There's going to be a proper post on the Valencia-RM game later today. I've not been in the mood to rewatch until now. There's going to be a lot of anti Madrid ranting. And probably swearing. And a lot of Valencia bias. But hey, it's my blog, I'll say what the fuck I want. This is just a warning for people not to read or comment that I am being offensive when the post goes up later. I don't really care how rude I'm being. My team lost and they didn't deserve to. I reserve the right to bitch as much as I like.
However, I would like to say that I am partially taking the blame for what happened. I think. I mean, I have this ritual that I've been doing for years. It's a personal superstition and I've never broken it. Except the Friday before the game. And look what happened there. I promise not to do it again.
EDIT: I can't do a match report on this game. I'm sorry, I don't trust myself to make any remotely coherent and inoffensive comments.
Visitors
Monday, 14 December 2009
FML
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Who is your WORLD player of the year?
Nominees for 2009 Fifa World Player of the Year award:
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Real Madrid
Andres Iniesta (Spain), Barcelona
Kaka (Brazil), Real Madrid
Lionel Messi (Argentina), Barcelona
Xavi (Spain), Barcelona
Out of these guys, Xavi or Iniesta. I'm sick of Ronaldo and Messi winning it all. Other footballers exist, yes? And my reasons for boycotting the Ballon d'Or are still valid here. David Villa is statistically better than any of these guys. End of fucking discussion. I'm out.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Yay, we're third!!!
This post is totally late. I apologise. I'm just kind of lazy when it comes to writing these on the day because I'm too busy concentrating, and then I don't rewatch again for a day or two because it's too stressful.
Anyway, Valencia played away at San Mames this weekend. That is a notoriously difficult place to travel to. Athletic Bilbao are very strong at home and the supporters are very vocal. This was clear in the La Liga fixture between the two teams, which Valencia managed to just about edge out. The first half was tense affair, the away side proving the more attacking of the two but without a goal to show for it. Fernando Llorente limped off midway through the half, dealing a devastating blow to the home side's attack.
Just after the restart, Bilbao suffered another blow when they were forced into their second substitution of the evening, Susaeta being replaced by Muniain. Despite the poorer start, it was Bilbao who took the lead in the 57th minute, Cesar making a very good save but unfortunately for him, only managing to push the ball into the path of the oncoming Muniain (who if I am not mistaken is 16 years old!!!) The lead didn't last too long though, and David Villa (who else...) scored the equaliser just minutes later, after having missed a one on one and chipping the ball over the goalkeeper but wide of the goal.
The home side were dealt a further blow to their chances when Koikili was sent off just after the 70th minute for a second yellow, leaving them a defender down against a pressing Valencia side. The winning goal for Valencia came from an unlikely source, Jeremy Mathieu scoring his first for the club following his summer transfer. It wasn't quite game over yet though, and despite the one man advantage, Valencia came a post's width away from throwing away another 2 points in the dying minutes, following a somewhat dubiously given penalty kick against Navarro. Still, despite the numerous heart attacks, they held on for the win, allowing them to leapfrog Sevilla into third and leaving them three points behind Real Madrid ahead of their meeting next weekend.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Valencia - Lille
So I totally said I would do a match report on games I watch and I've only just got around to actually typing this up because I'm a lazy cow at the best of times. Anyway, Europa League game #5 of 6. It couldn't have got Valencia an automatic qualification for the knock out stages, but it certainly gave them a fighting chance, and would put them top of the group if results went their way. In order to secure qualification, the safest thing would be to win their final group game against Genoa.
The game started off incredibly well indeed for the home side. They were a goal up within 3 minutes, thanks to a combination of good positioning from Joaquin and very poor defending from the French side. Of course, with Valencia, one goal is never quite good enough. If I'm painfully honest, with Moya in goal, even two goals are rarely good enough. Not to be deterred, Valencia kept pushing, and looked the far more dangerous side in attack. The ball rarely made it into their own half, but when it did, the defence and goalkeeper were (maybe somewhat surprisingly) very good at dealing with the danger.
It wasn't that long until their constant pressing led to another defence splitting pass landing at Joaquin's feet and he made no mistake, burying the ball for the second time that evening to put Valencia 2-0 up at the break.
Lille were playing very dirty, throwing tackles left, right and center, but that didn't seem to affect the flow of the game, and after the break, it was more of the same from Valencia. In the 53rd minute, they were rewarded with their third, Mata scoring to put the game beyond the away side's reach.
It wasn't until the 73rd minute Unai made his first change, taking Mata off probably to rest him for the La Liga game at the weekend and putting Miku on. Three minutes later, Joaquin was substituted, denying him the chance of a hat trick. His replacement, Jordi Alba, made an instant impact on the left wing, making dangerous runs. Apparently too dangerous for the Lille side, who decided that trying to hurt the Valencia players was the only way they were going to get anything out of the game.
Heading towards the final whistle, it looked like Moya was going to keep his first clean sheet since the opening game of the season against Sevilla, but Lille had other ideas. They scored in the 92nd, and went close again just 30 seconds later, making a thrilling end to an otherwise Valencia dominated game.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAHVEED!
This year, he got a fashion sense for his birthday. Oh no, wait...
Well, there's always xmas. And he does still look good, if you ignore the branding of the crotch.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
I went shopping crazy these past few months...
Christmas is just around the corner, and I am officially going to be broke this month. I've already spent so much money and not one of the things I have bought has been for other people. It's a little selfish, but hey...who cares, right? I work for the money, I should spend it however the fuck I want. So, these are just some of my buys:
The dress will never get worn. Aside from the fact I don't do dresses, it is short. Like, MICRO mini. I don't even have to bend over for my ass to be on show. No lie. The pic doesn't do it justice, it's the same colour green as the Atonement dress. I totally LOVE it. Even if I will never wear it...
The shoes will suffer the same fate as the dress, I am sure. I buy pretty things so they can look pretty in my wardrobe/under my bed. I don't buy them to wear them, seeing as I don't mix well with heels. Besides, I'm tall enough already, thanks.
This is my fave buy. I LOVE it. It will get worn so many times, it'll probably have changed colour by the end of the month. Uh huh.
On top of this, there's the 3 pairs of jeans I bought, which I totally do not need, seeing as I already own about 10 pairs and have no room in my wardrobe anymore. I also still need to buy myself a new Valencia shirt (with Albelda on the back. That has been decided now, so I'd better buy the damn thing before I change my mind AGAIN...) and I'm seriously considering buying two because I actually kinda want one with Dahveed's name on the back. I also REALLY want the one with the bat with Vicente's name on the back, even though I already have a Vicente shirt, because the bat IS Valencia and so is he. Not only that, I am saving for my ipod touch in the Jan sales and also, I have a 20% staff discount at work all this week, which means I will no doubt be spending more money soon. *sigh* Why is shopping such a fun past time?
Monday, 30 November 2009
Ugh Ugh Ugh!
So I know that the Ballon D'or goes to the best player in the world. What they don't seem to mention (and trust me, this IS in the small print somewhere) is that said player must play for 'the best team'. Of course, this goes a long way towards explaining why the final shortlist of 10 is made up almost exclusively of Barca and RM players. Not that I have an issue with this. Most deserve their place. Actually, bias aside, they ALL deserve their place. However, how and why exactly has a striker who has scored 60 goals in 73 appearances for club and country since the start of last season not qualified for the final 10 at least of this stupid award?! That is a statistic that is unrivalled by the other strikers who made the final 10 shortlist. Rooney has only managed 42 goals in over 70 appearances and Didier Drogba has managed 40 goals in 74 appearances. Go do the math. For arguments sake, I did Messi and Ronaldo too, even though they are NOT strikers. Messi has 53 goals in over 70 games, Ronaldo has 37 in over 63 games.
