News? What News?

By: Cesar | October 18th, 2008

Valencia are back, playing Numancia this Sunday at the Mestalla.

Didn’t that two week international break between league matches for World Cup qualifying seem longer than usual?
I’m glad our Beloved are finally back …

In that two-week span, the news out of the Mestalla has been relatively sparse. No sackings, no new regimes; no new owners or even transfer talk. Just smiles and hard work …

For once, the scene around the club is serene. Everyone seems focused on doing their job and keeping Valencia top of the table for another week.

Numancia, currently in 17th place in La Liga, are your typical ‘trap game.’ What does that mean?
It means we take the newly promoted club lightly, slip up in play and lose our way … and the game.

Coach Unai Emery will have none of that.

“We’re in a privileged situation that I hope we can maintain for a long time,” he declared. “Now we have confidence and work to be as high (in the table) as possible but too much confidence is bad because we can’t think that we’ll win the same playing worse.”

“Numancia are a team that knows how they play and what they want and use their weapons well. Their game in the Bernabéu is an example to us that they won’t be easy. The demand will be very high,” said the former JFK actor.

Luckily, the international break has afforded Emery the opportunity to have his full squad at his disposal, sans David Silva and the forever-injured and now Mestalla snack-bar employed Curro Torres.

“It’s a nice problem to have all the players available.”

Sure is.

It’s true that Numancia are no pushovers. They defeated Barcelona on the opening day of the season and handled Real Madrid quite well the following week at the Bernabeu.

But since then, they’ve yet to win a match. They’ve also gone three games without a goal in that stretch. Of course, their fortunes could change. But do we really see that happening for the defending Segunda Liga Champions? Let’s hope not.

Valencia are riding a wave of tranquility these days. To make it clear, they’re downright boring.

Last season, there was news coming out of the Mestalla and Paterna on a daily basis. This year, it’s good cheer and merriment.

Trust me, I’d rather the Valencia ship be sturdy and steady than rocky and bloated by the likes of Ronald Koeman and Juan Soler.

These are good days to be a Valencia fan. Let’s cross our fingers and hope this continues for a bit.

As the preview for the game says, ‘over the coming few weeks, Los Ché’s credentials as trophy aspirants will be put under the microscope. As the UEFA Cup group phase gets underway, the real depth and quality of their squad will finally be on show for all to see. They will start taking on opposition of their own calibre in La Primera and by the time the halfway point approaches, the acid test will begin: Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Villarreal await them all in the space of around seven weeks.’

True true. So it’s important to win the games against clubs we should beat, pad our point total and go all out against the high and mighty of Spain.

I’m thoroughly excited about this campaign and how it’s shaping up so far.

By the way, let’s rubbish those Man City rumors about David Villa that broke this week.

According to goal.com, last Thursday, in a luxury hotel in Madrid, two emissaries of Manchester City met – for the second time – with Villa’s agent Jose Luis Tamargo. The Sheikhs that own Man City are convinced that a record breaking bid of €100 million will be enough to convince us that we have no choice but to sell Villa.

Whatever.

According to reports in Spain, El Guaje will not even consider leaving Valencia – a club that he feels a special affection for – unless the club forces him to leave.

He recently said: “I will stay at Valencia for as long as Valencia want me to be here.”

So let’s put that puppy to bed.

For everyone out there that wants David Villa, including Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City and who knows what other teams, here’s a news flash: HE’S NOT LEAVING!

You know, he has no ambition … so there.

One final note … interesting article in the aforementioned goal.com regarding the greatest starting XI in Valencia history …

Here’s their XI …

Canizares

Ayala
Carboni
Pellegrino

Puchades
Albelda
Aimar
Mendieta

Kily
Villa
Kempes

What do you guys think? Looks pretty comprehensive to me …