Since the dismissal of the Asturian coach, the team has lost its status. It has gone from entering the Champions League to fighting to avoid relegation.
Last September 11, 2019 will go down in history as one of the blackest dates in the recent history of Valencia. That day, Peter Lim decided to dispense with Marcelino García Toral as Valencia CF coach. The same coach who just a few months earlier had won the first title in more than ten years for the club was struck down after an extremely turbulent summer in market matters. There were several frictions between Lim and the Marcelino-Mateu Alemany binomial, something that would end up costing the coach the job first and months later the CEO.
Now, the Asturian will face the former club. And he does it with a title under his arm, after winning the Super Cup after leaving Real Madrid and Barcelona on the way.
But where we are going, to the point. Since that unfortunate date, Valencia has gone from rubbing shoulders at the top of the table, from walking the bat of the shield through Europe and fighting for the titles, to directly fighting to avoid relegation. Something difficult to believe and to assume, if one takes into account that less than two years ago Dani Parejo lifted the Copa del Rey trophy in Seville.
The data, devastating
In May 2017, Valencia announced the hiring of Marcelino García Toral as the team’s new coach, after several years of crossing the desert. The objective? To put Valencia back where it belongs in history. It only took a year for the coach to get the team into the Champions League. But this is something that is best seen with the numbers in hand.
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LEAGUE MATCHES WITH MARCELINO ON THE BENCH
| Games played | Won | Tied | Lost | Goals for | Goals against | Goals for / match | Goals against / match | points | Points / match |
| 79 | 38 | 24 | 17 | 119 | 75 | 1,5 | 0,95 | 138 | 1,75 |
With Marcelino on the bench, Valencia finished fourth for the two years in the league, entering the Champions League group stage directly. In addition, in two full years, Valencia averaged more than a goal and a half per game, while in the conceded goals there was no goal per game. Some data that speak clearly of the work of the Asturian technician, who more than met the objectives for which he was hired.
LEAGUE MATCHES SINCE MARCELINO LEFT
| Games played | Won | Tied | Lost | Goals for | Goals against | Goals for / match | Goals against / match | points | Points / match |
| 56 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 70 | 80 | 1,25 | 1,43 | 72 | 1,29 |
However, the devastating reality appears when comparing the data since the technician was fired. Neither Albert Celades, Voro or Javi Gracia, the three coaches who have occupied the bench since then, come close to the Asturian’s records. Valencia score fewer goals per game (1,5 vs 1,25), fits many more (0,95 vs 1,43) and get much less points per game than before (1,75 vs 1,29). Faced with such an avalanche of data and realities there is no debate about how Valencia was with Marcelino and how it is now. The diagnosis is clear; A project has been decapitated and it will be very difficult to get it back up.