5 things Gary Neville must do to turn things around at Valencia

It's not gonna take a genius to realise that Gary Neville's tactics aren't going as planned. 
But.... there's hope. 

Gary Neville's Valencia fell into another defeat on Sunday as they lost 1-0 to Real Betis.

This means that Valencia are now NINE La Liga games without a win under the ex-Manchester United hero, and 12 league matches without a victory including the end of Nuno Espirito Santo's reign. 

After the humiliating loss against Barcelona in Copa del Rey, Neville acknowledged the fact that it's 'completely unacceptable' to not taste victory since being incharge. 

So what is it that Gary Neville must do to turn things around at Mestalla and begin Valencia's rise towards the top of the table ? 

1. TAKE A LEAD 

Winning a game is OBVIOUSLY the ultimate aim and without doing that, Neville will be gone before long, but it's shocking that his side has not yet lead in a single La Liga game. 

Valencia concede against Eibar 

They have conceded first in each of those nine, which has meant a low-on-confidence side chasing a game and leaving themselves open time after time.

It's not sustainable and it's not conductive to success. 

2. FIND YOUR BEST XI

There's no doubt that injuries and cluttered fixture list have affected Neville's ability to keep a consistent XI. 

But the mind boggling variety of combinations we've seen makes it look the coaching staff still have no clear idea of what their strongest team looks like. 

As someone who wasn't responsible for the summer's purchases, there should be no fear of dropping expensive players who are underperforming. 

And here's one of those....

3. DITCH AYMEN ABDENNOUR/ KEEP A CLEAN SHEET 

Aymen Abdennour has cost his side a lot of goals 

The Tunisian was in demand last summer - as most Jorge Mendes clients tend to be - but ended up at Valencia as the replacement of Nicolas Otamendi.

While Otamendi hasn't shined on a consistent basis in the Premier League yet, the Argentine International was outstanding last year during Valencia's march to the Champions League, and Abdennour's performances have been a significant downgrade. 

Abdennour has struggled with distribution 

While his performances at Toulouse and Monaco have proven him to be a good defender, Gary Neville's philosophy ( which we've observed early on ) is to play the ball out from the back.

Abdennour has repeatedly put his team in trouble and cost them goals due to his sloppy distribution and mistakes in possession. 

When the side is this jittery, you have to take him out of the firing line, and it's remarkable that a side managed by a former defender has not kept a single clean sheet in NINE league games. 

4. DROP ALVARO NEGREDO UNTIL HE IS MATCH-SHARP

If you aren't keeping clean sheets then you need to score more goals, and that's something Valencia aren't doing either. 

Frustration, as Negredo misses again and again

Negredo, given a lifeline by Neville having been completely frozen out by Nuno, has scored some goals for his boss. Indeed, of the five points this team has earned under their new manager, three have been earned by Negredo goals. 

But this is misleading, with his profligacy costing them far more points. 

That miss in the dying seconds against Real Madrid, the raft of spurned opportunities against Sporting and a simple chance with no keeper to beat against Betis all stand out. 

The former Manchester City man looks sluggish. Granted, three months without playing before Neville arrived means he won't be in top shape but until he is, he shouldn't be playing as he's costing his team victories. 

5. GET SOME LUCK

Sometimes you just need one to go in off someone's backside. 

Gary Neville, right now, is on the top of the list of managers that simply need one thing to go their way.

A Darren Bent beachball moment. One thing. Anything. 

There's still hope for the former Manchester United defender