Preview: Barça – Valencia; Saturday 4pmEST, GolTV

By: Isaiah | December 5th, 2008

So it’s us vs Cesar, once again. This is the 2nd of our 4 Big Five matches before the end of the year, so we need to head in strong and wreck shop now, just in case Real Madrid drops more points against Sevilla. We play first so they’ll know what they need going in, but I’m not sure that will make a difference.*

Whatever, they don’t matter to us. Only Valencia matters to us. As Admiral David Farragut once yelled, “Damn the oranges, full speed ahead.” Do not look beyond this date, do not forget that we are only 4 points ahead of Villarreal, who play Getafe in the 2pm game. We could go into this game only 1 point up. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s going to be, so this is a huge game.

Okay, so who are we playing? What’s this Villa Villa Maravilla nonsense I keep hearing about? What abut Samu Samu…Samutastic…? Dammit, that’s no good, someone come up with one, stat! Hurry, we’ve only got 24 hours!

Here’s their squad (position in parens): Renan (GK), Guaita (GK), Miguel (D), Helguera (D), Albiol (D), Jaume (D), Del Horno (D), Maduro (D), Albelda (M), Vicente (M), Fernandes (M), Baraja (M), Joaquín (M), Míchel (M), Pablo (M), Morientes (F), Mata (F), Villa (F)

I won’t hazard a guess as to their starting lineup, but here’s a little something on their players. Míchel and Juame are both reserve/B teamers (officially called Valencia Mestalla), so they’re complete unknowns to me. Remember Asier del Horno? He’s this guy. Of course he’s moved on from that, but that’s how I remember him, rather than as a fairly competent defender. Just thought I’d point that out…As if we need more of a reason to go in hard, right?

But, it’s not like Valencia isn’t third in the league, only 5 points behind us. They’re not some nobody from nowhere team. They’re no, um, Numancia. Wait. Let’s not talk about them. Or, maybe we should because they’re the only team that beat us. We have to remember that anyone can win on any given day.

Valencia is, as I said, 3rd in the league, with 27points (28GF, 14GA). They’re also third in the league in the Away category (behind Barcelona and Villarreal) with a record of 3W-3D-0L (9GF, 3GA). For comparison, we, the best away team, are 6W-0D-1L (18GF, 4GA). All of our table advantage so far is from those 6 points gained away. We’re 4W-2D-0L (22GF, 5GA) at home, so we’re taking the 5th best home record against the 3rd best away record.**

They score a lot, actually (T-3rd most in the league with 28), most of which (12) have come from David Villa. Little Juan Manuel Mata has scored 6 while Vicente and Joaquin have both scored 3 and Manuel Fernandes has scored twice. Two other players have 1 each to round out their scoring. Surprisingly, Morientes has no goals so far in 6 appearances, but injuries will do that to you. I’ve always enjoyed watching Morientes, even when he was at Madrid, though I really don’t know why.

So we need to shut down Villa and Mata. The best way to do that is cut off the midfield production, which, of course, is where Yaya comes in. With Abidal back from injury, we should have Puyol and Marquez in the middle making hay (perhaps while they kick ass) and a stronger left-sided attack. Our valiant Capitan can only do some much as a wingback, after all.

Here’s my proposed lineup, cobbled together from all of the people available (though no official squad list has been published as of yet; we know that Iniesta and Milito are out injured and Eto’o is suspended for yellow card accumulation):

Valdes, Alves, Marquez, Puyol, Abidal, Toure, Xavi, Keita, Messi, Henry, Bojan

Whatever your opinion on the kid, without Eto’o, Bojan is our best attacking backup. Put him in Eto’o’s spot and see how he does running “point”. He plays well with Henry and I believe he plays better in the center than on the wing, so let’s see how he does putting the onus on Messi and slipping in for tap-ins or open shots. I think he can break his league duck and grab a goal in this one.

Otherwise, stick with what we know: Xavi is on form, Yaya is The Great Wall of Barcelona, our greyhound (Abidal) is back, and Puyol is a bear trap waiting for you to foolishly step into the ring with him and mix some metaphors. Then there’s Messi(ah) who will break your ankles with his twisting, turning runs. That’ll teach you to get in his way.

So official prediction: 3-1 us. Valencia plays a more open game than other teams, so we should be able to open them up a bit. And also expect to see Hleb instead of Bojan (or perhaps instead of Keita). And you intrepid readers will note that, once again, I’ve called 3-1. Good times.

—–
Just a random note: Doesn’t Hleb look like a Andrei Kirilenko-esque Frankenstein monster in this picture? Also, what’s with the neckwarmers, Messi and Pique? (Pique appears in other pictures from the training session with a similar neckwarmer)

*As an FYI, so you can plan ahead, the official site has announced the times for the Clasico and the Villarreal match:
Barça – Real Madrid, Saturday Dec 13 4pmEST (10pm local time)
Villarreal – Barça, Sunday Dec 21 1pmEST (7pm local time)

**Please note that because this is Jornada 14, some teams have played 7 home games and 6 away games while the other half have played 6 home games and 7 away games. That can skew these stats a bit. Valencia earns 1.67 points per away match while we earn 2.57. We earn 2.33 points and Valencia earns 2.14 points per home match. If we do it that way, Barcelona is the #2 team in the home table, and Valencia is still the #3 team.