There was an extra presence weighing on the Valencia training sessions this week, and it wasn’t the impending arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus as the Champions League kicks off again.
Los Che have problems, and the fact that their coach, Marcelino, wanted Valencia’s sports psychologist Jose Carrascosa on the Paterna playing pitches on Monday was no more than a confirmation of the warning signs that anyone paying passing attention has been able to see and hear.
Carrascosa is the guy who tweets out stuff like, “pride, passion, complicity, daring, tranquility, enjoyment — these are the fuel for optimum performance.” Or, “Constructing a TEAM requires time. Making players do the right things automatically without thinking, achieving total cohesion isn’t spontaneous.”
So his attendance at training, watching body language as much as use of the ball, is a presence to let the players know their manager is concerned at their state of mind.
Sports psychology is, and has been for the entire life of competition, so clearly central (whether administered by a professional or produced by managers and coaches) to high performance that it could be that this man — who’s worked with a catalogue of La Liga sides — can quickly produce adjustments to prevent Valencia stalling at the Mestalla.
But when a team that has soared up the rankings, soared in self belief and respect sees its identity, personality and behaviour traits seeping away just as a ferocious, streetwise and well-formed predator comes to town, it’s hellish bad news.
It’s easy to explain, if difficult to cure. Valencia are well constructed. That’s not the problem here.
They’ve risen above the institutional chaos that scarred the past several years and their managing director, Mateu Alemany, is very good at his job. His coaching appointment, Marcelino, has been a standout success — fierce, disciplined, intensely committed to a high-tempo, aggressive, technical football plus ultra-fitness.
Between Marcelino, abruptly kicked out of Villarreal two years ago, and now wreaking revenge by rebuilding their neighbours, and Alemany, two things have happened: The squad is packed with players committed to the cause, not just on loan, and youth talent has been shown that they’ll be promoted if good enough — ask 20-year-old Toni Lato, 18-year-old Ferran Torres and 21-year-old Carlos Soler. As for Kangin Lee, well, dedicated Valencia fans froth at the mouth in excitement at what this 17-year-old looks likely to produce.
All of which led to Los Che performing with a clearly identifiable 4-4-2 formation last season, robust and physical in defence, clever in central midfield, lightning fast on the wings and good enough to induce Rodrigo’s most prolific scoring return.
Michy Batshuayi reacts during Valencia’s La Liga match against Atletico Madrid.
Marcelino’s win rate after a 0-0 draw at home to Real Betis at the weekend is 52 percent — more than creditable. Fifty matches into his Mestalla reign, he’s only lost 13 times, which, in a land inhabited by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico and Sevilla, ain’t too shabby.
But so far this season — hence Marcelino’s words of concern, Carrascosa’s looming presence on the training ground and the troubling sensation that the Italian champions’ arrival in Valencia is well timed — the Mestalla men are very hard to recognise.
Again, the causes of the pallid lack of identity are pretty easy to identify.
New strikers Kevin Gameiro and Michy Batshuayi arrived late in the market and haven’t been hitting the net — yet.
Ezequiel Garay, a touchstone player as far as his coach is concerned, has an injury he can’t shake and the return date for the defender is a mystery.
Geoffrey Kondogbia, an utterly massive presence in both defensive and offensive midfield last season, missed Valencia’s 2-2 draw in the derbi against Levante, lasted 13 minutes against Betis before feeling the same ankle pain that had just sidelined him and it’s “complicated” for him to make the team to face Juve’s World Cup-winning midfield of Blaise Matuidi and Sami Khedira.
Captain Dani Parejo is one of only three scorers for the club in La Liga this season, a penalty against Levante, but displayed a shocking lack of maturity and self control at the weekend in twice offering the referee an opportunity to send him off once he’d been booked.
The Mestalla’s current favourite player, Goncalo Guedes — who genuinely looked someone of quite startling talent last season before performing as if he were at least singed, if not fully burned out, during the World Cup when he tried to service his most dangerous opponent on Wednesday, Cristiano Ronaldo, on Portuguese international duty — has signed on for the Marcelino adventure.
Paris Saint-Germain will regret selling him, albeit that it was a necessity to meet financial fair play restrictions. But whether the turbocharged kid is fully match sharp, having been another late arrival in the turbulent summer market, is yet to be proven.
Neto, picked to play for Brazil in the U.S. last week, and therefore rested for the last game before his former employers arrive at the Mestalla on Wednesday, has looked shaky. Jittery.
“The Valencia of last season is in the past” … “It’s obvious we’re finding it hard to score goals” … “Nobody needs to be on alert … the wins will come” … “No way have we already lost the chance to achieve our main objectives for the end of the season.”
Marcelino’s words, meant to calm, meant to buy his team time — but the concern is there. Garay’s absence and the lack of cutting-edge up front aside, the key diagnosis is anxiety, hence the surge in importance of sports psychology.
At this stage last season, Valencia looked like a team in a hurry. Now they play like a team that is hurrying things.
Twelve months ago, the Marcelino effect by Week 4 saw Valencia unbeaten, thanks to draws away to Madrid and Levante, and about to go on a run of eight straight wins in which they’d score 28 times. They were powerful, clear-headed, robbing the ball well, bursting with pride and purpose when they counterattacked, overlapping, hunting in packs and, temporarily, looking like they might properly harass Barca and Madrid in the title chase.
Now, they’ve failed to win, twice failed to score, lost lifelessly at Espanyol and their next few matches include tests of character against Juve, Barcelona, Villarreal, Manchester United, Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad.
The “more speed, less haste” problem is the key. Juve and Massimiliano Allegri will know, very well, that while this is an opportunity to do damage to a potentially threatening rival, Valencia are nobody’s fools. Their anxiousness on the ball has led to the “more speed, less haste” demand.
Passes are made too quickly, too hastily; runs are ruled offside instead of well-timed movement into space; decisions are made with the aim of getting rid of possession instead of decisions flowing from knowing the right thing to do with the ball even before it arrives. These are all the types of things that ail Marcelino’s side as their group, which also contains Manchester United and Young Boys, kicks off.
They are the marks of a team that hasn’t settled, where the new boys haven’t hit the ground running (although Denis Cheryshev scored a nice goal in the derbi), where vital players are either injured or lacking form. Time, as Marcelino promises, will cure their ills.
It’s also fair to say that Valencia, on form, are a significantly superior side to the Sevilla one that knocked Manchester United out of this competition last season. They can, even with a slightly clouded vista right now, at least aim to qualify from this group at the expense of a much bigger, much better-resourced rival.
To achieve that, Valencia probably have to embrace their most hated digit this season: zero. When applied to their scoring performances against Betis and Espanyol, it was a crushing disappointment. If applied to how many Los Che concede to Italy’s champions, it would be a very welcome boost to their state of mind.
Ask Carrascosa. He’ll tell you.
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