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.

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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.

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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.

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Bitter bitch alert...

I promised myself I wasn't going to blog on any more games if I had nothing nice to say, but quite frankly, this is annoying me way too much to keep it inside. Last night was the Atletico Madrid-Valencia game, which many would argue was a make or break game and a CL decider. I had high hopes for it. After all, Valencia did rather well against the other Madrid team.

Anyway, the game started off badly for Valencia. They had no Silva, no Vicente and no Marchena available to them through a combination of injuries and suspensions. You know it's a tough life when you rely on players like Edu, who has barely played all season, to fill the gap. I'm pretty much going to ignore the majority of the game because...well, it was all Atleti. Aside from the goal Mata scored that was wrongfully disallowed for offside. If the ball comes off the opposition defence, it's not offside. Honestly, am I the ONLY person that knows the rules?Idiot referees.

And the goal Atleti scored that took them above Valencia and into the CL spots, and got them an advantage - yeah, total dive. I mean, fair enough, there was contact. But it's the kind of PK I hate seeing given. Kun saw the goalie coming. He left his leg in for Cesar to make contact with. He was going down before the tackle even came. Yet the PK was given, and Forlan stepped up to score from the spot. Other than that one blunder - which was actually a total refereeing fail - Cesar was IMMENSE. He made so many saves to keep the score at 1-0. It's thanks to him that Valencia still hold a slight advantage should the teams finish level on points at the end of the season. But I'm not making excuses for Valencia. Yes, the match officials screwed them over, but that's a regular occurrence for them. They have the class in the team to be able to overcome that, yet they didn't. Atleti proved they wanted it, and after such a brilliant week last week, Valencia just failed to turn up this week. It's the story of their season. I've never known a more bi-polar team. They're up one week and then the next, they're just total fail. I say that with love. All Valencia fans can do now is pray that Atleti slip up in one of the remaining two La Liga games. But for that to make a difference, Valencia simply must win both of theirs. CL football next season is a necessity, not a choice.

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Weekend round up - sort of.

Valencia won! I mean, my FFT suffered like hell as a result, because Palop conceded three goals, but still, they won! And they are back up into the CL slots again, so I am happy, they deserve to be there. They went a goal down (and thankfully, I mssed this because of work) but then Adriano was sent off in like the 40th minute or thereabouts for a foul on Dahveed. If I'm honest, it wasn't a straight red. A yellow defo, but that would have been his second and he'd have been off anyway, so you know. Tough luck. Then just minutes later, Mata was felled in the penalty box and Valencia had a chance to go level. Dahveed stepped up and of course, he scored. Was there ever any doubt? Though again, if I'm totally honest, I'm not sure how much of a penalty it was. I've seen them not given. Still, half time, 1-1. It's totally because I was at the Mestalla last week. *nods* I am their good luck charm you see.

Anyway, the second half, and it was rather entertaining to see practically half the Valencia squad sat in the stands. I mean, not so much, because they're all injured, but there was seriously loads of them. I'd like to point out that I was sat right in those effing seats like 5 days ago. For real. I think I was sat where Carleto was sitting during the game yesterday. The referee was another one of them card happy bastards, I think the final total was something stupid like 15 yellows and a red. Yes, Marchena did get his obligatory yellow. They missed several great chances to go a goal up, shooting over and/or hitting the post. Valencia didn't get their first corner until like the...I don't even know what minute, by which point Sevilla already had 9.

Chente came on after about 75 minutes, and I squeed like a typical fangirl. I actually did lose my train of thought. He played amazing as usual, but then I almost always say that. After a long tense wait, another PK given to Valencia, this time for handball. Which in all fairness, I'm not sure it was. I mean, Navarro swung an arm in the air, but I don't think he actually made contact with the ball. Still, if you're going to give a PK for that, then it needs to be a booking. And seeing as the guy had a yellow already...pft, whatever. This time Dahveed wasn't on the pitch to take it, so Mata stepped up and scored. 2-1, advantage Valencia. Pablo rounded off a perfect evening by scoring to make it 3-1. Towards the end, Palop (who was already on a yellow and probably should have got another judging by the referee's general card happy attitude) shoved Mori to the ground and how did Mr Card Happy react? He booked Mori. Yeah, fail. Not that I in any way cared by this point. They had all three points and a CL spot again. Yay!

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Thank you for the fail Liverpool.

But no, really, thank you. At least there was a bit of fail on Tuesday to put a smile on my face during my otherwise miserable birthday. And at least the people ate UEFA were nice enough to make it so the Liverpool game was the day after my birthday. Still, last night was appalling. On so many different levels. The team that went out against Chelsea last night had NOTHING in common with the team that beat Man U and Real Madrid last month. Except the name of course. They were poor, it's as simple as that. They played for 10 minutes, went a goal up and seemed to think that was game over. Well, obviously it was not. The 3-1 scoreline at the end only goes to illustrate that. I will not be able to ever figure out what the hell Lucas was doing on the pitch last night. We may as well have played with 10 men, we'd probably have done better. He was like a 12th man for Chelsea, not one of his passes was accurate, he lost possession way too easily and he was the biggest fail in the collective vortex of suckage (thanks to Erin for that phrase) that was Liverpool last night. I can't even get over it. It's the first game I've been able to watch since the Real Madrid game, and I could probably be forgiven for being a little cocky and thinking we'd win this for sure. I wasn't asking for another miraculous scoreline of 4-0. 1-0 would have done. Taking a lead to Stamford Bridge, no away goal for Chelsea, a job well done. Instead, we go into that game trailing 3-1, needing at least 3 away goals to give us a chance and quite frankly, they need to bring it hardcore, because playing like they did last night, they'll be lucky to get ONE goal in the second leg.

