Another Match, Another Loss

By: Cesar | January 14th, 2008

I had the pleasure of watching yesterday’s match with -a, regular commentator and author of the wonderful and well-done Atletico de Madrid - The Love That Hurts blog at Nevada Smith’s along with reader Daniel and a few others.

Glad to say that no fisticuffs were thrown. I banged my fist on the table a few times and bemoaned our fate. Even managed to get inebriated due to the depressing match … or maybe I just like beer. Whatever.
Another day and another loss, 1-0 to Atleti.

Ahh, what can I say?
We showed up, we played well at times.

But overall, we dropped three important points. It’s hard to watch Valencia play this way. Even Cañizares couldn’t bear to watch us last night, instead taking in the Levante-Real Madrid match, watching his old team destroy the locals.

It’s nice to say the team played better. That we showed fight and spirit. But fight and spirit don’t get you very far.
Levante showed fight against Real Madrid last night and lost. We displayed much of the same, especially in the second half.
But still, we walked out of the Vicente Calderon with a 1-0 loss.

Some points from the match:

- Ever Banega made his long-awaited (he’s been here a week?) debut in the second half. He came on for youngster Ángel Montoro and quickly made an impression, slotting a pass to Joaquin that was *just* called offside.

“The coach told me to stay calm on the pitch and to try and become involved in the game,” Banega said, without smiling. “That is what I tried and I felt comfortable on my debut. No doubt, the speed of the play was quicker than I am used to, but I will soon adapt to that.”

He showed promise, that’s for sure. He’ll be a starter before we know it. I’m impressed and think the kid will be alright, as long as he stays away from nightclubs and video cameras.

- Joaquin was hands-down the man of the match. He was EVERYWHERE. Left, right, to the goal and passing towards the center. He really impressed me with his quickness and pace. What a fine player he is. What a better player he’d be in he stayed consistent week in, week out. He has a habit of dissapearing for stretches of the season.
Still, I’m very impressed with his work this season, considering he gets hardly any help from the midfielders.

- The Arizmendi experiment continued at right back. And I tell you, he’s not as bad as you may think. He even came close to scoring from a header in the dying minutes of the first half.

He’s tall and kind of awkward at times. And Atletico sensed he’d be for the taking, consistently attacking in the large striker’s path. But I think he more than held his own.

Only problem is, with Arizmendi started in the defense, it left our heroes with no one in the striking position. Well, at least no one dependable. I’m not saying that Arizmendi is dependable. I’m just saying he’s a striker. And without him in that position, Valencia were forced to go without.

It cost us in the first half, as were we unable to mount any sort of consistent attack. It wasn’t until the tall Serbian Nikola Zigic came on in the second that we opened up and played a free-form game.

- Zigic isn’t bad, either. I’m not sure why coach Ronald Koeman doesn’t start him more often. He came close to scoring in the second half, heading a ball towards the post that looked like it touched a defender’s arm but really just brushed the post.

I think with consistent play, Zigic would be a major talent. Imagine him actually meshing with Joaquin and Silva. He’d me a monster. Why is he wasting away on the bench?

- Silva looked ok. He’s dissapeared lately, hasn’t he?

- I thought Timo Hildebrand played well. He made the mistake that cost us the goal, mishandling a cross that landed at Sergio Aguero’s feet. But still, he made some acrobatic saves and looked the man of the match save for Joaquin’s performance. I don’t agree with Santiago Cañizares’ dismissal, but you have to say Timo’s looked pretty good. I’m impressed and happy with his performance overall.

- Koeman? Any thoughts? (My comments in the parentheses. Like you needed me to tell you this …)

“We had to work very hard to pull ourselves into the game. We lost the ball a lot in midfield,” Koeman explained. (Ya, what’s up with that?)

“In the first 20 minutes, Atlético were better, but later on there was only one team in it and we deserved a better result as we played well and had chances. (I’d say so …)

“The team gave everything and played well. I am disappointed about the result, but we are on the right path and I am sure that will improve. (I agree with you, for once.)

“We have not had much luck. (Ya think?) The team is unhappy because we should have taken something, but we should remain positive.” (We need Tony Robbins to come in and give us a pep talk. Heck, I need Tony Robbins to watch these matches. And an antacid.)

