FM 13: Valencia CF- Where 3rd Place Isnt Good Enough

I was surprised to see no one started a Valencia CF thread, usually one of the most fun teams to play with in Spain. I am usually not the creative, tech type who will make a very nice thread with pictures and screen shots. So apologize to those who were expecting such a thread. I just thought I would start this thread because no one else was doing so-and Valencia is probably the third most popular team in Spain. So it deserves a thread. Here i discuss why one should manage Valencia, my experience so far playing with Valencia and a few hints and tips on how one can improve squad, and strategies one can employ. If you have already played with Valencia feel free to add screenshots, your experience, suggestions, etc.

A Little Bit About Valencia

I am not going to babble about history or how it was found in 1919. For that we have wikipedia-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencia_CF. Let me discuss about what should interest you.

-Ranieri, Cuper & Benitez- The Good Times

Valencia enjoyed some of its best footballing times in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Thats when the club won a lot of hearts and followers. It was runner up in consecutive seasons in CL, first losing to Real Madrid then Bayern in a penalty shootout in 2000-01 season. Valencia then won La Liga for only the 5th time in its history in 2001-02 under Rafa Benitez. They repeated this couple of seasons later by winning La Liga in 2003-04. Those were the good days for Valencia fans. World famous players like Ayala, Canizares, Mendieta, Claudio Lopez, Aimar, Kily Gonzalez played for the club. Then there were guys like Baraja, Albelda, Marchena, Vicente Rodriguez, Pellegrino all of whom made Valencia a strong contender to break the duopoly of La Liga. Claudio Ranieri, Hector Cuper and Rafa Benitez made Valencia a respectable team, one admired by people around the world.

Post Benitez Days-Here Comes The Slump

Benitez left Valencia for Liverpool in 2004. Valencia thought they could bring back Ranieri given his successful first stint. But the second stint proved to be highly unsuccessful which led to his sacking. The club missed out on European football a must for Spanish teams like Valencia. Following this The club brought in a young talented Quique Sánchez Flores. The club thought a talented low profile manager would work best for Valencia, like it did with Benitez. Flores a former player of the Valencia brought the club success in his first season-third spot. But he was often caught up with politics and wars with the then SD Carboni. This effect of this conflict spilled over to the pitch. This conflict was perhaps a reason why Valencia's performance stagnated in his second season which would lead to his sacking. Valencia then brought in highly rated coach Ronald Koeman. The move was disastrous. Things became worse and Valencia were often flirting with relegation that season. In the end Koeman was sacked and under head scout Voro Valencia finished 10th, probably their worst performance of the decade.

Stagnation, Crisis, Stagnation

After that nightmarish season, Valencia appointed another young talented manager Unai Emery. Again the Valencia board seemed to be looking for a Benitez- a lesser profile manager with the hunger to win. But Emery didnt enjoy the benefits Flores did. Because as Emery joined the clubs chapter titled financial crisis started. Valencia's debt amounted to over 400 Mill Euros. Players were unpaid, and all of a sudden it looked like the club would be bankrupt and collapse. A tough president by the name of Llorente promised to rescue Valencia. This he did by selling the clubs jewels- David Villa, Silva, Mata, Albiol, Alba, Joaquin some of the clubs best players. Valencia no longer had any muscle in the transfer market resorting to Bosman targets, and bargain/cheap players. Despite these challenges Emery somehow got the job done. In his first season he helped Valencia recover to 6th place followed by 3rd place finish in the next 2 seasons. Valencia's debt was reduced, and thanks to return to CL the clubs financial position was slowly improving. But despite this recovery and somewhat stability fans and management were not satisfied with Emery. They wanted more than 3rd place. They wanted a more organized team, disciplined team, a water tight defence. They wanted Valencia to compete with the top 2 despite having not having transfer funds or world class players the club was used to having. So after three successful seasons, Emery resigned knowing Valencia wanted a change. Enter Pellegrino, a former player whose only coaching experience was as an assistant to Rafa Benitez in Liverpool and Inter. The club thought maybe they could do a Guardiola by bringing an inexperienced coach who knew the pulse of the club. So far things have not gone Valencia’s way in 2012/13 with the club struggling in 8th place. Some fans will blame it on the lack of quality players. Some will blame it on the inexperience of the coach. Whatever it is the period of stagnation continues for Valencia with no light at the end of the tunnel. Valencia still has a massive debt to pay back, and it will have to continue to sell its best players to recover. Only this time there is no Mata, Silva or Villa to profit on. While it sells its best players the club must at least qualify for CL consistently in the next 3-4 years. Anything less than would put the club in a more difficult position.

