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As always in the last two or three years, Ever forever Banega is Valencia's best player, something that probably tells too much about Valencia CF's roster. After selling Roberto Soldado for 30M€ to Daniel Levy and his Tottenham Hotspurs, Valencia decided to strengthen their offensive line by buying Hélder Postiga (3M€) and Dorlan Pabón (7.5M€) instead of spending 10M€ in Iago Aspas, who finally decided to join Liverpool FC.
Both the club and the city of Valencia are going through a big institutional crisis. New President Amadeo Salvo decided to sack Miroslav Djukic just two months after saying that he was going to stay "no matter what happened". Djukic was simply clueless about his team. He started Jonathan Viera and Míchel on the first Liga BBVA match against Málaga and the first player ended up joining Rayo Vallecano on a loan deal while the second is just playing in the Europe League. It was as if Djukic didn't know what to do. But it's hard to predict an improvement with this roster.
Valencia CF just cannot live to their own expectations. The fans are always told that they are going to fight against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid and they always fall short. This year, neither the board nor the fans and not even Djukic have realized that they simply don't have the players needed to fight for that goal, and that's why they believe Djukic was underachieving.
In the last few weeks, second striker Jonas Gonçalves has been playing in the center striker position. He's Valencia's main goal scorer and he has been delivering so far. Jonas has saved Valencia in quite some matches, and some could argue that Djukic would've been sacked much earlier without his goals.
This Sunday, Valencia's interim coach will have to choose between Ricardo Costa, Mathieu and Víctor Ruiz for two spots in the middle of the defensive line if Costa recovers from his injury. Neither one is a great defender, and that has been Valencia's main problem after the promising Adil Rami signed a loan deal with AC Milan. Rami stated in an interview that he was not getting along with Djukic and criticized some of his teammates, and the board and coaching staff decided to fine him and remove him from the team.
Joao Pereira and Andrés Guardado should be the fullbacks, but Djukic was trusting Antonio Barragán lately. In the midfield, Dani Parejo has been the best player, given Banega's inconsistency. Parejo has provided a good control of the game and also a proper balance between what a defensive and offensive midfield is. Chelsea player Oriol Romeu, who is spending the season in Valencia on a loan deal, could be playing besides Parejo, but Javi Fuego has also done well enough to be considered.
Djukic finally made a decision about his offensive line. It seemed that Bernat, Canales and Fede Cartabia were the chosen ones, but interim coach Estévez could also start Ever Banega, whose quality in these kind of games could be missed.
One way or another, Valencia should make things difficult for Real Madrid in their own Mestalla. Their rivalry with los blancos is strong, so they will surely do their best to stop Ancelotti and his men. But, if the 'BBC' plays well enough, Valencia's defensive line should not be able stop them.
