After this season I feel like the team sorely needs defensive organisation & an effective pressing system instilled. I think we can play counter attacking football with the speed on the wings, there’s no creativity in midfield to play a possession-based game.
I think if the board isn’t willing to spend the money they’ll go for Bordelas, who seems to be their primary target anyway, and we’ll just have to hope that players like Vargas & Ejuke (if not sold) can make an impact up front (not including Lukebakio because I think he’s getting sold).
Honestly wouldn’t wish Bordalas on my worst enemy. Suffered a year of his thuggish football when he managed us and increasingly lost the will to live. Still, if the goal is a few years of stability and security around mid-table while the debt is paid off, there are worse options. He’s an effective coach for teams with weaker squads, but I just don’t see him as a “qualify for Europe and perform well there” level coach.
However, from a bit of research I could see that the 2021-22 season with Bordalas was Valencia’s best season since… 2018-19 (and counting).
CDR final (only losing in pens) and 9th place in La Liga is not an easy feat nowadays. Though I can understand if you had a much better squad in 2021-22 (not sure on that) compared to the recent seasons or the one before that.
Since 2018-19 is a low bar and there have been three 9th place finishes since then, the one achieved by Baraja with a worse squad. Bordalas’ whole plan involved fouling anything that moved and hoofing the ball forward and hoping for a bit of individual skill from Guedes and Carlos Soler (who scored half the goals that season and both left at the end of it.) The road to the CDR final was mostly fortuitous draws, level 6, 4, 2 and 3 teams before the quarters, home to Cadiz (who narrowly avoided La Liga relegation by 1 pt) in QF and then a single goal aggregate victory over Bilbao in semis - the latter was a decent achievement, true. While losing in a cup final on penalties sucks, many of us saw the silver lining as it meant a new coach. Seriously, it really was that bad. I think the potential bar with Michel is higher and at least you won’t have to suffer devilball all season long. You’re in a similar situation coachwise as being too trigger happy with firing them in recent seasons will put potential coaches off.
Alfron González - 26 year old Celta Vigo winger looks to be the first signing of the offseason. Coming on a free, the Albacete player, scored last weekend against Real Socided seen below:
That was his 5th goal on the season to go with 2 assists.
The only rumours I’ve seen so far (Alfon & Nair Tiknizyan) are both for left wingers.
With both Ejuke & Idumbo already on the books, but not seeing a lot of playing time recently, I have to wonder whether the club see them as part of the squad for next season. It could be that almost every player could be available for sale given the financial issues facing the club.
According to AS & Estadio Deportivo, the police found evidence of gambling on Kike Salas’ phone. The bets were made through accounts with fake names, but all the best were made for him accumulating yellow cards at the end of last season. This could lead to a sporting ban and possible time in prison as there are potential fraud implications connected with the fake accounts.
Again it’s also being reported in both papers that Alfon Gonzalez has a pre-contract release clause of €5 million if activated by the end of June. The clause will increase to €20 million from July 1.
What do you think about the new transfer rumour :William Bøving, 22-year-old striker and U21 international for Denmark, who this year would have exploded in the Austrian Sturm Graz.
i think the austrian league is not very strong, so it might not be good
12 goals in Austrian Bundesliga (in 3 seasons, mind you) is the equivalent of 1-2 goals in La Liga, and I’m being generous here with the OFB. No goals of him in CL with Sturm this season.
Thank you , one more question : and what do you think : Imanol Alguacil (Getafe) or José Bordalás (Real Sociedad,) woul be the better solution coach?
I have no Idiea…maybe none of them…
Yeah if we can get him, we have to! The other option I have heard is Vicente Moreno from Osasuna. I don’t want us touching Bordalas with a 10 foot pole.
I’m sure there’ll be a lot of pressure on Cordón given his connections to :poop: but he seems to be very astute. He was involved in bringing Mbappe to Monaco, he brought in Mendilibar at Olympiacos who then won the Conference League and was the global sporting director for Olympiacos & Nottingham Forest.
It could be a great move, but it’ll depend on his relationship with the board, fans and how much money he has to bring in before he can buy.
