Inter - Valencia (21 Feb 07)

[Digitalism]

Why was Joaquin benched today? Is he out of form? I sure hope so...Vicente injured and Joaquin out of form, big relief for us.

 

[Pi]

I hope the game on Wednesday to be a good game, and I think if Valencia let us have too much of the ball they may suffer from it, although we don't score a lot of goals we manage to score almost always and we have been doing well at the back, of course I understand that our midfielders will win decide the game and I hope they are at their best level to bring us the win.

I know Valencia is a great team and its a team to be respected, but I also expect respect from Valencia not only for Inter constant presence in the top of European football but also for the great season we are doing.

Also I believe that if we pass this stage we have a good chance to go all the way through to the final and it will give us the final boost for the last phase of the Championship.

 

[Marcello]

Why was Joaquin benched today? Is he out of form? I sure hope so...Vicente injured and Joaquin out of form, big relief for us.

Maybe he was resting for the game agaisnt us?

 

[Knightz]

I hope this is a 4-2 or 3-2 type of game. I don't want a 1-0 snoozefest. I see us coming out ontop though. There's no way were losing to Valencia.

 

[Alex de Large]

Joaquin always starts on the bench, this year even Angulo is better than him, he is simply overrated just like Fernando Torres, 2 lies.


I'am sure they will play again with:

--------Cañizares-------
Miguel-Ayala-Albiol-Moretti
-----Marchena-Albelda-----
------Angulo---Silva-------
------Villa--Morientes-------

 

[Ziyad]

Against Barca I was only impressed with their cool collectedness in their passing game.Although i fear their counters the most, Ididnt think they were effective doing that yesterday except for two chances...And it was a home game.

I really think they will make us suffer on the counter however and if we are able to contain that we should be fine..I just hope we can get two passed them without conceding..

 

[Enzo]

Joaquin always starts on the bench, this year even Angulo is better than him, he is simply overrated just like Fernando Torres, 2 lies.


I'am sure they will play again with:

--------Cañizares-------
Miguel-Ayala-Albiol-Moretti
-----Marchena-Albelda-----
------Angulo---Silva-------
------Villa--Morientes-------

swap Marchena with Albiol and I'd say you're right. actually, as it is an away game, I wouldn't be surprised if you see a Viana in place of Morientes and they play 4-5-1.

David Silva is a very good player.

 

[Wallace]

Zanetti should not be put at the left back position, Grosso should not start, and also no Burdisso at right back.

The fact is, we should not change our formation too much, we have discovered our best 11, and we should stick to it, even versing a strong team like Valencia.

For one thing, we all know how much Zanetti changed our flow of game after he changed his position to be a central midfielder. If we forcefully moved him to left back, we will have much less influence in the middle, Dacourt is good, but he can't attack like our captain can.

Grosso has been on poor form lately, and basically that reason already excludes his place in our first eleven. I don't think we should field him and hope he produces a miracle on the field, it's just not the way Mancini should work.

Lastly, Maicon is a must. Although sometimes he might be too aggressive and left space at the back, but his strength, pace are necessary in many occassions. With these two important qualities, it should be enough to stop other fast wingers. I'm sure Mancini would tell him to stay back a bit so that our defence is less exposed.

I'm not saying this is an easy game, but I don't think we should fear any other teams in Europe. Although Valencia are in great form, but Inter too. We shouldn't immediately switch our first 11 players when we face strong teams, and play along with strongly defensive tactics. We should just play like how we used to, and that would be our strongest weapon, because what we have is consistency.

 

[Marcello]

Agaisnt Barca

 

[Stefan]

Maicon is fine.

Maxwell is a very, very big risk. I would play Grosso ahead of him because Grosso knows how to handle pressure and he knows how to play in big matches. This isn't overrating him, it's pure facts, plus if Grosso plays, Valencia would pay him much more respect than they would with Maxwell.

First leg: Grosso left back.
Second leg (depends on circumstances): Zanetti left back, Dacourt central midfield.

On what basis one wc?? Maxwell has allot more champions league expierence compared to Grosso.

We must keep the same team. The only adjustment that needs to be made is telling maicon and maxwell to be a bit more defensive and telling cucho and jz to cover them more than usual.

