The Less Said …
By: Cesar | December 8th, 2008
The less said about Saturday’s total defeat at the hands of FC Barcelona, the better …
What more needs to be said? Two days after the match and I can’t find new ways to say, ‘Uggh!’ and make vomiting noises.
The comments section of my last post has it covered. The fine readers of the blog hit the nail on the head. This is one of those games that happens from time to time. You win some, you lose some. Time to move on.
The defense was shaky. It’s shaky when it’s healthy. But we were missing 3 defenders and that had a lot to do with it.
The midfield? Did they even show up, sans Manuel Fernandes?
And David Villa. Alone. Frustrated. Often offsides … it just wasn’t his game.
4-0 to the Catalans and I can’t say I’m overly embarrassed. Look, this edition of FC Barca is good, very good. They look like the best team this side of planet Earth. I’d be shocked (shocked, I say) if they don’t roll over Real Madrid next week. I’d be shocked if they don’t win their 19th Spanish title in 2009.
If anything, this game is a wake-up call to Valencia CF.
Bottom line: As currently constituted, we’re not good enough to win Spain.
I’m not a fatalist, but do you see this team winning La Liga this season? I didn’t think so …
Best course of action: Try to make it to the Champions League. Try to focus on what we can do. Try to improve in all facets of the game, from defense right up to Villa and his constant penchant for being offsides.
Right now, we’re in third place, 2 points adrift of 2nd place Villarreal. There’s no shame in that. Overall, we’re doing ok. Sometimes, a club gets smacked around and figures out who they are. We ran into the juggernaut known as FC Barcelona this weekend, got our fannies smacked around some and now, we need to re-group and focus on Espanyol. It’s really that simple.
If you’re a glutton for punishment, here’s a video clip of the 4 goals scored against us …
After the match, coach Unai Emery sat at the news conference podium, saliva dribbling down his chin as reporters nudged him for a response. He appeared glassy-eyed and in disbelief.
“We came to the game well aware of how well Barca have been playing,” he said. “We knew we had to play at our best to win, but they hit the post with their first chance and then they scored the next two.”
“This rout may have been expected but that does not mean it doesn’t hurt.”
When asked if the rest of the teams in Spain were merely involved in a fight for second place, he looked around the room, shrugged his shoulders for 15 minutes and said, “Barcelona have proved that they are ahead of everyone else, and even though there is a lot of time left to play, they have a great advantage over the other teams.” (Could it be their enormous budget? I’m just sayin’ …)
The Valencia coach then highlighted just why the Blaugrana are so hard to beat, saying that they “monopolize play and dominate possession.”
And so on and so forth. Kudos to Barca for a well-deserved victory. Should be an interesting Clasico next weekend against Real Madrid, especially if you’re AntiMadridista … I don’t see the Madrid doing much against this magnificent club …
Anyways, we didn’t play so well. Whatever. We were pushed over, dominated and treated like 2nd-division fodder for much of the afternoon. Uggh …
I’d have to say the performance was very Koeman-esque … a very bad showing by a club that’s been lagging the last few weeks.
I can only hope this a$$-whooping serves as the elixir to drive us the rest of the season. Lesson learned. Now let’s move on …
Some tidbits:
- Thanks to Tim and his crew who made their way to Nevada Smith’s from CT to watch the match. Always great to meet fellow Valencia supporters. Hope to see you there again!
- You want player ratings? Take a looksie … For my money, Fernandes was the man of the match. He’s been magnificent so far this season.
Del Horno as our best defender? Whatever. I thought he looked awful. Then again, no one looked that great except for Fernandes.
- David Silva’s back. No, really. He should play some in our UEFA Cup match against St. Etienne next week, then be available for the Real Madrid match in a few weeks. Nice to have the diminutive winger back.
- Is Silva leaving soon? According to this ‘news’ report, he’s off … Put about as much stock into this as you’d like to.
- David Villa’s off to Man City … Love this quote in the article from Goal.com …
While NOTW (News of the World) may not boast the most stellar reputation where shedding light on potential transfers is concerned, there have been a number of corroborating reports from Spain on this particular issue.
