Valencia's next opponent is Elche CF a team from the Valencian region who got promoted to La Liga this this year and have been doing relatively well with that in mind. Elche CF are 16th on the table with 15 points out of 16 matches played, so almost a point a match. Their last match was a convincing win again Cadiz and they will be looking to build on that result.
Valencia CF are also coming to this match after a win last matchday against Celta Vigo with a scrappy win, but a win nonetheless. All in all the team has been performing somewhat good in terms of being able to hold off teams and manage draws, though the play needs to improve immensely if we are to even think about finishing top half of the table, because these scrappy wins like last match won't come often and we'll need proper attacking and proper play to be able to win.
I think the biggest issue for Valencia CF right now is the midfield, we just don't seem to have it, every player is like on an island by themselves and doing stuff independent of the other players. I think the team needs to gel together and players need to learn how to play together, learn how they all move and be able to pass the ball around securely.
Regardless of all of that we should be able to win against Elche CF and I'm expecting a modest win here at the Mestalla with a result of 1-0 or 2-1, something close like that. I'm expecting to see pretty much the same lineup from last match, with the only different being Guedes instead of Maxi Gomez probably.
Valencia CF need to win this match to erase a lot of the doubts about the team and show the world that its a stable team that can perform at a decent level, I think the expectations were sky high in the beginning of the season and now they've been significantly lower, and realistically we still don't know where Valencia CF is at, as we are seeing a different team so many times. At times we seem brilliant and other times we seem like lower level minnows who got a chance to compete against top league teams through the cup. This team can do really good I strongly believe that, but it needs to gel, it needs to form cohesion, we need to establish a midfield and we'll have better play and better results.