Well, the one good thing to come out of that game is that if I do manage to find a way to watch the second leg while in Valencia, I don't have to put up with John Terry's smug little face because he got booked last night and will miss the second leg. *does happy dance* Also, can they PLEASE stop fucking whining about the yellow card? First Terry spouts a load of BS about it not being fair and how Liverpool crowded the ref asking for the yellow (I'm sorry, but er...Pot. Kettle. Black.) and now Lampard is in on the act too. I don't want to insult anyone here, but grow up, yes? It was a yellow card. He went in hard and headbutted the goalkeeper in the chest when the ball was long gone. You know you'd have wanted a yellow if it happened to your goalie, so shut up and put up. And for the record, yes I would say the same thing had Skittles gone in like that on Cech. I don't believe in team bias when it comes to decisions made in the course of a game, everyone deserves an equal chance.

Call me bitter, and I probably am, but I don't think Chelsea were the better team on the night because they outplayed Liverpool or showed anything particularly special. They were the better team on the night because Liverpool simply stopped playing. Still, it was a deserved win I suppose, and I am sort of not really looking forward to the second leg next week. It's sure to be a good game if the Liverpool from previous games show up instead of the Liverpool from last night.

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Weekend round up

I have been made of total fail where match reports have been concerned lately. Sorry about that. I have several pretty good reasons though. Firstly, I have been crazy busy with work and uni and I've just not had time to sit down and write a match report. Secondly, I miss almost every single Liverpool game played, and I refuse to write a report on something I haven't seen. And thirdly - Valencia hadn't been winning at all until the past two weeks, and quite frankly, I don't want a permanent reminder of that on the blog. It's sucky and I hate it. Anyway, they are back, and back with a vengeance this week, so I'll do a report. There's plenty to talk about!

I did miss the first half due to work, so again, I cannot comment on exactly what happened until I get a stream. I have however seen the first goal - great pass from Silva, great goal from Mata. That's really all I need to say. The second was a penalty just minutes later, which was promptly put away by Dahveed. Yes he's back, and yes he is still scoring. Words cannot express the level of love I have for that man right now. I don't think it's any coincidence that he comes back from a combination of suspension and injury and suddenly the team scores the same number of goals in one game that they'd managed in 4 games before that. Anyway, the first penalty was apparently debatable and I'll have to find a way of watching that before I comment, but it has to be said, players go down a lot easier in La Liga than they do in the Prem, and referees are a lot quicker to give fouls. This is the only thing I do not like about La Liga.

Anyway, I came back in time for the second half, ready to watch Valencia seal a 2-0 win. Sadly, the prat of a referee had other ideas and gave a PK to Getafe withing 5 minutes of the restart. This confused me more than anything, because there was no foul at all. If anything, it was a foul by the Getafe player on Albelda, but no, the referee had pointed to the spot and that was that. 2-1. It didn't take long for Valencia to get their 2 goal lead back though, Raul Albiol making a rare run forward and cooly slotting the ball into the back of the net. The captain CAN score in the right goal. Do it more please.

And then just two minutes later, Dahveed was in with a great chance to make it 4-1, but he was felled by the Getafe goalie. The referee gave the third PK of the night and sent the goalkeeper off. Things were looking up for Valencia, and with a cool head, Dahveed slotted home his second penalty of the night. Vicente came on for Silva with a little more than 10 minutes left to play, and then my telly proceeded to almost kill me by showing a close up slo-mo of his thighs while I was having dinner. I visibly drooled. A little warning would be nice next time people.

Liverpool won 1-0 after a very tense game, the winner being scored by Yossi Benayoun in the 93rd minute. This was enough to put them clear at the top for at least a day, albeit with two games more than Man U. The post was once again not their friend, and watching the highlights of the game, I think I lost count of how many times they hit the post in the first half alone. Anyway, Yossi came to the rescue, and even if it wasn't one of their best performances as a whole, they still got all 3 points, and at this stage of the season, that's the most important thing.

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Midweek round up

Liverpool were amaze. I love Yossi. My thinner beaver ♥
I'm going to be sensitive to the Real Madrid fans that I know read my blog and I won't say anything else. You know where to go for the official views on the game by now anyway.

Valencia. Hmm. Unai is totally in my bad books right now. He had a massive talk with Vicente about this like 3 days ago, yet STILL he does not let the boy play. Why the fuck not? What's going on? If you can find a way to accomodate Marchena in midfield, then damn right you can make room for Vicente! Jesus.

