Being a Fan is Never Easy
By: Cesar | January 13th, 2009
No one said it would be easy, this Valencia CF supporter thing …
It’s much easier being a fan of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Chelsea. They’re financially solid, they have people in charge of the club with business acumen and they’re consistently in the Champions League.
Valencia? We’re financially adrift, we have guys trying to run the club like it’s their Sunday pub league team and we’re not in Europe’s top division as much as we’d like to be.
Still, we love and we support. Even though it can be trying on our patience.
A few days ago, word broke that main Valencia CF shareholder and ex-president Juan Soler wanted Soriano out of the presidency for failing to adhere to his promise of fixing Valencia’s ills before the end of 2008. Ya know, the ills that effect us because of Soler …
Soriano has approximately 15 days to fix the situation or he’s gone.
Soriano came out swinging in a press conference yesterday, letting Valencia fans know he’s got their back.
“I have no intention of abandoning the project that I have started here. I am completely immersed in this club. The only thing that worries me at the moment is Valencia. If I even had the slightest doubt that I would have no support I would be the first to leave, but I have been encouraged by the support of all the board members.”
Soriano continued to commit his future to the club and stated that he hopes the level of backing he has received in the past few weeks continues over the months ahead.
He said, “This project relies on the efforts of everyone involved and it doesn’t need anyone hindering the process. Valencia is my hobby (hobby? Oh jeez …) and it’s too important for anyone to be messing around with.”
Soriano has given a stark warning to the fans and shareholders that the club faces two paths in its future.
The first involves Los Che selling all of their top talent in order to balance the books (NO!) and the second, the route that Soriano wishes to follow, involves putting together a prudent plan that sees the club move forward without the need to lose their top talent.
The chairman ended by saying the the club faces three challenges, namely the ‘the social, economic, and sporting development of the club.”
Uggh …
I don’t know what to think about this situation.
On the one hand, we need the financial mess to be solved. The team needs a measure of stability and the prognosis of financial death to be gone.
On the other hand, do we really want someone like Soler back? Or anyone that works with Soler to be managing the club?
I’ll have more to say about this once news breaks either way. The next two weeks should be interesting. One way or the other, the future of the club is at stake.
Oh … we play a match tomorrow. The second leg of the Copa Del Rey against Racing Santander.
It’s 1-1 and we’re back at the Mestalla, defending our title at the site of this season’s title game …
Valencia will count themselves hugely fortunate that they are still in this tie after seeing two men sent off in the first leg, and Racing Santander miss a penalty.
Los Che were outplayed for much of the match by their hosts but the miss from the spot by Ezequiel Garay, who is now injured, means they are favourites at home.
Racing will no doubt take heart from their last result at the Mestalla though, when they thrashed Valencia 4-2, with Mohammed Tchité grabbing a hat-trick.
Whilst a repeat of that scoreline seems unlikely, it should be a fiesty and hard fought encounter, especially after the dismissals of both Vicente and Miguel last week.
Both sides come into the match after slightly disappointing results in La Liga at the weekend, with Racing drawing against lowly Recreativo Huelva, and Valencia only taking a point Villarreal after leading 2-0 early on.
However, both sides will be confident heading into the match and like so many other ties, the key here should be who gets the first goal.
Our B team should win 2-1. What do you think?
Finally, Thiago Carleto is officially a Valencia player.
He injured himself in training this week, but all’s well for the Brazilian youngster, who should push Emiliano Moretti for a starting spot as the season progresses … provided Valencia CF exists as an entity.
Category: Team News
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Comments
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Hi Ari, yes I will respond. I thought we had done with picking out players to strengthen the team. WE HAVENT GOT ANY MONEY !!! We have to use what we have wisely. Yes Athletic is not going to be a walkover. Last week the beat Atletico IN MADRID. Now we have to beat them in Bilbao. Regards the match last night. I thought Vicent played as good as the old days, maybe he was making up for that red card. Joaquin was a dream throughout. Michel played the best I have seen him and certainly shows great promise. With our shortage of defenders I would use Angulo there. I remember a few years ago he played there owing to team injuries and he was first class, he is one of the most experienced players in Valencia so he knows the dangers. Villa for me showed once again he is just an average player, once again he missed an open goal about 3 yards away. IMO when he is off the pitch, he is not relly missed. If Manchester come up with 50 million then we should jump at it considering our financial position, He is well over rated.
I doubt whether I will find anyone in agreement with this
but we all see things differently Amunt …AlmendrasPosted from
Spain
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Almendras wants to repeat the Fayez-quin fight with someone! ahaha…
well, Villa is not over rated that’s for sure.. and he will SURELY be missed if he doesn’t play.. believe me..
