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Showing posts with label Valdes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valdes. Show all posts

Nov 20, 2013

FC Barcelona is set to miss out on the service of Victor Valdes for a period of three to six weeks after picking up a calf injury in last night friendly. Valdes, who is easily Barca's best player on the pitch since the start of the season tore his calf muscle after starting the second half against South Africa. The game ended with a surprising defeat for the defending world champions. With Valdes missing our porous defense could be tested really badly in the coming weeks.

Jan 24, 2013

"Football is strange; Football fans are stranger,but strangest are the Journalist who writes abut football". The fore-mentioned statement could act as a bible when dealing with Catalan media especially the likes of Mundo Deportivo and Sport. Otherwise how can you explain this. A few months back when Jonathan Dos Santos decided to stay in the club and fight for his chances, they went after him. Now it's the turn of Victor Valdes, who has made it clear that he will not be extending his contract beyond 2014. They call him disloyal, ungrateful, foolish, stubborn etc for giving the management enough time to prepare to find a replacement. What did these two players did to deserve this? Valdes didn't speak behind our back nor did he tried the blackmailing tactics widely used to get a better deal. He may not get a better deal than what he had at Barca anywhere else. But he still wanted to move away from the club, the reasons all personal to him and he don't owe anyone any explanation.

Aug 31, 2012


  • Barca fans needs to look at the Super Copa loss through a broader lens.
  • In Barca set-up defending is a collective effort.

Perspective, it's not a bad thing to have especially when the times are difficult. That also raises the big question - "Are these times tough?". My answer will be a resounding no, but we football fans have a tendency to forget the past and panic without any reason. So when I say tough times, it only refers to the losing of Super Copa and some reaction of Cules to our defense and Keeper after that. Oxford dictionary defines the term Perspective as "true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion". Yup, A Sense of Proportion, that's what we are missing now. I am really fed up with people calling for Valdes, Adriano and some even Mascherano all to be sold. Come on guys, a week before we were praising them for their brilliant performance against the same side at the Camp Nou - FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid First leg Highlights. Ok, may be not Valdes.

Apr 14, 2010

My last post on Valdes and Spanish National Team ended with a hope that Valdes somehow manages to get into the World Cup squad. How things have changed drastically. When I wrote my previous post I was conviced that Del Bosque was never going to pick Valdes for Spain. Such has been Valdes' performance since my post, Vicente del Bosque can no longer overlook Valdes for the World Cup squad. Last week's El Clasico saw Valdes comfortably seeing off any danger from one of the most attacking teams in La Liga. Prior to that we saw some exceptionally solid acts against the likes of Arsenal and a host of Spanish side. Valdes has been always considered as an error-prone keeper, hence it is quite surprising that I can't remember the last mistake he did. Yes, he has been playing in an error-free way for some time, completely unlike the Valdes we know. Hence it is no surprise that he is leading the Zamoras list by a comfortable margin.

Jan 28, 2010

Victor Valdes is undoubtedy the most successful goal keeper in FC Barcelona's history. He has won 3 La Liga titles, 2 Champions League titles and had succeeded in kissing the Copa Del Rey trophy and the World Club Championship. He is undoubtedly the No.1 choice for Barca. FC Barcelona management last season tried to find a replacement for Valdes, but in the end decided that he is the best option available for Barca. He has been a part of Spanish Under - 19, Under - 20, Under - 21 squad but is still waiting for his first Spanish National Team call ups. It is quite strange to see such a successful Goal Keeper failing to make into the squad of Spain's Nationa side. Such is the abundance of Goal Keeping talents in the Spanish National side. Spainish Captain Iker Casillas remains undoubtedly the first choice and remains miles ahead of competition. Pepe Reina, a Barca Youth team product remains the second choice and rarely gets a chance due to the dominance of San Iker. Diego Lopez has been the third choice for so long and he is supported by his consistent performnace.

Jul 7, 2009

Barcelona custodian, Victor Valdes has signed a new contract whihc will see him playing for the club till 2014. The contract negotiation with Barca's No.1 goal keeper and the club has been stalled in many occasion. Victor Valdes has been looking to improve his contract taking him par with the best paid players in the club. It is not yet known what will his salary but his buy-out clause has been set to 150 million Euros. There was huge drama with Valdes contract negotiations throughout last season. Valdes was looking for a better pay from the begining but in the middle of season it was rumoured that Barca were willing to part with their custodian as Valdes held firm on his demands. But the unavailability of any of the top Goal Keepers made Barca's job a tough one and they did come to a conclusion that Valdes was the best of the rest.

Victor Valdes may not be the best goal keeper around but he is still an above average one. He may not be an Iker, Buffon or Cech but he is still the best in one on one situation. So his contract extension is a great news for Barca. He is bound to make mistakes in some high profile matches but I have mentioned early - Valdes makes more match winning saves than mistakes in a season.

Mar 31, 2009

Victor Valdes attempt to get himself a new much improved contract is not new. Actually few weeks back he has kind of issued an ultimatum and that resulted in Barca looking for a decent option. But recently there were reports emerging that FC Barcelona were ready to offer him what he demands. Aparently the Catalan establishment has come to a decision that "Valdes is the best of the available lot". Many of Barca fans could be annoyed with such a finding, For the fans Valdes has been the weak-link in a near-perfect side. But I always believed that he is the best we can have. My previous post emphasise on that - Being Valdes. Nobody can dis-respect his contribution to the team - especially two one on one saves he pulled up against Henry in Champions League final and another splendid save against Real Madrid earlier this season. But between these remarkable feats he has performed unbelievable blunders and that worries the fans. With Valdes we all feel that we can be never sure about a low scoring victory.

