Guillem Balague on Gary Neville's Valencia following Barcelona defeat
Friday 5 February 2016 07:28, UK
Guillem Balague has broken down the fallout from Spain after Gary Neville's Valencia suffered a 7-0 defeat to Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final.
A defiant Neville insists he will not resign from his position at the club, despite suffering the heaviest defeat of his managerial career on Wednesday.
Balague believes Neville's honeymoon period is now over - but admits the manager's job at the Mestalla was a poisoned chalice.
La Liga Football
Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ, Balague said: "Gary Neville was right when in the defeat against Sporting he said he did not hear the fans complain about him. That was true, that was not the case.
"The players were called mercenaries after their defeat against Sporting. There was no blame attached to Gary Neville at that point.
"But that's over, that honeymoon is completely over. Now the criticism has reached the coaching staff and they are having a go at Gary Neville.
"There were 300 fans waiting for Valencia to arrive from Barcelona at the airport and as the players were picked up at the steps of the planes and taken away to the training ground, there were 300 fans there as well."
Former Valencia goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, who played over 400 times for the club, winning two league titles and two cups, labelled the Barca defeat as "one of the worst results in the club's history" while former midfielder David Albeda voiced his concerns of relegation.
"As well as the fans, Albeda and Canizares - two legends of Valencia - have also had a go in the last 24 hours," Balague added.
"Albeda is saying we [Valencia] have to start thinking about not getting relegated - they're only five points away from the bottom three at the moment - and Canizares is saying Gary Neville has to go and he has to apologise.
" [Canizares] said the best thing to happen to Valencia would be if he goes. That is the kind of tension we are talking about."
Despite criticism from former players, Balague does not expect the club to make any snap decisions.
"The message from the club was very clear last night: calm, stay calm; we want everyone to stay calm," Balague added.
"The problem is [owner] Peter Lim is in Singapore, so not even at the club do they know what his reaction is going to be. I have got the impression that both Gary and Phil feel that there is going to be no changes and that they will be there against Betis and be there until the end of the season.
"So the message is calm. The next home game will be Barcelona in the cup - not many people will be there after this 7-0 of course - but the following game that will be at home I think there will be a reaction of the fans against the coaching staff."
Balague accepts Neville will be held accountable for his tactical decisions but feels the players too need to change their attitude if Valencia are going to reverse their current slump.
"The criticisms they are getting after this game against Barcelona is why [Sofiane] Feghouli, who is a right winger, played in centre-midfield and why [Guilherme] Siquiera, who has just arrived, was playing as a left winger.
"But a series of things contributed to the [Barcelona] result. There was also a lack of attitude from the players. Nobody can answer or explain that or why that is the case.
"Players at the Camp Nou weren't aggressive enough. The ones that were trying to recover the ball were the Barcelona players - Sergio Busquets, [Lionel] Messi and Neymar - and that was disappointing."
Neville's move to the Mestalla was underpinned by his Salford City ties with Valencia owner Lim and Balague believes the former Manchester United captain accepted a "poisoned chalice".
"[Criticism] hasn't reached Peter Lim because he's put almost 200m euros into the club since he's arrived," Balague added.
"The decision to put Gary Neville in charge is a little bit of a [poisoned] chalice and the kind of decision that can go against you.
"Gary Neville said yes because it was almost a favour to Peter Lim but the questions that have been asked in Spain are: Was he prepared enough? Is there enough respect for the process that you need to take to be a top manager, that takes you to Valencia? That's the kind of thing that people are discussing."
Watch Real Betis v Valencia live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 2.55pm on Sunday.
