Santiago Cañizares - A Managerial Journey

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January 2014

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Fixtures:


Review:
Valencia started off January with a very hard away match against 5th placed Malaga, and eventually, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Valencia had the chance to win in the last minute through a penalty, but Kameni saved Guardado’s weak effort. In the end, Valencia should have won, if you look at the match stats: 5 shots for Málaga, 14 for Valencia.

Two days later, the teams met again in the Copa Del Rey, but now Valencia played at the Mestalla. Cañizares put the same team out as before, but put in Consigli instead of Diego Alves, so the goalie could make his debut for the club. Consigli kept a clean sheet in a good 2-0 victory by Los Che, goals were scored by Parejo and Sergio Sánchez (own goal).

After that, Valencia played Almería, who were bottom of the table, and won 2-0. In the second leg of the quarter-final, against Málaga, Valencia laboured to a 2-1 win, meaning they will progress to the quarter-finals of the Copa Del Rey.

The big match of January was the away game against Barcelona, and Valencia had to get a draw to not let Los Culés come closer to Valencia’s 2nd spot. Although Barça took the lead, Valencia quickly came back into the game, and at half-time, it was 1-1. In the second half, there was one more goal, as Messi scored to give Barcelona 3 points.

Valencia finished January with the Copa Del Rey quarter finals against Real Sociedad, with a match against Granada coming between the two fixtures. Valencia had no problems in the first match, winning 4-0. Centre back Nicolás Otamendi scored a hat-trick – he has now scored 10 goals in 21 matches as a defender. In the match after the thrashing of Sociedad, Valencia faced 14th placed Granada. Another easy match was expected, but Granada won 2-1 at the Mestalla , a shock defeat for the team. The last match of January, against Sociedad, was a match that didn’t really have any importance, after the 4-0 win earlier. But Valencia wanted to show everybody that they hadn’t lost their edge after the match against Granada, and they won with 3-2.

All in all, it was a decent month for Cañizares, but worse than expected, with some shock results. It seems the pressure is getting to the players, and also the cluttered fixture list isn’t helping Cañizares’ side.

Player of the Month(s):
Nicolás Otamendi has put in another series of great performances, not only defending well, but also scoring lots of goals, much to the surprise of many.

Priméra Division table:

February 2014

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Fixtures:


Review:
Another big month for Valencia, where they had to pick up a lot of points to keep their first place in the league, and they also had semi-finals of the Copa, against none other than FC Barcelona. Valencia started the month against recently promoted Eibar, who were bottom of the table. It was an easy game for Valencia, who were 3-0 ahead after 15 minutes. It ended in a humiliating 6-0, and it was deserved.

The next three matches were probably the most important ones this season: a chance to reach the Copa del Rey final by beating Barcelona, and a chance to get into a better position for the title race by beating Real Madrid. The first match against Barcelona was a breath-taking 4-3 loss for Valencia in the home tie, which was very undeserved: Valencia had 24 shots, and Barça had 7. Valencia even had 60% possession.

After that, they had to play Real Madrid, at home as well. There were two early goals, the first one scored by Real Madrid, and the second by Valencia. So the match ended in 1-1: a decent result for Valencia, but they haven’t come closer to Los Galacticos in the title race. After that, Valencia played the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final, at the Camp Nou this time. It was a near impossible task for Cañizares’ men, after the 4-3 home loss. It turned out impossible, as Barcelona won 2-0. Nonetheless, Valencia have had a good cup run, as pundits expected Los Che to go out in the quarter-finals.

In the last two matches of February, Valencia needed to stop their bad run of results, as they hadn’t won for 3 matches. The first opportunity was at home against 9th placed Celta de Vigo. Celta started off aggressively, taking a shock 2-0 lead. But Valencia showed their true form, scoring five goals, and thus winning 5-2. Lastly, the team had to play away against Córdoba, and another win was expected. The Valencian team won easily: 3-0. Youth product Fede Cartabia scored a goal.

Player of the Month(s):
Another defender has been excellent last month, and again it’s Jérémy Mathieu. He has been excellent in defence, together with Otamendi.

Priméra Division table:

March 2014

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Fixtures:


Review:
A pretty long month for Valencia, with 6 matches in the Liga BBVA. The first one was an away game against Deportivo de la Coruña, the match was won with 3-0. Next up was a very big match against Atlético, who had earlier won a match against Barcelona. Valencia took the lead quickly, with another goal from Cartabia. But after 25 minutes, Mandzukic equalised for the away team. In the 72nd minute, Atlético took the lead, and it wasn’t looking good for the home team. However, after 86 minutes, Jonas equalised, to give Valencia fans some hope. That hope wasn’t long-lived, as another Mandzukic goal shut up the crowd in the stadium. Valencia are now far behind in the title race, and they’re third in La Liga: still a very good position. But as of late, the team has lost its edge, and this can be seen if you look at the fixtures. For example, Valencia won the away game against Atlético with 3-0, but lost the home tie 3-2, although they dominated play, they didn’t have the edge, the clinical finishing.

After this, 2 home games and 2 away games followed in March, all against teams lower on the table, so 4 wins were expected from Valencia. In the first match, Valencia played Elche, who were in 10th. And although Valencia bossed the game, they were held to a worrying 2-2 draw. The once so ruthless Valencia were dropping points, too many points, and they were now in 3rd position, still a good performance with their squad. Next up was a match against Espanyol, and they won convincingly: 3-1, with a Cerci hat-trick. The second to last match in March was the first of two home games in a row. Valencia played rivals Villarreal at the Mestalla, winning 4-2, after giving a 2-0 lead away. The last match of the busy March, was against Levante. The well organised Levante took 2 points from Valencia at the Mestalla: 1-1 was the final score, a very disappointing draw for the fans.

In hindsight, a mixed month for Valencia: some good results, some bad results. But because other results have gone their way, Cañizares’ team are back in the title race.

Player of the Month(s):
Winger Alessio Cerci has had an outstanding month, managing 5 goals and 2 assists in 6 games. Especially his hat-trick against Espanyol was a great performance.

Priméra Division table: