Team Focus: Problems To Address For Neville As Pressure Builds on Winless Valencia

Valencia’s latest performance under Gary Neville was so dire that it prompted Rayo Vallecano manager Paco Jemez to reveal he would’ve hung himself in the dressing room had they left the Balearic coast empty handed on Sunday. Paco Alcacer’s late strike ensured Valencia avoided further embarrassment at the hands of the relegation strugglers, but it wasn’t enough to end Neville’s wait for a first league win as Valencia head coach.

Some lauded the England coach and others threw words of caution when he was named Nuno’s shock replacement at the start of December. In typical Gary Neville fashion he is, however, utterly determined to add this latest endeavour to his growing portfolio despite the odds of success stacked against him.

In an attempt to overcome the language barrier that has proved problematic for Neville thus far, the former Manchester United captain has been taking early morning Spanish lessons and handed out iPads with his messages to the players. Not only that, but he has held behind closed-door meetings and even taken part in his own training sessions to help promote his ideas to the squad. Last week Valencia, with his blessing, reappointed Jesus Garcia Pitarch, the sporting director that worked with Rafa Benitez when Valencia last won the league in 2004. If Neville's time in Spain ends in failure it hasn't been for a lack of trying.

For now, however, the reality of it makes for bleak reading. Only Troyes (21) and Verona (20) are on a longer current winless streak than Valencia (9) in Europe's top five leagues. The six-time La Liga champions haven't won in the league since the start of November and are on their worst run in eight years.

Six of those matches have come under Neville’s watch. He’s drawn four and lost two, with the 2-2 draw with Real Madrid, other than progression in the Copa del Rey, the only notable result during his medicore start. They have also since been replaced by Atletico Madrid as the third highest point scorers in La Liga history to throw further shade on Valencia’s fall from grace over the last decade.

While Diego Simeone’s men head the league table, Valencia languish 16 points off the top four down in 11th. The mood engulfing the Mestalla has certainly simmered since Nuno was sacked, but his dismissal hasn’t had the desired effect on the pitch just yet and his cosy relationship with owner Peter Lim could come back to haunt him in the long run.

Neville is still looking for the remedy to plug Valencia's porous defence and solve the disconnect between defence and attack, as well as the fans. Not only that, but he is still sounding out his best starting XI and the right system to accommodate them. The Englishman’s decision to drop Jaume and Aymen Abdennour at the weekend means Neville has named a unique starting XI in every game thus far, but more pertinently, it was Neville dropping the young goalkeeper and a defender that cost the club £22m over the summer.

Valencia may boast the joint-sixth best defensive record in the division (21 goals conceded), but they haven’t kept a clean sheet since October and only Sporting Gijon (14.7) have conceded more shots per game than Los Che (14.1).

The lack of a dynamic defensive midfielder shielding the back four hasn’t helped and is highlighted further by the fact eight of their top 10 highest WhoScored rated players are defensively minded, with Jaume and Shkodran Mustafi currently in WhoScored's La Liga Team of the Season.

Even then, it is hard to make a case for the likes of Abdennour, whose erratic performances haven’t justified the price they paid Monaco. Neville has made his feelings be known about the transfer window, suggesting he will look to develop what he currently has rather than dip into the market for a quick fix.

Neville has sifted his way through all but two of the 25 players to have featured in the league for Valencia this season inside just six matches and you get the sense he hasn’t completely figured out a system just yet. While Neville’s start to life in Valencia may reek a manager in a foreign country tasting his first experience in an alien league, Nuno also encountered similar struggles. In fact, no team boasts more players with five or more league starts this season than Valencia (21), accentuating their statistically calculated style of play of ‘rotating their first eleven’.

The former United full-back was hugely impressive during his first few days in office. He made it abundantly clear that the entire squad would be given another chance, which, to the delight of Valencia fans, was mainly to coax Alvaro Negredo from his slumber.

Neville was purposefully vocal in his admiration of Negredo, calling him the “perfect” striker to build a team around. Having been dropped for the two months prior to Neville’s arrival, it has understandably taken a long time to build up his form and fitness. As a result, the Spain international has only started two league games since the start of December and his performances have been typical of a class striker completely defunct of match rhythm.

For instance, Negredo required just nine minutes off the bench to provide the assist from which Valencia equalised against Eibar in Neville’s La Liga debut, but then spurned a one-on-one with Keylor Navas to hand the Englishman his first league win in the dying embers of their 2-2 draw with Real Madrid two games later. He did, however, avenge for that miss with a hat-trick against Granda in the Copa del Rey three days on, but remained almost entirely on the periphery during the first half against Rayo at the weekend before bursting into life after the interval.

Negredo had just 13 touches in the first 45 minutes, but then almost matched that tally in just 20 minutes after the break (12) before being replaced. Not only that, but he was holding the ball up (two aerial duels won) and bullying defenders. Importantly, though, he scored his first league goal since August and did so by robbing a Rayo defender just outside the centre circle before lobbing the goalkeeper, off-balance in one sweeping sensational turn.

It wasn’t particularly the finish - although still outstanding - but the awareness to know Juan Carlos was off his line that made the strike so exceptional. Living off scraps up against three defenders and with his back to goal there wasn’t a moment where Negredo had a chance to peer up to see where Carlos was. It was instinctive, inspirational and oozed everything that has been missing from Valencia’s play for so long.

It’s ironic that one United legends’ future in management could possibly be shaped by the exploits of a former Manchester City Premier League winner, but Negredo’s form over the remainder of the season will be crucial to Neville’s fortunes, particularly when you consider only two teams average fewer shots per game than Valencia in La Liga this season (10.3). Neville’s decision to go out of his way to praise his No.7 suggests he shares similar concerns about Valencia’s threat going forward.

While there has been relatively little to cheer about for Neville, he can, however, take heart from the character his players have shown in repeatedly coming from behind to salvage a positive result. Valencia have conceded the first goal in every single league match under Neville, but have still managed to come away with four draws, furthering their statistically calculated strength of ‘coming back from losing positions.’

Valencia fans will be relieved to have moved out of Jorge Mendes' clutches for now and while their is a real desire for Neville to succeed in Valencia, he quickly needs to address these problems before the supporters realign their cries of discontent from the flawed club to their young manager

Can Gary Neville turn Valencia's fortunes around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below