1 - Victor Valdes

I hope no one is taking the talks about valdés 'holding the club to ransom' seriously. If anyone is..then let me explain:

its called negotiating. VV's camp ask for 170k a week, the club offer 110k. VV asks for 155k, the club offer 125k, and so on until they reach an agreement. VV is a cule through and through. He wont hold the club to ransom in such a way that would force him out the door. I can put my life on that.

He`s not tested often but he also doesn`t concede much. No reason to change anything. Hope he signs the extension soon

I don´t know how some people are saying he had a good match against Numancia ? The only 2 chances Numancia had in the game he conceeded both, luckily for him the first one was cancelled.

Who said that he was ok? He is a wanker and he was bad, I dont like him and hope we`ll find a good goalkeeper next season

i thought valdes failed badly on the freekick....it WASNT taken nicely !!! Keeper should have got it. No Discussion about it...1m from post..

You are probably right. I`d still wouldn`t drop him that soon

The wall was at fault. VV would have had that area covered had the ball gone ABOVE the wall (rather than through it) since it would have taken longer to reach the point at which it crossed the line. Goalkeeping is about split seconds, and that little time longer would have definitely benefited vv.

The first 'goal' he should have kept out though.

maz said:

The wall was at fault. VV would have had that area covered had the ball gone ABOVE the wall (rather than through it) since it would have taken longer to reach the point at which it crossed the line. Goalkeeping is about split seconds, and that little time longer would have definitely benefited vv.

The first 'goal' he should have kept out though.

Click to expand...

Isn't it the keeper's responsibility to set up the wall ? How will the players know which angel is uncovered, he should set them up.

It's back to the old argument about Valdés, some days you think he is the best keeper Barça could have, and other days you just want to ...

He set the wall up fine. The angles were fine. However is it vv's job to make sure henry doesnt move his head out of the way of the ball? Watch henry, he turns his back and ducks his head down. It went straight through the gap where he should have been blocking. Titi even knows he fucked up...his reaction as soon as the ball goes in is that he knew he should have done better.

Henry didn't want his face bashed up but he should have took one for the team !!

But seriously look at the ball ? It wasn't even in the corner or near of the post .. he could have done better in my opinion, especially since it was the only chance Numancia had the whole match.

Lets look at the two extremes. If there was no wall and the player blasted it straight into the corner (or the place it crossed the line), do u think vv would have been able to get there? Considering in a freekick situation the keeper cannot say 100% where the striker will hit the ball, and so we have to hypothetically allow for vv to realise its going in the corner.

On the other hand lets consider a very tall wall. The reason tall players go in a wall is because it means the striker has to hit the ball higher which means he has to have enough dip on it for it to get to that height and also come down and hit the target. These means the ball has further to travel and thus takes longer to hit the target (giving the keeper more time to react). Also in most cases, hitting it up and over requires u to hit the ball with less power than if u blast it in a straight line. Again...this gives the keeper more time to react.

Its clear that with no wall the keeper has very little chance, and with a high wall he has a much greater chance. Since henry ducked, it meant vv had much less chance than if henry stood tall.

I know it sounds like im taking this personally but im not. I just think its unfair vv is getting stick for conceding the goal when it was infact titi's fault.

i watched it again...Valdes is a little sissy,afraid of diving into the post
Valdes first reaction = he jumps UP and down before he chooses a side instead of jumping up towards a chosen side. That's why he came too late

@maz: its a linear problem. You say it has to travel further so longer so VV has more time. I say: it has to travel further so longer but the ball will be further away (also higher...more out of reach) from VV so he doesnt have more time. His reach is too short.
But i like your effort explaining the thing we should put it into a physics formula and show it in an applet hehe

I like VV but he made a mistake. You can't depend on your wall people...they will always jump in a different way.
Titi let the ball go through....but it could have hit him also ...but perhaps his jumping wasnt that great so you are right but i still think valdez sucked hard.
If it were a ronnie free kick...bending in the top corner i would say : undefendable but this was.

All I will say now is from my personal experience as I've been a goalkeeper for nine years. Don't want to sound like some smart ass, but I can tell you that this was Victor's fault. The wall was let's say set quite decently, it could have been done much better. But it is his intervention that touches my nerve. First of all he is too short, thus he shouldn't take off into goal like this time falling on the net. Valdes should simply take off towards the post, horizontally to the goal line; or even a little bit out of the goal to cut the ball's angle. Yes maybe he would receive an ugly punch from the side post, but he would deflect the ball with an ease into the corner for Numancia. I've seen numerous times, keepers even holding that kind of a shot not just deflecting it. As Titi said, he is probably afraid of diving near the post, so it's clear he is not giving his maximum for the team.

[youtube]oUY9TsM8fJI[/youtube]

Go to 1.43 and watch it. Henry turns to the side and moves his head out of the way. It goes right over his back!

Then watch titi put his hands on his knees. He knows he fucked up!

Anyway mlk i will respect your answer about vv having to do better dispite the wall failing.

Valdes first reaction = he jumps UP and down before he chooses a side instead of jumping up towards a chosen side. That's why he came too late