After a set of difficult matches against Real Madrid, Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona, Valencia CF had a chance to get back to a winning path against Mallorca at the Mestalla, but Valencia CF barely managed to rescue a draw against what should have been a comfortable win.
So right now the great start to the season seems like a distant past and all the good work from the early season has gone down the drain. Valencia CF is going to face Real Betis in mid week and it is going to be a very tough game as Real Betis are playing some good football currently and are in the top 5 positions on the table. Valencia CF desperately needs a win if we are to have any chance for European football next season, as anything other than a win against Real Betis would have us way too far down on the table to be able to mount any attack on the top 7 positions.
Last match exposed how thin our squad is as none of the alternatives have shown up and any sort of injury or ban has our team struggling against even much weaker opposition. Last match Diakhaby and Uros Racic were really exposed and they are unlikely to feature for Valencia CF anytime soon. Maxi Gomez is the same old story of just being invisible for most of the match and barely even getting into any good positions and needs to be benched, but who can really replace him? Maybe play Yunus Musah as an attacker?
We have also been missing Correia as his powerful forward attacks have contributed a lot to our attack and Foulquier does not have the same presence. The biggest issue this season has once again been our defense, we can talk about Maxi Gomez and inability to score goals, but we've been very leaky ever since we lost to Real Madrid and had that injury crisis. All of the teams in front of us on the table have conceded less goals, except for Osasuna who are matching us in that regard, otherwise all of the other teams have conceded less and have been much more diligent in front of goal.
Valencia CF Squad: Cillessen, Correia, Paulista, Alderete, Gaya; Soler, Hugo, Wass, Cheryshev; Andre, Guedes
Winning Probability: Real Betis 60%, Draw 20%, Valencia CF 20%
Result Prediction: Valencia CF has slim chances of winning this match, especially after a string of very poor results. The best we can hope for is a draw here and hope to gain points at home and against weaker opponents, though anything other than a win here almost guarantees no European spot for us this season. Hopefully Jose Bordalas can wake up the team and whip them in shape, reinvigorate the fire in the players, but he has his work cut out for him. I'm expecting a loss here, but a draw would be a decent result and a win would be amazing, but its highly unlikely!