For those who can't be bothered to work it out, here's the ratios:
Veeyah: 0.82
Rooney: roughly 0.55
Drogba: 0.68
Messi: roughly 0.73
Ronaldo: roughly 0.56
The only one who even comes close to Veeyah is Messi. So, there you have it. Ballon d'Or. A competition for Europe's best player of the year. As long as their club did equally well, because of course, Barca won the treble only thanks to Messi, Man Utd won the title only thanks to Rooney and Ronaldo and Chelsea finished third solely down to Drogba. Give me a fucking break. This competition is a total farce and honest to god, I refuse to ever take an interest again. I don't even REMEMBER the last time a player in a team outside the top 4 in their country won it. Goes to show all is not fair in love and war. Or competition. I quite frankly don't give a shit what other people try and convince me. I know that these are all players who deserve their nominations. I'm not for a second arguing that they don't. However, it's clear to anyone who cares to take a look that team name comes into it just as much as footballing talent, which explains why none of the final 10 shortlisted come from a team that has failed to make the top 4 in their respective leagues. It's unfair. It's supposed to be an award for top players across the board, not just top players in top teams. Unless Veeyah leaves Valencia, my fear is he will never get the recognition he so desperately deserves. He IS the best striker in the world right now. My bias is clear, but the stats never lie.
Saturday, 21 November 2009
I apologise in advance if he's not age appropriate for you...
But erm...hai there. I know I'm supposed to be on the vampire team, but Jacob wins at life, yes?
(click on the pic. you'll like it, I promise)
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Just because
Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
Thank you to my wonderful twin for getting me this vid seeing as stupid cuatro wouldn't let me watch it. *shakes fist and grumbles*
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Changes!
As of next week, I WILL do a match report for every game I watch. I miss blogging and I've been so lazy with it lately, it's unreal.
For now, just to tide you over, have some pic!
Cute! The height difference! *giggles*
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
All hail the idiot football fans...
The gems of wisdom are right this way...
"villa said the only club he wil join in england iz LIVERPOOL. . .i think he should wait till the end of the season,n rafa might have the cash to sign hm with prince faisal arriving. Voronin can be added to the deal. :)"
Erm, I don't want Voronin, thanks. And that is so not a fair exchange. Plus, Liverpool can't afford Veeyah's weaker foot, never mind the complete package...
"Ferguson is forever smart. this is the ONLY perfect time to buy Villa. because the rest of the clubs have enough of scoring powers. who else is gonna buy Villa if you say Valencia are eager to sell now? That is exactly why the price is so low, but we can't trust this figure yet because it is most likely not right. but i'd say valencia won't be willing to sell Silva."
Valencia aren't willing to sell either, idiot. They just might not have a choice. Though if they do, you can bet your ass on the fact it won't be for a measly £40mil.
"seems that so many people don't understand the word 'cash strapped' and 'need to sell' they're like 'they're worth bla bla bla'.. well whatever theyr'e worth, they're at a disadvantage now, and only MANU have the resources to purchase them, since madrid is already mounted with debts.. hehehe.. now THATS my fergie"
Seems like THIS idiot doesn't understand that Valencia may be cash strapped and need to sell, but they're not going to let their two biggest stars go for a pathetic amount of money. They're cash strapped, not mentally retarded.
"i think the players realise they have gone the distance with Valencia and the club itself really needs to cash in and strengthen thier squad - its a shame tho"
Er, that would be why both have pledged their future to Valencia is it? You don't sign an extension to a contract to keep you at a club until 2014 if you want to leave the next year fucktard.
"I like Valencia as a club, dont get me wrong, but this two lads deserve tO win some medals and ManUnited is the write place for such a stuff. C,mon Villa and Silva, be smart and come to EUROPIAN CAPITAL OF TROPHYS"
Firstly, learn to fucking spell. Secondly, it's not that long ago Valencia were winning things. Thirdly, they're in it for the FOOTBALL not the money and trophies (though I'm sure the latter would be nice...) so they're not going to drop their morals for some shiny things.
"to all the loserfool fans who are sayin dream on mancs and stuff money isnt the only criteria good 4 u coz ur bankrupt in necase u need to sell players to buy so for those 2 to come u will have to sell gerrard and torres ha ha but ur forgtn 1 thing silva himself said he wants to join manutd!!!!!!!"
Silva said no such thing, asshole. He said he was flattered a club like Man Utd was interested in him. Doesn't quite translate into the same thing. Also, both guys have said they'd prefer to stay in Spain if they have to leave Valencia. Manchester is not in Spain. And I'm no idiot, I realise Liverpool isn't either. However, it's a damn sight closer than you're ever going to be.
"silva is the best with no doubt but villa is 28 and is not worth it,i guess aguero is the best option"
Just...LMAO at this entire statement. Being 28 (and he's actually still 27 buttwipe, get your facts right) does not mean you're not a good enough player. Dahveed Veeyah is currently one of the best strikers in the world, he has a phenomenal strike record and every single team wants him leading their front line. You only don't think he's worth it because you know you've got no chance of getting him. Reality bites.
"Look at all MU haters...hahah. No..No that can't be true. hahah. You scared? of course you are. You thought SAF was just going to sit on all that money. You know big signings were coming and yeah Chealse don't get your hopes up for the title. I believe the deal will be made for around 50 mil. Valencia is hurting and they don't want to sell to their competitors RM and Barca. Glory Glory..."
THIS is the exact reason I have an intense dislike of most Man Utd fans. Glory hunters are not proper football fans. Fact. There's not going to be a deal for £50mil because Valencia aren't stupid. They know how important these two are to the team. Secondly, I'm sure they'd rather sell to someone who will give a lot more money seeing as they're in 'dire financial straits'. Besides, RM and Barca, not exactly direct competition for Valencia right now. Try Sevilla, Villareal, Atletico etc...
"Thats what they are worth, what have they done in their careers? Won euro 08 and thats all, no c.l. or the competition in spain. They are not worth anything, besides villa now is 27. Valencia rejected 47 € from barca because the teams are in the same competition, u dont want to sell a player to your rivals, that would be bussines that hurts yourself, u cant compansate that with money... pep didnt fire eto because he is black either im sick of that"
They are not worth anything? I'm not even going to justify that with a response. Their pinky nails are worth more than all of you could ever dream of being asshole. Veeyah's one of the best strikers in the world. And just look at Valencia's creativity drop when Silva's not on the pitch. Now tell me they're not worth anything. It's not all about the winning all the time, you know.
There were some intelligent comments though. Lookie here:
"You manure fans can go ahead and feel happy at thinking that valencia will be a feeder club to you. Valencia are becoming a big club again. GO find your own damm talent."
"Valencia are 600 mill in debt,they sell villa and silva who they can get for what 70 mill at best? the debt will be around 500 and then what? You think people running valencia are stupid? The new stadium is building, CL qualification is certain this year, money from CL and new stadium will be flowing in and they will be fine. Selling villa and silva to finance debt and then how will goals score??? Manure fans think people running valencia are stupid."
And THIS? Best. Comment. Ever.
"Definitely true after all Valencia rejected a 50m Euro bid for Villa from Real Madrid over the summer. It only makes sense that they'd drop their price mid-season and throw their second best player into the deal as a sweetener. Wonderful, informative and above all responsible sports journalism."
Monday, 19 October 2009
Just because
Holy motherfuck, I just died. Like, absolutely stone cold dead. The scruff and the general Albi-ness. *sighs* I miss him.
Erm...Iceman melted?
I think Heikki was drunk. He took the fuel hose with him and set Kimi on fire.
Valencia - Barca
So, I am finally getting off my ass to do one of these match report-y things, seeing as it was such an amazing game and I need to talk about it like whoa. This weekend just gone, Valencia hosted Barcelona at the Mestalla. And oh my good god, what a game. It may have ended in a goalless draw, but that doesn't mean it wasn't exciting.
Of course, prior to this game, there was much talk of the leagues two top strikers being pitted against each other and it was expected to be a high scoring event. Injury ruled out Dahveed Veeyah for the home side, and also prevented Zlatan Ibrahimovic from being used. Even so, there were plenty of other talking points.
Valencia FLEW out of the starting blocks, Valdes being forced into a save from Pablo roughly a minute and a half after kick off. That pretty much highlighted how the game was going to be. Even with Perez Burrull as a referee (for those of you who don't know my issues with this man, see here) they fought and fought for the point.
The first half was almost entirely dominated by Valencia. Around the 30th minute, statistics showed that Barca had yet to force Cesar into action, which meant one of two things. Either the defence was doing it's job or the ball just wasn't getting to Barcelona's attack. For the most part, it was the latter. Mata and Pablo were the most influential in terms of goalscoring opportunities, the two of them running the Barca defence ragged. Pablo in particular had a really strong game, his runs were the focal point of most of Valencia's attack. Mata was doing rather well in taking on the role of chief offsider, even though as usual with Valencia, approximately 29384 of the 29385 offsides given against him actually wasn't one.
The central midfield of Albelda and Ever did a great job keeping Xavi and Iniesta quiet, and Messi was almost anonymous throughout the first half. And even though we all know how quick Burrull is with the card, surprisingly, he didn't book Albelda until late on in the game. Considering that Vampy's first foul was is like...the 5th minute, that's some serious holding back from my favourite La Liga ref.
The second half gave Barca a little more of a route into the game, with their usual attacking football trying to shine through but being somewhat stifled. Valencia continued pressing, with Pablo spotting Valdes off his line and trying to chip the ball over the Barcelona keeper from the halfway line. Some speedy backtracking saw the ball safely over the crossbar.
Dani Alves was doing fuck all to get himself off my 'I hate you so much, I wish you would just disappear from this planet' list, attempting to score and when that didn't work, throwing himself to the ground in a very amateur dramatics style to try and get Ever (who was on a booking already at this point) sent off. Replays showed there was contact, but it was so minimal, it wasn't even worth bothering with. Had he been able to con Burrull into sending Banega off, I would have thrown the bitch fit to end all bitch fits.
As I expected, it wasn't until the 80th minute Burrull even realised there was another team other than Valencia on the pitch that he could go card happy with. Valencia ended with 5 yellow cards to Barca's two, and I wouldn't say the home team committed that many more fouls. He was just a lot more lenient to Barca's because, well...they're Barca.
After the game, it was the same old bullshit being spouted. Barca were having an off game. Valencia should have walked away with all three points, but they're too incompetant to do so. Blah. Blah. Fucking. Blah. Whatever all those people say, Valencia did something no other team has managed to do this season. They took points off Barca. And if you would care to look here you would see they did it with half their regular starters in the stands injured. Yeah. Next time you want to bitch out on my team, come and say it to my face. I don't mind if people badmouth them with good reason, but to say they only got a point because Barca were shit and not because Valencia were good - out of line.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
*sighs happily*
Ignoring the fact that practically the ENTIRE first team is sat in the stands observing against Barca due to various injuries, I'd like to direct your attention to Dahveed. If you don't recognise him instantly (and shame on you if this is the case, do I not obsess enough over him on this blog?!) he's the one in orange.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
I am such a bad blog owner :(
I forgot my blog's first birthday. It was last week. The day after I did my last blog post. Jeeze, I feel really bad now. But it's not like there was much to blog on anyway. Anyhow, in an attempt to breathe some life into the blog, I am going to try and focus on things other than just Valencia and Liverpool (as if there's much of the latter...)
Monday, 5 October 2009
This is why I have no time...
So I was talking to some friends the other day, and I realised why I never have free time and why my life revolves around football. I have way too many teams that I follow. The list in full is pretty startling, and there's reasons behind almost every one that is vaguely related to one of the two teams I DO support.
So, here's the list of teams I watch/follow/take an interest in:
1. Liverpool - goes without saying. I support them, so obviously, I watch them. Or at least, I watch them when I'm home from work. Which basically means midweek games.
2. Valencia - They're my La Liga team. And I am mostly able to catch their games because they play in the evenings.
3. Sevilla - Palop plays there. Palop used to be a Valencia goalie. It's that simple.
4. Real Zaragoza - Ayala's there. And he is one of the defenders that was at Valencia during their most successful period.
5. Sporting Gijon - Well, aside from the fact it's Dahveed's first team, and Mel supports them, they're pretty gutsy. I like gutsy teams.
6. Barca - This is solely on the basis of their football. They are out of this world amazing.
7. Real Madrid - Albi is there. I miss him like crazy. It hurts watching him in that kit, but I have to do it.
8. Athletic Bilbao - The fact they only bought and played local boys until recently was massively inspiring. And you know, they're kinda good...
9. Racing Santander - Sort of because Ziggy played there for a while and he's our gentle giant. And now, I guess because of Luis Garcia.
10. Villareal - Santi. That is literally the only reason.
11. Xerez - They're new boys and I know fuck all about them, but Renan plays there now, so I guess I have to take an interest.
12. Malaga - No particular reason. I just like them.
13. Getafe - Gavilan plays there. It's Albi's old team. Yeah, we're back to the Valencia related interest.
14. Atletico Madrid - It used to be because of Luis Garcia and because it's Nando's old team. Now I just watch to see them fail because they screwed Valencia out of a CL place.
15. Arsenal - I'm sure that if I wasn't a Liverpool fan, I'd be an Arsenal fan. They're the only other team in the Prem I enjoy watching.
16. Marseille - Mori went there, and I love Mori. And while I might not watch their games, I at least like to know if they did well or not.
17. Bordeaux - That is literally just fangirlishness. Lashes plays there, why WOULDN'T I take an interest?
18. Benfica - Aimar. That is all. I miss that guy and he's so freaking good, he's just a joy to watch.
19. Roma - I'll admit I'm fairly new to Serie A. I didn't really follow it all that much until about 2 seasons ago. But Roma drew me in. Must be the fact they kind of remind me of Liverpool and Valencia...
20. AC Milan - I can't have watched them play 2 CL finals against Liverpool and not like this team.
21. Genoa - Moretti is there. I don't even watch their games. I just look up the scores. Plus, their goalie is my FFT goalie again.
Of course, that's just club teams. There's also the national teams. There's technically three of those that I support, but a fair few others I follow. And of course, we can't forget the Spain bbs...
