Player Focus: Valbuena Continues to be the Centre of Attention

It’s never too late to break away from a stereotype. Mathieu Valbuena should know, having been the butt of rubbish jokes about his size and – more importantly – miscast as a winger for too long. Le Petit Vélo has had his share of knockbacks down the years, from being shown the door by local club Bordeaux, having come up through the ranks alongside close friend Rio Mavuba, to being told he was unwanted at Marseille by coach Didier Deschamps.

Today, Valbuena has changed Deschamps’ mind and he is at the centre of things for club and country. In Saturday’s win at Lorient, Valbuena was exactly where he should be; in the middle, from where he directed operations with a team-high 86 touches, 90% pass accuracy, one key pass and the opening goal from a crafty free-kick. It was a nourishing, and appropriate display for a man celebrating his 29th birthday.

The crass comments have ground to a stop. Valbuena is in his prime, and when OM need their experienced players to stand up and be counted, he’s first in the queue. That was certainly what was required on Saturday, with almost an hour of tense deadlock reached before Valbuena helped his team hit the front.

Standing at just 167cm – although he’s no longer the shortest player in Ligue 1 after the arrival of Marco Verratti – many thought Valbuena’s profile was most suited to wide areas, especially given his nimble gait, excellent close control and propensity to dribble (2.3 per game in the current season).

Yet the sharp upturn in his game, from promise to productivity, coincided with the arrival of midfielder Morgan Amalfitano (now enjoying a successful loan spell at West Bromwich Albion, of course) from Lorient on a free transfer in summer 2011. Funnily enough, Amalfitano had prospered in a number ten role at the Stade du Moustoir, but was actually more suited to the post of a Beckham-type winger, whipping in early crosses. For the first two-thirds of an initially positive 2011/12 season, the two dovetailed together well in positions that brought the best out of both.

Now, with the arrival of Dimitri Payet at the Stade Vélodrome, coach Elie Baup has someone to put his trust in on the right again, meaning Valbuena can do his thing behind lone striker André-Pierre Gignac (although the latter was out injured this weekend).

The central role was something Valbuena first discovered under Eric Gerets after the Belgian’s arrival as head coach in 2007. Shortly after taking over a struggling OM, Gerets faced a daunting Champions League away match at Liverpool. He told Valbuena he was entrusting him with the creative role, and Le Petit Vélo responded with a stunning late goal to clinch a shock victory.

That famous night at Anfield may have boosted Valbuena’s confidence no end and been the beginning of his becoming a central figure for OM, but it was a false dawn in a goalscoring sense. If you look up the footage on YouTube today – the subtle shift inside to take the ball away from Jamie Carragher, followed by the curling, dipping finish over Pepe Reina and into the top corner – you’ll wonder why he hasn’t scored more.

He scored just 8 Ligue 1 goals in the past two seasons, although he did make 25 assists in the same time. The temptation is to suggest that Valbuena has done too much of his work in wide areas in the past, but he’s been playing in the centre for the best part of two seasons now. The bottom line is that he simply doesn’t get enough shots away. For the past three seasons, he’s averaged just over the 1.5 shots per game mark.

It’s not been such a problem for the national team, where Valbuena has made himself an incontestable starter. While hardly prolific, his 5 goals in 26 games represents a clear upswing on his club goalscoring form. He has rarely played wide for France, either under Laurent Blanc or Deschamps. His importance is such that other players, such as Moussa Sissoko, have been shoehorned into the right-side berth just to keep Valbuena doing what he does best. 

It’s what’s required. In France’s 4-2 win in Belarus back in September, Valbuena fired the comeback, setting up Les Bleus’ second and third goals for Franck Ribéry and Samir Nasri. It reprised his performance against the same opposition in Paris in March, and means that Valbuena had been directly implicated in 6 of his country’s last 9 goals (2 goals, 4 assists).

Deschamps and Valbuena have had their issues in the past at club level, and the coach even made the player available for a knockdown €3.5m in the January 2010 transfer window. There were no takers, and Valbuena worked his way back into the picture, making a crucial, scoring impact as a substitute in the Coupe de la Ligue final against Bordeaux, which ended with OM snaring their first trophy in 17 years.

It’s early days in 2013/14, but Valbuena has averaged 1.9 shots per game thus far in the fledgling Ligue 1 campaign, and had 6 efforts on goal in the Champions League opener against Arsenal. Although his finishing is still a weakness in his WhoScored.com player profile, taking set-pieces is an area in which he excels – so a few more direct efforts at goal from dead balls should help push the figures up.

If this increase in shots does prove to be a development in Valbuena’s game rather than a statistical blip, Marseille have reason to hope ahead of Tuesday’s visit to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Their last trip to the Signal Iduna Park was dramatic, as they entered the final minutes 2-1 down, before two goals in the last five minutes sealed an improbable qualification for the last 16.

The winner? That was scored by substitute Valbuena, cutting in from the left with a jink outside Jakub Blaszykowski, a roulette inside Ilkay Gundogan and a dipping shot over Roman Weidenfeller from the edge of the area. A typical Valbuena special. Baup and his colleagues would welcome more of the same this time around.

Can Valbuena orchestrate another memorable victory against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.