DAVID ALBELDA DOUBTS Valencia coach Gary Neville has the ability to turn things around at the Mestalla, with the former captain concerned by the lack of improvement.
Neville has endured a topsy-turvy tenure since replacing Nuno Espirito Santo in January, with Valencia languishing in 12th position in La Liga, 19 points adrift of the top four.
The former Manchester United captain has managed just four wins in all competitions, with three of those coming in the league, while he oversaw an embarrassing 8-1 aggregate rout against Spanish and European champions Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.
And Albelda, who made over 450 appearances for the club as a defensive midfielder, does not believe in Neville’s ability to guide Valencia up the table.
“He comes from a league with little in the way of tactics. We’re seeing teams from the Premier League who pass by unnoticed in the Champions League, and in his case they have a severe communications problem, apart from his inexperience”, Albelda said via Marca.
We’re not seeing any signs of improvement with Neville’s work, and although I don’t know what his working methods are, I think that he has a squad that could be challenging for a Champions League place.”
“If you say something bad about Valencia, they call you everything under the sun, and we’re Valencia fans not anti-Valencia fans, and what’s happening hurts us. We want a different Valenci,” Albelda added.
After suffering a 1-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday, Valencia travel to Levante on Sunday.
