia winning 2-0. Its not going to be easy though as seen from the past matches  and if Racing put enough pressure we may concede a goal.
Anyways I strongly believe will see a better game from Valencia and we should be able to win.

Official: Sofiane Feghuoli joins Almeria on a loan deal

Valencia have confirmed that Sofiane Feghouli has joined fellow Spanish Primera Division club Almeria on loan for the rest of the season.

Feghouli has made just three Liga appearances and played just once each in the Copa del Rey and in the Champions League.

The loan contract doesn't have any buy-option for Almeria.
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Brazilian striker Jonas from Gremio transfers to Valencia CF

While its still not official, the transfer can only fail if the player has failed his medical exam, so its a pretty done deal.

Brazilian striker Jonas Gonçalves Oliveira has signed for Valencia CF from Gremio for a fee of 1.2 million euros. Jonas signed a contract with Valencia that will have him stay in Valencia 4 and a half years, starting from this January. It seems that Valencia used the players low release clause of 1.2 million euros to snatch the player from Gremio and has also offered him a better salary of around 1.000.000 euros.

The player considered this his big chance and happily accepted the offer from Valencia CF.
If you ask me I'd say this is a very good deal at a bargain price for a good striker. If he settles well in Valencia and with the Spanish style of football he could become an important player for Valencia. Whatever the case at least now Valencia has 3 strikers and Valencia can play more often with the 4-4-2 formation as there would be no fears now of Aduriz or Soldado getting fatigued or injured.

How should Valencia CF improve its shortcomings?

I don't have the time to analyze the whole season for now, although I'm going to take the time in the future, but for now I'm just going to analyze the Malaga match and draw some conclusions on how to improve aspects of Valencia's game.

As you can read from the match report Valencia had a dreadful first half, was outplayed by a 10 men Malaga and they managed to score two goals.
In the second half things improved, but Malaga was still playing with a men down and 20 minutes later with only 9 men.

The main problem was in the first half and although Valencia received a goal in the second half with 2 men advantage it was more of a unlucky circumstances and individual mistakes.

When the match began the 2nd minute told me everything how this match is going to be played out. I lost the pre-match confidence and I knew we were going to be defending and tracking the ball, instead of dominating the game and setting the path of the game.

The weakest source was Valencia midfield as Tino Costa and Maduro failed to keep possession and regain possession when we lost the ball quickly.  The primary job of a defensive midfielder is to break opponents play by either winning the ball back and regain possession, or make a tackle with or without a foul to give the defense time to organize.
Maduro as a defensive midfielder failed miserably to do any of these things and all he did is mark opposition players, but without putting pressure on them or making strategic tackles. If you watch only Maduro's moves you'll easily see that his decisions were mostly wrong, depending on where he was on the field at the time of the decision he made.
For example tackling a player 25 meters from goal is considered bad, as he gives away a free kick to the opponent in a close and dangerous area. Another example would be not tackling the opposing player few meters after the half line on Valencia's side of the pitch.

The job of Alberto "Tino" Costa is to keep possession, pass the ball around and be available at all times to receive the ball, only in order to bring it back into circulation. In few occasions he can make a dribble or go to the wings to support the attacking players.
For example you don't see Xavi from Barcelona dribbling or going to the wings or making too many direct passes, because his job is to keep possession and circle the ball around so that other players can exploit a possible opening. He will sometimes put a through ball from the center or make a cross when there is a real chance to make an assist or threaten the opposition goal.

Tino Costa did everything wrong and everything he is not supposed to do. He made several inaccurate passes, dribbled too much and often went to the left wing to support the attacking players when he just shouldn't have, as this created huge space in the middle for Malaga to exploit.

When Malaga was one man down is the prime example of Tino's wrong moves, as instead of Valencia gaining possession, Malaga was still the team with more possession and constantly attacking.

Tino Costa is by nature a more attacking midfielder or AM, as he can dribble, shift position and make a dangerous pass. He is not a natural deep laying midfielder or a playmaker and this is really exposed in matches where the opponent tries to control the ball and this is why Valencia loose possession.

Banega is a player suited for the playmaker role from a deep laying midfield position as he spreads the ball around, makes himself available to receive the ball back and then passes the ball again. There are moments when he will dribble or push forward, but usually he keeps his position back in the midfield and this is why it works for him.
Last season with an experienced and great defensive midfielder like Albelda who can break up opponents play, make a foul at the right time it worked so good. Even if Banega was out of position on rare occasions and Valencia lost the ball, Albelda was there to intercept and make the right move to cripple and stop the opponents.

What works and what doesn't work?

Of course Tino has been generally playing well this season and this is because weaker teams or teams who don't try to control the ball and attack on the counter, his shortcomings are not exposed and he can in those matches make a move or a pass that has a positive result.

Another disadvantage is that Valencia lack a true leader on the pitch. While Miguel and Joaquin may be a captains they lack the leadership skills that Albelda has. Even Vicente lack those skills and the two players that have these leadership skills are Cezar and Albelda.

If you watch matches when Cezar was on goal you can see that the defense is a lot more stable and calm. They don't do stupid mistakes, don't get disorganized, because they know they can fall back to a stable and reliable leader on the goal. This is what our current young goalkeeper Guaita lacks and he probably won't have until he is 32 years of age.

Albelda is the other example case. With him as a defensive cover the defense is again much calmer and stable, as they know that in front of them in an experienced leader that is going to make the right move to help out the defense.

Leading the way!

With Albelda and Cezar injured there is absolutely no leader on the pitch and what Valencia this season lack also from the previous one is a top, top player like Villa was. David Villa was so good that people relied upon him to make a miracle and score a goal, saving Valencia from a defeat or a draw and Villa was actually more than capable of doing such things. He will move from the left wing towards the opponents goal, dribble past two defenders and score a goal from a 90 degree angle.

Right now neither Aduriz or Soldado are capable of such feats and in the whole squad there isn't a top player that adds and shares that aura of greatness that players will feel.

What Valencia is trying to do is positive and its a future project of bringing young and talented players to the squad, but its also the case Arsenal for example have won the title so little, apart from the two seasons where they absolutely dominated in the Premier League. Also don't forget that at that time they also had Denis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Vieira.

What is the best formation and which are the best working players together?

Every team that wants to be a competitor for a title must have these experienced and leader material players to fight for top honors. Valencia right not only has Albelda and Cezar and when the season is over its possible it will loose both.
With no top player also its even more crippled and there is always that sense of vulnerability.

