COMMENT: Gary Neville has faced some tough challenges in his career, but turning Valencia's season around and saving himself from a quick exit at Mestalla must surely be the toughest he's ever faced.
The former Manchester United and England defender is up against it and knows that time is of the essence after his seeing his side fail to win any of the nine league matches since he took charge at the beginning of December.
Many fans in England know Neville as a player that liked to mix it up on the pitch and then offer expert analysis on Sky Sports, but his lack of credentials as a head coach or manager has seen hope spring back home and criticism mount in Spain.
"I'm waiting for the resignation of the coach, as well as an apology. I may be ignorant, but I'm surprised he hasn't done it, I thought he was honest," former Valencia and Spain goalkeeper Santi Cañizares, who now works as a football pundit on Spanish television, said after the 7-0 Copa del Rey reverse against Barcelona last week.
It was a harsh rebuke, but was the worst that Neville has had to face as supporters of Los Che are unsure whether to blame the trainer, the players or the club's owners.
Peter Lim, who is a friend and business partner of the Valencia coach, effectively rescued the club when he bought it in May 2014 amid a debt crisis that would have sunk many other establishments - and the future looked bright. For that, fans are still grateful, but accusations have been made that his friendship with super-agent Jorge Mendes has seen too many of the Portuguese's players bought rather than the players that the club needed or could have signed.
Amid all this, previous trainer Nuno, who is also represented by Mendes, was axed and Neville installed. Occasionally the new man at the helm has hinted that things were not to his liking when he took over and hard work has been required to turn it around.
"The work that I am doing I believe in. I can see that there is order in the team, there is structure in the team, there is a far better level of fitness and that is a far more organised team than the one that I saw when I first came five or six weeks ago," he told the media.
The daily sports newspaper that covers Valencia, Super Deporte, has yet to launch an all-out assault on the coach and instead joined fans with a rallying cry to help the team rather than attack them.
Local journalists have taken to Neville and have held back in their articles as he prolongs press conferences to answer all their questions and rarely avoids the queries surrounding his and the team's future.
In their last three league outings, Valencia have secured just one solitary point, in a 1-1 draw at Deportivo de La Coruña, before defeats at home to Sporting de Gijón and at Real Betis, who had yet to win in the league on home soil this term.
But statistically, Los Che have not been playing badly and Neville's assertions that his side should have won at least one, if not more, of those games, does hold up.
Valencia have had more shots than their opponents in all three matches and more possession in two and Neville is convinced that he and his players will see a revival start soon.
"If I saw a game now where the opposition created seven or eight chances against us, which I think Getafe did and Eibar in the first two games then I would not be sat here defending it," he explained.
"There has been a difference in the past three weeks but no difference in results. That is the thing that has been annoying, frustrating and disappointing for everybody at the club."
He is also picking up the language quickly as has been shown in press conferences when he has understood questions without them being translated.
Club president, Layhoon Chan, flew in from Singapore in midweek and held meetings with Neville and his staff to reassure them that they had both her and Lim's support.
When the trainer arrived at Mestalla he was given until the end of the season and stated that time was required before he was judged.
"I said when I arrived that would be judged as a success and a failure in five months, but the obituaries have already been written so I have been judged in six weeks," Neville stated.
"If you are a football person you will see the improvements. Barcelona aside; that was a mess. But the games against Sporting Gijón and the games before that, Las Palmas and Deportivo and Betis, they were all our games."
Against Espanyol this weekend it could well become a day of reckoning. Neville may maintain the support of Lim and Layhoon, but the supporters and journalists may finally make their mind up between him, players and the owners and decide a change of coach is required.
A win, however, and the whole outlook could alter with talk of relegation and his position at least put on hold as Los Che continue to adapt to Neville and Neville adapt to them.
Give him the time he needs and he can and will succeed. But Valencia is not a club where patience is in great supply.
Source: tribalfootball.com