Wow, That Was Bad …
By: Cesar | August 27th, 2007
That was as bad a start to the season as I can remember.
A team that came in with high expectations crashed to Earth last night at the Mestalla, as Valencia took one on the chin 3-0 to local rivals Villarreal.
Valencia looked completely outclassed, completely unprepared and woefully undisciplined in their opening match of the season.
Where do I begin? I don’t have a clue, but here’s some tidbits about the match:
- For starters, that was an embarrassing lack of class by David Villa, Joaquin and Marchena last night. I’m all for a little gamesmanship, but the dives, whining and perverted injury-faking are too much. When did we turn into toddlers? I expect more from world-class players.
- Speaking of Villa and Joaquin, their displays cost them the game next week. Not good.
- I know my attacks of coach Quique Sanchez Flores irritate some readers, but truth be told, some of the blame for yesterday’s loss goes to him. The squad looked horribly unprepared, lacking in creativity and looking predictable. It’s early in the season, but Flores has to feel a little bit of pressure after last night’s game.
Starting Angulo over Morientes?
Taking Miguel out in the 2nd half for a midfielder?
Dodgy decisions and poor preparation. It doesn’t bode well.
- To be fair, the group lacked creativity. Every ball went to the wings, where the attack died.
This new signing, Manuel Fernandes of Benfica, needs to be Kaka to make this team gel quickly.
- The defense sure missed Roberto Ayala, huh? They looked woeful on the first goal by Tomasson. Why wasn’t Alexis out there? Why wasn’t Helguera playing?
- Sunny got out there. That’s good. Just keep Baraja out. Wow, he got old fast, huh?
Well that’s enough about this game for me. On to next week and a match-up with Almeria, who destroyed Deportivo La Coruna 3-0 last night in their return to First Division action.
But first, a trip to Sweden and a Champions League qualifier against Elfsborg, who we defeated 3-0 a few weeks back.
Flores can bench some of the regulars for that match and maybe give guys like Alexis and Helguera a run-through. Maybe he’ll give Angulo the start, tire him out before next week’s game since we know he’ll be starting …
Man, that was a bad game last night. I almost wish THAT game was blacked out and not the Madrid/Barcelona matches.
Pitiful performance. Let’s forget about it as fast as we can …
Oh, but before I forget, we finally have a midfielder. As mentioned above, he’s Manuel Fernandes of Benfica. He’s 21 years old, comes for between 12-15 million Euros and arrives with a wealth of experience at top-class football.
He played on loan at both Everton and Portsmouth, who both wanted to keep him.
I don’t know much about him except that he’s a goal scorer, he’s got a load of creativity and flair and is in the Baraja mold.
As long as he doesn’t play like Baraja did yesterday, I’m happy.
What do you guys know about the new signing? I’m excited to see him play. Looks like our future midfield is set, with Sunny and Manuel feeding the forward lines.
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Comments
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Baraja was absoluly awful, while Edu is still injured I hink the Sunny should be given a chance in midfild,thank God Fernandes has arrived.Marchena’s lack of decipline is both annoying and an embarrassment.Why play Angulo up front,the guy’s reaction time is so slow and he misses chances even I could put away. I like Quique as our manager but last night he got it so wrong it unbelievable.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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To be fair – although Villa deserved his walking orders, and much of the initial judgement by the official seemed fair, the officiating looked biased by the middle of the second half. There were some shifty calls against Valencia and some obvious fouls by Villareal that went ignored (I beleive it was Albiol that was clearly fouled just outside of the box in what should have been Valencia’s best chance, but the ref said play on). Bad reffing in Spain is nothing new, but when your team is behind and then goes down to ten men, and then nine, it doesn’t help if the ref is playing favorites.
Posted from
United States -
that was bad Baraja was awful i think manuel fernandes should start immediately. Baraja had not 1 good pass in the intire match and Villa you dont expect bad behavior from him and Joaquin the same. But i dont panic this team has talent and eventhough we dont have the best coach we will end high this season and next week we will beat almeria mark my words. And I also like mata more yhan gavilan, Gavilan is no valencia material loan him out to murcia or something
Posted from
United States -
Marchena was poor, Gavilan was poor… I didn’t even notice that Baraja was poor until I think back on the game now, such was his anonymity… Quique has REALLY got it wrong, Miguel sub was the worst possible move.. idiot..
Posted from
United States -
Valencia!! our beloved humilated on his land! WHY???
1) Quique .. u may as how… first of all angolu instead of morientes.
2) Canizares… i blame him after the defense! why did he run towards the ball when it was far away?? he should have closed the corner.. and his reaction?!!? my grandpa is faster thn tht joke! (canizares) he was a great goalkeeper ONCE and now he isn’t anymore! bench him! how many more stupid silly goals are gona move our nets before mister Quique realizes he sucks nowadays!3) Gavilian! hmmm i wouldn’t even lett him play in Valencia! he wouldn’t have a place nowadays in any of the big names THT realy wana win!
4) Why was Alexis benched? and abiol! what was that human being doing? never ever liked how he defended! he sucks!
i think Abiol and Gavilian should be out of the club! these third class players shouldnt be playijng with Valencia if Valencia realy would want to win. i also think that Angolu and canizares should be benched and would play with small teams because they r not so great nemore!
Joaquin was the man of the game! he passed the ran like hell and i dont blame him for his temper he was th eonly one with silva that were actually playing right during the game !Posted from
United Arab Emirates -
Btw nice combination of Valencia and Hollywood! in my opinion only weak players act! instead of acting actualy put ur head on the attack and score. instead of focusing on getting a penalty kick. i find that pathatic! im so pissed off im looking for one reason to make me love tht team and i cant. but still he my one and only Team Valencia to the BONE!
Posted from
United Arab Emirates -
Wow, talk about an over-reaction to a first game of the season. Ok, we got pretty much steam-rolled, but it’s only one game, far too early to hear the fat lady sing.
I’m sure both Villa and Joaquin know they screwed up big time and will be more careful next time, but really, it’s better to screw up now than later in the season. About some of the other comments, yes, our whole team played pretty much woeful, but to judge some of the players on one game really is unfair. Albiol for example is Spain’s best up and coming centreback and still is despite his performance in this game. Baraja obviously will not last past this season and we’ve just got his replacement in in Manuel Fernandes, who by all reports is a talented midfielder with mental lapses from time to time, but hey, you get what you pay for.
HOWEVER, Quique is at fault, as ever, tactically inept, poor preparation of the team as shown by the low fitness levels and once again, poor selection of players. I know it’s easy for armchair experts like me to complain, but the fact is if u make a mistake you have to learn from it. Quique obviously still has not grasped the fact that Marchena is a crap defender but a great DM, that Albelda is still in the woeful form he showed at the end of last season and more importantly, Angulo. Everyone else has already had their piece to say about him, so I won’t digress, but the guy quite simply isn’t starter material.
So come on Che’s! Don’t be too down yet, we’ve still got a worldclass lineup that many teams would be envious of, and one bad result isn’t going to change that.
P.S. Cazorla was awesome, really impressed with this guy since his recreativo days
Posted from
Australia -
Antonio Puerta (Sevilla cf) has just died,he was 22 years old and his wife is pregnant of 7 months.
Horrible notice,my support for his family.Posted from
United States -
was he the guy tht swollowed his tongue in the match against getafe?
Posted from
United Arab Emirates -
Ali, Canizares tried his best to
Posted from
Jordan -
Ali, Canizares tried his best to drag Tomasson as far as possible, and he went forward to narrow the angle. So, his move was indicating a vast experience. But, defense was so slow to run to the goal to cover and protect it from behind Canizares. We cannot blame Canizares for that.
Albiol is a good center back, but what do you expect from a young player seeing senior players passive through the match. There was almost no spirit in the specially as far as Albelda, Marchena, and Baraja are concerned.
Posted from
Jordan -
yes,he was the guy…
Posted from
United States -
Cesar… What did i say on this blog only a few days ago? I wrote that the most important position for the club was Roberto Ayala’s at that Center Back position. We should have never let him leave. We needed him and his presence and experience back there to anchor that def. We miss him. We need a solid CB for our team. Theres no way around it. Every big club in the biggest leagues in europe have a rock solid dependable CB.
I have one that comes to mind. You will be seeing him in the near future for Germany’s National Team and he plays a Valencia style meaning, hes very technical.
His name is Fernando Meira of Vfb Stuttgart. This guy is my pick to be a new shining star. He’s Latin but a German international. I’m tellin you Cesar, watch out for him. Fernando Meira. Quality or as us Latinos say. “es calidad!”Posted from
United States -
In short, valencia played like individuals not as a “team”.
Posted from
India
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