Posted from
United States -
@ 7Amanito
no no than I should say to Almedras: Shut up man
(Just joking mate 
)! But i dont agree with him, i think we need Villa so much not just cause he is a lethal striker, also cause we simply don’t have other people to fill his gap. You see Morientes getting older every match, he just doesn’t have it in him anymore like he used to and how we need to have. And you can see how much our offense improves when he enters the pitch, he is just more dangerous than any man we got. Man i wish we would have gotten Zaragoza-man Milito, he would have been a great substitute for Villa! But now we should not let ANY player go, we don’t have the luxury of recovering the gap… About Michel, i am kinda surprised to see the negative reactions above. I mean this is like his 3rd (?) match at the highest level and he is certainly not that bad. I remember Bojan entering Barca’s first squad and he sucked at the start, but still they kept faith and slowly he is becoming the promise he once was. I agree we should loan him out like we did with Silva a.o. but for sure this kid already has a good level seen his age and experience.
About Angulo, i’m in a good mood so let’s not start about this guy. Loyal yes, experiences yes, ever good an outstanding player no. Plus he has lowsy ballhandling man, maybe his ears catch too much wind so he cant keep up with the ball…? I think we should keep players in their natural position as much as possible, e.g. moving Angulo up front again (read: on the bench) and i’d even favor Albelda or Ximo Navarro there. But i guess it was the Copa and it didnt really matter…
@ Ari (Gold?)
Welcome
Posted from
Switzerland -
i see villa as only a little bit over rated. i thnk hes a 8/10 stiker, in a scale where brazilian ronaldo is a 10 and drogba an ibrahimovic are both 9/10.
Posted from
Kuwait -
I and everyone in the world (except Alemandras, whom I respect a lot) think that Villa is one of the best forwards in the world for already2-3 years. Te is the top scorer in Euro 2008. Just think, Alemandras, he scored more thanC. Ronaldo, Torres, Podolski, Toni etc…
THAT IS SOMETHING!
It’s a huge success and I evaluate Villa very-very high…He is not overrated.Posted from
United States -
I agree with Almendras; I think if we were to sell someone; sell VIlla and keep Silva. I really like Villa but he isnt that great, Villa must improve his shot accuracy. I can guarantee you that Eto’o wouldnt miss the opportunities that Villa misses must of the time. BTW, Im not a fan of Eto’o, I was just giving an example…
Posted from
United States -
BTW, I didnt watch the game; I was able to watch the highlights and I must say that Vicente is one of the greatest players in the team. Im really happy with his performances.
Posted from
United States -
@Johnnie : Yeah I agree with you about Borjan being a bit lost when he started playing with Barca..However there is one important fact we should not forget when comparing Borjan and Michel..Borjan was 17 when he made his debut with Barca and Michel is (almost) 20.
@ Nilton : Eto’o was missing these sort of balls last year (he was playing below his average level). I guess all strikers get into these stages sometimes when they miss these opportunities. I think Villa is a moody player, but he always plays best when he is a supporting striker or in a 4-4-2 formation (like with Morientes). The thing about Villa that makes him so valuable is that he always ends the year with double figures in assists and goals, something which no other striker in Spain does.
Posted from
United States -
@ Gevorg : I agree, Villa is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment. Most strikers are either critical at goal (eg. Raul) or are the speedy talented type (eg Saviola). Villa seems to have the best of both talents. Plus he can always help assist his teammates as he gets double figures in that every year (he had the top assists in our team last year even when Silva was playing all the time). Let us not forget that he can also score free kicks (rarely do strikers have that talent).
If we absolutely have to sell him, I dont think we should go below 50ME.Posted from
United States -
I think both Villa and Silva are the core of the team. I dont see us being in the top four without either of them (let us not forget that we were without Silva for almost half the campaign yet we never left the top 4). Both are important in the team.
If we absolutely had to sell one of them, id go for the one that gets a higher bid regardless of who it is.I just hope Soriano’s plan works out….we really would suffer if we have to sell Silva or Villa.
Posted from
United States -
Well in the hypothetical situation that we were forced to sell someone, purely looking at our teams debt, i would sell Silva i think. Close shot but i mean we only have 1 decent striker, and i guess we are better of WITH Villa and behind him Vicente, Mata and Joaquin than without Villa and behind him Mata, Silva and Joaquin… Not sure haha, but i guess we just have no other true striker…
Fayez u are right btw about Michel and Borjan, they differ in age. But its also a huge quality gap between VCF Mestalla and the first team, so we should give him time and see what happens. Or loan him out to a Getafe, Celta, Sporting,or something. Maybe that would be good, if we started stalling players at Sporting! They have a famous cantera and if we do good business with them, i am sure we could benifit from it with some nice upcoming talents going from Sporting to VCF!?
