Corberán admits Valencia's first half cost them dear in Villarreal defeat
Carlos Corberán says Valencia were simply not at the races in the first half against Villarreal, as Los Che slip to just two points above the drop zone.
Valencia’s manager Carlos Corberán cut a frustrated figure after his side fell to a damaging defeat against Villarreal — a result that leaves the club sitting just two points above the relegation places.
The game in a nutshell
It was a tale of two halves, quite literally. Valencia actually took the lead through a Ramazani penalty and looked like they might nick something from the Estadio de la Cerámica. But Villarreal turned it around before the break, and despite a much-improved second-half display from Los Che, the equaliser never came.
- Valencia led via a Ramazani spot-kick
- Villarreal hit back to overturn the deficit before half-time
- The second half was a different story — Valencia the better side, but no reward
Where it went wrong
Corberán was pretty blunt about it. The first half was the problem. Simple as that. His side didn’t defend at the level they’d set themselves, they struggled to get out from under Villarreal’s early pressure, and they lacked the attacking sharpness that eventually showed up after the interval.
As he put it, they needed to do in the first half what they ended up doing in the second — and they didn’t. That’s the long and short of it.
There was also a question raised about Ramazani’s handball — the one that led to Villarreal’s comeback — and whether Valencia felt hard done by. Corberán wasn’t having any of the bad luck narrative though. His attitude was refreshingly straight: look at what we can control, fix it, move on.
The relegation question
Two points above the drop zone. Again. It’s not exactly comfortable viewing for the Valencia faithful, and the question of whether the manager is worried about going down was put to him directly.
His answer was measured — no point looking too far ahead, just focus on improving the details that cost them here. He acknowledged it was a real chance to move up the table and they let it slip through their fingers.
The bigger picture
There’s clearly something there with this Valencia side. The second-half performance apparently showed enough quality and intent to suggest they’re not a lost cause. The issue is consistency across 90 minutes — you can’t gift a top-half side a two-goal swing before the break and expect to come back from it.
Corberán seems to know exactly what the problems are. Whether he can iron them out quickly enough is the proper worry. The bottom of La Liga doesn’t wait around for anyone.