I think its time to forget disaster in Nou Camp against Atletico Madrid. We are playing against in-form Villa in Valencia this coming weekend. With Etoo and Edmilson back and some rest for other players I hope we are going to produce better performance as we did in our last matches. Bad news is that Messi (injury) and Ronaldinho (suspencion) wont play. But also Valencia wont have all players. Vincente is injured and Marchena suspendend. This wont be an easy match but for the lasst several seasons we always played well in Mestalia (last year we won thanks to two wonderful goals from Ronnie and Etoo). Valencia is our direct rival for La Liga title and we may not lose this match. I think this is going to be one of the most importent matches in season after first defeat in La Liga in 15 matches. And we are second part of the season now when championship is decided. The conclusion is: WE MUST WIN!!!!
BTW, interesting article talking about problems with injuries in squad. Rijkaard might have problems to put out a decent squad: http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20060207/NOTICIA211997640.html
I wouldn't be surprised nor very concerned with a loss. If they can pull it out, great, but I think the real Barca will return after this game.
I hope Eto'o scores. It's taken us too long to produce goals w/out Eto'o. Larsson just isn't fast enough anymore. We should've gotten 3 vs Zaragoza and another vs. Atletico, Larsson is a great sub but we need Eto'o to keep the defenders back anticipating his pace.
Valencia will also likely miss Mista and Baraja so this is good news for us, Kluivert even if he hasn`t been starting might also be out of this one. Vicenter and Marchena are definetly out. We have to watch out for David Villa and Aimar...
This will be interesting match and tactical too. I am still waiting for newa about Ronnie playing but I guess LFP wont allow him. I think if stop Villa we have done half of the job. Valencia will miss several key players and we should use it. We are going to have complete midfield and that is very importent. Etoo is back , Giuly will play on the right and Iniesta on the left if Ronniw wont make it. I think ww should win it, Mestalia has been good ground for Barca in last seasons.
This also means good bye to his world cup hopes unless he recovers in time and makes a frantic push for a place, Van Basten has not selected him for a while, same as Seedorf.
sh!+ Im beginning to think our best result could be a tie! no Ronnie and no Deco!? WTF! http://www.sport.es/default.asp?idp...&idnoticia_PK=279104&idseccio_PK=803&h=060209
I would be happy with a tie which would still maintain our 9 point advantage because I don't see Real M winning away at Atletico this weekend, considering their confidence is at an all time low. Losing 6-1 with a fairly strong squad is always a morale blow.
If Deco is out it becomes harder but we can still get it done given that Valencia has so many key players out. This leaves us with only Iniesta as a playmaker with a stretched bench. We might actually start with two forwards, Larsson and Eto`o with Gio as a left winger.
We are in big problems now, after Ronnie and Messi out of the game Deco also wont play due to an injury http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20060211/NOTICIA212252418.html No Xavi, Deco, Ronnie... who will create our game. Van Bommel form is poor. It looks like Iniesta will have to work very hard. I guess Larsson and Etoo will play bouth after all. It should look something like this: .............Valdes Belletti ...Puyol...Marquez...Gio ...............Edmilson............ .......V. Bommel......Iniesta .....Giuly................Etoo ..............Larsson......... It could also be Ezquerro instead of Ronnie and Etoo as center forward. But I guess Rijkaard will put out formation with Larsson as center forward and Giuly and Etoo as wingers to brake Valencia defence. We are going to be scary again with our counter attacks. I only hope that we dont recieve goal soon. I guess Real Madrid wont win the match in Bilbao. Looking from that point of view a draw would be aslo good resoult for us. Still Ia have full confidence in Barca to win the match. After all Vaelncia also wont have all players. Vincente and Marchena are out, I dont know how is Ayala... I think we still have good chance to win but with absence of Deco the might be a big hole in our midfield. Van Bommel should have his best performance of the season!!!
To be honest I think the team you are playing is the team you should be worried about. Real Madrid are not going to win the league although if they do manage to win tongiht then I suppose it makes the league open again. If Barca progress in the Champions then they will be playing 2 games a week several times meaning Valencia always have the full week break to win their games in the league. I would be seriously more concerned about Valenia than Real Madrid if I were you.
This line up is not menacing but capable of taking all points, we only have to be concerned about the bench, i guess they will bring in Christian, Gomez and Verdu from Barca-B. I suspect Frank might also start with Gio as a left winger with Sylivinho as the left back. True Van Bommel hasn`t been in top form may be this will be th time he returns to his best.
The full list of players for Valencia: Valdés Jorquera Iniesta Van Bommel Ezquerro Gio Puyol Oleguer Giuly Larsson Gabri Sylvinho Belletti Maxi Eto'o Márquez Edmilson 17 players only, I dont get it why Rijkaard doesnt call some B team players ?!
How many potential subs are allowed? I just recall that England allows just something like 5, while UEFA/FIFA seem to allow 12.
In Spain, Cup comps take 5, and League and UEFA comps have 7. In England, both cups and league only allow 5 (I think), but they still use 7 in UEFA comps. WC and Euro NT qualifiers also take 7. Continental and World NT competitions DO allow the whole squad (12 or 11, it depends) to sit on the bench, but to be fair, it'd suck to be called to a World Cup and never even make the bench.