I'm sure there's plenty more, but I think I should stop there before I go completely crazy and realise just how much I am lacking a life.
Valencia WON!
And that's not all. They kept a clean sheet! THis is the first time in weeks they've managed to keep a clean sheet, so I am of course, really proud. Mostly with myself for predicting that this clean sheet business wasn't going to happen until Cesar's back in goal.
Anyway, I totally realise that I haven't done one of these match reports in aaaaages, and I am going to try and get back into it. I usually watch most games live anyway, and failing that, I download them and watch them back later. I don't really have an excuse for not getting down to reporting on games. If I'm entirely honest, this isn't going to be a proper match report either. I just wanted an excuse to say that Cesar wins at life and Unai really needs to play him more so Valencia win more. Or at least don't let in approximately 45 goals per game...
Monday, 28 September 2009
LMAO
What is this bullshit?! No, really. What is it?
I don't even think I've got the energy to go into all the reasons this would be the WORST move in history. But I'll do it anyway. Hey, someone might read this, see I make sense and stop writing this crap every two weeks.
- Dahveed Veeyah has said time and time again, he wants to stay in Spain. I know us Liverpool fans like to think we're in Spain because of our large Spanish contingent, but I promise you, Liverpool is in England. Therefore outside his requested zone and making this transfer highly unlikely.
- The stingy American bastards that currently own Liverpool giving up €49 mil for a striker who is currently at his peak and probably won't play at this level for more than 2/3 years after this...yeah, not happening. Actually, the likelihood of them giving up €49mil for anybody is pretty damn low.
- Veeyah and Torres can't play together on a regular basis. They're both strikers that play better when they're up front alone, so playing together, one of the two would have to play off the main striker. And that's kind of Steven Gerrard's current position. While he's versatile enough to play wherever the manager tells him, just off the striker is probably his best position.
- Neither Veeyah or Torres would be happy with being a benchwarmer, so alternating them would kind of fail. If you have unhappy strikers, they don't perform and it would kind of be a waste of a total of €70mil or however much the two of them added up to.
- The EPL is so far from Veeyah's style of football, it's unreal. There's no way he'd be as successful as everybody thinks he'd be if he were to move to Liverpool. He does well in La Liga because he can play his way without getting seven shades of shit kicked out of him because he's too good and they can't handle him.
- Liverpool may well be able to afford buying him, but realistically, they're not going to keep up his wages etc for however long his contract would be. And you'd better believe that if he stops performing, they're not going to want to be paying him obscene amounts of money each week.
- Veeyah has signed with Valencia until 2014. And his buyout clause is some crazy shit. Liverpool cannot pay that. Nobody can. Except maybe Man City or Real Madrid, who can seemingly pay anything.
- And on top of all this, Veeyah has been leaving Valencia for the past 4 transfer windows at least if we're to believe what newspaper reports tell us. He's still there. That kind of says more than I could. End of discussion, case closed.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Fantasy Football 09/10
Ok, so I totally forgot to do these posts earlier because I'm a loser like that, but yeah...
Anyway, week by week round up, starting from week one:
Monday, 21 September 2009
Oh Albi :(
Good god, he gets better looking every time I see him. The scruff. The big doe eyes. The general unffishness. Please come back home. The fans miss you and the defence misses you.
Friday, 18 September 2009
100 things about football and me:
1. I support 2 teams with my whole heart and soul.
2. Liverpool still come first but lately I’ve been a lot more vocal about my Valencia support.
3. ...it’s not because I prefer one over the other. I just get to watch Valencia is all.
4. La Liga is by far my favourite league. EPL is one of my least favourite. Ironic that my #1 team plays there.
5. I became a Valencia fan after watching them beat Liverpool in the CL.
6. I usually start supporting teams because of one specific footballer, but in no time at all, the entire team has grown on me.
7. Vicente Rodriguez is my favourite footballer. Ever.
8. ...it breaks me every time I hear he’s injured again because he doesn’t deserve it.
9. I hate Werder Bremen with every inch of me just because he was playing against them when he got the injury that changed his life.
10. It pisses me off when people assume you can only be a fan of one team at a time.
11. ...I’ve never had a problem and I’ve been a fan of two teams for 7 years.
12. The chances are, if I warn you to shut your mouth and you don’t listen, you’re going to get bitched out on.
13. ...don’t complain, I gave you suitable warning.
14. I am a psycho bitch when things don’t go my way.
15. I am sometimes a psycho bitch when things DO go my way.
16. My first live football game was Sheffield Wednesday vs Crystal Palace. Oh joy.
17. ...I don’t even remember the score. Or anything that happened.
18. I was much too old when I went to my first Liverpool game, but at least I was aware of what was going on.
19. ...YNWA sent shivers down my spine and it was only a friendly.
20. The first thing I do in any new city I visit is check if there’s a football team/stadium.
21. ...You can bet your ass on the fact that I’ll be doing a tour if I have time if there is.
22. I am a fangirl.
23. ...but I also know the offside rule better than most guys I know.
24. I sometimes feel bad for bitching out at people just because all they ever seem to do is fangirl.
25. ...but then when I think about it, there’s really no excuse. I made an effort to learn about the sport so why shouldn’t they?
26. I have no space left on my laptop because I download every game I find interesting or want to keep.
27. ...that is mostly Valencia, Liverpool, Spain NT. Recently, it’s been Roma and RM too.
28. ...the latter is because of Raul Albiol. I still miss him like crazy.
29. I hate RM’s policy of ‘buy first, think money later’ but some of my best friends are RM fans.
30. The more I watch them this season, the more I start to think that maybe I was wrong and maybe they CAN make it work.
31. ...I don’t want to admit that though, because that means I was stupid to go so OTT over the summer.
32. I cried all day when I heard RM had signed Albiol from Valencia.
33. ...I still cry every time I see him or hear his name mentioned.
34. I have two tattoos that are entirely football related and I still want another one.
35. I was going to get the three stars on my hip extended to five to symbolise Liverpool’s five European Cup wins, but I can’t go any higher or it’ll be visible and I refuse to go any lower.
36. I swear in 4 different languages when I’m watching football. If I knew more, I’d swear in more.
37. I think that it is crazy how much money gets spent on football when there’s people that are starving in the world
38. ...but honestly, once my team steps out onto the pitch and puts everything they have into a game, I think they’re worth every penny.
39. I make up nicknames for players in my teams because it makes me feel like I have some kind of link to them.
40. I wish football wasn’t so competitive sometimes because I’ve lost a lot of friends who just can’t handle how harsh I am about their teams when they play mine.
41. While I’m protective of my teams and will bitch out at anyone who dares say something bad about them, I will never get personal.
42. ...if I think someone is a diver, I’ll say it. However, if I think they’re a clinically insane freak of nature, I’ll bite my tongue. There’s no place for those comments in football.
43. I judge players on their talent on the pitch. Their personal life is of little importance to me as long as they can play the game.
44. I’ve often dreamed of being a WAG but then I realise that I wouldn’t be able to deal with the celebrity status.
45. ...I’d want to be with a footballer because I’m passionate about the sport, not because he’s got the money of the status to keep me in designer clothes for the rest of my life.
46. There was a time in my life when I could list the names and squad numbers of the entire top 10 of the EPL and at least 4 teams in La Liga.
