Valencia could be on their way to Spain’s second tier. Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Almería leaves Rubén Baraja’s side stuck in the relegation places, two points behind Real Valladolid, who are in 17th place.
The Mestalla outfit have played 32 games in all competitions this season and have lost 16. Yesterday’s defeat to fellow strugglers Almería was the eighth in a row away from home and they find themselves in 18th place with 27 points from 28 games.
The post-World Cup stats are extremely worrying. According to Relevo, Valencia are the team with the fewest points in the league (8), behind Elche, who have nine.
In their last two games, Valencia have had more shots than their opponents (22 shots compared to nine for Rayo Vallecano and 15 compared to 14 for Almería), they have had more possession than their opponents in both games (61% and 60% respectively) and they have played in the opposition half more than their opponents in both games (354 passes in the opposition half compared to 212 for Rayo and 336 passes in the opposition half compared to 162 for Almería). Despite all this, they have only taken one point from a possible six.
To make matters worse, Baraja has lost Nico González and Justin Kluivert to injury, although the Barça loanee’s issue looks less serious. Kluivert could be out for a month.
Valencia – one of the biggest clubs in Spain – have just 10 games to get themselves out of trouble.
Kieran Quaile | GSFN