Why You Should Play Valencia

- Sleeping giant: You might say wait how can a team which is expected to finish 4th be a sleeping giant. The reason is there is a huge gulf between the top 2 teams of Spain and those below. For a while Valencia seemed like the team which could break this duopoly. But for the last 8-9 years Valencia has slumped in terms of performance and its survival as a business entity. So you will take over a club which has massive debts, and which will not give you any significant transfer fund at least for a few years. Your challenge will be to help Valencia return to its best days by toppling the top 2. Unfortunately you will not have the players or depth in squad. The good players you have may not want to continue with you because you cant afford their wages. You will also face massive competition from new rich Malaga, powerful Atletico and a reasonably good Sevilla.

- Competitive La Liga: La Liga is a tough league to play in. Almost any team can beat you when playing away from home. This is a huge challenge you will have as Valencia. You might be third in the ranking, but a team like Betis can easily take you down if you don’t play well

- Bargains and Rough Diamonds: If you are the type who likes to play with youngsters, bargains, free signings-Valencia is the club. The clubs high reputation means most players would like to play here. You are unlikely to receive much transfer funds, so you have to sign quite a few players on Bosman, loans, transfer listed players with long payment period etc. Another interesting point about Valencia-the club has a knack of developing world class players. It signs lesser known rough diamonds and polishes them into global superstars. So with the little budget you get, can you unearth the next Silva? Next Mata? Next Villa? Next Claudio Lopez? Next Aimar? Next Ayala?

- Selling Club: Valencia has always been a selling club. Even during its best days. Usually it grooms lesser known players-buy for free or for cheap and then turn them to top quality footballers. Eventually they sell for a good price. So many examples: Gerard Lopez, Farinos, Mendieta, Claudio Lopez, Silva, Villa, Mata, Alba. You will probably have to continue the trend, but bounce back with better players. Why? Either some big club will come and unsettle your players, or they will ask for an exorbitant wage during contract renewal? So sometimes it’s better off selling them. Are you up for the challenge? Can you find a new Banega, new Canales, new Soldado? In real life Valencia seems to be able to do so. This season Jonathan Viera seems to be the big find. Next season Bernat, Carles Gil and Paco Alcacer are likely to break into the team. Whoever Valencia sells, they always find a replacement. We missed Claudio, and we got Villa. We missed Aimar, we got Silva. Now that Silva and Mata are gone we found Isco, unfortunately we lost him. Bernat may be the replacement for Alba, and Paco Alcacer for David Villa. Key is to keep finding such replacements.

- Tactical Genius- Rafa Benitez won La Liga with Valencia in 2002 with a squad that had potential but was nowhere near the top two in terms of talent and ability. Benitez’s secret was his ability to organize the team and get them playing as eleven players who had purpose and the hunger to win. His system and tactics were so good, an average player would seem world class-like how an unknown Mista became the seasons highest goal scorer. Since Benitez’s days Valencia had to resort to the individual brilliance of Villa, Silva and Mata. Unfortunately Valencia doesn’t have such superstars anymore-which means you have to go back to the basics. It’s also highly unlikely you will have the funds to bring in such players. So what do you do? You have to be Rafa Benitez and build a solid system in average players can prosper. Can you emulate Rafa?

Overall Difficulty

Compared to previous editions I would say this season it’s a tad tougher managing Valencia. A lot of the players have been downgraded. Early on you don’t have cover in many positions eg: CB, DM, RW. Valencia is also very poor on the RB and LB position. On top of that Banega and Canales two of your best players are injured for a lengthy period. So you will have to make a lot of changes, rely on clever signings, and building a solid system. It will take time, and often be frustrating. Playing Malaga or Atletico Madrid is much easier compared to Valencia.

