At least Gary Neville got to crack a smile for the first time in a good three months, celebrating England’s winning goal against Germany on Saturday.
His facial muscles must have been wondering what exactly was going on. The moment of whooping joy was certainly noticed by Marca, who published the jubilant image in Sunday’s edition.
The Valencia boss was doing his duty on the footballing equivalent of a weekend paper round or a cheeky shift in a shoe shop. It’s a job that continues until late on Tuesday night when it will be time to turn the upside-down frowns upside-down once again, upon the Englishman’s return to a muted Mestalla.
The hateful eight
Valencia’s next clash is in the Canary Islands against Las Palmas, a team that seemed utterly doomed until a rapid run that has plonked the side just one point behind los Che
The mission will be to finish off a job that began as a battle on three fronts to secure a top-four finish, a decent run in the Copa del Rey and likewise in the Europa League, but has ended up as a face-saving mission to avoid a rather humiliating relegation scrap.
With Valencia currently on 34 points, six ahead of the drop zone and only a couple of wins and a draw probably needed in the final eight league games, matters are unlikely to become that dire in Valencia. Unless the worst-case scenario occurs every week.
Valencia’s next clash is in the Canary Islands against Las Palmas, a team that seemed utterly doomed until a rapid run that has plonked the side just one point behind los Che. What’s more, they are very tough nuts to crack on home turf.
A defeat would then leave Valencia with just seven games to get that magic tally. But those matches include Barcelona and Real Madrid away, with Sevilla and Villarreal coming at home. Although all these sides could be on European duty to lighten the load a little, Valencia have hardly been adept against any kind of opponent of late with just three league wins from the past 19.
An away match against a struggling Getafe could be a testing affair, leaving two home games against Eibar and Real Sociedad probably being pencilled in red as must wins. Or there could be trouble.
End of the road
The latest indications in the tea leaves are that Rayo boss Paco Jémez is being sized up as the next lucky punter to be booed by the Mestalla massif
Either way, it doesn’t appear that Neville will be at the club next season to deal with the consequences should everything go badly wrong.
The latest indications in the tea leaves are that Rayo boss Paco Jémez is being sized up as the next lucky punter to be booed by the Mestalla massif, with the club perhaps following the successful blueprint of when Unai Emery was taken from Almería back in 2008.
The renowned practitioner of ‘attack first and worry about defending later’ has been itching for a go at the big time after repeatedly fighting against the forces of football physics by keeping Rayo up for four years.
However, Jémez’s agent claimed over the weekend that his client had no plans to leave the club and was in the process of negotiating the renewal of his contract which runs out at the end of the year. That might change if Rayo were to be relegated, though.
But all this is talk of days of future past. What might currently seem like Neville doing his duty and seeing out the rest of his deal with Valencia until the end of the season could soon turn into a dramatic and desperate affair. The Englishman should enjoy the remaining day with his national side while he can.