47. Hate it when people use the fact that Liverpool came back from three goals down in the CL final in 2005 as a justification for being fucking deluded and think that they’re now going to go on and win everything.
48. ...and then go on to whine and whine when they inevitably win nothing.
49. At the same time, I get annoyed with fans of other teams who lump every Liverpool fan in the same category of delusion.
50. ...I may be devoted, but I’m not stupid. I’m happy with whatever they win, doesn’t mean I think they’re going to win it all because of one miracle.
51. I failed 3 exams because I got so drunk the night of the 2005 CL final.
52. I spent extra time and PKs of the second leg of the 2007 semi final against Chelsea outside the bar at uni, smoking my way through a box of cigarettes.
53. I was the only Liverpool fan there at the time and had to be dragged away by my friends when a bunch of Chelsea fans told me we were lucky to make the final.
54. ...I’d have handed out a lot of black eyes that evening if I hadn’t been dragged away.
55. Double standards in football fans piss me off.
56. I watch far too much football and far too many teams.
57. ...I need to narrow it down this year because I’m starting to get torn when they play against each other.
58. I follow a lot of players that used to play for my teams but no longer do because I want to remember the good times.
59. Used to post on football forums but hid the fact I was a girl because I was scared that if they knew, they wouldn’t take me seriously.
60. Get frustrated with fans of the England NT who seem to think the team has some god given right to participate in and win every competition going.
61. ...Those fans have made me resent the team.
62. Have a serious issue with people who support an NT they have no link to with no valid reason.
63. ...’so and so is really hot’ does not qualify as a valid reason.
64. Hate international friendlies mid season because my teams are always the ones who suffer and whose players come back from international duty sporting an injury.
65. I am one of those ‘club over country’ types.
66. ...The way I see it, your country only needs you to step up to the plate and perform your best once every 2 years. Your club needs you every year.
67. Sometimes, I am convinced I am too emotionally attached to my teams and the players.
68. I’ve spent over £500 on football shirts so far.
69. If a player is attractive to me but can’t play football for shit, he’s crossed off the list without a second thought.
70. I really wish Rafa B would go back to Valencia, but the thought of him leaving Liverpool fills me with horror.
71. ...maybe he should just be cloned so he can be in two places at once.
72. I miss the Valencia I started watching back in 2001/02.
73. I fall for left wingers all the time. I don’t know why that is.
74. ...I crush on all four of Valencia’s right now.
75. Don’t think I could ever be with somebody who either doesn’t like football or doesn’t support the same teams as me.
76. Find it weird that I’m able to get on with fans of all teams and it never even crosses my mind that they don’t support the same teams as me until our teams play each other.
77. Have been told by numerous people that I’m a really nice person to get along with until football comes up, and then I’m a bitch.
78. My mother gets really annoyed with the fact that football seems to rule my life, but my birthday card from her for my 18th birthday was a football.
79. I think the big 4 in the EPL are slightly overrated at times.
80. ...it’s nothing to do with their footballing ability and everything to do with football politics and finances.
81. I get so nervous before big games, I can’t eat. I just lock myself in my room and ignore everything else until kick off.
82. I never lose faith in my teams, and cheer them on from start to finish.
83. I don’t understand fans who walk out before the final whistle has gone. It doesn’t matter if your team is 5 goals up or 5 goals down, you stay and you cheer until the final whistle.
84. I’ve only gambled once in my life and that was during the Euros 2008.
85. I put a bet on Spain to win the entire competition before any games had even kicked off.
86. ...I then spent every single Spain game falling apart entirely or with my heart in my mouth because I was so scared they’d lose and I’d have to explain to my parents that I gambled and lost.
87. I’ve cancelled dates so I could watch a football game instead.
88. I sometimes think I’d be a better manager than the ones at my teams because their decisions frustrate the fuck out of me occasionally.
89. Transfers drive me absolutely insane at the best of times, but when I get the same old bullshit about how so and so player has signed for so and so team when said player has said he doesn’t want to leave, it really pisses me off more than anything.
90. I got to the stage of wanting to just forget football even existed over the summer and that’s the first time I’ve ever felt so low.
91. I’m argumentative when it comes to football and I’ll use any opportunity I have to prove that there’s more to me that just fangirling.
92. One of my pet hates in football is teams who rely on one player to get them through a game.
93. ....ironically, both of my teams sort of have one of those players. Steven Gerrard gives everything he’s got for Liverpool and when he’s spent, he finds the energy to give that little bit more. There’s been times when I think Valencia simply can’t score unless Dahveed Veeyah is on the pitch.
94. I really don’t see the attraction to certain players, but when they’re on the pitch and their football does the talking, suddenly I seem to understand what all the fuss is about.
95. I wish that we could cut diving out of football, but then when I think of how amusing it is sometimes when players get caught out, I think maybe it’s not so bad after all.
96. Rough tackles, no matter what the consequences, drive me mad. I hate to see players who go for the man, not the ball.
97. I’m sick and tired of seeing Liverpool play Chelsea in the CL. One high scoring game does not mean it’s a good fixture and if I ever have to sit through it again in the CL, I’ll throw a tantrum.
98. I’m more bothered by the fact that Liverpool weren’t able to win against the smaller teams when they didn’t lose to the other ‘big 4’ teams last season than I am by the fact that they didn’t win the title.
99. I have never once used ‘But we’ve won it five times’ as an argument as to why we’re a better team than anybody else you throw at me because I’m like any fan. Winning things feels nice, but I really want #19.
100. The captain’s armband seriously does things for me. As does footballers saying the word ‘puta’. I can’t explain why, but it drives me loopy. In a good way.
Monday, 14 September 2009
100 things about me. I:
1. Am officially 21, but I act about 12 most of the time.
2. Have 6 tattoos and 6 piercings but I always want more.
3. ...my mother still doesn’t know about the tattoos.
4. Change my hair colour a lot. It’s bad for me, but I get bored easily.
5. Cut my own hair. Nobody else is trusted near it with a sharp object.
6. Wish I could grow my nails without them breaking.
7. Am an only child and I love it.
8. Pierced my ears myself when I was younger.
9. ...Pierced my eyebrow too, but that didn’t last too long.
10. Was born blonde but am now a brunette.
11. Wear glasses most of the time and when I can be bother to poke my eyes out, contacts.
12. Wish I had lighter eyes and have tinted contacts.
13. Am always convinced I’ve put on weight even if I haven’t.
14. ...The scales are not my friend.
15. Hate my nose.
16. Really love bats.
17. ...I wish I could keep one as a pet.
18. ...I’d call it Valencia.
19. Have ridiculously muscular calves. They make my legs look fat.
20. Am so far from a girly girl it’s unreal.
21. Broke my top right front tooth when I was a kid and now I can’t bite properly.
22. Have incredibly sharp canines.
23. ...it sometimes makes me wonder if vampires are real and if I could be one.
24. Have freakishly small feet for my height.
25. Hate talking on the phone, my voice sounds strange.
26. Have a weak immune system and get colds every other week.
27. Am a self confessed caffeine addict.
28. Used to smoke 20 a day until I quit after the Euros last summer.
29. Wear rings on my ring finger to keep the men away.
30. ...it’s a habit I picked up while I was in a relationship and it just stuck.
31. Have an awful memory.
32. Curse like a sailor.
33. Moved away from home when I was 18.
34. ...only to move back again when I was 20.
