Gary Neville remains without a win in La Liga as Valencia boss as Villarreal moved up to fourth thanks to captain Bruno Soriano’s spectacular free-kick in a 1-0 win on Thursday.
Bruno found the top corner from the edge of the box midway through the second half to allow Villarreal to edge two points ahead of RC Celta de Vigo in the battle for the final Champions League place.
However, Valencia’s ambitions of a top-four finish now look forlorn as they lie in 10th place, 11 points behind their local rivals.
Photo: AFP
“We are a significant distance behind, but I am only concentrating on the next match,” Neville told a news conference. “Losing today makes everything more complicated, but we have to focus on getting the best out of the players.”
“I am desperately looking to pick up points, but I am also looking for a good performance,” he said.
“There were good signs against Olympique Lyonnais and [Sociedad Deportiva] Eibar, but today we saw something different as we had a good 45 minutes,” he said.
“This makes me feel better, as we knew how to play in the second half and if we continue that way then it is possible to pick up the points we need. In the second half we played the best football since I arrived,” Neville added.
“We needed to pass the ball better. We were bunched together too much and we should have looked to attack more,” he said. “When you have five at the back you can be too defensive and we were conscious of that but we didn’t do it well.”
Valencia had only managed to draw Neville’s opening two league games in charge against Eibar and Getafe before the 10-day winter break.
The former Manchester United defender took a more defensive approach in a bid to at least preserve his unbeaten record with a five-man defense as Villarreal dominated the first 45 minutes.
Roberto Soldado had the best chance to open the scoring against his old side, but the former Tottenham Hotspur striker failed to connect with Jonathan dos Santos’ inviting cross.
Valencia started the second half much more positively as Alphonse Areola was forced into saves from Andre Gomes and Dani Parejo, while Paco Alcacer blasted over a great chance from close range.
However, the visitors were caught with a sucker punch when Soldado was brought down on the edge of the box and Bruno curled the ball perfectly into the top corner for his fourth goal of the season.
Alcacer wasted another big opportunity when he volleyed over shortly afterward, but Valencia created little in their search for an equalizer and now face the daunting task of hosting Real Madrid tomorrow.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS