Barcelona 5-2 Valencia: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis | La Liga Analysis 19/20

#3 Albert Celades endures a cruel baptism by fire

Celades had a tough first day at the office

On the 11th of September, 2019, Valencia shocked the footballing fraternity when they sacked Marcelino. The former manager had led the Los Ches to fourth place last term and had also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League.

Thus, Albert Celades always had huge boots to fill and he didn’t get off to a particularly good start on Sunday.

Facing Barcelona at the Camp Nou is quite an arduous task. Yet, the new manager would’ve hoped for a bit of fight from his players, despite the steepness of the peak they were being asked to scale.

However, not a lot of that materialised with the Los Ches looking clueless for a major chunk of the game.

Unsurprisingly, they also seemed to abandon their high-energy, high-intensity pressing style.

Moreover, their build-up play seemed much more laboured than before, meaning that Dani Parejo was often left with very few passing options.

Defensively, they were all over the shop as Barcelona tore them to shreds on multiple occasions with Wass in particular, enduring a torrid evening against Ansu Fati.

However, having said that, there were a handful of positives for Valencia on Saturday. The few times that they managed to elude Barcelona’s press, they looked a threat in the offensive third.

Gameiro and Rodrigo Moreno linked up well and that contributed to the only goal the visitors scored.

A trip to Barcelona as one’s first managerial assignment wouldn’t have been too high on Celades’ wish-list. And, it only gets difficult with a mid-week Champions League game against Chelsea.

Though losing to Barcelona at the Camp Nou isn’t particularly a crime, the Spaniard would’ve loved something a little more cordial than the 5-2 drubbing meted out to him.