Dynamo went a goal up. Dahveed equalised. Goal disallowed for offside. Story of my (and Valencia's) life. And then...then MARCHENA SCORED!!! He's sort of my hero right now. No, it was not a case of mistaken identity, it actually was him. So, end of the 1st half, score 1-1. All even. If it finished like this then extra time beckoned.

Of course, Valencia don't do things like that. They went 2-1 up thanks to a goal from Del Horno, and then fucking threw it away. Again. The defence needs a serious kick up the backsides, because they are letting the team down. It's all fine and dnady scoring boys, but it means fuck all if you can't stop the opposition doing the same. And so 2-2, Valencia out of the UEFA cup and left to concentrate on La Liga and getting into the top 4. If you screw this up Unai...

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No shit sherlock

So, this is what Unai had to say about the game. Erm...really? You think so? I really wasn't going to blog about this because I didn't want to basically fill this blog up with curses, but right now, pretty much every curse in the world is coming to mind. Because seriously Emery, way to state the obvious. The stats speak for themselves. 8 yellows and a red. It is no wonder this referee was punished a few weeks ago for the farce that was the Real Madrid-Osasuna game. I am however completely clueless as to why he was even allowed back. He is clearly incapable of being any good. That's not just the bitter Valencia fan in me speaking. Although that part of me has a pretty big say in this entire post. Let's start with a card by card analysis, shall we?

Alexis got booked on 18 minutes. Honestly, I would have to be deluded to say he didn't deserve that yellow, because hello, ninja kicks and using other players as a climbing frame, while funny, is not cool. And really Lexie, you've just come back from injury. Was it necessary to try and put yourself back on the treatment table? That good are they? He lost the headband in that tackle though. And sadly for Valencia, got his 5th booking of the season, meaning that he gets the privelege of sitting the next game out through suspension. Oh joy!

Joaquin then got booked on 37 minutes. I don't even know what for. Maybe pointing out to the motherfucking idiot of a referee that actually, Dahveed was hurt and the ball should have been put out of play. Ok, so it wasn't a head injury, but he hurt his neck. Poor baby had whiplash and the idiot did nothing. So apparently, now it's perfectly ok to have players going around hitting other players, because everyone except Depor and the ref seemed to think Dahveed deserved a free kick for the foul on him that meant he had to leave the pitch. Obviously, the Valencia players are going to complain when you seemingly have a personal vendetta against them FFS. Knob. Depor were playing dirty the whole game, diving around and trying to get people in trouble. Correct me if I'm wrong, but diving in an attempt to con the referee is a bookable offence, right?

As if Joaquin's yellow wasn't confusing enough, Dahveed then got booked for coming back onto the pitch without the referee's permission. I mean WTF??? He was walking up the touchline waiting for the ref to let him back on, then some motherfucker from the Deportivo bench shoves him back onto the pitch. Of course, the referee didn't see that, he just saw Dahveed on the pitch and booked him. Which begs the question - is that not what the 4th official is there for? To tell the ref what goes down if he can't see it. But it did bring a hot moment. Hot meaning Dahveed said 'puta' and we all know how I feel about that word...
My commentators were talking about how short tempered he is. Hehe, so am I. See, more MFEO material :P

Yellow card #4 was shown to Silva on 41 minutes. 3 cards in as many minutes tells you all you need to know about the referee's ability to control a game properly. Now, my dad was convinced this was worthy of a yellow, and because I didn't see it, I assumed he was right. Then I saw the 'foul' in question and it was the most pathetic thing I have ever seen in my life. Two players jumping for the ball, Silva accidentally brushed the other guys back, he goes down like a sack of potatoes clutching his face. Yes, con artistry like this DOES exist and apparently, it works! Unless you play for Valencia. In which case, you actually DO get fouled and the ref gives nothing.

69 minutes in and yellow card #5 went to Baraja. I can't really complain too much about this, Baraja didn't get the ball but he got the man. Just barely, but it was enough to be a foul. Still, the fact that the guy that got fouled stumbled on about another 5 steps before proceeding to fall flat on his face didn't do him any good in my books. I mean, if you can stay on your feet for 5 steps, you can stay on your feet full stop.

Then, on 76 minutes came Dahveed's red. This just pushed me over the edge completely. I mean come on referee. He tried to pull out of the challenge. His leg was outstretched going in for the tackle, and the second he realised he wasn't going to win the ball, he pulled his leg back. He had every right to go for the ball. His bitchface was epic. He was all 'Seriously? You're gonna send me off for THAT?' And I agree comepletely. He was sprinting and lets face it, he's no slouch. It's not like he's going to put the brakes on and stop dead straight away. The Depor players acted disgustingly, all of them immediately crowded the referee to remind him Dahveed was on a yellow already. And as for the goalie. Grow a pair for fuck's sake. Rolling around like a sissy when there was barely any contact is not cool.

Cesar got booked next, for god knows what kind of fucked up reason. He didn't foul anyone. The referee just decided to hand out yellow cards for the hell of it apparently. What an idiot. The funniest thing in all this though...so far, 6 yellows and a red, and not a single one of these cards was shown to Marchena!