My response: Like Goal.com has such a stellar reputation when it comes to transfer speculation!! Talk about irony …
- Former Real Madrid ‘keeper Cesar, age 87, is interested in a move to Valencia.
Please no …
I guess that’s all I have to say about this match. Tough game to watch, but hopefully it’s a wake-up call to the team.
We need to re-focus, analyze the situation and just move forward. No use in agonizing over a game that in retrospect, was but one of 38.
To be beaten 4-0 by one of the biggest clubs in Europe isn’t too infuriating. Being beaten 4-0 by them and not doing anything about it in subsequent weeks? That would be unforgivable. Here’s to hoping Valencia fix whatever’s ailing them and get back to their winning ways …
Category: Team News
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Comments
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@ Timothy
Yeah same here I highly doubt Villa is leaving in January. If its for 70ME then I certainly dont mind
@ Ali
I agree Pizarro would have been an excellent choice. I think he is only at Bremen for a 1 year loan, which would have suited us perfectly for this season with our financial troubles.Posted from
United States
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I have got a good news but not confirmed yet!!! as it is reported in Marca…
anyway the news says valencia has got a cash injection of 38-40 million euros to help out with the immediaate priorities from various foreign investments and future sponsors…so hopefully we might not sell anyone as widely expected by the other clubs…
anyways this has not been confirmed yet so lets hold tight to see whether this is the truth..Posted from
United States -
amen
Posted from
Canada -
€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€
Fianlly! Officials of the club have confirmed it to Radio Nou so i guess its secured. BTW, one company offering for the Mestalla-ground is owned by some ManCity-owner haha, but I think Valencia didn’t wanna negociate with them…
Next time we have these problems, maybe i can walk to Bahnhofstrasse here in Zürich, there are so many billions stacked in the Swiss bank vaults, sure they wouldnt mind me taking a million or 50
For a good cause of coursePosted from
Switzerland -
i thought it was all dodgey safe deposit boxes there, actual cash takes up too much space.
anyone else think ramos is a strange choice for real mierda? but good for us as i cant see him doing anything better than herr shcuster,Posted from
Spain -
@ bob
Gold my friend, GOLD!!!I think Madrid made a mistake by appointing Schuster in the first place, but firing him at this moment is strange, especially before el Clasico. In any way he won’t do much better than Schuster, so why did they appoint him now? To have an excuse when they lose to Barca maybe, cause the new trainer “needs time”??
According to the club, our german ex-goalie Hildebrand has signed for Bundesliga revelation TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Current leader in the German league, and i expect him to do just fine there (and earn some nice salary hehe). Good luck!
Posted from
Switzerland -
johhnie can i come with u ( only to help you carry the cash ur taking for the ” good cause”
)
@bob i think ramos is the best choice real can have! and i think he will bring them to glory again CL perhaps! cuz we all know what juande did with sivilla, and when u put some great players his tactics we all know tht will result in a trophy! ppl might argue he got kicked out of tottenham! but dnt forget he got them a trophy when he has killer team exposed under his command! His only mistake was selling R. Keane and Berbatov, and a lot could argue it wasnt his mistake that they were sold, they wanted out! But after they went out the morale of the team just collapsed! thts why they couldnt win! he was getting blamed for letting them go!
So i think its bad for us he has R. madrid!Posted from
Kuwait -
guys babel wants a loan out of liverpool! hmm could we work something out?? hes the type ofplayer we need, i realy like him!
Zain eldeen Zidane aka. Zico and aka.Zizo.. ex Juventus and Madrid legand is hinting for a return back.. i dnt no bout you guys! but no matter what id love to have the legand wearing our shirt! even if he only stands in the field! i wouldnt care! he cant be worse tht a lot a lot of our players! if anything our morale will be sky-high knowing that Zidane is with us!Posted from
Kuwait -
@ Ali: He would sell a lot of shirts
As for Ramos, I dont see him as the right choice for Madrid. I mean Schuster wasnt doing such a bad job he just had so many injuries, plus the players he had were terrible.
Madrid’s problem is in defending, they dont seem to have the players or tactics for it. When Ramos was coaching Spurs they scored goals but they leaked in defence. The same thing happened with Ramos when he was coaching Sevilla (they only started getting good at defending recently). So I dont know what would he be able to do that Schuster wasnt doing.
Anyway I just hope Calderon and Mijatovic stay for a LONG time in Madrid as they are the source of their troubles Posted from
United States -
Anyway here is an update on injured players:
1) Alexis – had his operation yesterday and it was successful. However, he is expected to be out until mid-march. We need a new CB!
2) Moretti – Is back in the group.
3) Edu, Angulo – still a few weeks left for them to be back.
4) Pablo – didnt complete training yesterday, no news if he would be ready for saturday or not.
Posted from
United States -
@ shaun de che: no response yet n i don’t know why. Hav’nt you been reading the blog lately?
BTW, good to hear that we now have some ‘lil’ cash. I hope it will do us more good than expected. We’ll need a solid CB,& GK cause i believe our attack had been delivering, only to be rubbished by some rash defending.
Valenciafansinnija@yahoo.com. AMUNT!!!Posted from
Germany -
What can Juande Ramos do? Not much, he’ll be just another sucker on Madrid’s bench. He’s stuck with players that Schuster and Capello bought before him. And by the time he’ll be able to sign players that suits his stle of football, he’ll probably be replaced himself. And the saga will go on. He was successful with Sevilla cause he created a team, here he has leftovers.
There’s no plan at Real Madrid, just star gazing. Which is good for us and the rest of La liga. I agree with Fayez, let’s hope Calderon and Mijatovic stay for a LONG time in Madrid! Posted from
Slovenia -
And may I give all my respect to Soriano. He’s our man, he’s promised he’ll fix (temporary) monetary problems and so he did. Quietly, without big words. That’s our man of action. I hope he stays with us forever.
Posted from
Slovenia -
while its quiet and i feel all christmasy im gonna tell you a little bit about the mestalla ,just for those of you who havnt been luckey enough to visit yet.ive been to about 65 grounds in europe and a big place in dallas where they were doing something with a bat.not one stadium has had the same effect on me ( open mouthed ) as the mestalla,ive seen manures so called field of dreams many times and at the other end of the scale places with a capacity of 2000 and a sloping pitch ,but the mestalla is the best,there simply is nothing elso so special.its right in amongst offices,appartments and bars,not far from the city center.the first thing that i just hadnr seen before was the sheer height of the place,seven stories ,from the top of the aptley named vomitorio you are on the same level as valencias rooftops,amazing views if you can bare to look over the wall.as you walk round the ground to monolo the drums there is always a happy ( but not in a lionel messi way ) crowd milling about, eating and talking is the norm rather than drinking yourself to a stooper and trying to look hard.its there that it really gets me,high up in the sky in beutifull green neon it spells out the word ¨ MESTALLA¨ it just hangs there all on its own,its like berlin was before the wall came down, just the eerie green glow all on its own.im not going to describe inside youll just have to try and find the readies to make the trip for yourselves.i hope everyone gets the chance one day.
Posted from
Spain -
Viva Manolo el bombo!!
Posted from
United States -
Maybe the catalans are still pissed at you guys for calling it Valencià instead of Catalá all these years?
I agree with Cesar, these games happen, you dust off and keep on going.
Posted from
United States -
@ Bob : Great story!
I personally think Santiago Bernabeu is one of those manure so-called dream stadiums you mentioned. However, Nou Camp on the other hand has a great atmosphere. Personally my favorite stadium in Spain is the Riazor. I really felt tense just sitting there it must’ve been hell for the away team!
