Valencia CF - La Liga no longer a 2 horse race

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Valencia sign Brazilian legend

In a shock move in world football former player of the year Ronaldinho has agreed to join Valencia on loan from his current club Flamengo. Apparently there is an option for Valencia to buy the Brazilian once the duration of the loan runs out. Meanwhile Andrei Arshavin has signed from Arsenal for around £8M and German defender Andreas Beck has also joined Valencia from Hoffenhiem for a fee of £6M.

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Coull gives new signings first team status

Lots of speculation has been going around the Valencia camp about who will be making the starting 11 ahead of Valencia's first league match of the season against newly promoted Deportivo. Mr Coull had the following to say: "I feel with new signings we have improved our squad over the summer and i firmly believe we are now closest team in terms of quality to challenge Barcelona and Madrid! I'm happy with my 3 new signings and i expect them all to come straight into the starting 11 however if they do not perform or don't show the right attitude in training then perhaps things will be different. No matter what though the squad will be slightly rotated from game to game no doubt and it's pretty simple.....the better you play the more you will play. The board want a top 4 finish and that is the minimum this squad is capable of achieving."

Starting 11
GK - Deigo Alves 81
RB - Beck 78
CB - Rami 83
CB - Victor Ruiz 80
LB - Jordi Alba 79
RM - Pablo Hernandez 77
CM - Banega 81
CAM - Ronaldinho 83
LM - Arshavin 81
CF - Soldado 85
ST - Di Natale 85

Subs
GK - Moya 76
CB - Gallas 78
RB - Miguel 75
CM - Beckham 79
LM - Piatti 76
CAM - Costa 79
CF - Jonas 80

When i first started we only had 3 players at 80 or above, Solado 84, Rami 81, Jonas 80 so the squad has been improved big time. Anything less than 3rd in the league and i'll be dissapointed. What do you make of the signings and what area would you improve in?

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Deportivo are Brilliant in defeat

Match day 1
Valencia CF 1 – 0 RC Deportivo
Colloto (OG) 18' (Dep)
Guardado (PenX) 45' (Dep)
Guardado 51' (Dep)
Bergantinos 90' (Dep)

Match Facts
4 Shots 18
1 Shots on target 5
49% Possession 51%
9 Tackles 13
2 Fouls 5
25% Shot Accuracy 27%
81% Pass Accuracy 87%

Man of the match: Diego Alves (Val) 6.90
6 Saves

--------------------------------------

Valencia survived a battering attack from Deportivo for 90 minutes to emerge as 1-0 winners at the Mestalla. A own goal from Collotto put the home side infront however this didn't affect Deportivo as they continued to out play Valencia and create chance after chance. However sadly for them they failed to take any of these including a 45th minute penalty that star player Guardado could not finish. Valencia manager Jamie Coull was impressed by the newly promoted sides effort: "They were phenominal and i really do not know how they failed to score. I know football is a tough game but it's hard not to feel sorry for them however after that performance i am 100% sure they will be staying in La Liga. As for us we defended ok and although we failed to create alot of chances are build up play was good so i'm happy enough. Offcourse the 3 points is always going to be the most important thing to take away from the match and that's what we did!".

Other La Liga scores
Real Sociedad 1 - 2 Athletico Madrid
Malaga 2 - 1 Real Zaragoza
Racing Club 0 - 0 Villarreal
Espanyol 3 - 0 Hercules
Mallorca 0 - 1 Athletic Bilbao
Real Betis 0 - 1 Granada
Real Madrid 3 - 1 Sevilla
Barcelona 2 - 0 Getafe
Real Valladolid 1 - 3 Osasuna

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Transfer Deadline News

In a transfer window were over £100,000,000 was spent by La Liga clubs the biggest deal has to be Real Madrid acquiring the services of Argentian midfielder David Silva for over £40M.

---------------------------------------------------

Biggest transfer deals 2012-13

Player/from/to/£
David Silva - Manchester City - Real Madrid - £46.5M
Van Der Vaart - Tottenham - PSG - £31.5M
Schweinsteiger - Real Madrid - Chelsea - £30M
Ibrahimovic - AC Milan - Manchester City - £29M
Vidal - Juventus - Manchester City - £26M
Kompany - Manchester City - Barcelona - £23.5M

[pfeifere1]

When i first started we only had 3 players at 80 or above, Solado 84, Rami 81, Jonas 80 so the squad has been improved big time. Anything less than 3rd in the league and i'll be dissapointed. What do you make of the signings and what area would you improve in?

If I were you, I'd look for one more striker. Just someone solid to come off the bench for you when your starters are too fatigued.


Good luck with the highly anticipated second season!!!

[MBFranchise]

Man, looks like you brought in some big names for the season!

How has Piatti played for you? He has looked tempting on my shortlist but I never pulled the trigger and bought him.

What was your thinking on purchasing Arshavin? I know a lot of Arsenal fans had a love/hate relationship with him, with most of them being hate haha.

[orion523]

I worry about age/injury up front with your club as presently constituted. DiNatale(35), Ronaldinho(33), Arsharvin(31) and Beckham(37) are all pretty long in the tooth, with Jonas(29) and Costa(28) not much younger. Although you should enjoy some success in 2012/13, I fear it could be fleeting unless you somehow get younger.

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Quote: Originally Posted by pfeifere1

When i first started we only had 3 players at 80 or above, Solado 84, Rami 81, Jonas 80 so the squad has been improved big time. Anything less than 3rd in the league and i'll be dissapointed. What do you make of the signings and what area would you improve in? If I were you, I'd look for one more striker. Just someone solid to come off the bench for you when your starters are too fatigued. Good luck with the highly anticipated second season!!!

I will probably bring in a striker on loan during the January transfer window. I was debating wether or not to keep Paco Alcacer or send him out on load decided in the end for the latter because he is 19 and i'd rather him play regulary elsewhere and progress alot than just make the odd appearance for me.