Not wanting to disappoint though, he got his obligatory yellow just a minute after Cesar got booked. Probably for protesting too much. Which again, leads me to the point that the referee needs to read up on the rules of football. As captain, he is ALLOWED to point out when the referee is being a knob and getting decisions badly wrong. Which he was for 99% of the game last night.

And then finally, we come to Michel's yellow card. This one was also deserved, because the tackle was late. So I make that 3 deserved cards out of...erm, I lost count. But it was a lot. And despite all the diving and general twatishness, Depor only had one player booked. I can think of at least 4 instances where they SHOULD have got yellows, and if you judged both teams equally, i.e. penalised Depor for the things Valencia were being called out on, the game would probably have been called off because there wouldn't have been enough players on the pitch.

Basically, the only thing that idiot referee got right in the entire game was ignoring his assistant flagging for offside for Dahveed's goal. Because really, the ball came from an opposition player. There's no such thing as offside when the opposition pass you the ball. Read up on it referees, it's useful stuff to know. At any rate, he just leapfrogged the entire list of people on my 'must hurt badly' list and took top spot. Unless somebody fucks up quite this royally in the next game I watch, I have the feeling he will be staying there for a veeeery long time.

I just have to give a special bit of attention to Depor's equalising goal because seriously, that was the most motherfucking pathetic goal I have ever seen in my life. The defending was awful. That is all.

Sorry about this whole ranting post, I just felt the need to get all of this off my chest, because they say that keeping things inside doesn't help you. I thought I'd feel better after it, but I really don't. Fact of the matter is, this was a game Valencia NEEDED to win, but their defensive frailties showed through again, and they were pretty lucky to escape with a draw after the sending off. Cesar was totally my man of the match. Without him, that would totally have been a loss.

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Weekend round up

So, this weekend was a pretty collective fail. Liverpool drew 1-1. Valencia drew 1-1. I was sad. I know I promised a proper match report today, but I really don't want to relive that. Instead, you can go here to read a fan's views on the Valencia game, and here to read the official Liverpool view on that game.

If I did do a proper report, it would consist of 'WTF?!' and 'You motherfucker' and probably even 'WHHHHYYYYYY????' so I'll spare you the whining.

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Midweek round up

So, the first knockout round of this year's UEFA cup competition. Finishing second in their group meant that Valencia faced a tough draw against a team coming through from the CL. Dynamo Kiev were the home team, and they will have fancied their chances against a Valencia side missing more than half of it's regular defence. The away side needed to prove that they have what it takes to go all the way in this competition, with this being their last remaining hope for silverware this season.

It was snowing hard in Dynamo, unsurprisingly. Unai Emery fielded an arguably weakened side, with players such as Veeyah, Vicente (not that this is anything new) and Joaquin on the bench at the start. Having said that, it was still a more than strong enough starting 11 to be in with a chance. The game started off fast and furious, Silva getting fouled within 2 minutes. Thankfully, he was fine, and believe me, there'd have been trouble if he wasn't! He got fouled again just 3 minutes later. Seriously, stop picking on the boy. Some absolutely shocking defending nearly led to the Dynamo opener after 7 minutes. Thankfully, the ball was too high and the danger had passed. For now. Against the run of play, just a minute later, some great play on the wing from Mata led to the opening goal. Silva was perfectly placed to slot the ball into the back of the net after Mata's brilliant pass. It was a precious away goal, but still nothing was certain. In recent times, Valencia have often found themselves a goal up early on, only to let it slip later in the game. Living up to their rep, the defence was all over the place, and Dynamo nearly equalised twice within the space of two minutes, only luck keeping the score at 1-0 for the away team. After a very busy first 15, the game seemed to quieten down a little. Valencia were getting kicked all over the pitch by Dynamo (and shock horror, the referee gave nothing. Story of my life). Dynamo again came close to equalising on 25 minutes, a foul by Albelda leading to a free kick, which was well taken by Cesar. Valencia were still on the attack though, and missed a great chance to go 2-0 up after 29 minutes. Having watched their defensive frailties lately, it was vital they got another goal, but they had to be careful of leaving the defence exposed. As the game wore on, the defence grew in confidence. Another nervy moment followed on 32 minutes, Cesar blocking a shot, but the ball rebounded into the path of a Dynamo player, who thankfully put the ball wide. The first yellow card of the game was finally shown to a Dynamo player after 36 minutes. About effing time and all, I'd lost count of how many times I'd seen Valencia players picking themselves up off the floor.

The second half started a little shakily for Valencia. Cesar spilled the ball, again giving Dynamo a chance to equalise, but again, they did not take it. Valencia had to stop riding their luck like this though, eventually they would get punished for their mistakes. Albiol gave away a free kick in a very dangerous position about 5 minutes into the half, but thankfully, the wall did it's job and stood firm. Silva was continually getting kicked about, and the referee didn't seem to want to do anything about it. Bastard. And so it goes, despite my numerous warnings, Valencia conceded the inevitable goal. Sure, it was a handball, but when did the referees ever care about small details like that? I mean, they gave a goal for Sevilla even though the guy who scored it was miles offside. And then, as if this referee hadn't fucked them over enough already, he booked Silva. Yes, it was a yellow card, but still. The boy has been fouled HOW many times?? Anyway, while I was busy being all angry about that, the referee sent off a Dynamo player (the goalscorer from what I gathered) for a second booking. Fear me, referees. Having seen enough, Unai brought on the big guns. Well, one of them anyway. Veeyah replaced Silva on 60 minutes, the latter already on a yellow and with a fiery temper, it was a good decision by the Valencia manager. Minutes later, Joaquin was coming on for Pablo.

