Thank you Valdes!!

It has been over 20 years since Victor Valdes' journey of becoming a Barcelona Legend begun. He have been one of the main ingredients in a successful Barcelona squad that it will be unnatural to see his name absent on the Barca starting eleven(11) come next season.

Valdes never wanted to be a goal keeper but became motivated by the mere fact, if he becomes a senior team player; he would be on national TV.

It was the 2003-04 season when Victor's dream finally came through. He made the switch over to FC Barcelona full team from Barcelona B and the youth system. Since then he has never looked back and has gone on to achieve great accomplishments. The first came in the form of 2004-05 La Liga title where he helped Barcelona to win their first league title to break a six year drought.

 

V. Valdes making a diving save

Victor Valdes has gone through the good, the bad and even some hilarious and ugly times at Barca. Can you remember the countless mistakes he made from the pressure of Barcelona's passing-game? Hence, giving opposing strikers easy goals due to his inaccurate passes where if he was in another team he would have been simple asked to clear the ball instead of being fancy. Also, it is hard to forget the Uefa Champions League finals when he made some incredible saves to keep Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. at bay on both occasions.

 



denied Ribery of scoring 

 Victor has gone on to win over 19 trophies with FC Barcelona these include five(5) La Liga, three(3) Champions League and two(2)  Copa del Rey. Despite such illustrious achievements Valdes has failed to really to kick start his national career for Spain. He has been the understudy for  his club rival Iker Casillas.

Valdes have won the champions league one more than Casillas, he has also won the Zamora Trophy (Spain’s best keeper award) for a record five times. However, his record was not enough to displace Casillas as Spain’s first choice stopper.

Although, he failed to establish himself on the national team, Valdes has continued to succeed at Barcelona. He recently announced his desire to leave Camp Nou and ply his trade abroad. He says it is time for a change in his life. His family wants to experience new and different cultures.



Posing with the treble

When it is all said and done, at the end of the 2013-14 Valdes may add to his trophy case but come the new season he will be gone,  providing that he doesn’t have a change of heart. The Barcelona faithful fans will proudly reaccept him with open arms. However, if he does leave the camp he will be given the best of wishes from all of FC Barcelona.

Victor Valdes deserves a standing ovation and lets pray he leaves with a bang!!!!!

                                    THANK YOU V.V

Falling into place

It has been seven (7) weeks since the EPL begun, and the top four standings couldn't be more peculiar.
At fourth position is Southampton, the saiths are currently dreaming of being Europe next season after they have held their own against mid-table and bottom-table teams. However, their biggest win so far have come against Liverpool. Another upset win could be forthcoming as they travel to Old Trafford to face a sluggish ManU team on Oct. 19.
In third place is Mou's Chelsea posting a record 4wins 2draws 1lost. Mourinho has even confessed that he don't know his best eleven at the moment. This is coming after early controversies where Mou dropped Chelsea's best player,  of the 2012-13 season, Juan Mata. He also allowed Victor Moses, one of the leagues best true winger, to go loan at rival Liverpool and the talented prospect, Romelu Lukaku, who scored 17 league goals last season to leave on loan also. Lukaku has already scored 4 goals for Everton this season and he scored mid-week to ensure Belgium's place at World Cup 2014 in Brazil while none of Chelsea's current forwards (Torres, Eto'o and Ba) have been able to break their duck so far this season. With Mata re-integrated to Mou's team and future plans it is left to be seen if chelsea can improve even more.
Sitting second only so because of a inferior goal difference to Arsenal, Liverpool are experiencing their best ever start in recent years under manager Brandon Rodgers. Their only lost came against fellow top four occupants Southampton. Liverpool have also picked apart defences thanks to fowards Daniel Sturridge and the highly motivated Luis Suarez who has been set free from his 10 match ban for bitting Chelsea's defender Ivanovic. The question lies whether or not Liverpool can remain in the top four come end of season. This feat has eluded them for the past several years. Postives points for them are : they have a full squad, two in-form strikers, Coutinho to return from injury and a good manager in Rodgers.
Arsene Wenger made a point about not all players are Arsenal-quality players, he also stressed he won't panic buy again. This summer we saw Wenger dish out a heap of cash on Mesut  Ozil mashing the gunners transfer record. The result of this has seen the gunners become serious title contenders, who are currently at the summit of the premier league with 16 out of a possible 21 points. After they lost the opening day fixture to Aston Villa. The arrival of Ozil have lifted the team morale hence we have seen players stepping up notable Giroud and Ramsey. Presently, Arsenal have a bit of a injury crisis wit Carzola, Podolski, Walcott, Chamberlain and even Sagna etc being out. Imagine a healthy squad that Wenger may have at his disposal come November/ December barring further set backs. It will take a very strong and consistent team to catch and keep up with Arsenal if they do keep this early positive momentum.
Outside the top four looking in are Man City(5th), Tottenham Spurs(6th), Everton(7th) and most surprisingly Man United at 10th. However, the second half of the season is always Man United best lf so don't count them out to make it into the top four ad more so wn the league.