Valencia scouting report ahead of Mestalla clash: goalscoring woes and pressure are key challenges

Valencia have struggled after 11 league matches, with three managers taking charge during that period. The team have recorded two wins, three draws and six defeats, scoring eight goals and conceding 17.

A lack of goals is a key attacking problem: Valencia have created chances worth 10.8 non-penalty expected goals, but have scored only six open-play goals, excluding penalties and own goals. Umar Sadiq leads the team in this metric with 1.8 and has scored twice, while Hugo Duro and Arnaut Danjuma have yet to score despite chances worth 1.6 and 1.4 respectively.

Defensively, the team have conceded chances worth 14.8 non-penalty expected goals and have let in 14 open-play goals. Their defensive line drops deep into their own half: defensive actions take place an average of 30 metres from their goal, the deepest in the league, and their PPDA pressure metric is the highest among the teams.

Valencia do not exert much control in the attacking third, accounting for just 36.4% of passes there, the lowest share in the competition. They also average 313 open-play passes per match, and only 21.2% of passes they receive reach the final third. The expected threat generated by their passes is 9.3, the second-lowest tally in the league.

The team usually line up in a 4-4-2, while Danjuma leads the players for expected threat from passes with 0.97, followed by Pepelu on 0.93 and Luis Rioja on 0.71. Valencia average 10.3 shots per match excluding penalties, with 0.10 expected goals per shot, but have not converted those attempts into goals often enough. The team have spent nearly 64% of the season drawing, compared with just 10.1% in the lead; Javier Aguirre’s task is to find ways to progress the ball and turn periods of drawing into chances to win.