Valencia CF started its first 2021/22 season match with a hard fought victory against none other than Valencia's coach Jose Bordalas former team Getafe CF. In typical Valencia CF fashion we had to make it hard on ourselves and Hugo got sent off for a dangerous play very early in the match, forcing Valencia CF to play with 10 players for over 80 minutes.
Bordalas methods must have worked as Valencia CF was able to hold on to its small lead until the end and even had several chances on the counter attack to improve its score, though unfortunately not all of our chances were converted, but that would have been wanting too much. Overall the play was quite solid considering we were one player down and defensively the team was great. In the match report I asked if we are actually going to have trouble beating smaller and weaker teams who sit back and defend, taking away Valencia's style of predominantly defending and then hitting on the counter. Can Valencia CF become an attacking team when playing weaker opponents and break their defenses?
Granada CF is going to be that test, can Valencia CF beat a much weaker opponent and how will our play look like? Will Valencia CF look like the weaker team and defend even against weaker opponents and try and hit them on the counter as well or will the team become more active and try to outplay them and break their defense?
On the transfer front there is nothing new, few unsubstantiated rumors and speculations, but nothing concrete and as it stands it seems as if Valencia CF are not going to sell or buy any players. I already reported that Valencia CF are planning on keeping Kang-In Lee till the winter and hope to change the player's mind to sign a contract extension, if not then sell him in the winter transfer window even if its for a smaller fee, because even now the player has not received any serious offers which would be 15 million euros or more.
 Granada | Stat name |  Valencia |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Games | 1 |
| 0 | Goals | 1 |
| 0 | Goals conceded | 0 |
| 0% (0) | Wins | 100% (1) |
| 0% (1) | Draws | 100% (0) |
| 0% (0) | Defeats | 0% (0) |
| 0.00 | Goals per game | 1.00 |
| 0.00 | Goals conceded per game | 0.00 |
| 0 (0%) | Over 1.5 | 0 (0%) |
| 0 (0%) | Over 2.5 | 0 (0%) |
| 0 (0%) | Over 3.5 | 0 (0%) |
| 0 (0%) | Over 4.5 | 0 (0%) |
| 0 (0%) | BBTS | 0 (0%) |
| 1 (100%) | Clean sheets | 1 (100%) |
| 8.00 | Corners per game | 10.00 |
| 2.00 | Corners for per game | 1.00 |
| 6.00 | Corners against per game | 9.00 |
| 40.00% | Ball possession | 26.00% |
| 6.00 | Shots avg | 4.00 |
| 1.00 | Shots on goal avg | 2.00 |
| 0.00 | Offsides avg | 2.00 |
| 307.00 | Passes avg | 176.00 |
| 75.90% | Completed passes | 65.30% |
| 1.00 (1) | Yellow cards avg | 6.00 (6) |
| 0.00 (0) | Red cards avg | 1.00 (1) |
Valencia CF Squad: Mamardashvili, Paulista, Alderete, Diakhaby; Correia, Soler, Cheryshev, Gaya; Jason, Maxi, Guedes
Winning Probability: Granada CF 25%, Draw 50%, Valencia CF 25%
Result Prediction: Granada CF 0-1 Valencia CF
I think its going to be a tight game that is going to be decided by just one goal. Valencia CF will try to keep its defense tight once again and have a clean sheet, with Granada CF probably being setup somewhat defensively as well. I think there is going to be dozen of chances on both sides, but the better finishing side will manage to score one goal and try and defend that result till the end. Hopefully its Valencia CF that scores and keeps the score till the end.