Gary Neville has pledged his commitment to Valencia by delaying his link-up with the England squad for their upcoming friendlies.
Neville saw his Valencia side crumble at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday as they suffered a late 2-0 defeat in front of furious Mestalla fans, who called for the Coach to leave, but the Englishman hopes the same supporters can appreciate his decision to put the Three Lions on the backburner.
“I’ve just spoken to [Roy] Hodgson and I’m staying in Valencia [for now],” he said after the game.
“I’ll go on Thursday but I’ll stay here for three more days. The last thing I want anyone thinking when I go is that I’m not committed.
“There are big games left for Valencia. I love this club and city. It’s what I demand from the players.
“I’m staying here and joining up with England later. I’ll stay for three more [training] sessions more and then I’ll go.
“They scored a goal and it eluded us. I think we need to focus on the next matches.
“I recognise that the situation isn’t good and we haven’t picked up good results. We’re frustrated.
“Too much has gone against us, we’ve lost many players – six in 24 hours.
“We finished with the game with 10 players. We were going very well until we conceded a goal.
“In the first half, it was the game we expected. We were competitive and we were on par, but everything which could go wrong ultimately did go wrong.
“It’s happened three times against Athletic [Bilbao], Atletico [Madrid] and Celta [Vigo].
“They score a goal and it escaped us. We have to correct it. I understand that the fans are frustrated.
“The results haven’t been good, but I’m focused on what lies ahead. I signed for five months and accepted this enormous challenge.
“The results haven’t at all been what I expected, but we lost [Aderllan] Santos two minutes before kick-off and [Jose Luis] Gaya for the last 15 minutes.
“I’m committed. I’m just working hard and focusing on what comes next.
“I don’t think so [on whether his side are afraid of relegation]. We’re only three points from ninth.
“We have a good group of players. We have injuries, but we have to fight. We’ll get the points the club need.
“[On his plea to unhappy fans], they just need to see our performance against Athletic [Bilbao] and the first 75 minutes [against Celta].
“We have to react better. We fought until that minute we conceded. When we concede, we suffer a lot.
“Right now, we need all the players in the squad. I include everyone, no-one’s excluded. I only pick players who I feel are going to help us win the game.
“[On tactical changes], we felt we needed wanted a right-footed player as Rodrigo [Moreno] is left-footed and kept going inside.
“As for [Alvaro] Negredo, if we had taken off [Santi] Mina or [Andre] Gomes, would the fans have been happy?
“We wanted to maintain the system. It wasn’t well received and they scored and foiled us 30 seconds later.”