If things go your way you can challenge for the title in 2-3 seasons. It will take you some time to do well in CL though.

First Things

You may not be able to sign players, but you can certainly strengthen the backroom. Most of Valencia’s staff have very poor attributes-starting from Assistant Manager to coaches to scouts to physio. So right away you have to go for mutual termination and try to sign staff with better attributes. Go for unemployed staff which means you wont have to pay a cent. If you are clever you can get good staff with very low wages. For example: Sidnei Lobo will join you as an assistant manager for only 2200 pounds a week.

There aren’t a lot of players who you can sign. Signing a 4th CB is essential. I brought in Lugano on loan who adds depth and experience. You could also go for a DM but you don’t have much to choose from. Romario is also available on free.

Since tactics are your key, work on this from day one so that the squad becomes familiar with it. Organize at least 7-8 more friendly matches than what your assistant manager has arranged. This way your players become more familiar with your system. Don’t ask your assistant manager to take over friendly’s. Managing Valencia is not easy, friendlies give you a chance to see what tactics work, what don’t. Also you wont have a lot of support from the players, they wont listen to you, be uninterested etc. Slightest criticism will anger them. So very important to build rapport with them from day one. Best way to do so is to win, and keep praising them for the slightest good performance.

Squad Analysis

GK: No problems here. Alves and Guaita are two top class keepers. You wont have to sign anyone for a long long time. You just have to be clever enough to rotate the two so that they don’t get unhappy. Later you may want to sell Alves, because he demands a lot of wage and you really don’t need two top keepers. Any backup GK or a youngster is good enough.

RB: One of the weakest positions of the team. You need a major upgrade here, unfortunately you might not be able to do so until second season. Joao Pereira is pretty decent, will put in 7 ish performances, wont give you anything extra. Barragan is hopeless and should only be used in cup matches or in home ties against easy opposition. Try signing Romario early, so that he joins six month later. At that point try selling Barragan, i.e. if someone wants to take him.

CB: Rami is your best CB by miles. He is excellent in the air, and is quite a bully when played as a stopper. Ruiz is the more calm, organized defender, and who too becomes a very good CB. Ricardo Costa is third CB. Unlike in real life, RC is horrible in FM. He will make plenty of mistakes should only be used as backup option. Which brings me to one of your biggest problems-you don’t have a 4th CB. Sign Lugano on loan and use him as 3rd CB. Later try to sign Ezequiel Munoz who can be bought for 3-4 Mill Pounds with only 1 mill up front and the balance paid in 4 years. Rami, Ruiz and Munoz will form a very good defence, and you can either keep loaning a 4th CB or buying someone on the cheap or free for cover (Just in case). Be careful there is a chance, in future Rami will want a wage you cant afford. At that point its better to sell him. So better to groom Munoz to take over. Another candidate is Aleksandar Dragović. Munoz can be signed in January.

LB: Valencia’s LB situation is only slightly better than RB. Mathieu and Cissokho are the two options. Both are similar in ability, Mathieu better offensively, Cissokho better defensively. You will probably want to buy two new left backs in future. For the first season persist with what you have they will do fine. Second season you can sign Didac Vila from Milan or Jose Angel from Roma for a very small fee. Didac can be signed for 2-2.5 Mill, and Jose Angel for 3-3.5. You have two capable young LB’s in Gaya and Salva Ruiz. They are not world class but will break in to the first team.

DM: Another problematic area. Gago is good for 2-3 seasons, after that you need someone better. Abelda unfortunately will keep getting injured and lacks the pace or agility to keep up with speedy opposition. He also tires fast. Chances are Gago has to play quite a lot. He gets injured then you are in trouble. Better to train Rami as DM so that he can provide cover. Try bringing in Oriol Romeu on loan in winter transfer window to add backup. In the second season you may have plenty of options to replace Abelda (Whose contract will expire). I signed Romeu from Chelsea with a long term payment.

