So far, Marcelino García Toral is doing a fantastic job managing this Valencia side.
We are not a third into the season and Valencia has half as many victories in the La Liga season as they did for the entire 2016/17 season.
Valencia. Finished 12th(the highest position they managed to reach all season) in last 2016/17 La Liga season. Valencia resided in the relegation zone for the first five rounds of last season and remained relegation-threatened for most of the season. They won 13 out of the 38 matches played (8 at home and 5 away). The highlight of their season was when they shocked the football world by getting a home victory over the eventual title winners; Real Madrid.
Their five away victories came against Espanyol, Granada, Leganes, Sporting Gijon and Villarreal. Two teams in that list (Granada, Sporting Gijon) were relegated, and Leganes sat right above the drop zone at the end of the year.
In their opening 9 matches in this season’s La Liga, Valencia has had a ‘1-0’ victory against Las Palmas, three consecutive draws coming in as ‘2-2’ away at Real Madrid, ‘0-0’ at home with Atletico Madrid, and a ‘1-1’ on the road against newly promoted Levante. They’ve then gone on a winning streak, taking a ‘5-0’ victory over Malaga at home, a ‘3-2’ win over Real Sociedad away and Athletic Club at home, a thrilling 9-goal match against Real Betis that ended in a ‘6-3’ victory, and most recently a ‘4-0’ thrashing of a Sevilla side that was suppose to bring a challenge.
Currently sitting second in the league table is a great accomplishment for any La Liga side that is not Barcelona, Real Madrid or Atlético Madrid. Could Valencia dream of a seventh league title?, and/or a return to the UEFA Champions League? There is still a lot of the season left, but should the players and management continue to do whatever they’ve been doing since August, Valencia has the pedigree to make all their football dreams a reality.
