Preview: Barça - Valencia
Friday, 05 December 08, 11:25 AM · Comments (34)
Pep Guardiola will wait until after tomorrow morning's training session before announcing the squad for tomorrow night's game with Valencia. Twenty one players trained with the first team today but Samuel Eto'o will miss the game through suspension. Eric Abidal is back to full fitness and will be in contention for the left back position. The full list of first team players available is: Valdés, Pinto, Jorquera, Alves, Puyol, Marquez, Piqué, Caceres, Sylvinho, Abidal, Toure, Busquets, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Keita, Hleb, Messi, Pedro, Bojan, Henry.
Valencia are currently five points behind Barça in third place. They have had to prepare the game in just 48 hours as they played Bruges in a 1-1 draw in the Uefa Cup on Thursday night (another sign of TV companies having too much power), but they rested key players Miguel Mata, Albelda, Baraja and David Villa for that game. However, they have problems in defence as they are without the injured Moretti and Alexis while Marchena is suspended. They will also have to make do without Edu, David Silva and Angulo. Nevertheless Valencia have a big squad with some quality players, they have selected the following players for the game: Renan, Guaita, Miguel, Albiol, Helguera, Del Horno, Jaume, Pablo, Joaquín, Maduro, Fernandes, Albelda, Baraja, Vicente, Mata, Villa, Morientes and Michel. This season they are unbeaten in 9 games away from home and they have often caused us problems at Camp Nou. In total of 73 league meetings in Barcelona, Valencia have won 11, Barça 41 with 21 draws.
Guardiola will choose between Bojan, Henry and Messi to replace Samuel Eto'o in the middle of the attack. I would not be surprised to see Hleb, Messi and Henry as the front three with plenty of positional changes between the three. Xavi, Toure and Keita will probably continue in midfield with a possible back four of Alves, Marquez, Puyol and Abidal.
This is a great chance to take another big step towards winning the title, the players have not had a game this week and no travelling so they should be in tip-top condition while Valencia have had little time to recover from Thursday's game. The only problem could be the absence of Eto'o as he has so often been the man to break the deadlock this season. Will we once again have to rely on the genius of Leo Messi?
Possible starting XI: Valdés; Alves, Marquez, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Keita; Hleb, Messi, Henry.
My prediction: Barça 3 Valencia 1
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34 Comments · Add yours
i was barely worried at all about this game before i heard etoo was out. now im only mildly worried.
truthfully, ive watched a large portion of valencia's matches and they are far from impressive. a majority of their games have been real bore performances where they just grinded a win from sheer persistence. they rely far too much on david villa and if we man mark him like crazy i reckon they will struggle. this team has bad depth and now u add all their injuries, really they are a side that far from impresses me. i think sevilla are a far more balanced and deep squad and we dominated them previously. obviously, football is a game that anything can happen on the day. but i really feel confident in us performing well and dealing with a team we are really superior to.
I think Barca will once again show that they are in a class miles above the rest.
Sevilla was tough and I don't think Valencia will match that intensity especially when it will be at Camp Nou this time. I think Henry will start middle and Hleb will play in Henry's usual place. 4-1 FCB.
Oh yess we will have to rely on him between messi hleb bojan and henry there can only be one winner there ,but i hope puyol fills out at left back we all know abidal and he is just getting back from injury so it will be best if he got his minutes somewhere in the second half,
In midfield same as sevilla no changes with xavi dancing and conducting the front three up front
I would go for hleb on the left rather than bojan,
any way 3-0 to us
2-0 to Barca.
hey a new poll is looong overdue now
our team is in good shape with the return of adidal, so lets hope things run smooth and we come away with a win.
Barca 4 Valencia 1
-----------------------------------Valdes-------------------------------------
------------------------------Puyol-----Marquez---------------------------
----Alves-----------------------------------------------------Abidal(Caceres)-
---------------------------------Yaya Toure---------------------------------
---------------------------Xavi---------------Guddy(Hleb)-----------------
--------------------Messi-------------------------------Henry---------------
------------------------------------Eto'o---------------------------------------
My prediction: Barça 5 Valencia 2
david silva out - good stuff! thats sweet music in my ears.
barca 2 - 0 valencia
Sevilla game was a more complicated game for me, this one we can win.
fcbtransfers.blogspot.com/
Less than 24 hours to go...I am nervous about this one!
it will be good
barca 3-1 valencia
oh damn, round 2 of the murderers' row. I am pretty excited. Whoever came up with this schedule had the holiday season in mind.
I m surprised at the number of fans thinkin that it's actually gonna be a walk in the park..c'mon guys..give some respect to the team...They are a good team..and a striker like David Villa can create problem anytime...I m kinda nervous abt this game...i'd say 2 to 1 Barca...
hold up.....wasnt del horno that fellow Messi got sent off when Barcelona played chelsea in the CL couple of years back?
yes it was.. but that was a bad tackle and Messi looked clattered... Mourinho's rants after that were funny...
About Valencia.. 3-1 to us i think... what with silva out and Marchena suspended..... Scoring 3 goals might not be that difficult.. I also see this as an opportunity for Henry to shine... In my mind, if he's deployed in the center, which i think will happen for large parts of the game, he needs to show us what he's been talking about.. show us some class, shut all of us up.....
top three should def be hleb, henry, messi. u cant start bojan in this game. and this will be like the 4th or 5th time this year the frenchman does get a start in hsi favorite position, and he failed to impress those 4 or 5 times, maybe 6th time the charm hey.
maybe.. But i hope we dont get overly dependent on Messi.. thats one of the reasons im rooting for Henry to come good...
3-1 Barca
Hleb, Messi and Henry will indeed be a nice combo...
im not seein the special quality in Helb at all, mayb he can prove me the contrary in this game......must say that was a killer ball he sent messi' s way and that was a clinical finish from the best player in the world.
Other than Alves and Toure, I was NOT impressed with any of Barça's signees the past two years !!
Henry should play today as number 9.
What do you think?
uhh its halftime and getafe are murking villareal on the counter with three goals scored at el madrigal....wow
For a lightweight, they do pack a punch, eh?
If this score holds on, then Barcelona have the perfect opportunity to go three more points ahead of the second and third placed team with a win over valencia today.
our boiz were on FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
wat else can i say. . . .d difference is there for all to see
3 for sevilla
4 for valencia
i guess 5 for madrid then
Any bad words for Henry today, knockers?
diatus, how did u see d match?????
i knw u were kinda scared abt valencia
WOOW Layi...I am speechless!!!Just Phenomenal...I actually cracked a bottle of wine open tonight. I know, I know, the season is not yet over and we have not won anything but I woke up at 5am today because I was REALLY nervous about this one.I am glad I was wrong ... dead wrong about Valencia!!!
Wow...Thierry Henry was fantastic and Yaya Toure claimed ownership of every inch of that midfield...what a performance.WE not only scored 4 but we shut them out!!!what a feat!!!
the 4 goals
LINK
Hey did you see Getafe blow a 3 goal lead agains Villareal...I thought that game was hilarious!!! I Hope Sevilla cracks a good one on the Merengues Sunday!!! I would probably crack another bottle for that one....ok,ok I will save the last one for the classico!!!
even me that predicted victory didnt think we would own them like that
they had very few chances
i didnt c d game but from what i read, i presumed it was excellent performance from our boys......do u all know of any site where i can c d replay for free? i live in d caribbean.