With 15 minutes to go, it wasn't looking too great for Valencia, the curse of the defence had struck again (although in all fairness, this time, it wasn't their fault) and even against 10 men, they were struggling somewhat. The referee was getting more and more card happy as time wore on. Valencia should have had a PK when Del Horno was hauled down, but apparently, that's not enough anymore. Baraja came on for Fernandes with 10 minutes left as Valencia looked to keep the score the way it was. I had a heart attack or ten when Cesar went down, especially seeing as Valencia had already made all three substitutions. Things were going from bad to worse for them. Thankfully, he was able to continue and Valencia kept enough posession to avoid him having to make too many movements that would expose his injury. An offside decision and a Dynamo substitution later, and it was all over. An awful decision from the referee to allow a clear handball as a goal costing Valencia the game. Though in all fairness, they should have done much better against 10 men for half an hour. Unai didn't play Vicente - again. This confused me because he's fast. Really fast. He'd have caused some serious problems for the Dynamo defence. Then again, at least he was wrapped up warm and at less risk of catching a cold...
The return leg is in just over a week's time. Fingers crossed for a Valencia win then.

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International round up

So it was a game that everyone had been looking forward to for quite some time. Had it not been for my rescheduled exam, I am sure that I would have been there watching it live. As it stands, I had to make do with watching the game on the telly with some quite blatant bias in favour of England, who were quite simply outclassed on the night.

The away team started out brightly enough, they had their share of the possession and they were holding their own against Spain. However, as the game wore on, it became more and more clear that England's makeshift side (enforced by injuries to kepy players such as Steven Gerrard) were not equal to Spain, and the hom team began to dominate possession and the midfield. On 36 minutes, they were 1-0 up. Xabi Alonso threaded a beautiful pass to Dahveed, who turned Jagielka inside out before calmly slotting the ball past David James. Say what you like about him, but for any striker to score in 6 consecutive internationals, that's some achievement. And his footwork for the goal was just out of this world amazing.

He was just all over the pitch, and I am so proud that it was my boys that created that goal. Veeyah would work pretty well at Liverpool. I just really don't want him leaving Valencia. Even though seeing this every week...that would be great.

The two Davids didn't get to play together, Silva came on for Veeyah after 56 minutes. It was kind of upsetting. They didn't even hug properly :(
The other Fernando scored the second after 82 minutes, but it was only adding insult to injury. The game had already been won. The Spaniards were so confident in their own ability, they played the final 5 minutes with 10 men. Ok, so not through choice. They'd made the allowed number of substitutions already and Llorente injured himself. No matter, they dealt just fine, thank you. Marchena even defended. HE DEFENDED!!!!

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Weekend round up

Sorry this is late again. I only just got to watch the Liverpool game and I didn't want to write one of these without being fully informed. Before that, I'd only seen the goals. Liverpool were rather baffling to start with, it was mostly the babies starting. Ok, so not mostly the babies, there was actually a lot of first teamers. But there were 6 defenders to start with. SIX of them!! I don't think Pompey's strikers are that good, and if they are...why the heck did we sell Crouch to begin with?


Anyway, the first half was sort of boring. The six defenders were doing a good job of keeping Portsmouth from scoring, but the lack of firepower was painfully obvious as they went in at half time 0-0. There had been several missed chances already, but it was good to see Agger and Skrtel playing together. That's a partnership for the future. Babel missed an absolute sitter with 58 minutes gone, completely missing the ball. The redeeming factor for him was that he was deemed to be offside, so the goal wouldn't have counted anyway had the ball gone in. Just minutes later, Liverpool went behind, David Nugent scoring after 62 minutes and taunting the Liverpool fans by holding up fingers to indicate the scoreline in the defeat to Everton. Smug bastard was laughing on the other side of his face later.

Pompey's lead didn't last too long, a back pass from Crouch which James handled leading to an indirect free kick, which Aurelio calmly slotted in. 1-1 with 22 minutes of play remaining. Dirk Kuyt scored a goal that should have put Liverpool a goal up, but it was wrongly disallowed for offside. The golden boy of the moment came on with 15 minutes left and those 15 minutes were Liverpool's strongest. Despite the fact they went 2-1 down just minutes after his introduction, a Hreidarsson header restoring their one goal advantage. With 12 minutes left on the clock, Liverpool were facing only their second defeat of the season. However, this team does not know when to give up. Kuyt scored from an impossible angle on 84 minutes after some great work from Torres. The momentum was on Liverpool's side, and nobody was really too surprised when Torres scored the winning goal in the 92nd minute, a wonderful header creeping past David James' outstretched hand and into the back of the net. 3-2, all three points to Liverpool and top of the table for at least a day.

