Valencia CF sacked Gennaro Gattuso as coach after yet another disappointing performance against Real Valladolid in which Valencia CF lost 1-0. That match was seen as an opportunity for the team to bounce back and get a much-needed victory that would put the team forward on to a winning path but was rather another disappointing loss against a much weaker opponent on paper.
The latest loss put Valencia CF only 1 point above the relegation zone and Valencia management made the decision to sack the coach in the hopes of improving the situation. Voro will be interim coach for the 8th or 9th time, it is a frequent occurrence. If he is able to deliver decent results he might even stay till the end of the season.
Meriton's mismanagement of the club has had dire consequences in the sporting and financial department! Valencia CF is at best fighting for mid table finish on the sporting side and on the financial side it is unable to pay players' salaries. Seasonal ticket sales are low due to the fans disappointment from the results and the hate for Meriton. Many fans just refuse to give the club money as long as Meriton owns the club and they'd rather stay home and watch the games on TV, rather than watch it live.
Meriton has also not invested anything in the old stadium, so there is less and less reason to go to the stadium as it is getting worse there, let's not even talk about the "new" stadium. There were reports that Valencia CF might have 1.5 million euros to spend for the winter transfer market, but even that seems a far fetch as the club has not brought in any reinforcements, not even loan ones!
I don't know if someone needs to paint it to Peter Lim, but you cannot run a football club as a business! In order for a football club to gain money it needs to have sporting success, the better you do on the sporting side the more local fans that will go watch the live matches in the stadium, the more international fans you gain thus boosting the club's prestige and reach and the bigger the sponsors they can attract!
You cannot even sell player's shirts as a third of them are on loan and won't be here next season and the ones the club does own are all new players that don't attract too much interest.
The only recognizable names that we have in our squad right now are Jose Luis Gaya and Edinson Cavani that can sell any decent number of shirts. I remember Real Madrid president in the Galactico era justifying paying record-breaking prices by saying that the players are going to pay for their transfers through shirt sales and sharing image rights with the club. He was right, as Real Madrid was able to sell enormous numbers of shirts from all of their top players like Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, etc...
Voro will be starting in his role as coach with a weakened squad as Justin Kluivert, Correia, Jaume and Nico Gonzales are all injured and will be unavailable for the match against Real Madrid!
Few articles back I was going through Valencia's stats, and they were painting a good picture, according to all of the stats we are at 7th place in terms of actual performance, but for some reason we are bottom half of the table. So, I had high hopes for the next couple of matches, but my hopes were shattered as the results did not come.
I still think our biggest issue is the defense, we lack a proper midfield destroyer like an Albelda or Topal or Javi Fuego and we seriously lack high quality defenders! I was hoping we were going to buy Otamendi as he only has 6 months remaining of his contract, so he was going to come in really cheap, probably 1 million euros, but the club doesn't even want to bring in new loan players, let alone buy new players!
Hopefully Voro can work his magic and organize our defense better, we also raise our game when playing against stronger opposition, so I expect a fairly decent showing tomorrow night against Real Madrid, though we are most likely going to lose, but hopefully it is a very narrow loss, and we show some potential for the future!
Valencia starting lineup: Mamardashvili; Toni Lato, Dimitri Foulquier, Comert, Gabriel Paulista, Gaya; Musah, Samu Castillejo, Almeida; Hugo Duro, Cavani.
Valencia CF formation: 5-3-2
Valencia CF tactics: Voro is likely to opt for more conservative tactics, with a medium defensive line, with the two full backs serving as wingers in midfielders when the team is attacking. I'm expecting to see a slower attack buildup with Voro demanding the ball be passed around sideways or backwards, rather than rushing it forward and losing it.
Match Result: Real Madrid 2-1 Valencia CF
I think Real Madrid are going to win. We always cause them trouble and occasionally are able to beat them, but at this point in time in the current form I'm not seeing any other results except a loss. Hopefully we can maybe get a draw, that would be something, but it's going to require significant defensive cohesion, something which I don't think Voro can just magically create! He is known for squeezing out the best of the players, but our defensive woes are just too big to be solved by pure mental fortitude alone!