CM: You are well covered in this area. Banega can become a world class player, only obstacle is he keeps getting injured. Banega can really pull the strings and control the midfield. Costa is a good backup option-sort of mix between Banega and Parejo. Parejo is a technically gifted player with good passing, crossing, set piece ability. But he is lazy, poor in putting tackles. Parejo plays best in a 3 man midfield where he is given freedom. Feghouli and Canales can drop deep and provide cover. You can even play Gago as MC give his technical ability. So you are pretty much ok for a couple of seasons. However if you wish in the second season you can sell both Tino Costa and Parejo and sign someone like Poli or Ezequiel Cirigliano. Valencia needs a strong CM who can pass and also win the ball. This is why Costa and Parejo are not good fits. You can even play 2 DM’s provided at least one of them can pass very well.

RW: Feghouli is not a natural right winger but will do well in the position. Will score a lot of goals, create a lot of assists. He will be one of your main players. You can also play Piatti on the right as inside forward. Jonathan Viera can also be trained to play on the right. I reckon you don’t need to sign anyone for this position for a couple of seasons, until you have sufficient funds. Only problem is you wont have the traditional width and pace you require from a right winger. This is something Pablo Hernandez, Angulo, Joaquin offered.

LW: As always this is one of the stronger positions. Valencia has traditionally always been good on the left. Guardado, Piatti, Canales, Viera, Mathieu can all play here. In the second season you will get Bernat and Gil who too can play here. No need for any changes. In the second season sell Guardado just for the sake of cash and play Gil or Bernat. Piatti could be first choice

AMC: This is your best position. Canales is not only your best attacking midfielder but will do well for any big club. Unfortunately he is only available in six months. Viera is a good backup. Jonas, Feghouli, Piatti, Parejo can also play here giving you a lot of options. No need to invest, groom Canales, he will do what Silva and Mata used to do for Valencia.

ST: Soldado is capable of scoring 30 plus a season (In All Competitions). He will do it season after season. He just needs the service where you will have the problem. Jonas too is capable of scoring a lot of goals. Valdez is decent backup. In the second season its best if you sell Jonas to raise cash. Alcacer will return from loan who can be one of your best ever players. You can loan in a third choice striker-plenty of options are usually available

Summary:

Your Key Players: Guaita, Rami, Banega, Canales, Soldado

Your Biggest Star: Paco Alcacer. Build the Valencia team around him. He will be your star, match winner, best player for the years to come.

Formation

I usually play with a 4-2-3-1. I slightly tweak the middle by pulling one of the MC’s behind playing him as a DM. Against most teams I play this formation. Soldado plays as the solitary striker with Canales/Viera/Jonas behind, Piatti/Guardado on the left, Feghouli on the right. Against lesser teams, and at home I play 4-2-2 with Jonas playing as second striker.

These are the two classic Valencia formations in real life, and this should work for you.

Strategy & Tactics

Initially my tactics were like how Valencia plays in real life-possession football with a lot of fluidity and short passes, high creativity, more roaming etc. The classic Spanish style football. It backfired. I was struggling to win even at home. Too many miss passes, defensive errors, players passing but not scoring, players out of position etc. Then I realized unlike in real life in FM perhaps the players don’t have the exact attributes to play like the way they do. So I decided to make changes and build a solid system which allowed me to play organized, disciplined football. The result-maybe less flair and creativity, but was helping me win matches. This was how Valencia was with Cuper, Ranieiri and Benitez. Very strong, organized in the middle and the back, very dangerous on the counter attacks. So I changed philosophy to rigid, passing to direct. I either used a balanced approach or counter approach depending on home/away or strength of opposition. I made the team even more defensive. I was always hassling the opposition. Did a lot of cohesion, teamwork, defensive setpiece, defensive movement training. You might think I was winning 1-0 or 2-1. No even with such defensive strategies I was often thumping opposition by two to three goals. How? Normally as soon as I score I put the team on counter, play through the defence, play more through balls. I always catch the opposition on the break and score. Classic Valencia counter attacking style.