So what can we conclude out of all this? Well we can conclude that Valencia needs Albelda and Cezar back, even if they are only on the bench or training sessions and Valencia need to buy or create a top player to share his aura of greatness around the squad.

Who is the leader?

Valencia also need starting eleven players that are going to work great together, players that can cover each others weaknesses and shortcomings. For example you need a player that can keep possession to cover for Tino's shortcomings, you need a solid defensive midfielder than can cover for Banega's shortcomings and so on...

You need a team of great mixture of strengths to cover for the apparent weaknesses. This is of course the job of the coach to find the "perfect" starting eleven and players that work best when fielded together.

Of course such starting eleven may need a formation change and those don't change easily as we've already seen how formation changes are devastating to the performance of Valencia. This is why a formation change needs to be smooth and gradual, especially at mid season.

Valencia has a weaker defense, so make sure you cover it with great possession football play and a stable defensive midfielder that can really help out in troublesome situations. I don't have the perfect formation since I only see the team play on official matches and I'm not in all those training sessions, but Unai emery must look deeper than before and find out exactly which players and where are most efficient.

Can the team work like a well oiled machine?

Valencia CF 4-3 Malaga - Match Report

What a crazy match this turned out to be. Valencia struggled for 90 minutes to win this match against 9 men Malaga who from the 15th minute played with one man less and than from the 65th minute with two man less.

The first half was a disaster for Valencia, we had almost no ball control, no chance and no shot towards Malaga goal. In one word the team sucked and did not deserve to win.
Malaga had a clear chance from the second minute when Guaita saved Valencia goal, the ball reflected to another Malaga player, but Miguel blocked the shot.

Malaga was dominating on the filed and in the 10th minute after a blunder from Dealbert Rondon scored a goal.
Malaga kept pressuring and kept attacking as they were playing at home against some second division team.
Dealbert was just awful as he made 4 huge mistakes and frankly speaking after such a performance he should sit on the bench for the remainder of the season.

Anyways going back to the 16th minute Pablo released a pass that found Mata, but newly signed Demichelis fouled Mata and the referee awarded Valencia with a penalty and a bit harshly awarded Demichelis a red card.
Mata set up to shoot the penalty and scored with a low shot in the far right corner of the net.

As soon as you think Valencia will be on the way to dominating the match from there on and playing good, just the opposite happened with Valencia pinched back and defending. This is the time that Dealbert made all those mistakes, though only 1 resulted in a goal, but the whole defensive line and cover was pretty disastrous. After a cross in Valencia's penalty area Aduriz, Maduro and Dealbert were outjumped, someone from Malaga headed the ball on the right side and found Rondon once again who easily scored totally unmarked by anyone. It was 2-1 for Malaga and a well deserved lead, because Valencia was not even playing football.

The first 45 minutes ended and change was necessary in order to restore some decency into the performance.

To Emery's credit he made the two perfect and logical choices and the ones I would pick to change the match around. He brought Soldado for the poor Dealbert and Banega for the ineffective and barely visible Jordi Alba.

Second half was different and Valencia immediately started strongly with possession and determination with Banega pulling the strings in midfield.The goal Valencia seek would come quickly in the 52nd minute from Soldado. The actions started with Banega as he made a long pass towards Pablo and this one made the assist to Soldado who scored a fine goal.

Just when it seemed there can be no more drama, Malaga defender Rosario was shown a red card for making some gesticulations to the line referee. The nervousness in the Malaga defense would be used by Valencia and Banega would score a goal to put Valencia ahead. After some chaos in the Malaga penalty area and bad judgement from Sergio Asenjo who failed to punch the ball out and the ball was traveling out of the penalty area and towards the oncoming Banega who placed a low shot in the low left corner of the net and scored a goal.

If this wasn't enough drama then Malaga would go on to score again and this time it was the collective mistake of Maduro who was out of position, Stankevicious and even Miguel who failed to get the ball out of Baptista's feet and he scored a brilliant trade-mark goal like the ones he used to score back in him prime days.

Valencia struggled to find the winning goal and just when all hope was lost, Malaga just couldn't fight anymore. The ball somehow luckally found Aduriz who after missing several opportunities managed to score a goal and put Valencia in the lead again with 4-3.

In the end a disapointing match for the Valencia fans as realistically Valencia really deserved to loose this match. The first half play was a tragedy and even though Valencia improved in the second, with a 9 man Malaga it would have been absolute even worse than tragedy not to win.

Technical details:
Valencia CF (4): Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicius, Dealbert (Banega, min. 45), Mathieu; Maduro, Tino Costa, Pablo (Joaquín, min. 70), Mata, Jordi Alba (Soldado, min. 45); Aduriz.

Málaga CF (3): Asenjo;Eliseu, Rosario, Demichelis, Gámez; Maresca (Gaspar, min. 20), Camacho, Apoño, Duda (Fernández, min. 70), Rondón (Recio, min. 67); Baptista.

Goals: 0-1, Rondón, min. 10; 1-1, Mata, min. 15; 1-2, Rondón, min .34; 2-2, Soldado, min.53; 3-2, Banega, min. 67; 3-3, Baptista, min 79; 4-3, Aduriz, min. 90.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 7 - The only man in the team that actually performed good, he made two absolute great saves to save Valencia from loosing 4-1.
Miguel 4 - Not directly at fault for any of the goals, though should have probably covered Rondon for the second one and didn't really provide any support in attack.
Stankevicious 4 - At fault for the 3rd goal as he failed to tackle Baptista and allowed him a clear shot on Valencia's goal that resulted in a goal.
Dealbert 2 - Dreadful display as he made 4 huge defensive errors and always looked nervous and unsure.
Mathieu 5 - Maybe the best on the defenders and no threat came from his side, also offered some support going forward in the second half when Valencia took more initiative.
Pablo 7 - I'm going to put Pablo as man of the match once again. He was the only player that looked dangerous and offered a creative spark. He made the pass to Mata in the first half and after Mata was fouled the penalty was awarded. The also made the assist to Soldado for Valencia's second goal.
Maduro 4 - Failed in his defensive duties and partially at fault for the second recieved goal as he along with Aduriz and Dealbert were out jumped and failed to clear the ball out of Valencia's penalty area.
Tino Costa 3 - Absolutely dreadful performance in this match. He failed to provide any pass, lost the battle in the midfield and basically did not do anything for 45 minutes, until the second half when Banega came in and provided some stability in the midfield. Don't forget that Valencia were also playing with 1 man more from the 15th minute and Tino still lost the midfield battle.
Alba 2 - Barely visible. Apart from one run and one missed header I did not see him in this match.
Mata 6 - One of the few people that actually was useful. He provided the penalty, scored the penalty and generally was useful and dangerous.
Aduriz 4 - Scored a goal, but missed 3 chances to make Valencia's job a whole lot easier. Barely even touched the ball, apart from 3 failed chances and one scored goal.
Subs:
Soldado 7 - Came in for the dreadful Dealbert and immediately provided a much needed attacking threat. Scored a quick goal after he came in and make the assist to Aduriz for the winning goal.
Banega 7 - Came in and Valencia got back control of the midfield. Started the action that lead to the second goal, scored the third goal and was always threatening when going forward and also instrumental for Valencia keeping possession.
Joaquin 5 - He failed to surpass Pablo and apart from few crosses didn't really add much to Valencia attack.

Valencia CF vs Malaga - Match preview

Time for Valencia CF vs Malaga match preview:
The second half of the season begins for Valencia tomorrow when they face Malaga at the Mestalla. The club has made an interesting innitiative for the fans to come to the stadium and tomorrow will be for all the fans to wear their scarf's and lift them in the air. There will also be prizes for hand out to the "best" supporters.

Valencia CF has been in great shape the last few matches and is on a great winning streak that it hopes will continue in the second half of the season and the first obstacle will be Malaga, who just purchased 4 new players in the winter transfer market.

Unai Emery has his hands full this time around and will have problems selecting the starting eleven. For a lack of better term the "problem" comes with the recent string of good results and which players to choose, as players like R. Costa and Navarro are back for a while now, as well as midfielder Ricardo Tino Costa and Joaquin.

Valencia CF has played great with Stankevisious and Dealbert at the defense and Maduro and Banega in midfield and so choosing the right starting eleven will be difficult.
Last match Vicente got a chance to start and really impressed with his performance. Pablo has also been out of his slump for the last few matches and is currently in top form and again do you play Pablo who is currently in great form or the more consistent Joaquin who has returned from his 2 matches suspension after the verbal assault on one of the referees after the Villarreal match in the Copa Dell Rey.

Valencia cf managed to win the first match against Malaga by 3 goals to 1 and it was a fairly comfortable victory without too much struggle. This time around Malaga has been reinforced with few new names and is hoping to make a positive start of their own.

There has been some reports that suggest Vicente got injured on today's training session and will not be able to play. This is yet to be confirmed though and I'm hoping its a false alarm.

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


Malaga on the other hand has been quite poor for much of the first half of the season and their rich owner was forced to spend a few more millions in the winter transfer market to strengthen the squad.

Even Pelegrini who is a renowned coach in Spain couldn't make Malaga team work and they are still in real danger of falling to the second division and only achieving good results in the second half of the season can guide them above any danger of relegation.

Julio Baptista is one of the new names in Malaga and although a little short of match fitness he is quite big reinforcement for the team. He was also quite confident that they can win against Valencia and is hopeful of a great start to their "new" season. Fact is that several Malaga players and their coach have called this a new start and the team is full of optimism, which in turn is bad news for Valencia, as Malaga probably won't be pushovers and will put up a fight this time around.

Malaga squad: to be announced...


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Maduro, Tino, Mata, Dominguez, Aduriz.
Tactics: Low frequency crosses from the wings, positional changes from the 2 wingers, very high defensive line, high opposing field pressure, forward rotation.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 3-1 Malaga
I am going to predict the same result as in the first match between these two sides. Malaga may have strengthen their squad in this transfer window, but Valencia are still a far superior side to them and with the latest calls of Unai Emery for improved efficiency in front of goal, I have every reason to believe that they have achieved good results in that department with the whole week they had of training.
Malaga new players also lack match fitness and are even unlikely to feature, since they mostly sat on their previous clubs benches.
It is also possible that Valencia will keep a clean sheet as the recent results suggest such an option, though I don't want to be too optimistic and I'm calling it a 3-1 win for Valencia.

Official: Sunny loaned out to Numancia

Sunny was loaned out to Numancia for the remainder of the season. This is good news for Valencia and mostly the player, as he was left out of the squad and training sessions by coach Unai Emery and he has been training alone for more than 6 months now.

Sunny is a midfielder with Nigerian origin, but also has a Spanish passport and even played for Spain's U-21 squads a few times.

The player was excited to complete this loan move and is ready to commit to Numancia and show what he is capable for. Numancia president Francisco Rubio thanked Valencia, Sunny, and his representatives for making the deal happen and hopes that Sunny can rediscover his old form.

Sunny was once considered a huge talent and a rising star and that is why Valencia purchased him, but he had fallen out of favor with the coach and has not featured for Valencia for two seasons. 

Valencia CF coach Unai Emery Interview

Valencia CF coach Unai Emery gave an interview to the official Valencia CF website. Here it is:

50 victories
“I am satisfied with having earned the 50th win, but also satisfied in general for the work that the team is doing at the moment. The team keeps hitting targets and have the ambition to make every win a stepping stone for the next one."

The third best first half of the decade
“We have 37 points, but things don't stop yet. We have the entire second half of the season to go, in which we want to continue on this constant road. We also want some small improvements in every aspect of our play, and above all to set out our stall as a team who should be in the Champions League again next season."

Desire for improvement
“We have two teams above us in Real Madrid and Barcelona, who are at such a high level that it is difficult to compete with them and to keep up with them under the present circumstances. But we will try to do so. Our other rivals like Villarreal and Espanyol are having a great season, and we are competing against them. We also mustn't forget that other teams may join in the fight, like Atlético de Madrid or Sevilla. We are satisfied, with the door also open for improvement. We want to transmit the idea that we can keep on growing, through our effort, dedication and teamwork."

Ambitions for the future
“The team are showing that they are maturing, through their refusal to give in and their insistence on going for the win right until the end. It is this attitude that has given us wins recently, when we have refused to settle for a draw. It is an important detail. However, we have also had our dips -like the second half against Villarreal. In that game, we had the quarter final in the palm of our hand, and let it get away. That was a return to some bad habits, and fortunately we have been able to correct the mistakes in the league."

The Academy
"We can't forget about Valencia CF's history, and what we want the club to be at present. We want a hard working team and to bring through the youth team players. Youngsters are coming through to the first team from our academy in Paterna, and it is a source of great satisfaction for everyone. To give two examples, right now we have Guaita and Jordi Alba in the first team.

Mestalla
“I can't repeat often enough that for the team, Mestalla is a place where we want to feel comfortable. We want to get this through to the fans, so that they in turn pass on this strength to the players. We want the team to feel as good as possible, so that they can win games."

Home games the key
“We know how crucial it is to make Mestalla into a fortress, where we always go out as favourites to win. That will happen with the invaluable support of the fans helping us to get stronger."

Champions League knockout stage
"We can't forget that we have a very attractive tie against Schalke 04 and Raúl still to come. We have our eye on this two-legged contest, which we will begin at Mestalla before the second match in Germany. We will be looking to do a great job in order to get through to the next round, and we want the fans to enjoy the occasion too."

Source: valenciacf.com

Unai Emery spell with Valencia CF analyzed

Warning: Long text ahead...
The question should Valencia coach Unai Emery be sacked has been floating around for few weeks now and especially after Valencia lost their match to Villarreal and consequentially got out of the Copa Del Rey cup. In this article I'm going to follow Valencia CF coach Unai Emery spell with Valencia from the start to now and draw some conclusions how's he done and should he be replaced.

Going back to the season 2007-08 Valencia was playing fairly well and than came the sacking of coach Quique Sanchez Flores and the appointment of new coach Ronald Koeman, who left PSV to join Valencia. This was supposed to be a match made in haven, only in turned out it was a match made in hell as Koeman broke the relationship with many Valencia veterans, made constant first team changes and Valencia was in the relegation zone and fighting to survive. The only thing that came out from the season was the surprise Copa Del Rey trophy.
Koeman was fired before the end of the season and was replaced with Valencia intern Voro who lead Valencia to 10th place finish.

 Unai Emery was then the coach of Almeria who after guiding it to promotion in the first division finished 8th in the table with the average Almeria and was highly regarded. This caught the attention of Valencia board and Unai Emery was brought on a two year deal. This is how the journey of Unai Emery started with Valencia.

With Unai Emery now firmly at the helm the team made a terrific start to the league and was first in the standings for few matches. Valencia got beat by Barcelona to the leader spot and when the storm calmed Valencia was doing good enough, but not great. Then all of a sudden the ship started sinking and Valencia started performing poorly one and a half to two months before the Christmas break. This problem would not turn out Emery's fault as the team announced a huge debt of 400 to 500 million euros and the players were not even receiving their salary. The main people in the club at that time tried to calm down the players, media and fans and they announced that payment is going to continue normally in two months.
For those two months Valencia visibly performed bad and lost a lot of ground in the championship.

Emery's first season and he faced huge problems with players not getting payed and mounting pressure from all sides as Valencia's future was not even certain at that point. He had to work with the youthful Mata, the emerging Silva and with shattered spirits of the remaining veterans at Valencia.
Somehow amid all the chaos Unai Emery managed to regulate the sporting department and steer the club slowly but steadily to 6th place finish in the standings and allowed Valencia to go to the Uefa cup.

The season was hard and conditions were bad, the club was in meltdown, but the players with Emery at the helm managed to get to the respectable 6th place finish, an incredible feature if you ask me at that point in time, with Mata playing his best season than looking from this point of time and the continuity of several of Valencia's veterans int the next season.

The season 2009-10 started and now with a presidents change and new board and high spirits in the sporting department with the securing of Villa and Silva stay after a ton of speculation about their future at the club.
Few new players were brought in also, mostly cheap ones or on free transfer such as Moya, Dealbert, Mathieu and Bruno.

In the preseason Valencia had some very interesting training sessions that were fun and yet demanding with a good mixture of physical and technical training.

Valencia started the season with bad defense and people were calling out the coach for the defensive errors. Unai Emery reacted and replaced the goalkeeper Moya with Cezar Sanchez, as well as the defensive pairing and the results started coming and the defense was good for the most part.
After winning most of its matches and going into an unbeaten run of few matches the media started calling Valencia a title contender to Barca and R. Madrid and pressure started mounting on the players and coach and much like last season Valencia good results came to a grueling stop. Clearly the coach methods and training sessions were working and Valencia was able to achieve a good start, but the players were not stable enough to continue in their best form.
Nevertheless Valencia continued well and apart from Barca and R. Madrid was the best of the rest.
Into Emery's second season on the winter break and Valencia began to be considered as a top team in Spain again and you can tell from the reaction of many of the coaches before their matches vs Valencia, where they were making all the excuses for a possible loss before the match was even played.

Banega who was to be let go after drinking and staying late too much became a different person and player under the guidance of Emery. In fact he became so good that he was irreplaceable in the midfield and helped guide Valencia to 3rd position in the league.
 Valencia also had a bit of luck in the signing of Cezar Sanchez as he would prove to be a mountain on the goal and single-handendly won Valencia several matches. Valencia didn't perform as good in the Copa Del Rey going out to Atletico Madrid and also failed to go a long way in the Uefa cup, but it was playing really well in La Liga and finished 3rd with 71 points that in older times would have probably won Valencia the title.
 Unai Emery reached the clubs objectives for qualifying into the Champions League and his contract was extended for one year.

The 2010-11 would see the likes of David Villa and David Silva leave, but Valencia used that money to purchase some new players with the likes of Soldado, Tino Costa and Aduriz.
The preseason was once again great as they started with low exercises to gain fitness and gradually progressed into more physical training sessions. There were also the fun training session that had the players in nature and jumping and climbing and riding on ropes on the trees.

With so many players leaving and coming Emery requested as much friendlies as possible to get the squad gel and in peak condition for the start of the league. Emery got what he requested and Valencia played 8 matches in which was surprisingly poor. The problem was found in the 4-3-3 formation that Emery was trying to implement and after going to the more familiar 4-2-3-1 the results came against Fiorentina and Lecce.
Valencia started the campaign with an unbeaten run of several matches and once again same as the two seasons before was great in the start only to get into a bad run of results after the 5th or 6th match.
The rest of this season you know and yesterday was the last match of the first half of the season with Valencia currently at 4th position, 2 points behind 3rd placed Villarreal.

So what conclusions can we draw here and can we really call Emery a bad or a good coach? The answer is very complex and probably not even possible, but what we can draw from all this is that Unai Emery has done some pretty amazing things in some of the conditions he has worked under.

Imagine Jose Mourinho coming to Valencia and than finding out the players are not even taking their salary, the club future in shatters and all talk is about the financial situation and not the sporting one. Would Jose Mourinho been able to get a broken team in every regard that fought for survival last season and make it function enough to finish at 6th place?
We will never know, but I'd imagine most coaches would have been lucky to avoid relegation again, let alone fight for going out of Spain and playing in some of the European cups.
We can call Emery's first season at Valencia a total success, regardless if someone else could have achieved more or less.

Emery's second season at Valencia was also a success. Going back even just several seasons now and those 71 points could have won you the title in Spain, but with the form and way Barcelona has been playing winning the league is right now probably impossible even for R. Madrid a team full of stars and previous best players in world awards.

Valencia's current season with Unai Emery so far is also a success. Valencia finished half the season with only 2 less points than the previous season and with the likes of Villa and Silva gone.

I can't tell how good or bad our players are, because those opinions are based on how the team performs and their individual performances. All I know is that Aduriz and Soldado are not on the level of David Villa and Tino Costa, Feghuoli and/or Dominguez are not on the same level as David Silva.

If Valencia president Llorente thinks even the slightest like me this season Emery is as safe as anyone can possibly be. If Valencia also reach their season objectives at the end I fail to see why Valencia should risk getting a new coach and having the possibility of another Koeman happening.
If Valencia reaches its objective this season I think Valencia should extend Emery's contract by another year, if Valencia fail to qualify for the Champions League though, then it would be another story and Valencia should consider its options with different coaches.

Valencia CF 2-0 Deportivo La Coruna - Match Report

Valencia CF finally won in a well played match and is keeping up with still in 3rd place Villarreal. The play was amazing and direct, with every player knowing its position and movement and almost everyone played great.
I was also absolutely spot on at my result prediction as Valencia won 2-0.

The match started with Valencia CF in possesion and dictating play, but that was to be expected and it was clear that Deportivo La Coruna is going to defend and will be more than happy to get away with a point.
The midfield duo of Ever Banega and Hedwiges Maduro functioned very good and Valencia was keeping possession and the passing was mostly accurate.

Right from the start Pablo and Vicente were very dangerous on their sides and the majority of actions started and ended with them. Mata was also linking up very well with Pablo and Vicente and coming back to play them on and then running back to Deportivo's penalty area.

Miguel and Mathieu were also very active in going forward and with Maduro covering at the back the play was solid and stable. The only player that was clearly lacking was Soldado as he continuously scrambled good balls coming towards him and was very nervous from the start.

Deportivo got bombarded from the flanks with Vicente and Pablo with the support of the full backs were constantly creating chances and Mata with his running was creating spaces for Soldado or someone else to use.
With all the attacking play going on Valencia just couldn't break Deportivo and the first half ended 0-0.

In the second half Deportivo decided to start playing and was gaining back some control of the match with several attacks down the left wing. On one counter attack the defense did not mark all Deportivo players and someone made a great shot towards Valencia goal, but Guaita was ready and made a superb save to keep Valencia level.

Valencia has a lot of chances in the second half also, more than I can remember and especially Vicente and Pablo were wrecking havoc to the Deportivo defense. Pablo, Mata and Soldado has a shot at goal, but it seemed like nothing Valencia did can go in.

Maduro made way for the returning Tino Costa and soon after Ever made way for Topal. Tino was clearly lacking form as he made several bad passes and allowed Deportivo to go on the counter, but he always got back and win the ball back redeeming himself for the danger he created.
After few bad passes than came a superb pass by Tino Costa that found Mathieu on the far left side of the goal, Aranzubia came jumping towards Mathieu but Mathieu's shot past the goalkeeper and went into the net.
Valencia finally got the lead and it was Mathieu who scored the goal in the 77th minute.

The match was not over though and Deportivo tried to get back in it and started to attack. After a few messy and heart stopping situations in the Valencia penalty area, Valencia gained back some control of the midfield and mounted a few counter attack.


Somehow in stoppage time the ball got towards Mata who luckally got past two Deportivo players and ran towards the goal, with Pablo and Soldado ahead of him. Mata than passed the ball towards Pablo and again Deportivo goalkeeper left his goal and jumped toward Pablo, but this one made a nice right move avoiding the goalkeeper and shooting in the empty net, it was 2-0 for Valencia just as the match was about to finish.



Technical Details:
Valencia CF (2): Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicius, Dealbert, Mathieu; Maduro (Tino Costa, min.68), Éver (Topal, min.77); Pablo, Mata, Vicente (Jordi Alba, min.87); Soldado.

Deportivo La Coruna (0): Aranzubía; Laure, Lopo, Aythami, Colotto, Manuel Pablo; J.Rodriguez (Pablo Álvarez, min. 86), A.Tomas, J.Dominguez (Juca, min. 83); Lassad (Valerón, min. 79) y Adrian.

Goals: 1-0 Min.77, Mathieu; 2-0 Min.93, Pablo Hernández.


Player Ratings:
Guaita 7 - Did not have much to do, but made a wonderful save in the second half to keep Valencia level with Deportivo.
Miguel 7.5 - One of his best matches no doubt about that. Great in defense and amazing in attack, linked up well with Pablo and his passes were mostly dangerous.
Stankevicious 7 - Solid at the back and responsible for stopping several Deportivo attacks.
Dealbert 6 - Not as good as Stankevicious and had few lapses, but generally good considering he was also covering a lot for Mathieu's involvement in attack.
Mathieu 8 - One of Mathieus best matches and one long overdue. Somewhat missing in defense in the second half, but superb offensively and had good understanding with Vicente. Scored the first goal that essentially won the match for Valencia.
Pablo 9 - Rarely put a foot wrong, his passing was impeccable, his running dangerous and created a ton of chances for his team mates. This kind of play we would like to expect from Pablo in the future also.
Banega 6.5 - After a disappointing season that let a lot of fans down tonight he showed he still possess great skills and was mostly good with the passing, run well and got involved in few attacks. His best moment being the pass towards Soldado just before he was substituted. Made a few errors in the second half though that lower his score by 0.5 points.
Maduro 7 - Great defensive display and covered the whole field and helped out constantly at the back and break up Deportivo's play in the midfield. Also had a good involvement in attack.
Vicente 7.5 - Performance that remind us all of Vicente past glory and how he can be a superb player on his day. These kind of performances will have his contract extended and he showed that he still has fight left in him. Great play all match long, some amazing passes with Mata and a menace on the left wing for Deportivo.
Mata 8 - Somewhat disappointing start to the match as he started slowly and clumsy, loosing few balls and making the wrong decisions, but improved enormously as the match was progressing. He started linking up well with Pablo and Vicente and was actively engaged in most of the attacks. Had a shot on goal and poped-up in every spot. Started the counter attack for the second goal and made the assist to Pablo.
Soldado 3 - Frustrating performance from a frustrated man. For some reason he started the match frustrated and from start to finish he was always frustrated. Every pass, move and shot he made was either bad or the wrong choice in that situation. He seemed like a second division average striker tonight.
Subs:
Tino Costa 7 - Came in for Maduro and slotted well immediately, but made few bad passes that resulted in Deportivo attacking, but raced back to defense and won the ball every time redeeming himself. Made a superb pass to Mathieu that lead to the first goal.
Topal N/A - Not enough time, but did well to win back some balls although not involved in much of anything.
Alba N/A - Not enough time.

Valencia CF vs Deportivo La Coruna - Match Preview

Tomorrow Valencia CF will welcome Deportivo La Coruna to the Mestalla in yet another important match.
After the loss to Villarreal in the Copa Del Rey coach Unai Emery has said this can be an advantage to Valencia and that having less matches will help Valencia be more competitive in the Spanish league and overtake Villarreal in 3rd position.

The Copa Del Rey loss was not taken well with the fans and the Valencia board and president Llorente, so there has been numerous meetings between all the staff in order to lay out the objectives for third place finish in La Liga and tighten up some of problems in recent weeks like lack of stamina and fitness.
Currently everyone at Valencia from the coaching staff, fitness staff and doctors are under pressure to deliver good results and collectively help Valencia to reach its season objectives.

Valencia is currently 4th in the standings with 34 points, 2 behind 3rd place rival Villarreal and a win tomorrow may theoretically bring us to third place, assuming Villarreal loose their match tonight.

Deportivo La Coruna are  currently 13th on the table and while they are a tough team to crack and good defensively, they are desparate in attack and would probably not score even if there was no goalkeeper in their opponents squads.
Their away record is also poor and they have only won two times, drawn two times and lost five times.

Some Valencia players have returned to full fitness, while other even though have shaken off their injury are still not match fit. Navarro has been left out of the squad for lack of match fitness, while Tino Costa has returned to the squad and may even feature in tomorrow match.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita and Saúl
Defense: Miguel, Bruno, R. Costa, Stankevicius, Dealbert, Mathieu, Jordi Alba,.
Midfield: Maduro, Topal, T. Costa, Pablo, Ever, Vicente.
Attack: Domínguez, Mata and Soldado.
 
Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Maduro, Tino, Mata, Dominguez, Soldado.
Tactics: Low frequency crosses from the wings, positional changes from the 2 wingers, very high defensive line, low opposing field pressure, forward rotation.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 2-0 Deportivo La Coruna
Valencia is good enough to beat Deportivo especially on home terrain. Deportivo on the other hand can't score goals even if their opponents played without goalkeepers so I don't expect them to score.
Dominguiez has had a surprisingly great training and is likely to start especially since Aduriz is missing due to suspension.
If Valencia play even decent they should win this match, though Deportivo is a good team defensively and will not give up easily.

Juan Mata extends Valencia CF contract

Juan Mata has extended his contract with Valencia CF to 2014. After painstakingly long negotiations which unofficially started early last season Mata and Valencia have finally made the contract extension official.
The contract has been done a while ago, but small details needed to be sorted and finalized before the final agreement was set and signed.

The salary and details from the new contract are kept secret, but it is thought that Mata will make around 2.5 million euros per season and he is forbidden to talk to clubs about a possible move away and can only do so after Valencia has accepted the bid.

There will be a public ceremony tomorrow in which the contract will be made official in the town of Denia.

Valencia CF status updates

Here are several updates that had happened in the last few days:

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente has called an emergency meeting of the whole Valencia staff behind closed doors. This includes the coaching staff, sports staff, fitness staff and club doctors.
The rumor is that they are going to talk about transfers and the state of injured players, but I suspect its going to be more than that.
Best bet would be they will talk about transfers in the winter market, as well as the next season squad, but also talks about the current conditions of the players and level of play.
Considering Fernandes, Banega, Pablo, Chori have gained weight and Mathieu's recent stamina issues and several injuries I would guess the president is not pleased with the condition of the players and there will be talks to fix the situation fast.


Next on the list is the possible contract extension for Vicente Guaita, Valencia's current first goalkeeper. He has been in impressive form so far covering for the injured Cezar and Moya and with the failure to sign Diego Alves from Almeria the staff offered Guaita a contract extension that would see his current contract extended to 2014 and of course a salary increase. Nothing has been signed though and there are weeks, if not months of contract negotiations.

Last but not least is Valencia's coach Unai emery future. There has been a lot of talk recently and a shift in opinions regarding the future of Unai emery at the club, after the recent loss to Villarreal in the Copa Del Rey.
Unai Emery signed a 1 year contract extension last season and this means his future is not safe at the club.
With more and more people raising their voices against Unai Emery its no surprise that there is a lot of speculation and uncertainty about his future and if he should lead the team next season.
Manuel Llorente recently denied any speculations, but did not want to engage in talks about next season coach.
Anyways the biggest measurement if Emery is going to renew his contract with Valencia will be the results, for now the objectives are third place finish in La Liga and going past Schalke in the Champions League and as far as possible.

Uefa team of the year 2001

The Uefa website has started posting team of the year going back a decade. They revisited year 2001 in an article few days ago and two Valencia players from that year found themselves on it.
"Two of the UEFA Champions League losing finalists also made the cut, receiving the largest proportion of votes for any position: Valencia CF goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares and left midfielder Kily González."

Here is the full list:

UEFA.com users' Team of the Year 2001
GK: Santiago Cañizares (Valencia CF & Spain)
RB: Cosmin Contra (Deportivo Alavés/AC Milan & Romania)
CB: Sami Hyypiä (Liverpool FC & Finland)
CB: Patrik Andersson (FC Bayern München/FC Barcelona & Sweden)
LB: Bixente Lizarazu (FC Bayern München & France)
RM: David Beckham (Manchester United FC & England)
CM: Patrick Vieira (Arsenal FC & France)
AM: Zinédine Zidane (Juventus/Real Madrid CF & France)
LM: Kily González (Valencia CF & Argentina)
FW: Thierry Henry (Arsenal FC & France)
FW: David Trezeguet (Juventus & France)
Coach: Gérard Houllier (Liverpool FC)

Injury and training report

David Albelda has been ruled out of the squad for one month, following his surgery.
David Navarro and Chori Dominguez have been training normally in the last few days and Tino Costa has begun training normally also, although his recovery will probably last few more days, but he should be ready for Valencia's next match against Deportivo.

Aritz Aduriz will miss the Deportivo match due to suspension as he got his 5th yellow card in the last match against Levante.

Unai Emery put Tino Costa, Navarro and Chori in a training match in order to get some minutes of playing time. The training match was interesting because it pitted some of the first team players against the B team players.


The first team players were Saul on the goal, Bruno, Navarro, R. Costa and Mathieu in defense, while Joaquin, Tino, Banega and Vicente were in the midfield and Chori in attack. They played against the B team players and won the match 7-2.
Sofiane Feghuoli also played in the match replacing Tino Costa as he is still not fully match fit. Feghuoli also scored 2 goals, while Joaquin scored 3 goals.

New transfers page added

Today I'm pleased to announce I've added a new page "transfers" to this blog. There you will be able to see all the transfers Valencia completes.
I've thought about adding last years summer transfers, but that seemed a bit incomplete as I would also need to add the winter transfers from 2010, but I think its best to start fresh and build on from there I've decided to start with transfers from this year.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all who visited this blog and would urge you to visit regularly as that is what keeps me motivated to improve on the quality and quantity of this blog and offer you news, features and various articles about Valencia.

Also I would urge you to go on and vote on the poll as I'm interested in what you think about Unai Emery.

Levante UD 0-1 Valencia CF - Match Review

A late goal from Juan Mata helped Valencia take the spoils in the local derby against Levante and maintain their top-four ambitions.
The winger had earlier missed a penalty and struck the crossbar with a free-kick, but he made amends by sliding home the winner in the final ten minutes to hand Unai Emery's men three consecutive Primera Division wins.
The home crowd generated a lively atmosphere inside the Ciutat de Valencia, but the standard of football on the pitch could not match what was an important occasion for the hosts.
Luis Garcia’s enjoyed the best of the opening spell without creating any genuine opportunities, with Felipe Caicedo as usual being the most prominent attacker.

Valencia begun to grow into the contest, however, and on 26 minutes they were given a dream opportunity to open the scoring. Miquel Robuste needlessly blocked Hedwiges Maduro’s run into the area, and the referee did not hesitate in pointing to the spot.
Juan Mata strode up confidently to convert, but only contrived to clip the top of the crossbar as the ball whizzed over. It was a poor effort from the usually reliable Spanish international.
The match labored into the second half, a scrappy affair with neither side showing much in the way of quality. Levante threw on Christian Stuani and reverted to a 4-4-2, and within a minute of being involved the substitute crashed down in the area after a clash with Miguel, demanding a penalty that was not forthcoming.
Valencia rallied. Mata, still reeling from his spot kick miss, started to become involved again, and saw a beautifully floated free kick crash back off the crossbar, with home keeper Reina getting the faintest of touches to the effort.
But Los Che were upping the ante, and eventually they got the breakthrough their play deserved. Pablo Hernandez played the ball through to Mata, who was marginally played onside by full-back David Cerra, and this time the winger made no mistake, showing composure to roll the ball into the corner past the dive of Reina, and record his third goal of the season.
The Granotes had no time to respond, and Emery was delighted to see his team bounce back from Copa del Rey disappointment in midweek to edge three points clear of the chasing pack in the race for the top four.

Article from goal.com

Technical details:
Levante (0): Reina, Cerra, Robusté, Pallardó (Sergio, min, 64), Nadal (Muñoz, min. 75), Juanfran, X. Torres, Ballesteros, Juanlu, Rubén (Stuani, min. 64) y Caicedo.

Valencia CF (1): Guaita, Maduro, Topal, Soldado (Vicente, min. 75), Mata (Éver, min. 92), Aduriz, Dealbert, Stankevicius, Pablo (Feghouli, min. 87), Miguel y Jordi Alba.

Goals: 0-1 Min. 83 Mata.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 6 - Not much to do, though seemed quite confident in his performance.
Miguel 5.5 - Made few defensive mistakes, but largely good at the back and offered decent performance going forward.
Stankevicious 5.5 - Not much that he could do as Levante barely attacked all 90 minutes.
Dealbert 5.5 - Same as Stankevicious.
Alba 5 - His worst match this season, good defensively, but everything he did offensively was several bad passes.
Pablo 7 - Made the assist for Mata's goal and generally good in attack, served more as a creating midfielder rather than a winger.
Maduro 6 - His running into the Levante penalty area allowed for a penalty and generally decent, though as usual he became less and less effective towards the end. Too little fitness perhaps?
Topal 5.5 - Did well defensively, though had an easy time as Levante barely attacked.
Mata 6 - Scored a goal, but on the other hand he missed a penalty and scrambled few good chances.
Aduriz 5.5 - Run and fought the whole 90 minutes, but he was cut from service.
Soldado 5.5 - Often came outside to get the ball and was available for passing, not much service to him either.
Subs:
Vicente 6.5 -  When he came in the left side immediately became more dangerous. Showed Mata how to play from the wing as he made several good runs in the short time he had.
Feghuoli NA - Not enough time
Banega NA - Not enough time

Levante UD vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

Tonight's match will give Valencia an opportunity to bounce back after a demoralizing and agonizing defeat. Unai Emery is now considerably under pressure, but his stay at Valencia is more or less guarantied unless Valencia drop to 7th or 8th position in the Spanish table.

Valencia CF are coming to this match after the agonizing 4-2 loss to Villarreal in the Copa Del Rey. What makes this defeat so agonizing is that Valencia had a 2-0 lead over Villarreal, but failed to protect it in the second half. The referee also helped Villarreal by awarding them a non-existent penalty and the ground was set from Valencia to loose. The team lost all ability and confidence after such fast goals and ultimately lost 4-2.

Emery was critical of the way the team played in the second half and himself so he will try to find ways to strengthen our defense. Going against him is his own inexperience and pressure from the fans to tighten up at the back and bring good results.

Some players have came out of injury and will be ready to take part in the match against Levante. David Albelda, Chori Dominguez, Dadid Navarro and Tino Costa are to return to the team as well as the suspended Aritz Aduriz after serving out his one match ban.
On the flip side Joaquin will be unavailable as he was given a two match suspension by the board of referees, after he attacked one of the referees after the match vs Villarreal. He is also on a watch list and if he does such an action once again this season can be given a 12 match suspension, so when he returns he should be on a good behavior.Jeremy Mathieu is also out of the squad due to an injury he sustained during the match vs Villarreal.

Valencia CF squad: to be announced...

Levante UD on the other side had a decent week after managing to beat Real Madrind 2-0 on the return leg of the Copa Del Rey, although they lost 8-2 on aggregate, but they also had a good match before as they managed to stretch out Barcelona and make them work really hard for a 2-1 victory.
After loosing 8-0 to Real Madrid in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey Levante has really tightened up their defense and are coming to tonight's match really strong and anything but a loss would be great result for them because they are just few points from the relegation zone.


Levante UD squad:
Goalkeepers: Manolo Reina, Gustavo Munúa
Defenders: Juanfran García, Héctor Rodas, Javi Venta, Miguel Robusté, David Cerrajería, Sergio Ballesteros
Midfielders: Miguel Pallardó, Xisco Nadal, Xavi Torres, Sergio González, Xisco Muñoz, Valdo Lopes, Juanlu Gómez
Strikers: Felipe Caicedo, Christian Stuani, Rafa Jordá, Rubén Suárez


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Alba; Pablo, Maduro, Banega, Mata, Soldado; Aduriz.
Tactics: High frequency crosses from the wings, positional changes from the 2 wingers, medium defensive line, high opposing field pressure.

Result prediction:
Levante UD 1-1 Valencia CF
Levante is going to offer a lot of resistance and with their defense really tightened up they will be tough to crack. I think Valencia is going to score a goal first in the first half, but in the second half Levante is going to score a goal back from an counter attack.
I hope that Valencia can win, but seems very unlikely and that is why I predict 1-1 result.

Joaquin assaults the referee

After the Villareal vs Valencia match tonight ended Joaquin attacked the referee in the tunnel. Joaquin went to the main referee and said that he is a thief, stupid and low life asshole.
He than tried to physically attack him and swore at him. The cowardly referee not knowing what to do gave him a red card. Now I'm not too familiar with the rules, but I'm pretty sure you can't give a player a red card after the match has ended.

The referee said that he gave him a red card because he was insulted, threatened and assaulted by Joaquin.

Personally I think this referee should be fired because he is bad at this job and secondly he should have confronted the situation like a man and not like a scared little girl.

Also Valencia needs to file a suit on these referees as I think every expert can agree that they always make huge bad calls against Valencia.

Villareal CF 4-2 Valencia CF

Bravo for the referee and all the referees who are blind and stupid. How many times are referees going to make calls against Valencia? Red cards. yellow cards, penalties you name it, Valencia CF is always on the receiving end.

On to the match and Valencia simply forgot how to play football in the second half. After an awesome first half, in the second half its like the players were replaced by same looking robots who's program was to loose the match.

The match started as good as it can possible get. Ever Banega shot at goal at the 5th minute and with the help of Villareal goalkeeper the ball went into the net and it was 1-0 for Valencia.
Things got even better in the 22nd minute as Soldado got to a superb cross from Maduro and with a difficult move stopped the ball and than chipped it into Villarreal's net.
Valencia was leading 2-0 on 22 minutes into the match on Villareal's own ground. As the players managed to bring the game into the brake there was all the hope that this would be a wonderful win and a sign of maturation from all Valencia players.

As soon as the second half began we were doomed. 2 minutes into the second half and Villarreal equalized due to poor marking by all defensive players, but mostly because Stankevicious allowed 2 meters breathing space to the player he marked.
As has been usual for a lot of time now the referee had a say on who is going to win the match and only 1 minute later awarded Villareal a penalty by the main offender in this match non other than Stankevicious.
From that point on Valencia never recovered and managed to destroy everything it accomplished in the first half. Soon enough Ruben found himself alone and unmarked by the defense and easily scored the third goal for Villareal, but as if that wasn't enough Valencia went into a poor offense and left the back exposed and Villareal made it 4-2.

Technical details:
Result: Villareal CF 4-2 Valencia CF; AGG: Villareal CF 4-2 Valencia CF
Villarreal (4): Juan Carlos, Gonzalo, Ángel, Cazorla (Musacchio, min. 80), M. Ruben (Mario, min. 83), Cani (Joan Oriol, min. 86), Capdevila, Catalá, B. Valero, Bruno y Rossi.
Valencia CF (2): Guaita, Bruno, Maduro, Joaquín, Soldado, Mata, Dealbert (, Stankevicius, R. Costa, Éver (Topal, min. 59) y Mathieu (J. Alba, min. 71).
Goals: 0-1 Min. 4 Éver. 0-2 Min. 22 Soldado. 1-2 Min 47. Cazorla 2-2 Min. 48. Rossi. 3-2 Min. 63 Ruben. 4-2. Min. 92 Rossi.


Player Ratings:
Guaita 5 - Could not be blamed for any of the goals, though he probably should have done better for the third goal.
Bruno 5 - Brilliant first half performance and then went missing in the second half. He was nowhere in defense and offense.
Stankevicious 2 - Terrible performance this night. Was decent in the first half with one mistake and one 2 good clearances, but he was just terrible in the second half. Gave Villareal attackers at least 2 meters space and was in the wrong positions all the time. Also partially responsible for the penalty, although it was a very harsh call.
Dealbert 5 - Had few good clearances, but than came the second half and he went from decent to bad.
R. Costa 3 - Poor match all round. Made one big mistake in the first half and then made several big mistakes in the second.
Mathieu 4 - Didn't do anything all match long until the end where he got injured by barely colliding with a Villareal player. Seems as he doesn't care for the team and should be sold as soon as possible!
Joaquin 5 - Good first half with good corners delivery, but went to bad in the second half with mindless runs that didn't result in anything.
Maduro 6 - Second best player on the field, but made a lot of bad passes and inaccurate high passes in the second half
Banega 6 - Scored a goal and was generally useful to the attack and defense. Has no match form as he has been playing very little this season.
Mata 5 - I could barely see Mata all match long. Apart from popping out here and there it was a mediocre performance and a ton more is expected from him.
Soldado 8 - Best player on the field. Scored a wonderful goal, made crucial interceptions, fought hard and run non-stop all match long. Man of the match performance.
Subs:
Topal 4 - Came in and didn't do much of anything. Apart from 2 decent covers in Valencia's penalty area no other significant impact.
Vicente 5 - Could not assert himself into the game. Had two or three runs, but nothing really beneficial.
Alba NA - Not enough time, though immediately more active in going forward than Mathieu.