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

Things aren't going G-Nev's way... but there's hope 

Gary Neville's Valencia fell to another defeat on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at Real Betis.
It means Los Che are now nine La Liga games without a win under the rookie Brit coach , and 12 league matches without victory including the end of Nuno Espirito Santo's reign.

Rather predictably, this has resulted in some fairly intense pressure on Neville who acknowledged that it was
"completely unacceptable" to not have yet tasted victory since he's been in charge.

After the Copa del Rey humiliation to Barcelona , what Neville described as a "freak" result, he needs to turn around public opinion.

So what is it that Gary Neville must do to turn things around at Mestalla and begin Valencia's march back up 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 alarming that his side have not yet led in a single La Liga match.

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 conducive to success.

2. Find your best XI

There's no doubt that injuries and a cluttered fixture list have affected Neville's ability to keep a consistent XI.
But the mind-boggling variety of combinations we've seen make it look like 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 that are underperforming.

And here's one of those...

3. Ditch Aymen Abdennour/keep a clean sheet

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

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

While his performances at Toulouse and Monaco have him proven as a good defender, Gary Neville's philosophy (from what we've seen 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're not keeping clean sheets then you need to score more goals, and that's something Valencia aren't doing it either.

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 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 top of the list of managers that simply need one thing to go their way.
A Darren Bent beachball moment. One thing. Anything.   Neg: Alvaro Negredo misses a chance to secure the win over Real Madrid