Gary Neville gives Valencia players iPads to get his ideas over

New coach compensates for lack of fluency in Spanish Cup tie against Barakaldo is target for first win

Posted Wednesday, December 16, 2015 by theguardian.com

Gary Neville is using computer technology to get his ideas across to his Valencia players to compensate for his lack of fluency in Spanish.

''He has given an iPad to each player to help them follow training and different actions during games,” his assistant Miguel Angel Angulo said. “He is doing better than I expected. I thought the language barrier would be more of a problem. Gary has already started to speak a little Spanish and he is improving quickly. There is a good understanding with the players asking him or me what is wanted.

''It won’t take long before we can demonstrate the style of football that we want.”

Neville faces a difficult challenge to get Valencia back on track and he has yet to win after two games in charge. They failed to reach the Champions League knockout stage after losing at home to Lyon and got a fortunate draw at Eibar in La Liga last Sunday with a late own goal that left them eighth in the table with 21 points from 15 games.

On Wednesday evening they will be looking to book a place in the Copa del Rey last 16 against the lower league side Barakaldo. They lead 3-1 lead from the first leg.

''What he is looking for is that the players understand as quickly as possible what he wants and the games against Lyon and Eibar were really games of adaption,” Angulo said.

''Barakaldo maybe a good rival for us to work on ideas that we want to transmit. Then we play Getafe also at home where we can continue that.

''We are not looking for long-term goals to be honest. We are looking at short-term targets. We now play Barakaldo, who we need to beat, then Getafe, Villarreal and Real Madrid.”