Just played up until the Christmas/New Year break and thought I would do a half season progress report. Despite having a pretty thin squad in the quality department, we’ve performed pretty well. Outwith the first team, we’ve not got a whole lot of depth, especially in attack and defence. I managed to sign Jackson Martinez on a Bosman, but due to the squad size, I couldn’t register him until January, d’oh!

My first game of the season was away against Granada. Despite winning all but one of our pre-season games (a 3-1 return against Napoli being the only defeat) we were a bit iffy. A couple of big victories, lot of average performances and a few injuries. I wasn’t sure how we’d get on in our first game. We managed to cope and ended up 4-0 victors on the day. The tactic was still not fluid at the time. Here’s a few screenshots.

A pretty good start and with Rodrigo to still come back, I was sure that my attack would get better.

Valencia finished 5th last season so we’re in the Europa League, a competition that I despise. I’ve just been playing my rotated squad in the EL and Copa del Ray. I want to make sure we have Champions League Football next season and I’d really like the challenge Barcelona and Real Madrid for the title. If I can split them, that’d be a great achievement with this squad. In a game against Ludogorets, we managed to score this nice goal.

Might be best watching this on Youtube

Results so far have been good. Only falling to defeat in two league games, unfortunately against Real and Barca. We lost against Monaco in the EL, but they have a great squad and as I said, I have been playing my rotated squad in the cups. We finished second in the EL group and play Benfica in the first knockout round.

Here’s how things look at the halfway point of the season.

In the game against Espanyol, Carles Gil finished off a great team goal. We played it from back to front quickly. A couple of one touch passes. Not the first time we’ve scored a great goal like that. Have a look at it for yourself from a few different angles.

Might be best watching this on Youtube

The board handed me £40m for transfers and I was quick to tie up some deals. Central defence, Defensive midfield and Left wing back were my priorities. Jackson Martinez was already at the club and would be available from January. After looking at a few potential targets, I signed these three players…

Juan Sanchez Mino for £7.5m

Joel Veltman for £10m

Saul for £10.75m

That rounds things up for this update. I’ll be back with my end of season review. Not decided if I’ll leave Valencia after this season or if I’ll do two seasons here. I only signed a 2 year contract so I might do that and move on. Will make a decision by the end of the season.

Cheers for reading, J