35. Am ridiculously clumsy, I’m always covered in cuts, bruises or scars.
36. Graduated Business Management with Law this year
37. ...despite never turning up to lectures. Or seminars.
38. Have travelled a lot in my life.
39. ...my favourite places I visited were Valencia and Paris.
40. Can’t eat breakfast. It makes me feel ill if I eat too early in the day.
41. Love animals and take in stray cats when I’m in Bulgaria all the time.
42. Speak 2 languages fluently, another half fluently and am attempting to learn a 4th.
43. ...I can understand a lot more when written.
44. Am a very convincing liar when I want to be.
45. ...it’s got me out of a lot of trouble in the past.
46. Lewis Hamilton drives me fucking insane. He’s not even as good as people like to make out.
47. Have a slight obsession with football.
48. Support two teams and will defend them to the death. Insult them at your peril.
49. Support the Spain NT just because they’re mostly made up of my club teams.
50. Get annoyed when people plaster the ‘fangirl’ stereotype on me.
51. Cried like a baby for about a day when I heard Albiol had signed for RM.
52. Prefer watching live football games but support inconvenient teams to be able to go more often.
53. Go psychotic when I’m watching football.
54. The 2005 CL final was both one of the best and worst moments of my life as a Liverpool fan.
55. Am more protective of Vicente than any other footballer I like.
56. Hate when people assume I am a Valencia fan because of the Davids and that once they go, I’m done supporting.
57. ...Yes, I love them. But I was a fan long before they arrived and I’ll be there long after they leave.
58. Hold grudges for a really long time. Kun still hasn’t been forgiven for cheating Valencia out of a CL place.
59. Own more football shirts than any other item of clothing.
60. Collect souvenir spoons and posters.
61. ...my bedroom walls are covered in Liverpool posters.
62. Have recently developed an obsession with the colour orange and buy things I don’t even need just because they’re orange.
63. Listen to all types of music, but mostly rock.
64. Grew up listening to The Beatles.
65. Listen to music ALL the time and always get yelled at for having my headphones in.
66. My favourite band is still Westlife.
67. ...I think it’s going to be that way until the day I die.
68. Buy too many DVDs for my own good. I can’t help myself.
69. Have watched Paris Hilton’s porn movie.
70. ...I laughed all the way through it.
71. Cry at sad movies, even if I’ve seen them about 50 times before.
72. ...the worst culprits are The Green Mile, Gladiator, The Notebook and Pearl Harbour.
73. Love reading.
74. ...my favourite author is Stephen King.
75. Used to write a lot of poetry. I haven’t written in over two years.
76. Get really bad stage fright but it didn’t stop me performing at my end of year show at school.
77. Get too emotionally attached to things I shouldn’t.
78. ...but I’m a cold hearted bitch when it comes to things I SHOULD care about.
79. Can’t drink certain types of beer, it makes my right arm go numb.
80. Used to drink an awful lot.
81. ...I’m a total lightweight now and even one beer makes me feel lightheaded.
82. Can easily survive on just one meal a day.
83. ...sometimes when I’m lazy, I don’t even make it to one meal.
84. Am annoyed way too easily by the stupidest of things.
85. Am scared of learning to drive because I think I’d get really bad road rage.
86. Have a lot of deep seated issues and people have to be patient as fuck with me because I’m more complicated than I look.
87. Would die if I had to live without my laptop.
88. Could gladly spend all my time online because I found some of my best friends ever on the internetz.
89. Share my bed with about 5 cuddly toys.
90. ...I’ve had one of them since I was about 6. It was twice my size then. Now I’m twice its size.
91. Work in a clothes shop, which is probably not the best of ideas seeing as I spend too much money on clothes and shoes.
92. Have to leave my card at home when I go out somewhere or I’ll end up with no money in my account.
93. Buy shoes all the time because they look pretty, and then never wear them.
94. Have an irrational fear of grasshoppers.
95. ...I scream, cry and throw tantrums if I see one, regardless of whether it’s irl or on the telly.
96. Love Aleskandr Meerkat. He wins at life.
97. Climbed a cliff barefoot this summer.
98. Have fallen in love once and I don’t plan on doing it again for a while yet.
99. Always have my phone with me but rarely answer it.
100. Live in a fantasy world, I find it’s so much better than reality.
Monday, 7 September 2009
I'm alive!
I really am. I promise. I've just been busy having this thing called a life. I'm not so sure I like it. Anyway, now that footie season is upon us again, I will be back! And most likely bugging the crap out of you in no time at all.
Monday, 20 July 2009
Are you bored of training pics yet?
Because if you are, tough shit. Excuse me while I go die for the millionth time in a week. Seriously, superdeporte KILL me.
*gasps for air* I'll be over there. Having several moments. Erm...if I stop breathing, the blog will die. Just a warning.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Happy Birthday Mr Short Shorts!
Another year older, and he's still looking good as ever. My reason for supporting Valencia. Or at least, my reason for STARTING to support Valencia. I really hope this year goes a hell of a lot better for him and that meanie manager actually starts playing him. I'll throw tantrums otherwise. Anyhow, he turns 28 today.
There was going to be 28 pics. But I think this one sums it up perfectly.
Monday, 13 July 2009
THEY'RE BACK!
I've pretty much posted this everywhere already. But my inner fangirl says that's not enough, so it's going on here too. Well, it's how many days into July and this is my first blog post. It just HAD to be about him really.
Friday, 26 June 2009
25th June 2009 never happened
Yes, I am in extreme denial. A lot of bad shit happened on this particular day, so I am wiping it from my memory completely. I never saw anything wrong with living in denial before, and I won't see a problem with it now.
On the bright side, the general consensus with Real Madrid fans is that Albiol is a project for the future, not a guaranteed starter. Looks like all the OGs he scored and PKs he conceded were good for something. That means, if I'm lucky, I don't have to deal with seeing him in that shirt just yet. He's a Valencia boy. He will always BE a Valencia boy, no matter where he plays. And he didn't want to leave. The thing that annoys me the most is that they got him for just €15mil. Come on people. We're in serious financial trouble and he's one of the best CBs we had. Have a heart and add another €5mil to that, yes? I'd be nice about this whole situation, but I am physically incapable of being anything other that seriously bitter. I hope he scores 50 OGs and concedes 30 PKs in his first week so you send him back to us. Ok, no, I'm not really that immature. Just, an OG here and there won't hurt. I just want him to do well and be happy. So yeah...send him back to us.
As for the blog, well...the reason I've not updated it much lately is because it's more or less transfer season. I HATE this time of year with a passion, and the constant speculation drives me absolutely insane. I don't like having to deal with it, and I rather enjoy living in my little bubble. If I had to blog on what happens, I think I would actually go crazy.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
RIP Frankie
He was the bestest hamster in the world ever and I loved him to pieces. I'm going to miss that fat little lump. No more late night chases around the house when he gets out of his cage. No more eating the bathroom door. No more nosediving off the top of the sofa. *sigh* Can I have him back? I'll strike a deal with someone if I must.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
I want to be a cool kid.
1) Your name : Gina
2) Age : 21
3) Where are you from ? Originally Sofia, lived in London since I was 2.
4) Date of birth: 07/04/88
5) Your hobbies: Erm, watching football, singing, writing, surfing the internetz. The usual.
6) What do you do in your life? This was my final year at uni, I graduate in July, so until I find a job, I am officially a full time lazy bum.
7) Favorite club(s): Valencia CF, Liverpool FC, Spain NT, England NT. Though I like a lot of others too - Sporting Gijon, Sevilla, Villareal, Arsenal, RM (though if I'm honest, not so much lately), Barca, Roma, Atleti (though again, not so much lately), Malaga etc etc.
8) What got you into football? WC'98 and *that* goal.
9) Your favorite current football players: Vicente, Dahveed Veeyah, Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres. Actually, pretty much every Valencia and Liverpool player, then a few others. Xavi and Santi mainly.
10) Your favorite past football players: Hristo Stoichkov, Paolo Maldini and Zidane. For the skillz, not the teams they played for. I guess players like Sami Hyypia and Ronaldo count even though they're technically still playing.
11) Most memorable game? CL Final 2005. EPIC. FA Cup Final 2006. EPIC. Liverpool 4-1 Man U. EPIC. Valencia 3-0 RM. EPIC. And Valencia 2-2 Barca was also epic because wow, that was so close to being game of the fucking season.
12) What do you think about the Real Madrid situation? I think my thoughts on this are very well known anyway. I have nothing against the players. I have nothing against the fans. But the board fucking SUCKS. Blowing €160 on two attacking players when it's your defence that needs sorting is just sheer idiocy and I cannot comprehend how this is a good thing. For anyone. Kindly keep your filthy rich selves away from MY teams, thank you.
13) Is there a thing you would like to change about your club? If so what? The debt issues. For both.
14) favorite ice cream flavor: Phish Food!
15) Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate. Om nom nom.
16) Coke or pepsi? Coke. But I don't like either.
17) Ketchup or mustard? Ketchup.
18) Iker or Pepe Reina? Pepe.
19) Sernando or Sergago? SERNANDO FTW!!!
20) Kickette or dirty tackle? Both.
21) Premier league or la liga? La Liga.
22) Jose or Pep ? Jose.
23) Which player would you like to spend a night with? Only one player? ONLY ONE NIGHT?! Spoilsports. Well, it would be Vicente, wouldn't it.
24) Which three players would you like to be stuck on a desert island with? Marchena - he looks like he could kill some things for food. Chente - Well, I have got to be entertained somehow. Xabi - I quite like his scruff and he speaks English and Spanish so I'd be able to communicate with everyone.
25) Which player do you like that you really shouldn't? Erm...Paul Scholes would qualify for this I guess.
26) Which footballer would you describe yourself as like/relate to/something like that? lol, well I'm going to be predictable here and say Vicente. *shrugs* Even when I know I'm better than someone else, I always come second best. And I get hurt an awful lot.
27) First live concert? LOL. I don't remember. I think it was Westlife.
28) A band you will always love: The Beatles. Legends.
29) If you could be one musical artist who would you be? I dunno. Pink?
30) Favourite and least favourite subjects at school: Favourite - English Lit, I loved writing. Least favourite - PE or RE. We never did the sports I like and RE bored me to sleep.
31) Favourite clothes shop: Primark. LOL. I kid, I kid. Erm, Topshop has cool stuff.
32) Current favourite outfit: Erm...any of my jeans with any of my football shirts. *shrugs* I like to be comfortable.
33) Flats or heels? Flats. I own about 50 pairs of heels and never wear them.
34) Late nights or early mornings? Early mornings? What are those? Late nights FTW.
35) Small social gathering with a few close friends or a wild party with tons of people? Small social gatherings. Unless it was a Kickette party. In which case BRING ON THE PARTY!
36) Facebook or twitter? Twitter. I never use my FB.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Can I please be Nando?
I have totally not been keeping up with the blog of late, partly because of exams, partly because I'm lazy and partly because there's not really much football on. Anyhow, moment of the game last night (aside from the Nando hatrick and Dahveed scoring) was this:
I might do a proper report later, but don't hold your breath. My laziness knows no bounds.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Monday, 8 June 2009
Woohooo!
I am officially done with uni. Until I find out I failed and need to repeat the year, but pft to that... That is all.
Friday, 5 June 2009
A-Z of Valencia's season
A is for Atletico
Season defining game. Win this and CL football was basically theirs. The future of the club rested on this game. Ok, so I’m over-exaggerating a little, but it was the difference between having CL football and having to make do with the UEFA Cup next season. No, I don’t much care if it’s Europa League now, it’s still the UEFA Cup. Anyway, back to the topic. They needed to win this. Or at the very least, not lose. And unfortunately for them, this season defining game defined them all wrong. Atletico won albeit with a Kun dive. And yes, I am still fucking bitter about that. On the night, Valencia didn’t want it as much as their opponents. Or if they did, they just didn’t show it. The score could have been much more humiliating for them had it not been for Cesar.
B is for Babies
Apparently, this season, the entire team was more concerned with pro-creating than they were with playing football. Vicente, Albiol, Veeyah AND Carleto (probably more of them, some are bound to spawn in secret, like Liverpool) all had/are going to have babies before the year is out. Boys, ILY. But PLEASE, save the babies for the summer, yes? The season is long, and Valencia need all their star players alert. I can’t help but feel daddyhood made Albiol score so many OGs and concede so many PKs this season. She’s mighty cute though, his baby. 
C is for Cesar
Words cannot even BEGIN to describe how much I love this man. I will bear his children. However many of them he wants. He was just that good. When Renan got injured midway through the season, I will admit, I was a little nervous. All we had as cover was Guaita, and while he’s a good goalkeeper, with that defence in front of him...I wasn’t confident. Then, when I heard we’d signed Cesar, I was still a little sceptical. My exact thoughts were something like ‘He’s a great goalkeeper, but he’s kinda old. He won’t be that good.’ Oh boy. How wrong was I? He was the difference in SO MANY GAMES. Even after Renan recovered from injury, Unai chose to keep Cesar in goal, which speaks volumes about his importance to the whole team this year. He made crucial saves in many games to save Valencia from total humiliation, and the standout game of the season was against Atletico. He did not deserve to be on the losing side. He was harshly penalised for ‘bringing down’ Kun in the penalty area, but aside from that refereeing fail, he was faultless.
D is for Defence
If you can call them that. I’ll admit it was a damn sight better than what we had last year. But then, after Koeman, it couldn’t really have gotten any worse. There were certain outstanding games. There were also some absolute shockers. Marchena couldn’t go a game without being booked/sent off. Alexis was great up until the injury and when he came back, he was a little shaky. Albiol scored a fair few goals. In the wrong net. He also gave away a fair few PKs. Carleto barely had time to show us what he’s made of. Miguel was alright at the attacking side, not so great at the defence part. Del Horny, Moretti, Maduro – all had average seasons, nothing outstanding. There was one or two pics from the season that summed up the year fully. I’ll just post my fave.
E is for Entertainment
Well, they may have done it the hard way, but they made the UEFA Cup for next season and provided a fair bit of entertainment along the way. Mori with rescuing the cat in training, Alexis with the kung fu on the pitch, Unai with the airplane directions. It’s been a long and painful season for most Valencia fans, but the boys have been there every step of the way to put a smile back on our faces.
