Sorry, but I've been away for a few days so I haven't had a chance to put anything up and even this has been a bit of a rush. Ok, we're now on match day 5 and it seems like a long time since our glorious 0-3 win at the Mestalla. Those two matches against Kuban Krasnodar where we conceded in injury time to effectively drop 4 points has meant Valencia have leapfrogged us to the top of the table. I believe they have actually qualified already as the third-place team, St Gallen, can only match them on points and Valencia have already beaten them twice in group A and this is the 1st deciding factor.(Please correct me if I'm talking bollocks!) Here's Valencia's results in La Liga since we last played them: 22/9 Valencia 3 Sevilla 1 25/9 Granada 0 Valencia 1 28/9 Valencia 1 Rayo Vallecano 0 06/10 Athletic Bilbao 1 Valencia 1 19/10 Valencia 1 Real Sociedad 2 27/10 Villareal 4 Valencia 1 30/10 Valencia 1 Almeria 2 03/11 Getafe 0 Valencia 1 10/11 Valencia 2 Real Valladolid 2 24/11 Elche 2 Valencia 1 Although they won their next 3 games after we played them, they have subsequently only won 1 of their last 7. If we WIN tonight, we will qualify and go back to the top of the group. If we DRAW tonight, we will qualify providing St Gallen don't win in Krasnodar which kicks off at 5pm today. If we LOSE tonight, we can still qualify today if the Krasnodar/St Gallen match is a draw. Being optimistic, I'm looking at the potential 8 third-place teams in the Champions League who would join the Europa League in the final 32. We have: Group A - Shaktar Donetsk or Bayer Leverkusen Group B - Juventus, Galatasaray or FC Copenhagen Group C - Olympiakos or Benfica Group D - CSKA Moscow or Viktoria Plzen Group E - Chelsea, Basel or Schalke 04 Group F - Arsenal, Dortmund or Napoli Group G - Zenit St Petersburg, Porto or Austria Vienna Group H - Milan or Ajax Still a few big teams who could drop down there. Some images of Valencia Is it supposed to be like this? http://www.spain-holiday.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/City-of-Arts-and-Sciences-valencia.jpg Rioting after our 0-3 win at their place? http://www.spain-holiday.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Las-Fallas-valencia.jpg No - it's a festival. That's my yacht in the background http://www.spain-holiday.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/beach-Valencia1.jpg The Torres de Quart - anyone been in September? http://www.spain-holiday.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Torres-de-Quart-Valencia.jpg
In 14 La Liga games Valencia has only scored 18 goals. Hardly impressive for a (normal) spanish topteam.
Taken from the competition regulations: If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order): a) higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; b) superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; c) higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; d) higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question; e) if, after having applied criteria a) to d), two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to d) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria f) to h) apply; f) superior goal difference from all group matches played; g) highernumberofgoalsscoredfromallgroupmatchesplayed; h) higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons (see paragraph 9.02).
I'm sure Laudrup will play his strongest side, he lives for these European battles, and he will not want to lose or draw tonight, so I'm going for a 2-1 win to the Swans, but I hope we don't start this game half asleep, as we are playing a far different Valencia than the last time. Feed the Bony and he will score!.....
Useless fact: there are only 3 teams with a 100% record in the group phase - Tottenham, Fiorentina & FC Red Bull Salzburg.
Kuban 2 up and should have been three with one disallowed for sniffing the keepers arm pit too closely
Just got a free ticket, so I'll see you all down the Liberty, I'll be in the East stand for this game, lower tier!.................. please log in to view this image
So kuban won 4 - 0 .. What the hall does that mean? Do we have to at least get a draw? I'm so confused...
Kuban have turned in some decent performances since the new manager took over. Sloppiness from ourselves aside, those two draws weren't that bad. I'm hoping also that we'll put out a strong side and go for it tonight and qualify with some style. I've got my beer and pizza ready, so fingers crossed.