As for Valencia...bullshit. That's all I can say about that. 1-0 to Osasuna. Unai continues to baffle me by leaving Vicente on the bench despite the fact that when he came on in the final 20 minutes, they were Valencia's strongest minutes. The defence was fab for 89 minutes. The one minute they lost concentration, they got punished. Just pull it out of the bag next week boys. It's Valentines day. You owe me some romance after all the shit I put up with from you.

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Ugh.

This is my message to Everton:

This is my message to ITV:

This was my mood last night:

And this was my mood on hearing the news about Stevie this morning:

Basically, those few smilies sum up the football. I can't even make a proper comment on it. Read here for the official match report. If you can bear it.

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Weekend round up

FUCK YEAH! This weekend was totally epic in so many ways. I mean, first off, Rafa won the tennis. This made me pretty darn happy. It was down to the football to carry that good mood on. While the rest of the world may have laughed, I was adamant both my teams could win their games.

Liverpool were at home to Chelsea. Winning would take them back up to second, and two points behind Man U, albeit with a game more. The game was a typical Liverpool-Chelsea encounter for the first 60 mins or so. Liverpool had the better chances, Cech was the busier keeper, but the score remained 0-0. Then a tackle from Lampard on Alonso earned him a red card and left Chelsea down to 10 men. Many may say that it was not a challenge worthy of a red because he clearly got the ball, but quite frankly, I don't give a shit how much of the ball he got. The fact of the matter is his foot was way too high off the ground for it to be deemed safe play and had Alonso's foot been planted on the ground, that was a sure leg breaking tackle. Correct me if I'm wrong, but breaking someone's leg, whether accidentally or not, is serious foul play and that is a red card offence. Still, I won't get into that, because Gerrard should arguably have gotten the same punishment later in the game for a similarly ugly tackle.

Anyway, after all that time of just no goals, there was only ever going to be one man to change the score. Back from injury and hungry for goals, Fernando Torres did not disappoint the adoring Kop, scoring the first goal of the game in the 89th minute. Just a few minutes later, he was scoring the second, sealing the result and keeping the Kop singing. Aside from the controversy surrounding the red card, there was nothing Chelsea fans could say about the game, it was one which was dominated by Liverpool from start to finish and the red team deservedly walked away with all three points in the bag.

Also, before I move on, can I just say how utterly VILE Bosingwa is? What he did was just inexcusable, I don't give a flying crap if Yossi was stalling by the corner flag, lifting your foot onto his back and kicking him to the ground is just NOT ON. I want to know what the fuck the assistant referee was thinking when he chose to ignore that really rather red cardable offence.

Valencia climbed closer to third place with a hard fought win over Almeria. Joaquin opened the scoring on 6 minutes, but it was a tense game. Almeria equalised on 22 minutes through Negredo. Their joy wasn't to last long though, a foul on Mata in the penalty box giving Dahveed Veeyah the chance to put Valencia 2-1 up, and he did exactly that. The first half finished 2-1 to the home team.

The second half was just as tense and closely fought, and Valencia extended their lead on 62 minutes, again, Veeyah with the goal. Their 2 goal cushion was short lived though, Almeria reducing the defecit just 3 minutes later with Negredo also getting his second.

The Valencia defence could still do with a lot of work, and they sorely miss the presence of Alexis and Albiol. Marchena is far too temperamental and it was his error that lead to Almeria's second. However, Cesar was looking quite impressive for a goalkeeper who has not played too many games in recent times. That's not to say Valencia don't miss Renan, because they do, but Cesar should give the faltering back four a bit more confidence. Dahveed missed a chance to get his hat trick goal, but Valencia got the 3-2 win.

And basically, the weekend was great. Both my football teams won for the first time in ages, Rafa won the tennis and I am happy.

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Midweek round up

Liverpool. Oh Liverpool. Why do you insist on doing this to me? Do you hate me so much, that you make me suffer despite the fact that I have NEVER given up on you? I mean, fucking Wigan. Come on boys. Sort it out, this just ain't good enough. Without a win in 2009, that is beyond pathetic. And as for Rafa and his bizzare decisions of late. Ugh. Rafa, I believe in you. I know you can perform miracles. Just please don't let it get to the stage where you NEED to be performing them. Not every fan is as patient and understanding as the Kickette girls, and quite frankl;y, they want to see results. Subbing your best players in a game we should have won comfortably but were never really close to is not the way to go about it. Especially when there was no apparent reason for you to do so. I mean, I get that there's the Chelsea game at the weekend, but what's the point in having all your players fit at the end if they have nothing left to fight for. Liverpool have lost far too many points this season from drawing against teams they really should have beaten. The inconsistency of this team kills me sometimes. I know they can do it, so why don't they? They went ahead through a brilliant goal by Yossi Benayoun from a virtually impossible angle. It was all going swimmingly until Lucas felt the need to give away a penalty. I don't understand why, with people like Xabi Alonso on the bench, Lucas was even on the pitch to begin with. That moment of stupidity he had could potentially cost his team the title shot this year, and I hope he realises that. I hope Rafa realises it too because I am at my wits end when it comes to Liverpool. They need to pull their fingers out and realise they're not just playing for themselves, they're playing for the millions of fans that believe in them too and what they're showing right now just is not good enough.

Valencia took a 3-2 advantage into this Copa tie. The winner would get a spot in the semi final against Athletic Bilbao. However, they had to get there without there top scorer this season, Dahveed was ruled out with the muscle problem that saw him limp out of the reverse fixture last week and miss the weekend fixture against Mallorca.

They started ok, and found themselves a goal up within 7 minutes, Joaquin's corner being met by Marchena. That put them with one foot firmly in the semi finals. Cesar had a relatively good first half, and having an experienced goalkeeper behind them seemed to calm the back 4 (though still not to the extent that Marchena could avoid a booking. He was lucky not to get sent off after handling in the penalty area shortly before half time. Note to him - scoring a goal does not mean I will overlook your stupidity). Still, Sevilla levelled things up on 35 minutes. They started the game without Diego Capel, but similarly to last week, the manager felt he was needed and called him on. Sevilla look a totally different side with him on the wing.

They suffered the cruelest of fates though. Just minutes before the final whistle, the conceded a second goal. The goal that knocked the holders out of the cup and meant Sevilla progress to the semi finals. I would wish them luck, but right now, the only words going round in my head are 'fuck you'.

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Midweek round up

Ok, this is a day late again. Sorry :S

Anyway, my thoughts on the game last night. Erm...Valencia played well. They scored a very early goal thanks to a defensive error from Sevilla. Sadly, the goalscorer hobbled off just 10 minutes later. I'm kind of pissed off about it really. He knew his hamstring wasn't quite right because he felt it in the last game and asked to be subbed off, but still felt he was fit for the Copa game, and well...look how that turned out. Then again, I can understand it in a way. Every footballer wants to play every minute of every game, it's built into them. *sigh* Somebody please ban hamstrings?

Anyway, that seemed to make Valencia lose momentum. Yes, Joaquin andVicente were owning the wings, but not much was happening in terms of goals scored. Big thumbs up to Guaita, who was in for Renan and doing rather well for himself. He made some good saves, and he was pretty much solid at the back, which was a big relief. I don't remember the last time I was this worried over a goalkeeper missing from a team, and Renan is a pretty big part of the reason Valencia are currently top 4 in La Liga. Naturally, I was nervous about how the defence were going to cope with a relatively young and inexperienced goalkeeper behind them, but for the first 45 mintues, he was flawless.

The second half started well for Sevilla, Diego Capel came on for them and seemed to turn it around a little. Within 5 minutes of the restart, Sevilla were level, much to their delight and my disgust. Speaking of disgust...that referee! AARGH! He had me wanting to rip my hair out for the most part, he was just appalling. The number of bad decisions that have gone against Valencia in recent times makes me start to question whether the referees actually all have something against the team or whether they're actually just that incompetant. Or maybe they have it in their heads that I must die of cardiac arrest from screaming abuse for five minutes straight without stopping to breathe. At any rate, the second Sevilla goal had to be the worst piece of officiating I have EVER seen, and believe me, I have seen some bad referees in my time. The goalscorer was clearly about 350 miles offside when he got the ball, yet somehow the goal stood. Still, lets not dwell on that, eh?

Valencia are not a team to admit defeat, and they equalised after 83 minutes played. As much as I love Vicente, I have to admit that he was a little quiet in the second half, nowhere near as influential as he was in the last leg against Racing. Mata replaced him and created the second, then scored the third. Turnaround complete, they will take a 3-2 lead into the second leg in Sevilla next Wednesday.

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Weekend round up

Ok, I realise this is a bit late. It very nearly didn't even get typed up, that is how shitty the footballing weekend was. Not ONE result went the way I wanted it to go. This isn't even going to be a proper match report, because I don't want to go into what happened in the games.

The Valencia game...yeah, total disaster. They lost (in the DYING MINUTES!!!) because Fernandes felt the need to give a penalty away and get himself sent off. Ugh. Like Valencia didn't have enough players missing. The horror started way before that though. Renan hurt himself taking a goal kick and had to be subbed off in the 40th minute. Now there's reports that he's going to be out for 4-6 weeks. Excuse me while I go cliff myself. Not that I don't have faith in Guaita. It's just...baby keeper with THAT defence? Yeah, doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Then Dahveed asked to be subbed off in the second half because he felt a little off. He's said he'll be ok for the Copa game tomorrow though. Thank God. The one thing that baffled me more than anything though - Vicente played an absolute BLINDER against Racing. He was all over the pitch. He scored twice (the second of which effectively put Valencia through to the next round) and yet Emery left him on the bench. As if that wasn't confusing enough...he then didn't play him until the 80th minute or something equally ridiculous. I mean come on, he's one of the best left wingers in the business, you're really going to leave him on the bench when you need goals? I'm going to leave the ranting about the defence for another day. It'll probably be a long post.

