This One Hurts

By: Cesar | October 4th, 2007

Yesterday’s 2-1 loss to Chelsea felt like a punch in the gut.

True, we didn’t lose ground on the other teams in our Champions League group (Schalke defeated Rosenburg 2-0 to go level with us at 3 points. Chelsea leads the group with 4 while Rosenborg has 1).

But we could have done better. We SHOULD have done better.

What’s so dissapointing is the nature of the loss. Coming against a club in crisis, who didn’t play that great, who looked lackluster and ready to be killed, we lacked that murderous instinct and let them into the game.

Time and again in the first half, Valencia let chances go by. The goal by Villa came from clumsy defending on Chelsea’s part, a comedy of errors as four defenders surrounded El Guaje and could only watch him poke the ball through Petr Cech’s 5-hole. A beautiful goal from our wonder striker.

After that, what happened? Our defense looked soft, the midfield lacked cohesion & creativity and the chances dried up. The second half was more of the same garbage we’ve seen all season: lackluster play, defensive errors and no unity.

In a word, we stunk.

I will say we looked good in the first half. Villa’s goal was sensational, Joaquin looked agressive and Silva was probing.

But that killer instinct wasn’t there and it effectively cost us the match.

Some more random notes from a game I actually watched:

- Zigic finally played! I think he’ll be a great signing. Kind of weird that this was his first run with the team. You could see the tactics change when he came on. Ball to Joaquin, ball up in the air. The chemistry with the tall striker will come. I’m salivating at the prospects.

- Honestly, Flores is a muppet and you all know it.
85-year-old Baraja for Albelda? That’s a tactical move? Arizmendi for Joaquin? Come on … no, really. Stop defending this guy. What is it that he tells these guys that either doesn’t motivate them or makes them play like such crap in the 2nd half of games?

- We miss Ayala SO MUCH. It’s awful to say but this had to be one of the worst moves of the off-season.
Helguera doesn’t cut it even though he’s a hard-worker. Albiol is still a little too raw. Alexis? I haven’t seen enough of him to know … what do we do here? The loss of Ayala is the single biggest reason we’re so out of it defensively. I’ll point to that more than Flores’ lack of coaching ability as the reason we’re struggling now.

- Villa’s great. Joaquin is fabulous. The midfield? Fernandes better be Zizou because it looked AWFUL yesterday. No creativity, no class. Why not sub Albelda for Sunny? I mean, Baraja? Come on …

- Enough with the fake diving. It drives me bonkers to see these guys falling down, trying to get penalties and fouls. Villa, Zigic and Joaquin all fell over like shot by a sniper yesterday. Who teaches them this? We used to be a lot better about this. Enough! Please! It’s embarrasing!

So there you have it.

Two more pieces of business:

1 - Barcelona president Joan Laporta stopped by my local football bar to watch the Barca match this weekend. As you can imagine, he was mobbed by the supporter’s club there.
Two things about this. One, wonderful that he showed up and hung out with the fans. Two, why do I get the feeling Juan Soler would never do this sort of thing?
I’ve only been trying to start a penya now for seven years …

2 - I talked about Levante and their quest to get a cup victory from the 1930’s recognized by the Spanish footie federation a few months back. Looks like that’s going to happen now. Have a gander at this article from the Guardian. Enjoy lads, and let’s keep our heads up, eh?

Levante pick up football trophy - 70 years on

Paul Hamilos in Madrid
Monday October 1, 2007

Guardian

Levante sit bottom of the Spanish football league, with a single point, and were thrashed 4-1 by Barcelona on Saturday. But Levante will be picking up one trophy this year - even if it is 70 years overdue. The Spanish parliament has voted to recognise Levante’s victory in the Republican Cup final of July 18 1937, a game that had long been wiped from the official records.
In 1937 Spain was divided; the fascist forces of Franco occupied just over half of the country, while the republicans were besieged on the other side. Football still had its place, and the eight clubs on the republican side organised their own league, with the four top-placed teams competing for the Republican Cup, an offshoot of the King’s Cup, the Spanish equivalent of the FA Cup. That year Barcelona, having won the league, went on a tour of the US and Mexico to raise money for the republic, allowing fifth-placed Levante to take their place in the cup. Levante went on to beat their cross-town rivals Valencia 1-0 to lift the only trophy the club has ever won.

But Franco’s regime rejected the republican league and cup, removing all mention of Levante’s victory from the record books. The only evidence of Levante’s win comes from newspaper reports and their fans’ memories. One fan in particular was desperate to get the history books rewritten. Xavier Rius appealed to the Spanish football federation to reinstate their victory, but initially met with little success. He went to the Valencian MP Isaura Navarro of the leftwing IU-IVC, who took the issue to parliament. Success was achieved last week, with the help of a rebellious centre-right People’s party MP. Parliament approved a call for the football federation to recognise the Republican Cup. Seventy years on, Levante’s long-suffering fans can finally celebrate their one trophy.