F is for Fail
This could sum up a lot of things this season. Failure to make the CL. Failure to pay the players for a significant period of time. Failure to sell the old Mestalla before agreeing to start work on the new one. However, my use of it is specific to referee attitudes towards Valencia this season. Every single referee, there was always a way they screwed the team over. Be it a wrongly called offside, or a wrongly given PK, or even a booking/sending off that shouldn’t even have been a foul. This fail cost Valencia a fair few points this season. Not that it’s an excuse, they should have been able to win games even with the referees and the rest of the footballing world against them. After all, don’t you know it’s just certain teams that are able to pay off a referee. Valencia couldn’t even pay their players, like fuck they can pay off a referee.
G is for goal.com
Clearly, these fuckers have had a major vendetta against the boys all season long. Be it predicting draws or losses for them, reporting that so and so player has agreed a deal with so and so team or covering their debt issues in great detail and basically writing the team off before they’d even got into the swing of things, they were a never-ending source of mockery. I didn’t appreciate their sentiments as I’m sure many other fans did not. And the amount of RM and Barca fans to crawl out of the woodwork on there and comment on how they’re going to steal Veeyah from under our noses was nothing short of pure hilarity. You have your own teams. Go talk about their successes and failures throughout the season and leave my team the fuck alone.
H is for Hate Mail
Well, it’s not mail exactly. But fans sitting around booing the players or booing the manager or even not bothering to turn up at all when the team needed it the most were a major blow to their confidence, and not at all what we as fans like to see in football. Yes the team was underperforming. But that doesn’t give people the right to make such public protests that in the end amounted to nothing anyway. It didn’t have the desired effect of motivating the team, and it just gave the fans that did it a bad name.
I is for Iker butting his nose in
Memo to Mr Casillas. I have an immense amount of respect for you as a footballer. But in the future, kindly keep your mouth shut about matters that don’t concern you. Yes, Veeyah, Silva and Mata deserve to be at a big team, and Valencia ARE a big team. They ARE capable of winning things. Their financial situation this season prevented them from doing so, but money is not the be all and end all of the world. You have money and you weren’t all that fab yourselves... I’d also like to point out Mata CAME from RM. YOU let him go. Your mistake. Don’t be bitter that Valencia reaped the benefits of your mistake.
J is for Justice
Something Valencia didn’t get much of this season. When the deserved to win games but were screwed over by the referees, nobody did a thing, and us poor fans were left distraught at yet another three points dropped when we needed them the most.
K is for Kiss
Something I’d probably do to the entire team. I’m so unbelievably proud of every single one of them. But mostly, it’s to do with their celebrations. Alexis ALWAYS kisses Silva. And then there was the time Joaquin kissed Chente. My head exploded. For real.
L is for Laughter
Well, if we didn’t laugh, we’d probably cry.
M is for Manpiles
Something Valencia CF are famous for. And whoa, can they manpile in style. Goal celebration after goal celebration involved them jumping into the ever growing pile on top of the goalscorer and crushing him somewhere. Oh boy. I want to join those piles. Can Vicente score and I be the first to manpile?
N is for Never losing faith
In the team. In their ability. In the board. Idek, all of these things needed the fans to have blind faith, and we did. And we weren’t disappointed. Although we didn’t make it into the CL, 6th spot is a darn sight better than 10th.
O is for Offside
The number of these I saw called this season. Oh my dear god. I don’t think I can even count that high. And tbh, I’m pretty sure at least a good 40/45% of them were wrongly judged. Still, not something we can change now, right?
P is for Post crazy
So my blog got taken over by Valencia over the course of the season. And various others did too. The Valencia thread on Kickette grew and grew. And we went batshit crazy on twitter. All in all, a rather productive season in terms of posts.
Q is for Questionable decisions
Every single offside that got given against Mata was questionable. Several PK’s given against Valencia were questionable. Don’t get me started on the red cards. *cough* Alexis and Dahveed*cough*
R is for Rehab
Something I will surely need after the rollercoaster ride that is Valencia. And it doesn’t end here. There’s still the summer of speculation to look forward to. Oh joy...
S is for Suspensions
Every time one player came back from a suspension, two more were suspended. It’s like the referees had a vendetta. And the players had anger management issues.
T is for Trying
This is one thing I can say the boys did for the majority of the season. They knew what they needed to do, and they tried their best. The few rough weeks in the middle of the season was their undoing, but seeing as they weren’t being paid at the time, I can’t hold it against them.
U is for Underrated
Players like Pablo and Michel who worked so hard for the team over the season. They may not have made any blindingly obvious contributions like Dahveed’s goals or Cesar’s saves, but these kids provided a much needed boost when certain key members of the team were out through injury or suspension.
V is for Vicente
Well, it’s not like this was EVER going to be a shock to anyone. Yes, Veeyah was probably the most important player we had this season, but don’t ever write off the importance of Vicente to the team. I lost count of the number of games in which he started on the bench, came on with 10 minutes left and turned things around completely. Ok, so the scoreline may not have changed every time, but the team looked boosted in attack and you could sense his hunger for the win. Why Unai did not give him more chances to play is completely beyond me. There isn’t a single player in the current team that will give as much as Vicente does for them. He bleeds Valencia colours. Let him play for fuck’s sake.
W is for What was that?!
It didn’t matter whether we were screaming this at the referee for making yet another questionable decision, the players for missing another easy shot/screwing up on the defending or Unai for making some questionable substitutions, this became the VCF fans’ motto. Well, the ones that I know anyway.
X is for eXclusive! Veeyah has agreed a deal with Man City/RM/Chelsea/delete as appropriate
Yes, the transfer rumours. The ones that have been going all season long. If we were to believe this, then Dahveed has left Valencia about 50 times for various different teams and various sums of money. And each time, it has been reported as an exclusive. And has then proceeded to make said newspaper/website look very idiotic when it didn’t go through.
Y is for YES DAHVEED!
Again, something that I screamed rather a lot this season. Well, he did score 30 goals this season, and I cheered like a loon for every single one of them...
Well, the last one, I’m just going to steal from LS
Z is for Zorio
The first rat to jump ship.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Thursday, 28 May 2009
ILY. ILYSFM Dahveed.
This guy is seriously amazing. After the past few weeks, I honestly thought he would leave, but no. He wants to stay and see out his contract even though Valencia didn't make the CL and he deserves CL football. I know I harp on about this all the time. I don't want him to leave. I really don't. However, he is a CL type player and he deserves to be playing in the top tier of European competition. If Valencia aren't too desperate for money and can afford to hang onto him for one more season, they should. But if they don't make the CL next year, then honestly, for the sake of his career, he should go. It'll break my heart to see him play against Valencia, so any other La Liga team would be hard to see him at. Especially when the only two realistic options are Real Madrid and Barcelona. I just have everything crossed that Valencia make it out of this mess with all their key players still at the club. The painful reality is that they will probably lose one or two players at least. I'm sure I'll come to terms with that eventually. Just not yet.
Changes to the blog
I've realised that there's an awful lot of Valencia related stuff on here, and not very much else. Now, that's all fine and dandy during the season when there is plenty to rant about, but I don't want the blog turning into my ranting ground over the summer transfer window, so there's going to be some changes. Firstly, I'm going to have to find something other than football to blog on. Secondly, I'm going to have to find the time to blog more, because I've been neglecting the blog a fair bit of late. And finally, for next season, things are going to get a little more serious around here. There's nothing wrong with fangirling, but I kind of miss doing match reports and whatnot. I'm going to make the time to do those every weekend if I can. In the meantime - what do YOU want to see more of on here?
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