Comments on: As The Mestalla Turns

By: Lillo

Lillo — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:31:15 +0000

Your midfield was dominated by half the sides in the league. Your wingers had to carry the ball from your own half up to the strikers. It wasnt your biggest problem, but it was one of them and your midfield wasnt close to the standard of a top 5 team last season. Baraja and Aldelda were the main culprits for putting in below par performances and largely having no effect protecting the back 4. Fernandes was the only bright spot in central midfield.

By: javier de roque

javier de roque — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:11:46 +0000

I disagree about your comments about albelda and baraja. I still think they are very solid players. Baraja played almost every single match and had very great through passes and attacks from the outside. Albedla plays solid but has lost his speed. His commanding presence ont he frield though helps the team. I do beleive that they should be rotated out though as their days are comming to an end but to get rid of them outright i think would be a mistake especially in the case of baraja who i think plays hard and passes well. Not everything is about fast sprints.

Now i think our main problem was never our midfield. It was our defence. Our defence has suffered since the loss of Agloma Ayala and Carboni. We have never replaced those players with a sufficient replacement. This year i was so happy to see that instead of flashy forwards we signed defenders. I personally think this is the beginning of a new solid valencia. I like the way Emery is picking his players and i think we are going to have a great season. I predict 3rd. if not 2nd.

By: El Rey

El Rey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:35:54 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgSjDYvTQ5A&feature=related

a gift for everyone here, specialy canizares admirers. pure class and elegance. enjoy

By: rubenche

rubenche — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:24:32 +0000

You said very good things Lillo.
Unfortunately Emery is unable to see that the time of Albelda/Baraja is over, for 3 years at least.
And the central midfield was our biggest problem last seasons, it’s absence which made our defense very shaky. Albelda and Baraja can’t play 90 mins, not even 60, they are slow, and Albelda can’t pass further than 3 meters, plus he rarely gets balls back.

We MUST give Banega a chance! He has the creativity what Baraja had years ago.

By: El Rey

El Rey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:59:58 +0000

………….Cesar………….
Bruno…Maduro…Alexis…Jeremy

………..Marchena…………

pablo……Fernandes…….Silva.

………Villa….Mata………

By: El Rey

El Rey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:51:33 +0000

It seems there is a problem with kappa training shorts, they always have to cut it from the side… http://comunidad.superdeporte.es/galeria-multimedia/Valencia/Valencia/5601/6.html

By: Timothy Lakefront

Timothy Lakefront — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:21:56 +0000

Personally, I’d rather get Apono, as he’s (1) cheaper and (2) younger. That being said, Emana is a beast.

By: adimente

adimente — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:15:37 +0000

Lillo: However it would let Banega with an awful amount of responsibilities on his shoulder. Every time that Fernandes or Emana would go up, he would have to cover their spot.

—>In the other hand, he would be more fitted for him to deliver long crosses to the trident up-front. The down side of this formation is the full-backs like you said. Well, I don’t know for Mathieu, but I’m guessing that if Miguel goes on rampage in the opposition’s side, than it would let another hole to be covered because Miguel likes to charge, but forgets his defensives duties. Plus, Miguel’s passes are not accurate. Thus, he wouldn’t combined perfectly with Fernandes or Emana.

—>However, Miguel might be substituted by Bruno. Bloggers here said that he was good defensively. I don’t know about his offensive skills though.

—>Then again, Valencia could convert Marchena into a defensive midfielder and place him instead of Banega. This would be done until Banega improves defensively.

By: Lillo

Lillo — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:58:36 +0000

Interesting idea Adimente. I’m not sure Banega and Fernandes on the sides in a 4-3-3 would really work though as they dont naturally give you much width. If you had Roberto Carlos bombing down the left and Cafu down the right that would be fine. But you have Miguel, who just tends to mess everything up when he comes forward and Mathieu who im less experienced with. I dare say that in a 3 in midfield Banega is once again more suited to being the one who sits behind the other two who are more known for getting forward and supporting attack at times. So maybe Emana and Fernandes outside Banega instead. Then they can get forward as much as possible to help the goal tally.

By: Lillo

Lillo — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:53:32 +0000

Banega is more of a deep lying playmaker than an “attacking midfielder” so to speak yeah. But he’s also more adept right now with the attacking side of his game than the defensive side of his game. His passing, dribbling and even his shooting (which I wasnt aware of until last season, as he hadnt scored a goal yet) can be top class at times. But that defensive work will be where the major improvement comes over the next 4-5 years in my opinion.
I’m not going to get caught in the trap of calling him “The next…” whatever, but right now I see him as somewhere between Xavi and a Veron type player in development. Veron may have been a flop in England, but he was the most creative and breathtaking passer of the ball. Capable of passes even Zidane would have said “huh?!” after seeing. The problem is he tried to make this insanely brilliant pass about 15 times a match. And 13 of those times the ball tended to end up with the opposition.
Banega has that incisive, ridiculous pass in his arsenal. Unlike Veron he doesnt try the hollywood ball all the time so its a rarer occurance. But as he develops as a player and eventually peaks, his creative passing should be as good as anyone else’s. But Veron wasnt an attacking midfielder. He actually played very deep most of the time and the idea, at least when he played for us, was that he’d also provide us with lots of defensive cover. This is the part that didnt go well. Veron isnt a brilliant athlete and his positioning was short of what he needed to make up for that. There are no guarantees that Banega’s positioning is going to end up better than Veron’s and he’s only a slightly better athlete than Veron. This is where I personally have questions about Banega. Is he yet ready for the resonsibility of being the ‘defensive’ minded midfielder in a pairing at a good club or is that going to take a year or two’s more experience. If he isnt ready to have that role yet he can also play next to someone else who takes on the defensive mantle and be the creative midfielder, although he doesnt attack the box too aggressively. The charm of a deep lying playmaker is that you can put a creative player next to them instead of a makelele or a mascherano. So its obviously better the sooner he is able to take the defensive responsiblity role. But what I keep coming back to is that both Albelda and Baraja when they got games in this role, were rubbish. Really rubbish. So while Banega may not really be absolutely ready for the role, he cant do any worse than what you had last season. Except for when Marchena played well in the role in the later section of the season.