My team:

JC

Maicon Burdisso Matrix Maxwell

Viera Cucho JZ

Deki

Ibra Adri

 

[Vic]

I agree with Stefan a little more cover on the flanks is needed and after that we should be right to control possesion and that way we dictate what happens during the game.

I am really looking foward to this one, should be revelation on how measure up with some of the best!!

 

[uny_arturo]

In the first leg, since Vicente may not play, having Maicon as the right back is not a problem. Hence, we should keep our best 11.
But for the second leg, placing Capitano as the LB and Nico as the RB isn't anything shameful at all. Thus we can have Tiger-General to command the midfield. (but on defence only, of course lol)

 

[lonewolf19]

I completely agree with Stefan's idea and lineup
Exactly what I have in mind mate ^^
Btw, Sweden ref Hansson is in charge of this game

 

[Stefan]

In the first leg, since Vicente may not play, having Maicon as the right back is not a problem. Hence, we should keep our best 11.
But for the second leg, placing Capitano as the LB and Nico as the RB isn't anything shameful at all. Thus we can have Tiger-General to command the midfield. (but on defence only, of course lol)

If we that we have no with whatsoever. We would be sitting ducks. Fine we are 2-0 up from the first leg. But we aren't a counter attacking team. None of our forwards are very quick. We need the width that maxwell and maicon supplies. Maybe you could bench one of them but bench both is silly.

 

[J zanetti]

I thought I post this one here as it mainly focuses on Valencia and their rediscovered form as we all feared when we were drawn up against them. However to be honest I wasn’t that impressed with them. I think it was Barca who mainly played below their usual standard rather than Valencia being all that great. Shame we wont see a full Meazza for this one.

Valencia emerge from adversity to become serious contenders

Despite public fall-outs, a host of injuries and a keeper with a thing for red towels and tantric sex, Valencia are still in with a real shot at the title.

Sid Lowe
February 19, 2007 10:53 AM

The captain hates the president, the playmaker doesn't like the doc, the coach hides in the toilet to avoid the sporting director, and the defensive lynchpin has had enough and is off to the local rivals from up the coast. The goalkeeper is a 38-year-old who drives a bright yellow battered Beetle, has hair the same colour, and a thing about red towels and tantric sex; the boss wears Rupert the Bear's scarf and his auntie Lola's eye-shadow; and the centre-back can't even vent his spleen in anger at it all because it was removed following a car crash.

Meanwhile, the €25m right-winger cheerfully admits that he was breast-fed until he was seven; the dynamic midfielder has a worrying fixation with his ears, which is perhaps because his ears are a worrying fixation; and the full-back finished last night with a dimple pot in one hand, a cigarette in the other and Brazilian music blaring out over the day's big-screen football round-up, while a cardboard Christ the Redeemer looked on, concern in his eyes, mini flags hanging out his wizard's sleeves.

As for the rest of them, the Italian who disgusted his Spanish team-mates by not liking jamón has been walked to the border, the left-winger has glass ankles, and everyone else has been injured, five of them tearing knee ligaments. They have more Davids than the SDP, a brass band with fewer tunes than Status Quo, and a historic tendency to go at the self-destruct button with a sledgehammer.

Yet still Valencia CF might win the league.

Because, last night they defeated FC Barcelona 2-1 at Mestalla, thanks to goals from Miguel-Ángel Angulo and David Silva. And while it wasn't quite the "Bath for Barça" that AS declared this morning - more a quick wipe with a wet flannel - it took Valencia to third, four points off leaders Sevilla and Barcelona. It also gave them a vital, head-to-head advantage over Barça and, perhaps more importantly, confirmed their recent recovery.
Now, Valencia really should be title candidates. The man who went to Ikea and got all confused by the Øg and Skågluk nametags, bringing Rafa Benítez a lamp when he asked for a sofa, has gone. And much as the new sporting director Amadeo Carboni is about as popular as a paediatrician on a housing estate, he has built an impressive squad. The best in Spain, in fact, with the majority of those who won two league titles, plus David Villa, Raúl Albiol, Luis Miguel, Edu, Fernando Morientes, Asier Del Horno, Joaquín Sánchez, and David Silva.

The very public fall-out between coach Quique Sánchez Flores and Carboni, plus podgy president Juan Soler, may even have helped too - much as that sounds as ridiculous as Joe bloody Pasquale. With Quique at loggerheads with Carboni and dressing-room heavyweights David Albelda, Santi Cañizares and Fabián Ayala also furious at the club, the battle lines have been clearly drawn - with squad and coach very definitely on the same side, thus fostering unity in the dressing room. At the club's Christmas party, the players gave Quique a Valencia shirt with Carboni's name on it. As a statement of sides, it was almost as telling as Samuel Eto'o's crazed rant last week.

But if that may have inadvertently helped, what has not are the injuries - and that is the real change in recent weeks. Valencia started the season with four wins and a draw (at Camp Nou) in their opening five. They then went five without a victory. Now they have been beaten just twice in 10.
A number of players have made returns of late but one man stands badly-highlighted head and shoulders above the rest. Those runs coincide perfectly with the injury and subsequent recovery of captain Albelda. He may be unpopular with the press, who did all they could to get him dropped from Spain's World Cup team; he may be a dangerous, clever and untrustworthy political animal; and he certainly is not the most talented of footballers. But it's hard to escape the feeling that Albelda's special brand of nasty bastardry in the middle of midfield is vital for Valencia.
Witness last night, when Albelda was eventually sent off for an assassination attempt on Leo Messi. Valencia again ceded possession, 70% of it, again protected their back four with Albelda, and again played on the break, where they were devastatingly direct, quick and incisive. "Three minutes, two lashes of the whip and it was all over," roared this local morning's paper. Meanwhile, on the sports pages, it said: "Valencia were a model of counter-attack."
But that, alas, may be the problem. It's all well and good playing Barça on the break but, despite such rich attacking talent, Valencia tend to come unstuck when the onus is on them. Their seven defeats have come against Betis, Celta, Recreativo, Racing, Sevilla and Madrid and they're likely to drop more silly points at some stage.

Nor is that the only problem. For, much as Valencia are in with a shout of the title, so are three others. Despite their crisis - complete with that comic for-the-cameras hug, Txiki Begiristain's rip-roaring claim that Ronaldinho is Eto'o's best mate, and Sport's side-splitting insistence that there was no crisis - Barcelona remain the best placed. Sevilla reaffirmed their candidacy last night with a superb 3-1 demolition of Atlético. And even Madrid are somehow still in the race despite another woeful performance and another 0-0 draw, this time against Real Betis.

 

[UhUhOleguer]

Valencia is good when they can counterattack. Miguel and Ayala further give every offense headaches.

Now, I would like to see them counterattack against Inter, with Vieira, Dacourt in midfield and Ibra-Adriano(Hernan) as strikers.

If you guys score 1, you should score two.

The only problem you could face would be on your left defensive side, if Grosso or Maxwell have a bad day.

 

[Soca_Warrior]

Valencia squad, no Baraja or Vicente


Goalkeepers: Canizares, Butelle, Mora.

Defenders: Curro Torres, Miguel, Albiol, Navarro, Ayala, Marchena, Moretti.

Midfielders: Albelda, Pallardo, Jorge Lopez, Joaquín, Hugo Viana, Angulo.

Strikers: Silva, Villa, Morientes

 

[Alex de Large]

That's right, the thing i fear from them is those counterattacks, they will play like Bayern Munchen in the lose by 0-2 but giving the ball to us all the time.
We can'T let them score a single goal in this game..... even a 0-0 is better result than a 2-1, a 2-0 is perfect and a 1-0 not bad.

 

[Waleed]

Vicente was not expected to play but it is also a good thing that Baraja is not playing. He and Albelda have a telepathic connection from playing many years together. Plus Marchena is prone to giving up fouls in the midfield if he starts to get over run. BUT he is a huge guy and he and Albelda are going to make it their duty to make Stan's life hell in there.

Great article Ashkan and it like it pointed out the team has its problems and weakness. Mainly they tend to not do as well when under pressure and when they are given the initiative. I dont know how Mancini plans on working this as we are not a fast team that can counter attack Valencia.

The only way I see this being a good game for us is if our midfield generals plus Stan absolutely stamp their authority in the middle. The have to own the ball in that area of the pitch and it will make things al the more easire for us as their service and defensive strategies will get phucked up.

 

[Khalifa]

I would choose Cordoba for catching up with Villa, but Villa outsmarted many others with his trickery, therefore, Burdisso needs to break his damn legs.

I think we will win this game, make a statement and make it to the 2nd round and that is by respecting Valencia's game.