Although the new La Liga season has just started, one of the teams which had been expected to have been contending for a Champions League spot have already ruined their season. They have made a grievous error which will all but ensure that they will fail to qualify for next season's Champions League.
This club is Valencia.
Last week, Los Che fired then-head coach Marcelino and replaced him with Albert Celades - a shocking decision which none could possibly have seen coming. This was especially surprising because the Asturian had been at the helm during a period which saw the club experience an impressive return to form. Marcelino coached Valencia to a Copa del Rey title and back-to-back fourth-place finishes in La Liga. This was a major improvement over the two seasons before Marcelino took over; in both of those seasons, Valencia finished 12th in the league.
Valencia have now become a club in disarray, and this was clearly exhibited in their recent La Liga match against Barcelona. They were completely taken apart by the Blaugrana in a crushing 5-2 loss. They seemed to enter the match with no cohesion, no plan, and no chemistry; these problems can all be attributed to the sudden coaching change. Even players who were usually known to be solid and consistent such as Gonçalo Guedes, José Gayà, and Dani Parejo appeared to be shell-shocked by the sudden turn of events, as they were completely overwhelmed by Barça in every conceivable manner.
The firing of Marcelino made absolutely no sense at all. He had led Valencia to their most successful span in many years. The back-to-back top-four finishes had not been accomplished by Valencia since 2012. Their Copa del Rey title was their first trophy since 2008, when they won the same title. They also made the semifinals of the Europa League with Marcelino at the helm; something they had not done since 2014.
Yet somehow, despite all this success and a team which boasted a cluster of above-average players to make up for a lack of a true star, owner Peter Lim was dissatisfied with the job that Marcelino had done and unceremoniously fired him.
This is a decision which will go on to haunt Valencia. Marcelino had proven his quality as a coach, a fact that was emphasized by his winning of La Liga's Coach of the Year award for the 2017-18 season. Their performance against Barcelona clearly showed that his firing has already had a major negative impact on their league campaign.
Marcelino's firing also has implications towards Valencia's Champions League campaign. Valencia had been placed in Group H which also contains Chelsea, Ajax, and Lille. It is by far the least threatening group of all eight groups - prior to the events that have recently transpired, one would have expected Valencia to have topped that group fairly easily. However, such is no longer the case. Not only will they probably not top the group, it is now in fact looking likely that Valencia will finish bottom of the group and even miss the drop-down into the Europa League which is granted to third-placed teams.
If, as expected, Valencia do poorly in the league and Champions League this season, it could set a domino effect into motion. Player such as Guedes, Gayà, Kevin Gameiro, and Rodrigo, among others, might end up attempting to make their way out of the Mestalla.
There are times when a change of coach is sorely needed. At those times, a new person is needed at the helm to freshen things up and revive the club's flagging fortunes. Valencia, on the other hand, chose the worst possible time to fire Marcelino. There was absolutely no reason to fire him and replace him with the inexperienced Celades, who has never been a head coach of any club before. Already, it appears to have been a calamitous decision that will severely handicap Valencia throughout the current season. It will take a miracle for Valencia to again make the top four.
One would certainly assume that before too long, Marcelino will find himself in the dugout again, but with a different club. All of Valencia's and Marcelino's good work over the last two years might just have been undone.
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