Posted from
United States -
@ bob
i used to work at the Don Juan in front of Mestalla man, its so much fun to work there when there is a match. Aah and if i dont have to work, it was free booze before the match hehe. And even if there was no match, i just walk out and this big stadium is in front, its just magical. I agree with you about Mestalla, first time i got there was 4,5 years ago against Betis, we won 2-0 and it was raining so hard, but everybody was standing, dancing and signing. I have never seen such joy and football emotions, truly unbelievable.But just one thing man, you cant be serious about the green neon, its fucking ugly!!! But the rest, the inside, aaah its a true football temple!!! And here are the best seats
(hope my friend wont mind me posting our picture hehe):
http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=n5082545513874928768yk7.jpgPosted from
Switzerland -
Hi I watched Atletico v Marseille last night as I wanted to get another look at Banega as a lot of guys here seem to regard him as the salvation for Valencia. I cant say I saw a lot of magic there and I didnt know he had played enough for Valencia to get so much support, have I missed something earlier on. All I can say is that he kept on fighting the whole match which something good. We may be meeting one of these third position teams in the Uefa and Marseille certainly gave a good account of themselves with the 0-0 against Atletico. I was very impressed with Ben Arfa the left wing striker, is he available I wonder? I had the match of Barca v Madrid down as a Barca win but I think the remarks of Shuster
“we cant win in Barcelona” may on this occasion will raise the morale of every man and they may just do that,there is no substitute for strong motivation. Madrid was very strong against Seville firing 25 shots at goal, the goalkeeper Coupet saved the day, we could do with him. In answer to an earlier post of why Barca lost against Shaktar, they were playing a hanful of their 2nd b team and it was still 2-3, Guadiola did the sensible thing, they were top anyway..AlmendrasPosted from
Spain -
fayez i love the nou camp,and agree about p madrids stadium
oi walker,is that a pic of messi and cristiano ronaldo before they came out?
i love that green MESTALLA sign,its something to do with when i worked in berlin,it has that same ¨ history has been made here¨ sort of aura,
also while were talking about this stuff ……..how did people from all over the world come to follow los che,im curious?
Posted from
Spain -
Bob, about people around the world… Remember Zahovic, the Slovenian striker who tore Euro 2000 apart with four goals? He signed for Los Che in 2000, played there for one season, was out of favor with Cuper most of the time, missed one of the penalties against Bayern in CL final … and then left for Benfica. Well, this was what sealed my destiny with Che. I fancied them a lot since 1999, became an admirer in the 1999-2000 season (Claudio Lopez, Mendieta, Pellegrino, Ayala, Kily, Sanchez, Canizares … what a team we had!). the rest is history.
And oh my god, what an entrance I had into Valencia! Travelling by car from Barcelona, I entered the city at 7pm, and suddenly … on my right side … there it appears … the magnificent Mestalla!! And people in jerseys & with flags in hands jumping around. What’s happening? Shit, a match!! A pre-season affair against Peruggia only but a match nonetheless.
My girlfriend (an passionate hater of football) had no choice. “Baby, you’re gonna see the first football match in your life, liked it nor not”, was my immediate response. Parked the car (ignored hotel check-in), bought two tickets and enjoyed Aimar & co. It was summer of 2003. A beautiful one indeed.Posted from
Slovenia -
Oh yeah, another thing about summer ‘03: I remember cursing Benitez for not bringing a single new significant player that summer. Mista was the best we had up front (no exactly world class).
Well, we won La liga & UEFA cup next year with our “unambitious” team. That gives you something to think about coaching, stability & team spirit.Posted from
Slovenia -
@ bob
i hope you are not referring to me and my mate as those übersissys Messi and Ronaldo, cause than this “friendship” between us will soon be far gone history mate @ Quin
aaah yeah man, its something really special, also with the city. Suddenly you are in Valencia, not with suburbs or something, suddenly you are just between high rise flats (Avenida de Cataluña if im correct) and after 500 meter: MESTALLA!!! I had the same thing when i first got to the city, screaming it was suddenly there! Aah good old timesPosted from
Switzerland -
Hey all! It’s me, the drunk cousin at the wedding…
BOB, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!!
That was amazing!
The best christmas gift I’ve had in years!
SOOO many people disrespect Mestalla and take it for granted… comparing it to the disgusting English grounds… P.S. a Man U hater is a true Valencianista in my book…
I like that you highlighted the real difference between Valencia fans and the rest… the true spirit, qualities for which the Valencia football community is distinct, more honourable, beautiful and virtuous than the rest…
Posted from
United States -
thanks for the nice article on this. I simply love it.
Posted from
Australia
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