Thread: Elche - Villarreal B

Villarreal B unquestionably has a flair for the dramatic. Unfortunately, the results have not lived up to the billing to start the 2011-12 campaign. One sad statistic: José Molina's men have lost three matches at home. In stoppage time (Sabadell, Hércules, Celta). Ouch.

As allen noted, today's visit to Elche CF reunites us with goalkeeper Juan Carlos and Danish striker Nicki Bille Nielsen. I'm not sure how much they appreciate this Valencian derbi, but Juan Carlos did win this fixture two years ago. Another of our loanees, Jefferson Montero, was the star that day at the nearly 40,000-seat Martínez Valero. Hope for the future.

Molina has taken 18 players on the three-hour trip down the coast:

Keepers: Diego Mariño, Jorge.
Defenders: Jaume Costa, Kiko Olivas, Toño, Dorian Dervite, Carlos Tomás, Pere Martínez.
Midfielders: Llorente, Toribio, Iriome, Chiki Guerrero, Nico, Pedro Vázquez, Gonzalo Castellani.
Strikers: Fofo, Airam Cabrera, Lucas Porcar (no longer a midfielder?).

Kike López is back on the shelf, while Joan Truyols continues to mend. But the big news is the debut call-up for French defender Florian Lejeune (poor Dervite). Congratulations! Lejeune joins Marcos Gullón and Joselu under the direction of A team manager Juan Carlos Garrido.

With the return of Castellani and Porcar to form and fitness, the attack should not suffer too much from the pichichi's absence. But the defense, without Gullón and Lejeune, may be another story. Let's hope for the best.

The match begins at 1 pm Eastern Time and airs in the Comunitat Valenciana on Nou Dos. That may mean streams for us. Endavant minisubmarino!