There is no doubt that a club of Barcelona's stature needs a better Goal Keeper - Someone like Buffon, Iker, Cech, Van der Saar etc. But none of these exceptional goal keeper's are available. Once you take them out of the lot, we won't be surprised why Barcelona technical team came to the before-mentioned conclusion. Victor Valdes is one of the best available when you take the Buffon's out of the pool. But Valdes' agent Gines Carvajal does not agree with me. He rated the player with the likes of Buffon and Casillas - ""He has demonstrated over the years that he is at the same level as Iker Casillas, or [Gianluigi] Buffon, or any others. I have no doubts.” I have no doubts. " It will be quite difficult for me to find people or fans who would agree with that statement. He also has hinted a possibility of Valdes moving out of the club if the disagreements over the contract could not be resolved. What will be Barcelona's reaction to such a move is not yet clear. But I feel that the club would not be too sad seeing him leave. The club has made it clear that they would like to retain the service of their current shot stopper; but I believe they would like to do that in their own terms. If pushed much they would definitely prefer to let go off the player. For the club the immediate task would be to negotiate the contract terms of two African players - Eto and Toure. But in the eventuality of Valdes moving out I believe we can find many decent replacement - Diego Lopez, Sorensen, etc would definitely relish a chance to be with one of the best club in the world. As a fan what you guys think of Valdes - Should he be retained? If no, then who would be the ideal replacement?

Dec 16, 2008

Two months ago I used to dream of a day when Victor Valdes would really keep a clean sheet. Now Valdes have kept a clean sheets for three successive matches that too against the likes of Sevilla, Valencia and Real Madrid. This would have given Victor Valdes some breathing space and a temporary stoppage from being ridiculed as the biggest blunder of FC Barcelona. Victor Valdes have played an essential part in the 2-0 victory against Real Madrid. In many fans' opinion including mine, he was deservingly the "Man of The Match" in the "El Classico". Now that's another surprise isn't it? Who would have thought that in an "El Classico" edition the Goal Keepers would come out on top?

Victor Valdes at this moment may be in a very much confused state; that too without sipping a single shot of Tequilla. Then, you can't blame him for that. Suddenly the world especially Barca fans have started to see the brightest side of him. Everyone is throwing praise at him from all sides. Do he really deserve this? His performance against Real Madrid was outstanding. If we have conceded the goal early then the outcome of the match could have been different. But then if you look at Valdes career he has been like this from the age he have started his first division career. Goal Keeper's can be categorized into five types - Legends, Great, Good, Average and 'Oh My God! How the hell is still there?' types. The Legendary ones are the likes of Yashin, Banks etc. Kahn, Buffon, Cassilas, Chilavert, Lehman, Cech all should fall in the Great list. Valdes is the Good type of Goal Keeper - by 'Good' I meant that he will be good for the majority of the match but still is bound to make a couple of blunders. These mistakes in most of the time would unharmful and sometimes could be really harming; and at that point they need the defense to come to their rescue. That was precisely Valdes biggest problem. Valdes have covered the defense many times but you cannot say the same for Barcelona defense. Each time Valdes made a mistake, the Barca defense failed to cover him up. That gives the mistake an unimaginable proportion and you can also say that whenever Valdes makes the smallest of mistake he is sure to have conceded a goal. Ok, these mistakes don't cover his certain blunders like throwing the ball in the path of players like Villa and Torres.

The problem for Valdes is that he is a part of a big club, big interms of both achievement and history. A club who can afford the best in the business and that makes Valdes life very difficult. Unjustified comparision with Buffon and Casillas are being drawn out at every juncture. FC Barcelona fans were crying for a better replacement for him not so long ago. But these fans never look into the reality of the situation. Chelsea is not goint to let Cech leave; even in the worst times Juventus held onto Buffon dearly and Cassilas moving out of Madrid and that too to Barca will happen when Armaegadon arrives; Van Der Saar will remain in ManU for rest of his career. Now with whatever options available I believe Valdes is the best option available. He is the best probably better than Casillas when it comes to one-on-one sittuation. I read an article in Goal.com saying that Drenthe did a charity by hitting the ball straight at him; tha's ridiculous. Valdes have done this many times before. If Henry was so frustrated after the Champions League final of 2006, it was because of Valdes. Henry had two great chance to put the match beyond Barca's grip but both the times he ran into Valdes. There were some stupid reasons given at that time also that Henry was tired as Arsenal was playing with 10 men. But no one remembers Valdes' contribution everyone remembers Belleti's winning goal and Eto's equaliser.

Then Goal Keeping has been the most unthankful job in the soccer proffession. After a great season with two major trophies the football Journalist fraternity never thought it is good to have Casillas in the top three of Ballon D'Or. The purpose of this article is not to project Valdes as a great keeper, simply because he is not. But he is the best at this moment we can have. It will do him a world of good if the fans accept the fact that he is bound to make some mistake in a couple of matches. It will also do him a world of good if he don't get carried away by the sudden praise, as I am pretty sure he will be commiting some silly mistakes pretty soon. Hoping heavily that the defense cover him up on his mistakes; I am stopping this article with only one prayer - "Valdes, don't throw the ball straight to the likes of Villa, Torres etc. If you do You will be screwed buddy".

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