He also added, “In the second half there was a clear handball in the Atlético area which should have been a penalty and a sending off’, talking about Antonio López’s clearing of Zigic’s header from the goal line. (I disagree with you there, buddy. No can do. Replays showed it wasn’t a hand ball. But nice try. Ya get style points for that one …)

Some questions:

Why isn’t Vicente playing more?
Why does every attack have to go down the wings? Hopefully this’ll be cured once Banega plays more.
Why, oh why aren’t we being rumored to buy a defender? I haven’t heard a thing. Have you?
And lastly … if we do buy someone, where is the money coming from??

So we’re 7th, 27 points. A radical 20 points behind leaders Real Madrid.
9 points from Espanyol, the current 4th-place club and holder of the last spot in next season’s Champions League.

The first half of the season ended with last night’s game. Not fun. Not fun at all.
In fact, it’s Valencia’s worst showing in the first half of the season in eight years, since 1999-2000, when the club got to this stage with 26 points in the 8th position. We went to the Champions League Final that season but there’s no European saving grace this time around.

Our best goal scorer has been an invisible and oft-injured Fernando Morientes with 6 goals, most coming in the beginning stages of the season.

Our star striker David Villa has scored 4 times, but he’s also been injured much of the campaign.
After that Joaquín, Silva and Ruben Baraja have scored two while Moretti, Miguel, Angulo, Helguera and Zigic have each added one. Along with an own goal, that’s 22 scored overall, an abysmal scoring record indeed (for reference, Real Madrid have scored 41, Barcelona 38 and Atletico 35. The worst scoring club in Spain is Levante with 11).

On top of that, we’ve let in 29 goals. One of the main factors for our defensive slide has been the transfer of defensive stalwart Roberto Ayala and the siphoning of goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares. Let’s not forget how bad Ayala’s replacement Ivan Helguera has been.

But more than that, Valencia have been unable to decide who should start in goal. We’ve played with three this season, new goalie Timo Hildebrand playing in 10, Cañizares in eight and Mora in one. That’s no way to build any sort of stability.

Anyone with half a brain can see how bad we’ve been. But statistics say it’s even worse. In the 21st century, Valencia have never finished the first round of matches lower than 4th. Here we lie in 7th.

In 2003-2004, we were in first place. Four other times we were in 3rd place at this juncture. We held 4th place two other times, one of those times being last season.
To top it all off, our 8 losses are the most we’ve had at this stage of the season in a decade.
You’d have to go back to the days of 1997-98, when first Jorge Valdano and then Claudio Ranieri managed a poor Valencia side to 10 losses in the first 19 league games.

It’s not pretty, my friends.

A quick rumor about David Albelda. Looks like English side Fulham might secure his services. Not bad, Dave. Go get ‘em!!

And lastly, two bits.

One, a link to an article on tribalfootball.com about Valencia being ‘Europe’s new crisis club’ … what do you think? Nothing new here.

And then, this from Sid Lowe in today’s Guardian Unlimited newspaper in reference to Levante, our sister club. Have a read on the link above. Here’s the opening few paragraphs, where he mentions our heroes …

Their star signing spent the night behind bars and their captain wants his day in court. Their most successful goalkeeper ever has been thrown to the lions and the man who replaced him happily throws the ball to his opponents. The most useful of utility men says he’s been stabbed in the heart, while most of those who remain are still looking for theirs. Three players who between them boast more than a thousand games for the club have been axed by a portly president throwing his considerable weight around. The centre forward’s playing at right back, the right winger’s playing at centre forward and the big summer signing isn’t playing at all.

When they sacked their last coach, they were alive in the Champions League and four points off the top in Spain. Under their new coach, they’re out of Europe altogether and, after last night’s unlucky 1-0 defeat to Atlético Madrid, 20 points off the top, closer to relegation than a Champions League place. The coach employed to bring excitement has only presided over one goal in eight league games, while the playmaker signed to save the team must first save his soul after a particularly tough tackle went up on the net.

And yet, Valencia still aren’t the biggest joke in Spain. Hell, Valencia aren’t even the biggest joke in Valencia. Levante Unión Deportiva are.

Uggh … on to Wednesday and a date with Real Betis at the Mestalla in the Copa Del Rey.
AMUNT!