Posted from
Switzerland -
@Johnnie : Yeah man, im more leaning towards selling Silva than Villa. I think players like Silva are a luxury and not exactly necessary for a team to finish in the top 4. I doubt we would find someone like Silva but im 100% sure we will not have enough money to buy a striker half as good as Villa. Selling Silva for 40ME plus getting a decent striker in the deal to partner Villa might really help us and still keep us in the top 4. Selling Villa would hurt the team more at the moment.
Please dont hate me, I dont want us to sell Silva, im just stating if we had to sell someone because of the economic situation.
Posted from
United States -
Btw…does anyone else think that Emery made a huge gamble yesterday in defense when he replaced Maduro ? I thought that was extremely risky and we only can thank Renan and the unlucky Racing players for not losing yesterday. I thought he took a huge risk. Sometimes Emery’s decisions really scare me.
Posted from
United States -
Hey guys… I agree with whoever said that Villa works best with another striker up front (i.e 4-4-2). That said, I would love to see Emery put Vicente up there with him. If Vicente plays even half as well as he did last night, that could be a very lethal combination. As for selling someone… I don’t even want to get into that! (another quick note, one thing that makes Villa so great in my opinion is that he has a canny ability to get behind defenders. Yes he’s offsides a lot, but I’ll take 3 offsides for a goal any day)
I think Miguel is one of the best right backs playing right now, boy do we miss his skills! He is so quick and strong coming up that right flank, and he’s got great ball skills to boot. We just need to find someone to strengthen up that middle/left side a little more, a true shutdown defender.
I know Renan has taken a LOT of heat from us this year, but I think he’s really coming around. He saved our ass last night. Yes, without Renan last night, we would have lost before we even got to extra time. He’s starting to communicate better and he’s making some ungodly saves. And yes, I would trust him in a PK shootout, he’s been guessing right a lot lately and has almost come up with a few huge PK saves!
Welcome to the new members and good luck on your exams guys!
AMUNT!Posted from
Spain -
I think this article sums up a couple of mistakes Emery did yesterday :
http://www.foroche.com/laopinionde/ximoballesta.htm
Emery’s a great coach.. I really like him and but I still think he has a lot to learn. I also hope he would change his mind about having 23 players in the squad. If the club want that for financial reasons thats OK but if we are to play on 3 fronts then 23 players is just not enough (unless of course our B team was very good and we could use players from that team, which is not the case in our situation).
Posted from
United States -
villa has consistently scored more than 15 goals per season in la liga ..finding a great striker is a real problem..as cesar had said it was a real bargain..i say this because our recruiting department is not particularly bright..we sell villa and end up buying players like corradi or arizmendi who cant play footi whatsoever..
i agree villa plays even well as supporting striker..his first season he amassed 25 goals..
he is lethal in front of goal..”better players” have missed sitters..villa can score with either feet..and score free kicks as well..@johnnie: thanks mate..
Posted from
India -
Let’s not criticize Villa too much. Every player has its ups and downs, so does he. Yes, he’s missed a couple of sitters lately, but he scored as well. It’s not like his goal drought goes on for several months now. He’s netted 14 in Liga alone so far. That means he’ll be ending this campaign with 25 minimum. You call this bad?
And please stop calling him a “striker”. He’s more than that, he’s one of the most complete players around at this moment, that’s why he’s so highly valued. He passes for others, creates chances, drills great from free kicks, works his ass in the midfield often. These are things that are less “visible”. It’s not just about goals, it’s about creating chances as well. He didn’t score yesterdy yet he sure as hell provided a perfect pass for Joaquin’s 3-1 winner.
I wish football had similar statistics as ice hockey where passes for goals are counted as well (goal= 1pt; pass for a goal = 0.5pt). THAT would change the picture considerably.
Posted from
Slovenia -
I think David Villa is an integral part of Valencia’s future. He is quick, creative, skillful, tireless, lethal. But I think he will be even more dangerous when he has a partner. Let’s go back to 2006-07 season when our dream duo up front – Villa and Morientes ripped apart opponent’s defence almost every weekends. So if I’m asked who to sell, Villa or Silva, I will say neither of them. Not for Villa because he is our main asset to be honest, and also because we haven’t got any forwards capable of handling first team duties every week, not for Silva, because he’s still young and can grow even further here, although we have Juan Manuel Mata already. The player whom I think is overrated is Raul Albiol in central defence. I think he is an average player. And one main problem from him is that he is very slow. He is usually troubled when facing an average striker from average clubs who have a good pace. Ever since Ayala left us, he had not really proved his worth. That’s why I wondered why Aragones called him to Euro 2008. He is not that solid with Marchena as well. I think Alexis is better than Albiol that I miss him so much. But since Albiol is one of the Valencia’s academy alumnus, he is quite senior here, although he is only 23, and he’s appointed as captain sometimes.
Posted from
United States -
Why are you all talking about selling Villa or Silva!?!?!? We have talked about this over and over….they are NOT going anywhere!!!! We just went through in the Copa and you guys want to sit and talk about selling off our best players…..PATHETIC. Villa is an average player? What are you smoking dude? He isn’t going to make every single play, he is human. Without him in our squad, there is NO WAY we are in the Top 4. Quit complaining and just be glad he is here instead of somewhere else.
AMUNT!
Posted from
United States -
Talking about David Villa, based on what I’ve been observing, I mention some Villa’s characters on the pitch:
1. He runs very quick (one of the quickest I think in La Liga)
2. He plays as a central-forward, but sometimes moves to channels (especially left flank)
3. He has a great penalty taking ability (missed only less than 10%)
4. He is good at free-kick (has scored some pretty goals from free-kick, remember Inter (San Siro) goal, and freekicks against Betis last season or Osasuna 2 seasons ago)
5. He often rushes forward in tremendous pace, looking for space in order to receive through balls from midfield (this makes him often get offside).
6. He is not good at high balls (so, he should not be supplied with long and high pass).
7. He is very tricky. He often uses new and unpredictable technique on the pitch (remember how Dani Alves 2007 was shamed by Villa’s backheel technique). And he can score with both his feet.
8. He is a creative player (not only sitting forward, but moving everywhere, sometimes moves back to his own penalty area during an opponent corner, ready to launch a fast-break). Sometimes he tries long-shots if he sees no space for through balls, but I think he can still improve his long-shots accuracy.
9. He has a pretty good teamwork. He is good at one-two, especially with David Silva. He sometimes executes a very good through balls to his teammates, although some other time, he is quite selfish.
10. He is a very lethal striker. Goal per game and goal per shots ratio is very good. It’s difficult to find a better-overall statistic striker than him in Europe. His finishing is very deadly, and usually tends to hit a placed shot rather than a powerful shot.
11. He is a tireless player. He usually has a constant stamina throughout 90 minutes. And a good point is he is seldom getting injured, with the exception of Euro final. This season, he’s not been injured at all. He is reliable to run right from the first until the last gameweek of the season.
12. He is strong mentally (cool head from penalty spot, he can score the breakthrough in the last minutes as well).So the conclusion, David Villa is a very good player for us, which is a very rare as well in Europe. It’s like we have a diamond called Guaje. Villa is worth AT LEAST 50 million euros. So we should not consider selling him unless the bank which we have debt from, says that we will be bankrupt if we do not pay them 50 million euros or more in the next 12 hours or so.
Anyone wants to comment again?
Posted from
United States -
Did you see Villa’s pass on the 3rd goal last night to Joaquin? Watch it and then tell me he is just an average player….
Posted from
United States -
@ Futrell : The goal yesterday was a perfect counter-attack. It was simply amazing. Credit to both Villa and Vicente on brilliant passes.
Posted from
United States -
@ Futrell
There may come a day when we would HAVE to sell either Villa or Silva, and we just answered the question who hypotheticly would we sell. Take it easy mate, maybe smoke something Great goal btw, sweet attack all in all with lethal passing and finishing
AMUNT!Posted from
Switzerland -
@ Ari : I agree with you about Albiol not being the best defender.
Personally I think Albiol should be a defensive midfielder (which was his original position before Flores played him as a CB). I think he would make a very good defensive midfielder, his passing is good and he can score a few goals, plus he seems to like holding onto the ball. I dont understand why our coaches cant use him in that position.
Posted from
United States -
@ Futrell,,,,,the difference is Joaquin came on and scored Villa had a very very easy chance and missed.
@ ARI you must be villa`s agent in disguise with that write up
@ Gevorg “one of the best forwards in the world” you said
In the last 9 Liga matches Villa has scored 2 goals and 2 penalties (which does not count as a forwards ability you can have a defender doing that) that is not world class. There is some silly money about at the moment. KAKA of Milan has just turned down 100 million from Manchester City. I did not say dump Villa with no one in his place. If we can get 50 million, we have 25 million to buy someone else and 25 million to stop the club folding up. This big big debt that has to start being paid off end of this month and Feb will not go away.
Valencia fans are not supportive. Soriano says he can only fight this if he has the support of the fans. The Marca gave the figure of 23000 spectators in a stadium that holds 55000. Whats the good of that and whats the good of moving to a 70000 one to be stuck with this phenomenal debt we will never be able to buy anybody decent for years.
Facts have got to be facedPosted from
Spain
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