Final Thoughts

Valencia in FM2013 is quite a challenge. Can be frustrating at times, but slowly you will improve. Eventually with good transfers, training, squad development you can challenge for the top spot in Spain. I bet you can even do well in Europe. Give it try. 3rd place indeed isn’t good enough. Can you do better?

Good thread. Most of the players you recommended Valencia had already bought by the time I was offered the job so thats all good.

But I have one question for you what formation would you select away from home ? Obviously it would be a rigid counter attacking type but I've only scored 6 goals and its costing me points.

Also the club doesn't have any wingers so that might be a stumbling block.

When playing away, most of the time i play 4-2-3-1. Against tougher teams i play a 4-3-2-1 where i pack the middle with 2 DMs and an MC, and two wingers feeding a striker. Sometimes i do have a lot of difficulty scoring-thats because of Soldado. When out of form he just wont score and will keep missing sitters.

Having a second goal scoring striker helps. Also if you organize your set pieces well, and practice in training then your CB's and DM's can score a few of corners and freekicks. Parejo particularly can be lethal in setpiece situation.

I havent had any trouble about the wingers part to be honest. Piatti will excel whether you play him as AMR or AML or even AMC. Feghouli is more than capable of dominating from AMR. Guardado is a weak link. Likes of Bernat and Gil will easily be better than him with proper training and development. Canales can also be dangerous from the left.

Good thread so far. Maybe add a few pics to make it look a bit more attractive and recognizable I would say though. Everything else decent but looks a bit dull without pictures etc other than that nice thread

Havnt been able to geti nto this years game but am now going to start with my beloved Valencia.One thing that annoys me about the game is the abysmal ratings of all backroom staff at the club (coaches,scouts,physios). Is there a reason for this?as this is a club thats has brought through talents like Albiol,Silva,Guaita,Isco,Pablo and Alcacer is recent years,has scouted players like Mata,Alba,Feghouli,Alves and Tino Costa and helped develop players like Villa,Mata,Alba,Feghouli and Banega.

It is a tad frustrating alex. Not just the back room staff also the players. My personal opinion most players have been underrated. But thats always the case with Valencia players. Even guys like Mata, Silva had relatively low PA when they were with Valencia. As soon as they joined Chelsea and Man City it was increased. Same with Alba. Thing is very few people other than Valencia supporters know the true potential and ability of its players. Like Feghouli is being scouted by PSG and Man Utd irl, but his PA is a little low in FM. Same could be said about the staff i guess. Valencia players and staff are not exactly how profile thus they are not rated well

It's always a pity to see how underrated the Valencia players are. I must say however, that if you play to your strengths, a couple of the players are very, very solid. I've been playing a wing-back formation in my second season with Valencia and Mathieu and Pereira have been surprising me. As has V. Ruiz as left wingback actually.

In my second season I managed to finish second, managing a UCL semi-final appearance to ManUtd (mostly due to a kind draw in the previous rounds) and keeping my finances in check. I've been building a rock solid defense, which I can recommend to everyone: start building from the back!

When I'm back home, I'll try to put some screenshots up.

Good progress heron.

I have made significant changes to my team in season 2-reason most existing players are very underrated. Sold Jonas, Parejo, Mathieu, Aly Cissokho, Tino Costa, Ricardo Costa, Barragan, Joao Pereira, Viera, Guardado

Brought in Romeu, Didac, Jose Angel, Mallo, Kiko, Muniesa, Ezequiel Carigliano, Gino Peruzzi, Mauro Caballero. Paco Alcacer, Bernat and Gil returned from loan. Board didnt give me much money, most of it i raised by selling players. My squad is very young, but as you can see a lot of young talent. Hopefully i wont have to make too many changes in the next few seasons. Only two more players i want-Ruben Pardo and Alvaro Vadillo. Both clubs are adamant about selling the players. I also targeted younger players because of the price. Impossible to afford big name players.

Here some screenies I promised. My first season wasn't as good as hoped, as I played 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-3-2 formation, which I'm not really comfortable with. Finished 4th, and the gulf of class with Barca/Real was very obvious.

