Good Work

By: Cesar | November 12th, 2007

So far, so good from the Ronald Koeman era at Valencia.

Yes, he lost midweek to Rosenborg in a humiliating Champions League display. He couldn’t be blamed for that loss but I think it’s safe to say he can be praised for Saturday’s victory against Murcia, 3-0.

Two great goals by the returning David Villa and a decent header from Ivan ‘The Terrible’ Helguera stunned the visitors (for video highlights of the game, please click here!!). True, the competition aren’t the best club in Spain. But a victory’s a victory. With Barcelona’s defeat at the hands of their current bogey team Getafe, we’re tied with the Catalan giants for third-place, 4 points behind leaders Real Madrid.

With the international break upon us (Spain play critical Euro 2008 qualifiers against Sweden & Northern Ireland) and with 6 Valencia players going to Spain’s national team (Marchena, Albiol, Albelda, Villa, Joaquín, Silva … what, no Angulo??), Koeman will now have some time to settle in and batten down the hatches.

Some interesting tidbits I found on the Internet:

- I love Vicente’s quote here about the Mestalla faithful: “Here in Valencia, if we lose some matches we’re all set to be relegated, and if we win a couple then we’re going to win the Champions League. We need to find a balance, and think positively.”
Unfortunately, I’m one of these fans. I’m quick to jump off the wagon when things go bad and call us the best in the world when things are going well. Hey, what can I do? I’m emotionally invested!

- Great article by ESPN Soccernet.com’s Phil Ball about Valencia and their new coach. Catch the entire article here and enjoy the Valencia portion below:

Even though Ronald Koeman started off his Valencia career with a surprising home defeat to Rosenborg in midweek, it was unlikely that his team would play as badly this weekend on his league debut, and so it proved.

Valencia looked more like their usual selves in defeating a poor Murcia side 3-0, and were buoyed by the return of the excellent David Villa, who scored twice.

Koeman seemed to dedide that some drastic action was necessary after the midweek defeat, dropping the previously in-form Joaquin along with Fernandes and Moretti and handing the baton to Silva and Marco Caneira. It paid off handsomely, meaning that Valencia at last staunched the home-based haemorrhage after four consecutive defeats - to Chelsea, Espanyol, Real Madrid and the aforementioned Rosenborg.

Valencia’s fans have a reputation for being too hard to please, a reputation based on a certain amount of truth, but after such a volatile start to the season they seemed justified in their complaints. And as ever, the word ‘crisis’ is always a relative term for clubs with demanding supporters. After Saturday’s win, Valencia are tucked in nicely in fourth place, in the Champions League and a mere four points behind leaders Real Madrid. It’s not exactly a tragedy.

It’s good to see Koeman back in Spain, not far from the scene of his triumphs as a player with Barça, the club where he also managed as assistant for a short spell in the late 1990’s, before returning to Holland to manage Vitesse Arnhem. It’s not so good to see another case of a manager being tempted so early in the season to move clubs, following on from the Juande Ramos case a fortnight ago. There’s something a bit bothersome about the ease with which these things take place now, and the paucity of comment in the international press over the rights and wrongs of a manager abandoning ship so readily, although one can never stand in the way of any individual’s ‘ambition’, nor hold it up for criticism.

High-profile managers are sacked, often at this stage of the season, with the logical consequences this brings in its wake - and if Mourinho really didn’t fancy it, a Spanish-speaking manager with experience of La Liga and a reputation for putting things in order was the obvious menu of the day. Plenty of Spanish journalists can hardly wait another month for Mourinho to finally accept a job here, although the rumours situate him in Italy for his next post. It’s the sound-bites they crave, which is understandable given the paucity of ‘characters’ in the top-flight at this particular time. Koeman is not one for too much chit-chat with the press, but he does come with a reputation for being an attack-minded manager, despite his playing career as a defender (albeit a goalscoring one).

Like Ramos, Koeman is taking on something of a risk in sporting terms, by which it is meant that neither of them is likely to suffer in economic terms - whatever the future may hold. Koeman has inherited a side in transition, with several senior figures on the decline or on the verge of it (Cañizares, Baraja, Albelda, Marchena, Angulo, Vicente, Helguera, Morientes), with all but the final two on the list having been at the club for some years.

Ayala has gone, but no figure of real authority has taken his place. Villa and Silva are the brightest new lights, with Joaquín capable, on his day, of wondrous things. But he remains unpredictable and moody, with the motives for his being dropped this weekend somewhat vague. And despite the fact that the club has several talented players on its books, the overall philosophy during the last few years has been a cautious one - a theory disputed by some, but justified by others who still see the long shadow of Hector Cúper reflected in the squads that have been assembled over recent years - with flair not exactly absent, but hardly the priority either. Maybe it is this that finally stretched the fans’ patience to the limits, after last winning the league title in 2004, added to the tiresome internal disputes between technical staff and a president who has yet to win the complete confidence of the 45,000-strong club membership.

Can Koeman turn things around - in the sense of bringing back a bit of joy and light to the club? As he admitted to the press in midweek, he had seen things in his first week from behind the desk that he didn’t ‘like at all’, an observation that saw him gather together three of the senior players for a parley regarding the importance of everyone pulling together. What he had clearly sensed was what people have been saying for some time about the club, namely that its most senior figures had formed cliques into which several new signings had been permitted entry according to their stated preferences. These preferences were linked to the old Quique-Carboni dispute, with the battle-lines so clearly drawn that players had been forced to identify with one side or the other.

Carboni’s removal from the club in summer had of course failed to unite these factions, a divisive situation of which Koeman was well aware before he put pen to paper. But he’s come anyway, accepted the challenge and got off to a decent start, in the league at least. Then again, Murcia weren’t exactly the scariest of opponents, playing very poorly in the Mestalla on Saturday night. Next week there are no games, so Koeman has time to rest on the laurels of this win, but in a fortnight’s time faces a tricky encounter up at vastly improved Racing Santander, sitting prettily in 7th place, just four points behind Valencia. If they can emerge from that game with some credit, then the shi may begin to steady itself.

Back with more soon, lads. Thanks for reading and as always, AMUNT!!!