So a bit of a surprise with the starting eleven, I was expecting Voro to give some of the peripheral players some run out in the last match of the season, but Voro has always been very conservative and he decided to pretty much field mostly the strongest starting eleven (Maxi's inclusion aside), with Gaya being out of the starting eleven as well, with Toni Lato being given a chance here and Wass also being given a rest with Racic starting in his position.
It was the same setup he's used as well with a back line of 3 players with Correia and Lato acting as both wingers and wide defenders depending if the team is attacking or defending, in the mid we have the trio of Racic, soler and Kang-In Lee and up front Guedes and Maxi Gomez.
SD Huesca needed a win to stay in the first division, but unfortunate for them they only managed a draw with Valencia CF, while their relegation rival Elche won their match by two goals to zero against Atletic Bilbao.
Valencia CF for most of the match was on the back foot, defending what SD Huesca can muster up and while there weren't too many dangerous chances there was still the probing shots and runs. The closest Huesca came to scoring was through Rafa Mir who actually scored a goal, but was unmistakably offside and the the goal didn't stand.
Valencia CF also had few chances, mostly Lee and Guedes poking and probing, with Guedes having two chances on goal, but not able to find the back of the net.
Overall a positive end to a disappointing season with Valencia CF coming close to relegation, having to sack Javi Gracia just 4 matches before the end of the season to put in Voro who in turn did steer Valencia CF clear off of relegation.
Now the hunt for a new coach will begin and I'm hoping for a more established coach who can get the best out of these players. We saw what a change in formation and playing style can do, with Voro fixing our leaking defense and allowing our fast paced players to hit the opposition on the counter attack. This seems to be a good system for the players we have and we need a coach who knows what he is doing and continues the good work done by Voro these past 4 matches.
Of course Valencia CF also need to acquire around 30 million euros to balance the books for this year and that means someone is going to be sold from the current lineup. Goncalo Guedes has been linked to multiple clubs, Wolves, Sevilla, Bayern, etc... have shown interest, another player that might be sold is Gaya and he as well has had significant interest from multiple clubs like Barcelona, Manchester City and others.
Again the players that are going to bring the club money from sales are Gaya, Soler, Guedes and somewhat Maxi Gomez. None of the others players will bring in significant sums, though as I've written before we might see Kang-In Lee sold to Wolves for some 16-18 million euros and Cillessen sold for some 12-14 million euros and basically balance the budget in that way. Another option is to sell Maxi and Kang-In which would basically also balance the budget and go for Rafa Mir in some sort of a swap plus cash deal with Wolves, though it would depend on how much is Maxi Gomez still valued. He used to be a hot prospect, but hasn't really impressed at Valencia CF.
Player Ratings:
Cillessen 6 - Had some interventions, but nothing of note and was mostly secure
Paulista 6 - Good steady performance, handled most of Huesca's attacks well
Hugo 6 - Consistent performance and is becoming a reliable defender that has a future in VCF
Diakhaby 6 - Once again he had a good performance with the additional help at the back making him more secure in his defending
Correia 6 - Average performance for once, but VCF was mostly relegated to defending with the occasional counter attack
Soler 6 - Did better in terms of holding up possession in the first half, but was mostly relegated to defending in the second half.
Racic 5.5 - Decent performance overall, would have liked to have been more dominant this match, but was unable to control Huesca's midfield
Lato 6 - Good cover for Gaya, did everything well in defense though not as dangerous going forward as Gaya mostly is
Kang-In 6.5 - The most creative player of the night, he was always trying to find that penetrating pass and he did have some solid piercing passes, but no one took advantage of them
Guedes 6.5 - Combined well with Lee and the two were the attacking threat for VCF, had few chances to score, but this just wasn't his night.
Maxi 5.5 - Had one solid pass to Lee that put him solo on goal, but other than that he was mostly on the periphery of the play
Subs:
Cheryshev N/A
Vallejo N/A
Yunus N/A
Mangala N/A