The former Manchester United and England right-back is without a win in eight Liga games and nothing went right as he saw his side brutally beaten at Camp Nou on Wednesday
Gary Neville was a fantastic footballer and is an insightful television analyst. His coaching career, however, has brought him little success so far. And after eight games without a win in La Liga, the Englishman's Valencia side were brutally beaten by Barcelona on Wednesday. He is having to learn the hard way.
Many a coach has had a nightmare at Camp Nou and Neville is by no means the exception in that respect. However, it was unclear exactly what Valencia were even trying to do as they afforded Barca both time and space in an unbelievably one-sided first half.
Those 45 minutes of football ended with Barca 3-0 up. But it could have been five, six or even seven at that stage. Neville had spoken before the match of the importance of staying in the tie until the second leg at Mestalla. But his side were out of it within half an hour.
In an attempt to thwart Barca's brilliant forwards, Neville picked two full-backs on either flank. As a former right-back and one of the best around in an oustanding career for Manchester United, he knows a thing or two about defending against wide players.
But Barca are much more than that and even before they were reduced to 10 men, Neville's side offered Barca big spaces in midfield and in attack. And with players like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets around, such tactics are suicidal - especially at Camp Nou.
It is hard to know what he was trying to do and Denis Cheryshev, making his debut as a substitute much to the amusement of Barca's fans after he was inadvertently responsible for Real Madrid being thrown out of the Copa del Rey this season, was asked by an interviewer on Canal Plus following the game: "What exactly was the idea tonight?"
It was a valid question. Neville has picked apart the tactics of others in his role as a pundit and played for his entire career under one of the games great coaches in Sir Alex Ferguson, yet his side were easily exposed here, even before Shkodran Mustafi was sent off just before break.
Neymar missed the resulting penalty and Messi hit the bar with only goalkeeper Mathew Ryan to beat in a counter-attack as Valencia were picked apart at will by the Blaugrana. Earlier, Suarez had scored two and the Argentine another - and things only got worse in the second half as both completed hat-tricks and the Uruguayan ended the night with four.
FULL STORY | Barca hit Neville's Valencia for seven
From the home side's point of view, this was an extraordinary exhibition of attacking football - a masterclass. But it was facilitated by a naive Neville and his slipshod side.
"We can only apologise to the fans for what is one of the worst results in the history of the club," Valencia's sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch told television cameras after the match. And asked if this would spell the end of Neville's turbulent tenure, his response was far from convincing. "It's not the time to talk about that," he said.
For his part, Neville said: "It's one of the worst experiences I have ever had in football. I am not going to sleep well. The fans do not deserve this. I did not like what I saw." And asked if he is going to quit, he simply said: "No."
Just recently, former Valencia great Gaizka Mendieta claimed part of the problem was the language barrier, saying that the coach's lack of Spanish means he is unable to get his message across to the players.
Neville has previously dismissed this, but the fact is his side were embarrassing on Wednesday - however brilliant Barca can be against anyone at Camp Nou.
Where he goes from here is unclear, but Valencia fans were angry at former coach Nuno when they were sat outside the top six earlier this season. Since the Portuguese left in late November, however, Neville has been unable to win a single match in La Liga and Los Che now sit just five points above the relegation zone
So after a painful lesson on Wednesday, Neville now needs to learn fast if he is to save his ever-more-precarious position at Valencia. Because quite clearly, perceptive punditry and top-class coaching are simply worlds apart.
- Goal