After a short break due to international football, club football returns to action this weekend. Valencia CF will be hosting Cadiz CF at home at the Mestalla in the hopes of securing another win and furthering its position on the table with the slight hope and possibility of maybe reaching a position that will lead them to European football next season.
Of course Cadiz CF might have something to say about that and will be looking for a win themselves against a weak and unpredictable Valencia CF and escape the relegation grip even if only temporarily. Cadiz CF are 17th on the table with 27 points, just one more than RCD Mallorca who are in the relegation zone along with Levante and Deportivo Alaves. They've only scored 25 goals, yet have conceded 41 goals which is in line with what Valencia CF have conceded this season.
Valencia CF on the other hand are currently sitting at 9th place on the table with 42 goals scored and 43 goals conceded which is one of the highest conceded goals in the league and way more than the top 10 teams currently on the table. Only four teams have conceded more goals than Valencia CF this season and all four are in a relegation battle at the bottom of the table.
Good thing is that since the return of Gabriel Paulista the defense has been rejuvenated a little bit and Valencia CF has been conceding a lot less goals with several matches resulting in clean sheets. Hopefully this trend will continue till the end of this season and we can hopefully move few position up the table. Of course our midfield is still completely broken and our attack relies on individual brilliances for goals, but somehow we are scoring goals this season.
Jose Bordalas has had great success with an updated 3-5-2 formation or a 5-3-2 essentially when in defense with three central defenders securing the back and two more wide defenders in midfield to further help in defense when needed. Interestingly this formation was used last season by Voro when he took over the temporary coach role and he also had great success with it. Essentially a very defensive formation overall designed to soak attacks and then be able to quickly do counter attacks through the wings and try and score goals that way.
I expect pretty much the same team from previous matches with Giorgi on goal, Paulista, Alderete and Diakhaby in defense with Foulquier and the returning Gaya on the wings, Soler, Hugo and Gil in midfield and then the attacking duo of Guedes and Hugo Duro. Some of the variations he can and has used are Musah, Racic and Maxi Gomez.