Real Betis 1-0 Valencia CF Match Report

Valencia CF coach Gary Neville decided to field the two new arrivals to the team, Siqueira and Cheryshev, so a new look on that left side, but it didn't change much in terms of play. Cheryshev did have a lot of forward runs and he always found himself in dangerous positions, but he just didn't have enough of the ball and couldn't do much when he got it. Off the ball movement was better than the movement with the ball.

Siquiera did well for the time he was on the pitch, though towards the end he left his position and allowed a dangerous chance for Real Betis, forcing his to rush and slide to cover, resulting in tearing a muscle and being replaced two minuted before the end of the first half by Jose Gaya.

Overall both teams played slow football and both teams lost the ball a lot of times. Real Betis did have the better chances though, as Ryan had a good save in the 43rd minute to keep the score level, before that Abdenoyr did have to make two tackles to clear dangerous situations.

With the type of play by Valencia CF I didn't get the feeling that we can win, the players lost the ball very often and created very little chances. There were few good tries to create chances, most of them going through Andre Gomes, but the final ball was always lacking. Feghouli did have one or two good runs, but again the final ball was lacking. His passes were not accurate enough to find a Valencia CF player in the penalty field.

Ultimately the first half ended 0-0 and neither team had created enough chances to score a goal.

Just three minutes into the second half though and Valencia's terrible defense was on show as it allowed Real Betis to score a goal from nothing. The defensive cover was so terrible by all of the players its just absurd. Ricky received the ball into the penalty area who was left unmarked, Gaya tried to mark him, but he was too late and his pass found Ruben Castro who easily slotted the ball into the net. It was a complete and utter failure of the defense where everyone failed.

Valencia CF reacted through Andre Gomes as he brought the ball forward, passed to Cheryshev who was alone and clear on goal, but instead of shooting he decided to pass to Negredo who's shot at goal was blocked. Ultimately a good chance for Valencia CF wasted, what could have been at least 1-1 ended up being nothing for Valencia CF.

After the last chance the next 15 minutes would be non eventful, especially for Valencia CF who needed to to score a goal, but it would be Real Betis with the control of the match and initiative.  Gary Neville brought on Moreno for Feghouli in order to spur something up, but the result was not what he wanted and expected, the change did not result in more attacks for Valencia CF.

The only player who was actually useful and doing something for Valencia CF was Andre Gomes, everyone else was sort of on the periphery of the match and didn't really contribute anything. Every action and every forward move for Valencia CF was started by Andre Gomes, unfortunately he did not have any other players to combine with.

This whole season and its pretty much continued under Gary Neville I have the feeling like every single player on our team is playing individually, they are not playing together as a team, its all about individual moves and plays, it never feels like an organized team with clear understanding and goal trying to finish its objective. It always feels like the players are always improvising and making stuff up as they go along.

Real Betis would score another goal in the 76th minute, but fortunately for Valencia CF the goal was disallowed and kept the hope for Valencia CF to be able to come back.

All this terrible play was frustrating the players as they couldn't muster up any decent chance or good build-up play, so they lashed out with terrible fouls and Gaya paid for his naivete in the 86th minutes when he committed a silly foul and got himself sent off. Sure the referee was terrible and was giving out yellow cards left and right seemingly even for the smallest of fouls, but Gaya should have been smarter and know to be more subtle when he fouls. Anyways he earned himself a second yellow card and automatic red to make the teams bad situation even worse.

Valencia CF did end up scoring a goal through Mustafi, but the goal was disallowed. I didn't quite see what it was disallowed for, it could have been for a foul, but who knows. Valencia CF tried as best as they could to make something towards the end, but it was too little too late and Real Betis won fair and square.

Technical details:
Real Betis: Adán, Montoya, Pezzella, Bruno, Vargas, Petros, N'Diaye, Musonda, Ceballos (Portillo, m. 70), Van Wolfswinkel (Molina, m. 63), Rubén Castro (Digard, m. 90).

Valencia CF: Ryan, Barragán, Mustafi, Abdennour, Siqueira (Gayà, m. 44), Zahibo (Santi Mina, m. 75), Parejo, André Gomes, Feghouli (Rodrigo, m. 59), Cheryshev, Negredo.

Goals:
Ruben Castro 49 min. Assist Ricky van Wolfswinkel

Player Ratings:
Ryan 5.5 - Had one good save, but other than that wasn't really tested and couldn't do anything about the goal.
Barragan 5 - Terrible marking feels like he just woke up and was thrown in to play. Needs to do better defensively.
Mustafi 5.5 - Doesn't ooze confidence and never feels adequate to defend.
Abdennour 4 - Had two tackles in the first half, but then terrible positioning for the goal twice and failed to block a simple pass.
Siquiera 4.5 - Decent start, but failed at the end of the first half, resulting in getting himself injured.
Zahibo 5 - Good defensively, made few good blocks at the back, but useless in the center of the midfield and didn't contribute anything offensively.
Parejo 4.5 - Poor showing from Parejo, failed to control the midfield and his contribution ended up being basic passes with poor accuracy rate.
Gomes 5.5 - Was the only decent player on the field, started few actions and was pushing the ball forward, but didn't have anyone else to play with, no one was open to receive the ball.
Feghouli 5 - Had some decent runs forward in the first half, found himself in a good position in one particular and was completely free, but his pass in the penalty area was inaccurate and gave the ball away.
Negredo 4 - Had one good chance as he was given a good pass by Chyrishev with the goalkeeper out of his line with the goal basically empty, but his shot was blocked by a Betis defender.
Cheryshev 5 - Had some good movement off the ball and was dangerous on occasions, but unfortunately did not see the ball too much and when he did he couldn't muster up a chance.
Subs:
Gaya 3 - Entered the match and quickly got himself a yellow card, was positioned poor for the Betis goal and then made a silly foul towards the end and earned himself a second yellow card.
Moreno 5 - Not very effective, got the ball few times and did have few runs, but nothing really threatning.
Mina N/A - Not enough time, but even if he had more time it didn't seem as he would change things.