Explosive Change at Valencia

As Cesar reported this morning at the Valencia blog, coach Ronald Koeman has dropped David Albelda and goalkeeper Santiago Canizares for the rest of the first half, and has strongly suggest that their time at the club is over. Wow. Oh, and today is Canizares’ 38th birthday. Happy happy, Santiago!

As is being discussed in the comments over on Cesar’s post, this decision will define Koeman’s tenure with the club, for better or for worse. Valencia are in free-fall, and if the decision — and the now-likely departure of both men, once the January transfer window opens — sparks a revival that sees them open the second half on fire, Koeman is a daring risk-taker, who made the right decision to reawaken a floundering team. If, however, the swoon continues, he’s a fool who deprived a desperate club of its leaders just when they were needed most.

However it turns out, Koeman’s got some huge balls on him, that’s for sure. Canizares joined Valencia from Real Madrid almost 10 years ago and, according to Wikipedia, has played 299 matches for the club. (I’m hoping that’s not true, because if it is, dropping him now is just cruel.) He’s hugely popular, and is generally considered the greatest keeper in the history of the club. Albelda, meanwhile, has been at Valencia his entire career. He came up through the youth system, and has been captain for years, reportedly turning down offers from both Real and Barcelona to stay with his boyhood club. (Did I mention “wow”?)

This decision is likely to reflect as powerfully on president Juan Soler as it does on Koeman. The club’s won nothing since his arrival, and home matches these days end like Knicks games, except Sevilla Valencia supporters chant about firing Soler, rather than Isiah. If it’s a disaster, he’s going to have an even bigger rebellion on his hands.

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Category: Europe, Spain La Liga, World Football

Tags: David Albelda, Europe, Ronald Koeman, Santiago Canizares, Spain La Liga, Valencia, World Football

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