League Table

Transfers

For the second season, I've been starting to reshape the team more to my image. Also, the size of the transfer budget and people available on the transfer list pushed me in a defense-first direction.

Transfers Season 2

With this team I opted for a tactic based on what Fiorentina has been playing IRL this season and about which the excellent Michael Cox has written some great stuff on this ZonalMarking website and which looked like this:

This resulted in a very tight defense, but relying on Soldado and a young Destro for goals also meant I had trouble breaking down the teams parking the bus. I finished second this year, beating Barca at home and drawing with them away, and beating Real Madrid both home and away! I won the Spanish Cup, beating Barca in the semi finals and reached the semi finals of the UCL after beating Anderlecht and Napoli in the knockout phases (lucky draws).

League table Season 2

Now, onwards to the 3rd season, trying to get my attack better. And let's hope the patch that's just been released doesn't kill my tactic.

Finally someone to post a thread about Valencia! Good job, jeesh! Could you tell more about the tactics, the roles and duties of the players?

Vlado i play with a standard strategy and my approach is balanced. Against stronger teams i play with counter and rigid. The same applies to tricky opposition when playing away from home. Full backs are on support, Rami plays as stopper, Ruiz as cover. Gago/Romeu/Carigliano plays as deeplying playmaker defend. Banega as deeplying playmaker support. Wingers depends on their strength. So for Piatti i play inside forward/support and Bernat winger support. Most of the time i play 4-2-3-1, but against stronger teams i have 3 in the middle.

I started my save with a tiki taka approach. GK as sweeper, short passing, slow tempo, lots of creativity, lots of roaming. But this backfired for me. I was conceding goals, my players were passing instead of trying to score. So i reverted to a very no nonsense style. Not allowing much space for the opposition, direct passing, counter attacking. Its been working wonders for me.

Also try another trick. As soon as you score a goal go on counter, rigid approach, play through balls, play through defence, hassle opposition. Provided you have two fast wingers, a creative MC, and a good finisher this can be a lethal strategy. You will double, triple your lead in no time. Every time your opponents make a mistake or lose the ball, they will be in trouble.

We did it! Third season and we won La Liga!

Alas, no success in the other competitions: lost 3-4 on aggregate in the Spanish Super Cup, lost the Spanish Cup final on penalties against Real Madrid and lost in the 1st knockout round of the UCL against Chelsea (5-4).

Soldado's first season goals: 33 in 36 games. He's the best poacher in game.

In second season, Alcácer and Markovic are covering him and Dybala is coming to help. Two players to grow up with Soldado tutoring them.

This is my team for second season:

Diego Alves or Guaita - Cédric Soares, Rami, Ruiz and José Ángel - Feghouli (Right), Javi Garcia, Parejo, Bernat - Canales (AMC) - Soldado

Gino Peruzzi, Carlos Labrín, Sinkala, Cirigliano, Stanciu, Carles Gil are some of the others players in my squad.

They have had a tycoon takeover on my Pompey save, and rival me for all my signings pretty much.

They are the most reputable club in the world as well

This is the team that became champions. Now, I have another three free transfers coming in: Ter Stegen, Mavuba and Coutinho. Will try to find a good right wing back and a replacement for Chantome, who hasn't lived up to my expectations. And see if Javi Garcia is interested to come for another loan deal, because he wants insane weekly wages if I try to sign him on a permanent deal.

i found a good signing in the first season for valencia was olunga from malaga

i found a good signing in the first season for valencia was olunga from malaga

Good signing? As in for the future or did you play Olunga in your first season?

for the future, its olinga, not olunga btw, didnt think it was right when i typed it , stick him in the u-19s and get soldado to mentor him as soon as he arrives, gives you two great prospects up front with paco, olinga is young enough that you could probably retrain him to be an AMC to play behind Paco once hes progressed enough

for the future, its olinga, not olunga btw, didnt think it was right when i typed it , stick him in the u-19s and get soldado to mentor him as soon as he arrives, gives you two great prospects up front with paco, olinga is young enough that you could probably retrain him to be an AMC to play behind Paco once hes progressed enough

I remember Olinga from his stinit in the first team with Malaga irl. Apparently 16 years of age, and already scored on his debut irl for Cameroon. Only problem as you say is there is Paco as well who just has the perfect attributes to take over Soldado when he gets older. Annoying that you can't call him back on loan because I can't see him featuring for them in the game that much which would be a waste.

