Valencia CF Champions League profile

[Fabio]

Here is my 2nd and last CL profile:

Valencia Club de Futbol SAD

Nickname:Los Ches

Founded in 1919 Valencia is one of the top clubs in Spain and Europe having won a double last season.They are also very popular in Spain,having no less than 700 bars themed to the club!

Official website: www.valenciacf.es

Transfers:

In - Butelle (Metz), Caneira (Bordeaux), Corradi (Lazio), Di Vaio (Juventus), Fiore (Lazio), Moretti (Bologna)

Out - Carew (Besiktas), Gavilan (Tenerife), Juan Sanchez (free), Oliveira (Betis), Ranger (Lleida)

The Squad -

Goalkeepers - Canizares, Butelle, Palop

Defenders - Ayala, Caneira, Carboni, Torres, Navarro, Fabio Aurelio, Marchena, Moretti, Pellegrino

Midfielders - Aimar, Albelda, Albiol, Baraja, Canobbio, De Los Santos, Fiore, Lopez, Parri, Redondo, Rufete, Sissoko, Vicente

Strikers - Angulo, Corradi, Di Vaio, Mista, Salva, Xisco

Players to watch out for:

Goalscorer - Di Viao
To be a good Serie A player isn't easy for anyone.Di Vaio even though a Gobbi became one.Valencias highest profile arrival.

A resurrection? - Aimar
Their great hope.From being the teams 'star' to having to fight for a place in the starting 11.His class can cope with it.

Captain - Albelda
Will once again be the battery of the team,the great captain (their equivalent of our captain).You don't see him when playing but is sorely missed when he is not.

Idol - Vicente
From Valencia,Valencia fan since a baby and just shaded by Ronaldinho as last years best Liga player.Vicente is one of the clubs biggest idols where he has the support of everyone.At 23 years of age the international can look forward to a great future as a symbol of Valencia.

Suspected first team:

4 - 2 - 3 - 1

-Canizares-
-Torres-Ayala-Marchena-Carboni
-Albelda-Baraja-
-Fiore-Aimar-Vicente-
-Di Vaio-

Trophies won:

La Liga - 41/42, 43/44, 46/47, 70/71, 01/02, 03/04

Domestic Cup -1941, 1949, 1954, 1967, 1979, 1999

Spanish Supercup -1999

Recoba -1980

UEFA Cup -2004

Fairs Cup -1962, 1963

European Supercup -1980

The coach:

Claudio Ranieri-

History of management:

3 years at Cagliari, 2 years at Napoli, 4 years at Fiorentina, 2 years at Valencia, 1 year at Atletico Madrid, 4 years at Chelsea, ? years at Valencia.

The Stadium:

El Mestalla -

Capacity - 55 000

Built in - 1923



Fabio

[Handoyo]

In 01/02 and 02/03, we didn't face him as Kily Gonzales played in his position. He was just one huge talent back then and people rarely heard of him. Fast forward 2 years from our last encounter with the bats, Vicente has matured to become one of the most feared player in La Liga. He is IMO the best left winger in the world today. It will be a great clash between him and Il Capitano.


Handyo

[Interforeva]

Another good profile

[SB9Dragon]

We should have never, ever, ever selled Caneira. He is a really good player and he was the captain of Bordeaux after 1 or 2 seasons. If we had brought him back on loan for this season then our defensive lineup would really be secure. Though alas he was sold to Valencia.

Valencia looked impressive against Porto in the Supercup by winning it 2-1. They will definately be the hardest team to beat but I know Inter can do it.

[Jimmy]

Valencia profile

We will once again meet the Spanish champions in Europe.

The day before the Champions League draw was made, I sat down and looked at the pots that were going to be drawed against each other. Inter was in the second pot, which I had no problems with. There were two teams in the first pot that I preferred more than others. One of those two teams was Port, who I think will be significantly worse than last season. The other team was Valencia. That means that my preferences was a bit different than the common Inter fan whom did not wanted Valencia whatsoever.

Valencia are relatively new this season. They have a new coach (albeit used to coach Valencia in the past) and that isn´t the worst that could happen. It was Ranieri who started this path for Valencia that they are currently in. The winning-path. Now he has returned after witnessing Cuper and Benitez continue to work on what Ranieri started on.

Valencia have changed their tactics for this season. They used to play a form of 4-5-1 formation. Now they have gone back to the traditional 4-4-2 formation. They are planning two play with two real strikers, instead of having someone like Mista alone on top and Aimar being in between midfield and attack. I am personally curious to see how Ranieri will make Aimar a part of this new system.

I am not particularly impressed with the new signings that Valencia has done during the summer. They´ve signed some well-known Serie A players. The player whom I find to be their best signing is Stefano Fiore, but he is new in the league and it isn´t at all guaranteed that he will succeed. He is the kind of player that needs to adapt for some time in a new team before he start delivering.
Then we have the two strikers Marco Di Vaio and Bernardo Corradi. Valencia paid a ridiculous fee for Di Vaio who was a bench player at Juventus. His pace is on the other hand a great weapon. Corradi has had an incredibly short spell with Inter, before he was sent to Lazio as a part of the Crespo deal. In Lazio he became a starter, and has been a good target-player. However, he doesn´t score a lot of goals, and I don´t think he was the right player for Valencia to buy.

In defence they have signed two players that we also recognise. The left back Emiliano Moretti is one of them. He has played for Juventus, where he was hardly impressive. His minor breakthrough came when he was loaned out to Modena from his club Parma. There he showed some potential and it meant that Parma could sell him for a good price. Valencia has three options for the left back position, but I don´t find anyone of them particularly impressive.
Another defender is the Portuguese player Marco Caneira. Do you remember him? Yes, he was owned by Inter for several years. He didn´t even play a single friendly game for Inter, before he was shipped off to Reggina. From that club we sent him to Bordeaux where he established himself as a great player and was called up for the Portuguese National Team. But we never called him back and he was later on sold to the French team, who now have sold him to Valencia.

Valencia is one of the quickest teams in the world when it comes to counter-attacking. It goes very fast and they move forward a lot of players. I think that this season they will build their team mainly on the flanks. Vicente is a player that definitely should have the ball on the flank to make his crosses. With a player like Corradi on top, they are forced to play this way.
On the right flank, they will play differently though. We will see less flank movements from there, depending on whether it will be Fiore or Rufete who will play that position. Unless Aimar receives a “Stankovic” role where he start from the right flank and cuts into central.
When we will face Valencia we need to cover up our flanks, especially our left flank and make sure that Vicente won´t get too much practice to find Corradi´s head.

What Valencia might take advantage of that is our Achilles heal is their ability to move one of their central midfielders into the penalty area. We are very bad at marking those kind of players, and during the last two years I have noticed that Inter have had problems marking players in the penalty area that aren´t strikers. What I mean is when a winger comes from the flank and make a pass backwards to an unmarked central midfielder. Valencia has in my eyes one of the best central midfielders in the world by the name of Ruben Baraja and he is incredibly good at this movement. He also scores a lot of goals to be a defensive midfielder. Our central midfielders has to make sure that they pick up a marking when these scenarios will occur.

Valencia’s strongest weapon is their defence. They have not made any big changes from last season. The central defenders are shifting between playing zonal defence and man-to-man defence, depending on the situation. All of this is controlled by Roberto Ayala who to me is one of the best defenders in the world.

Valencia has the burden to be this groups favourites, considering that they are the Spanish champions and UEFA-cup Champions. What is speaking against them is that they have a new coach and a new system.

Their probable lineup:

Canizares

Curro Torres – Marchena - Ayala – Moretti

Fiore – Albelda – Baraja – Vicente

Di Vaio – Corradi

I don´t know where Aimar will play in this system? It depends on Di Vaio…


Jimmy Fredholm

[GentinteR]

perfect post JIMMY

[Gismo]

Good profile, very analytical.

[Catenaccio]

Ranieri has so many midfield options opened to him that it'll be interesting to see how he shuffles his pack, for example, he has Fiore as a more methodical type player and than Sissoko, a traditional box-to-box combative runner. In any case Inter will have to watch out for the variation in play that Valencia are capable of, since not only are they good on the counter (using Vicente and Rufete brilliantly), but they are a side that are also adequate in possession play (Aimar being a key man, although whether he gets the games or not will be another matter).

However, all hope should not be defeatist, because pound for pound Inter do have better players, and we have the armoury to dismantle their defence. Their mainstays such as Ayala and Marchena are a great combo, but individually can be suspect (both aren't particularly quick on the turn).

[Handoyo]

I watched the first half of the Valencia - Villareal last match and I must say that I am very happy. They did not dominate the game, albeit the opponent is a UEFA Cup Semi-Finalist and the team on the rise in La Liga. Valencia converted to 4-4-2 from 4-2-3-1, like Jimmy had mentioned. From what I saw; they are trying to use the pace of Vicente, Mista, Di Vaio and Rufete by sitting deep and doing counter-attacks when possible. They are not so defensive to the extent of Cuper but you just can see the pattern.

Vicente was nowhere near the player he was last season. Other than the 2 assists that he gave, which is even from a deal-ball situation, he didn't terrorize Villareal at all. Let's hope it stays this way. Di Vaio plays half-heartedly. It was as if he could care less about the club's future. But I'm impressed with Baraja & Albelda who worked tirelessly in the middle.

I wish I could have given a more detailed report from the game but it started at 03:30 and I didn't have the stamina to analyze the whole match.


Handyo

[mMontenegro]

Second half was even worst for Valencia. Vilareal gave them a hard time but I think Valencia was tired cause they were playing against Porto 3 days ago for Super Cup in Monaco.
Their defense is so shaky without Ayala, but their miedfield is strong and very dangerous. Presing and wings are their most powerfull weapons

[Catenaccio]

Let's not get over excited with Valencia playing absolute garbage in one game (I also saw the match last night), Villareal are the sort of team that likes to play balls into feet, against another side the pattern would have been very different.

It is true though that Ranieri is less of a "possession-oriented" coach than Benitez is, but he is merely playing to his team's strength. With players like Rufete and Vicente and now Di Vaio, you really should be using the counter more often, although in no way are they a rudimentary counterattacking side now.

[Catenaccio]

Ayala Set For Long Spell Out
8/31/2004 12:00:00 PM

Valencia defender Roberto Ayala will be out for up to two months after undergoing surgery on his right knee.
The player suffered the injury in Argentina’s 1-0 win over Paraguay at the Olympics.

A scan revealed ligament damage, and the former Milan defender had surgery yesterday.

The player could miss Valencia’s first three Champions League games.

FROM GOAL.com

[cool_cuchu]

that is 4 cl games....., at least one game against us without ayala...

they will be a lot weaker in the back,

hopefully, oba-adi can exploit the hole....

[Fabio]

Baraja and Albelda are great together,almost made for each other whether it be for club and country.Like I said before,when captain Alblelda is there you don't really notice him but when he is not playing thats when you really see the difference.

However when one or the other is away then their central midfield goes down a notch in standard.

Fabio

[Gismo]

Mirror, mirror, mirror, what do you see? Valencia in trouble might be. Hasn´t paid Benitez his wage, Ranieri will have to step down a page.

If you didn´t get the poetry it means that Valencia have failed to pay Benitez the money he demands. The Spanish football association therefore will perhaps ban Ranieri from being allowed to be on the bench at games. Even starting from next weekend.