Oh Valencia!

By: Cesar | January 15th, 2009

Yesterday’s 3-1 Copa Del Rey victory was one of those feel-good wins, a victory against an opponent (Racing Santander) who’s given us fits for seasons now (we hadn’t beaten them in 4 years) and who looked very good against us not only in the Cup but in the league (they beat us at the Mestalla 4-2 earlier this year).

Vicente’s spot-on kick and the virtuoso performances of Joaquin and David Villa propelled us to a joyous 3-1 victory and a place in the Copa quarterfinals, where we’ll defend our title against the tough Sevilla FC.

Here, some highlights of the game …

Vicente gave Our Beloved the lead from the spot only for Santander’s Colsa to draw the visitors level three minutes later with a spectacular bicycle kick. (Que golazo, no?)

The game went into extra time where Racing shot themselves in the foot, a sloppy backpass fell to Vicente who ran through to net his second of the match. With Racing throwing caution to the wind, Joaquin wrapped up the win finishing off a lightening counter, a stupendous pass from Villa finishing the game off.

That’s how to do it … that felt great.

3 quick points:

1 – Vicente looked like the player he used to be. His magical touches, sneaky moves and graceful finishes made me yearn for the days he was a young lad from Levante who displaced Kily Gonzalez and gave new meaning to the ‘local boy does good’ story line.

Injuries have devastated El puñal de Benicalap (The dagger of Benicalap) and although he’s only 27, he’s closer to 50 in dog years. Still, how wonderful was it to see him out there last night playing like the Vicente we know and love? There’s a grace about the way he plays that’s rare in football these days … the game comes so easily to guys like Vicente.

He could have been one of the best ever … I say that in all sincerity. It’s a shame what injuries can do to someone …

I cross my fingers and hope he stays healthy. His presence would be such a morale booster for the club …

2 – The David Villa debate from the comments section of yesterday’s post …

We all agree Villa is one of the top players in world football. But in my opinion, he’s going to have his ups and downs. He played last night in a match he probably should have never set foot in.

Football these days is a never-ending stream of fixtures, from friendlies to internationals, from Copa Del Rey games to league match-ups to Champions League and UEFA Cup wars … it never stops …

These guys aren’t machines. They can’t be expected to be on point for every match and every game. We’d LIKE them to be. We’d like to think Villa, Silva, etc. were as excited about these matches as we are. While I’m not in their heads, I’d expect they aren’t all that thrilled to be playing 2 games every week, on top of their international duties and practice.

Not that I’m making excuses. These guys live wonderful lives and get paid to play a boy’s game – and well, mind you. It’s just that I view the season as a grind, a chore that needs to get done and done well.

Game by game, competition by competition. Until at the end, you rejoice. A cup, a championship, some sort of reward for the hard work of the season.

Villa missed a sitter last night. Villa plays better with a support striker. All true. But did you see that pass he sent to Joaquin for the third goal?

The guy’s a worker bee. He’s all over the field.

Here’s a good barometer for how much Villa helps us when he’s on the field, whether he’s having a bad game or not: How good do Valencia look when he’s NOT on the field?

Did you see how baseless our striker was last night? Fernando Morientes has obviously seen better days, but the fact is that the defenders can hone in on the wingers, the midfielders and effectively shut down someone like El Moro – and by extension, the entire team. You cut the team off at the base when you know the head can’t do anything and that’s the end of that …

With Villa on the field, it’s not as easy to do that. Defenders need to concentrate on El Guaje more, giving more space to midfielders and wingers who consequently have more time on the ball.

Villa’s double and triple-teamed and still manages to score goals almost every week.

The guy’s an extremely wicked talent.

Excuse me for stealing, but I thought this comment from Ari Haniman from yesterday’s comments section sums it all up:

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).

No one’s saying Villa sucks. That’s not what I’m implying. But what I am saying is that he’s got to be tired! Let’s cut the man some slack and enjoy his wonderful ability!

3 – I didn’t think Michel was as bad as some did. The lad’s young. He hasn’t played top-notch football for Valencia for very long. What? 2 games? Let’s cut him some slack too!

I think he could have a bright future with the club. He’s speedy, quick and has decent instincts. He simply needs to play more …

4 – I said three but here’s #4. Renan looked pretty good yesterday, no? We might have ourselves a goal keeper, people!

Finally, here’s an article from Soccerlens.com, one of the most respected sites in world football writing about Our Beloved … we’ve heard it all before, but here’s a different perspective … what do you think?

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

« Being a Fan is Never Easy | Home | As The Mestalla Turns »

The Offside RSS Feeds

Oh Valencia!

Comments