BTW does he feature for Getafe irl much?

irl? no, not much sadly. In the valencia save i tried, he got a decent amount of match time ( 20+ games ) and progressed well. Olinga is a blank slate tbh, Paco you have to develop as a striker because of his outstanding finishing, Olinga has no outstanding attributes and could easily be trained to be an AMC

Shame this thread isn't still really active. Valencia are fantastic club and the challenge of debts adds to it. Youth products are always produced too! I will be starting a new game later! #Amunt Valencia!

So after I started my Valencia save, I have to say that it will be an entertaining one. The friendlies were average, losing the first 4-1 to Anderlecht and the second 3-0 to Barcelona. The rest were wins against Lanus and my feeder teams.

My transfers (in euros):

out:

Guaita (on loan to Man City)

Barragan (on loan to Osasuna)

Valdez (back to Kazan)

in:

Strandberg (500k)

Adryan (1m)

Doria(600k)(January)

Yttegard Jensen (2.1m)

Federico Pisano (on loan from Cagliari)

I didn't have a good feeling about my tactic and going into my first game away against Real Madrid, I really feared for my team. However, after a hard fight I snatched a draw (1-1) even if it wasn't deserved.

This game gave me confidence and I went on to beat Deportivo with a last minute goal from Rami (90+2) 2-1 at home.

Then came the next big game: in the Camp Nou. It was closer than I thought, but in the end I couldn't stand a chance and lost 3-1. The following game was a bit easier. I beat Celta 3-1 at home.

The came the CL. I was drawn in a tough group (Chelsea, PSG, Partizan). My first game was at Stamford Bridge and even though Chelsea dominated the game going 2-0 ahead. I somehow managed to snatch a 2-2 in the last 5 minutes.

So this is the first overview of the season. My tactic doesn't look that stable in fact, but my results are pretty good at the moment (3rd after 4 games). The 3 most difficult games are already behind me (Barcelona, Real and Chelsea) and I will post another overview if I have played more games.

Quick Update from the winter break:

I reached the CL knockout round by defeating Chelsea 2-1 at home. So the group looks like this:

1. Valencia 12p

2. PSG 11p

3. Chelsea 10p

4. Partizan 0p

Unfortunately I got ManU in the next round.

In the league I'm quite comfortable. 2nd after 17 games (1 point behind Real, but 7 points ahead of Barça) I have a fantastic season so far as I'm on a 12 match winning streak and a 24 matches unbeaten run. My last defeat was the one against Barcelona.

My best players so far were Piatti with 15 assists, Rami (8.04), Soldado (15 goals in 14 games) and Guardado (6 goals and 5 assists).

At the beginning I thought I would have problems with finances, but they are looking great (balance: 42mio) and the board gave me an additional transfer budget of 9 mio

Anybody else struggling with Valencia after the new patch? Has anyone succeeded playing a possesion type tactic?

Its very difficult to imitate Valencia's real style of play in FM at least at the beginning of the save. Irl Valencia play a possession style game with a lot of short passing and build up. This doesnt work in FM. Your players will give up the ball, make mistakes at the back and waste opportunities in the final third. Why? I guess players are not rated highly on the technical and passing attributes as they are irl. Also they dont seem to be used to short passing. So instead what i do is start off with direct passing, counter and a rigid approach. Eventually as you buy better and more technically adept players you can slowly adapt to shorter passing. Always players need to be willing to listen to you. Initially most players dont react well to an inexperienced manager.

Struggle with valencia mate...

First season will be tough. Eventually you will be able to pick up. Be prepared to make many changes, but the more changes, the longer the players take to adapt to the club and your system. By season 3 you should be able to win La Liga.

Its very difficult to imitate Valencia's real style of play in FM at least at the beginning of the save. Irl Valencia play a possession style game with a lot of short passing and build up. This doesnt work in FM. Your players will give up the ball, make mistakes at the back and waste opportunities in the final third. Why? I guess players are not rated highly on the technical and passing attributes as they are irl. Also they dont seem to be used to short passing. So instead what i do is start off with direct passing, counter and a rigid approach. Eventually as you buy better and more technically adept players you can slowly adapt to shorter passing. Always players need to be willing to listen to you. Initially most players dont react well to an inexperienced manager.

Not quite sure what tactics you seem to be using, but I great possession football.

Short passing and build up play doesn't work in FM13? Er, yes it does! Valencia have tons of technical players - If Banega, Canales, Parejo, Viera and Jonas aren't good passers then I don't know who is??? Infact, looking through this thread there seems to be many who feel Valencia are underrated, while this is simply not the case. Review everyone's stats, they are very good. Increase Feghouli and you're putting into world class territory. He's only 22 with a great balance of stats which can be improved alot.

Do Valencia still struggle with finances in the thrid patch?

Just started as Valencia, they're my favourite team in Spain, sold Diego Alves to Zenit for £4.3m, had no use for him as I prefer Guaita.

Currently 5th after 8 games, trying to break this Real Madrid and Barcelona hold on La Liga will be tough.

30.Beast They're losing about £1.5mil a month, until around 2030(something) I haven't noticed it though, because players for a large amount, and brought in players for an even larger amount. (£34mil for El Shaarawy beginning of second)

Just started as Valencia, they're my favourite team in Spain, sold Diego Alves to Zenit for £4.3m, had no use for him as I prefer Guaita.

Currently 5th after 8 games, trying to break this Real Madrid and Barcelona hold on La Liga will be tough.

Mate, Guaita is incredible. Been my captain since second season, fans and players love him to bits. I won La Liga in 3rd season, currently owning Barca by about 15 points in 4th season, coming to an end, not gonna lie, my squad is incredible...

I have started with Valencia! attempting to break the big two and challenge for the champions league eventually.

I made one signing in the first season, ignacio camacho from malaga for £7million in jan. slotted in well to my squad, i needed back up in the centre as benega is always picking up injuries.

few evaluations of the squad below. i play 4-2-3-1 - Rigid, Press More, Drills Crosses and Push Up. I eventually wanna play short passing but at the moment its mixed.

Defence

I've found that Guita is the better of the 2 keepers,

Rami is key to the defence and also chips in with goals, (CD stopper 9 goals this season av rating 7.68)

other than that LB is sorted Matheiu and Sissoko are solid.

RB and another CB will be priority in the summer.

Midfield

weak defensively, abelda is not fit enough and benega is too injury prone. hence i signed camacho from malaga and considering cashing in on benega in the summer.

Tino cost plays alongside my DLP and he has preformed consistently i have also promoted portu to good effect.

plenty of depth in attacking areas, i promoted Juan Bernat for extra cover as canales starts injured. i use canales in the middle as a supporting playmaker with parejo as back up as i am not getting the best out of him, Piatti/Viera and Barnet/Feghouli wide as inside forwards are strong but not consistent.

Attack

Saldado - 41 games 33 goals as an Advanced Forward. Jonas is a decent back up but i will try to reinforce attack in summer if funds stretch that far!

Quite surprised not many people are using this more, decided to give Valencia a go seems a decent challenge, hope people use this forum more

i havent played a Valencia save in a while as i have a great save going with my other team, i just signed Juan Bernat in that save though, he can be very usefl

Started this save a week or 2 ago and after a tough start 2 the season as a sunday league manager (i go for as much realism as possible) im finally starting 2 see why people love this save so much. a run of 7 straight wins has propelled me from 18 to 4th. 2 points off A.Mad in 3rd. Barely isgned anyone.. in fact i havent just brought on loan signings but loving it. Want 2 say thanks for getting me started on this career and hopefully i can bring the glory back to this fallen giant!