nah...valencia have to go for it from the start. We'll counter them out of the cdl

The team can't afford to be complacent, Valencia are still in the tie, I hope no Real Madrid player gets sent off as this would surely swing the tie in favour of Valencia, I'm predicting a 2-2 draw with goals for Ronaldo and Benzema.

No Marcelo?

I'm hoping for goals from Benz and Higgy. Really want them to reach 20+ by the end of the season.

@buddytaller
i think you are being a tad too cautious here. i know its not good to be overconfident but a two goal lead and a clean sheet. Valencia i am afraid have no chance. they could win tho i am not saying otherwise but it the going through part that i am entirely not a believer in. Lead or not as you said there should not be any complacency or else we are going to pay for. play it right and we are through no doubt.

@ messiah, in the first Copa game i agree valencia looked like the side that could have won, we weren't exactly lucky but thats not to say they weren't unlucky. however the last game they knew there was no way behind our defence so they settled with long shots. i am not gonna lie i think their long shots are quite dangerous especially Tino Coasta's but this isn't the Valencia we used to see last season creating chances after chances this is a slightly more conserved one that are more afraid to commit many men forward than they were when Emery was there.

Casillas, Arbeloa, Varane, Albiol, Coentrao, Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Di Maria, Ozil, Cristiano, Benzema.

so the only change is benz over higgy. lets hope benz runs on yhroughballs rather than playing am/winger

lets do this

modric adan callejon and higuain should have started over Alonso, iker, Di Maria and Benz

If it wasn't enough that Arbeloa is an idiot who keeps on costing us goals and is useless going forward, he also injured our captain.

hoped he would have said he could continue. dont want to see adan. i am almost certain he will be at fault if valencia score a goal

looks like mourinho didnt even tlk to casillas as he walked off. he didnt acknowledge him. at least from what i saw.

guess this is mourinho wish

Arbeloa

In other news, Varane >>>> any of our defenders. Also, Albiol-Varane > Pepe-Ramos. It feels good to finally have defenders capable of knowing the basics of defending tbh.

I even think Arbeloa was the last guy to touch the goal for Valencia's goal, and from one angle it defected off him...good job Mr. Average.

Di Maria

Oh, and DiMaria wasted two clearcut chances by hogging the ball, and then managed to get sent off.. Even though I do feel a bit sorry for him, as he was attacked twice, both cases deserved a red imo, and the ref didn't even give a foul to him, and then he just lefts his leg, and he gets a straight red card. The ref was awful today.


On another note, did anyone else notice how Ronaldo is staying on his feet more often, instead of falling after each touch?

La liga refereeing is a sham, it feels as if the referee wanted to do everything in his power to win the game for Valencia. Ronaldo was kicked out of the park in the second half and they kept getting away with it.

Di Maria

Looks like people are starting to finally realize it.

Albiol wasn't bad : O

di maria played well though. he worked incredibly hard in defense, that red card was unlucky

A while ago I would be pouring hate on Di Maria - because he genuinely doesn't use his brain.

But I do not want him sold. I just want to see him on the bench on certain games..and with certain rotations.

Lemme ask you guys something.

Do you think it makes sense to have Di maria and Benz starting the same game? They're on different planets. Di Maria is looking for a miracle , Benz is looking for the perfect goal. Once in a while you'll get a situation where he plays a ball behind the defense and Benz makes a late/early run - but 99% of the time what you get is him sending the ball into areas Benz just does not feel comfortable going.

Then take Modric. He's looking to distribute the ball. He passes to Di Maria and he don't get it back. What's he going to do? Crash the box?. He waits until the defense sets up because he'd looking to build. Di Maria gets it - no running channels, defenders in position- he's not in a position to succeed.

I've said he's a super sub. That's not true. He's a super sub in the team I want to see. Start him when Higgy starts. Put him in a position to succeed. Start Modric when Benz and put Ozil out on the wing. Play the rotation where people fit. It's not rocket science.

I think the dude could be the best super sub.....ever. He's that type of player. He makes shit happen and he's high octane, which is where games reach if we're chasing a game.

lets not rip into Arbeloa
He cleared the damn ball... if any of you guys have a problem with it then you have no idea about defending
Casillas flapped at the ball, i could swear that is more of a mistake than what Arbeloa did the right thing in kicking the ball away and he got unlucky

Everyone seems to hate the fact that he puts in 6 out of 10 performances or the fact that he is a poor attacker, but he is a damn good defender and has been solid for the past couple of seasons

Le Samourai wrote:A while ago I would be pouring hate on Di Maria - because he genuinely doesn't use his brain.

But I do not want him sold. I just want to see him on the bench on certain games..and with certain rotations.

Lemme ask you guys something.

Do you think it makes sense to have Di maria and Benz starting the same game? They're on different planets. Di Maria is looking for a miracle , Benz is looking for the perfect goal. Once in a while you'll get a situation where he plays a ball behind the defense and Benz makes a late/early run - but 99% of the time what you get is him sending the ball into areas Benz just does not feel comfortable going.

Then take Modric. He's looking to distribute the ball. He passes to Di Maria and he don't get it back. What's he going to do? Crash the box?. He waits until the defense sets up because he'd looking to build. Di Maria gets it - no running channels, defenders in position- he's not in a position to succeed.

I've said he's a super sub. That's not true. He's a super sub in the team I want to see. Start him when Higgy starts. Put him in a position to succeed. Start Modric when Benz and put Ozil out on the wing. Play the rotation where people fit. It's not rocket science.

I think the dude could be the best super sub.....ever. He's that type of player. He makes shit happen and he's high octane, which is where games reach if we're chasing a game.

exactly. di maria and benzema just dont connect. and the points that you noted why are definitely huge factors as to why they dont connect. personally i am just not a fan, i dont like how di maria plays, i dont like his headlessness, his horrible pass completion ratio, or his diving/play acting

BUT he can be useful to us. like you said use his assets (high work rate, speed, and killer pass) to our advantage. put him on when players begin to tire, he will do his speedy gonzalez routine and probably get a goal or assist.

it makes sense to me that certain players connect well in different combinations i think our best attacking combination in terms of how they play together is

ronaldo, benzema, ozil

2nd best is

higgy, kaka, di maria

During the game i noticed how everytime DiMaria had the ball Ozil was the one who sometimes run down the touchline to give DiMaria a passing option. Arbeloa was never available add to that Arbeloa being an idiot defending and DiMaria had to do more work than he should have. He had 3 Valencia players on him everytime he got it. the only ting he could do was pass it back to Khedira.

I really can not wait till we get Carvajal back, the guy is a monster going forward and would give DiMaria more options. Carvajal can also cross a damn ball how many players can do that these days not to mention he can hold a wing on his own like he showed against Ribery when they met.

I didn't like how uninvolved Benz was during the first half but at the same time our attacks where abit hit and miss. I guess that was due to us already having the lead and kind of saved energy for i dont know what. Cacktrao is horrid going forward, he does make runs but after that he is an idiot, his crosses never get into the box eventho the defender was beaten and he cant shot. his red was a blessing in disguise. Now Marcelo show him how its done.

Albiol has been a total monster the past 5/6 games, absolutely brillent again yesterday, Albiol - Varane are the best CB partners we have.

albiol has been great but I dont like how he boots the ball out of play when nobody is pressing him

buddytaller wrote:La liga refereeing is a sham, it feels as if the referee wanted to do everything in his power to win the game for Valencia. Ronaldo was kicked out of the park in the second half and they kept getting away with it.

I agree. Spanish referees are the worst in Europe. Towards the end Referee lost it completely. Referees should be accountable too.