And then. Then, there was Liverpool. A win would have taken them to the top of the table. They nearly got it. Yossi gave away an absolutely stupid corner in the 85th minute or thereabouts. Tim Cahill scored the equaliser from said corner. The Liverpool defence - they did a Valencia and just went missing. Well, not missing. They were there, but not one of them was marking Cahill. I mean, of all the players to leave unmarked in the box, you pick Cahill. The most dangerous player in the Everton team when it comes to set pieces, and you just leave him to score the goal that would guarantee Man U remained top. I despair sometimes, I really do. Stevie's goal was great, and was probably one of the only highlights of the game. Nando missed an absolute sitter in the first half. Robbie Keane - the less said about him, the better. You know things are bad when you see your team pay £20mil for a striker and then don't even realise he was playing until he was subbed off. Just please, sort it out boys. You're too close now to throw it all away.

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Midweek round up

This game was just as eventful as the first leg tie between the two teams. It's going to be a short match report cos I kinda forgot to do it while watching, so now I can't remember much of what happened. Valencia scored first, some brilliant play from Vicente on the left wing leading to a penalty, which he cooly slotted away. Their lead lasted only about 2 minutes though, the next attack Racing had, they drew level. Vicente was once again the best player out there. Like that's a surprise, he has a lot to redeem and he certainly went about getting back into my good books the right way. The referee (aside from giving the PK for Valencia) was a pile of wank. Not much change there then...must be a referee thing. They clearly aren't capable of making the right decisions.

Villa came on after 60 minutes, then Fernandes and Joaquin came on after 67 minutes, but still Valencia could not find a way through. Their 'defence' was truly awful, but somehow, they were holding on and not letting any more goals in. By some miracle, they survived a few scares. Basically, the final score after 90 minutes of play was 1-1, which meant that there would be extra time in an attempt to decide the tie. If this wasn't successful, penalties beckoned. It's my least favourite part of football. Penalties have nothing to do with talent and everything to do with luck, it's a harsh and unfair way to decide a game.

Vicente played the entire 90 mins and the whole of the extra time period, which is probably the longest he's played in a while. He gave EVERYTHING and more for the team, getting himself beaten black and blue every time Valencia attacked. He got the second goal for Valencia (and took his shirt off. The ref booked him. I say it was because he had base layers on underneath. We want skin Vic!) and then Joaquin got the 3rd. It finished 3-1 to Valencia and they will meet Sevilla in the next round. Vicente can consider himself well and truly redeemed. He was my choice for man of the match, and any sane person who watched the game would say the same. ♥

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Weekend round up

This is becoming a bit of a habit now, but if Liverpool insist on playing at a time I can't motherfucking watch them, then I'll just have to keep linking you up to the official match report. Sometimes, I wish I could just not bother with work, I miss my weekends.

Still, my Spanish boys are rather a lot nicer, and they play in the evenings, so I can usually catch the games. Valencia started the weekend in second and a win would see them finish there, regardless of other results. The started very brightly indeed, scoring in the first minute. In fact, I'd barely had time to change out of my work clothes and into my Valencia shirt. They were back to their counter attacking best, and the chaos of the midweek Copa del Rey game seemed to be totally forgotten. Dahveed then scored to make it 2-0, though his goal celebration had me a bit confused. Could there be another Veeyah baby on the way? The less said about that, the better I think. Mata had a goal disallowed for offside (how many times have I written THIS since the start of the season??) and Silva had several missed chances, but overall, they were the better team. Renan had a great first half, I'm choosing to ignore the few WTF moments he had. And then, just before half time...Villareal scored. 2-1 at half time.

The second half...well, Mata was fouled but no penalty was given. Ok, in all fairness, it would have been a slightly harsh PK, he did get the ball before the man. But still, bb Mata is not a climbing frame for your enjoyment, thank you. In terms of fouls and bad blood, this wasn't much like a proper derby. Sure, there were fouls, like in any regular football game, but nothing too extreme. Then Del Horno came on for Moretti just past the hour mark. Dahveed missed another good chance to score, but the lengthy close up I got of him when he got up made it all worth it. Albiol got subbed off on 72 minutes (and I really hope it's not a serious injury, he got ice on it straight away, whatever it was) which was kinda depressing, because Valencia cannot afford to lose any more defenders right now. And then, not too long after that, Silva put in a fab cross, only for Dahveed to put the ball over from about 3 yards out. Don't ask me how he managed that, it seemed a lot harder to put the ball out than to score. The nightmare happened on 76 minutes. Villareal equalised. It wasn't a nightmare for long though, Villareal had only been level for about 2 minutes when Edu scored to make it 3-2 to the home team.

Vicente and Alexis were in the crowd watching. I am still rather mad at Vic for being an idiot and getting sent off against Racing, Valencia really could have done with him out there today. But he looked hot, so I won't complain. A goalmouth scramble in 89 should have lead to a Valencia goal, but somehow, the ball stayed out. It was a very interesting game though, one of the reasons I love La Liga is that the dramz carry on right up to the final whistle. It finished 3-3 and that leaves Valencia third following Sevilla's win earlier. I just hope the teams below them lose/draw so they stay there.

And just because I feel this was a big moment for him (and we all know how I feel about that armband...) Santi was captain :D

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