Gary Neville says Valencia players had heavy legs after defeat by Lyon
Wednesday 9 December 2015 23:43, UK
Gary Neville says Valencia's players had heavy legs as his new side were knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon.
The 2-0 defeat in Neville's first game as head coach means Valencia now drop into the Europa League, having finished third in Group H.
And Neville, who is in charge until the end of the season at the Mestalla following the departure of Nuno, complained of tired legs among his players.
"I think we had lead in our legs, as if we had played another game today.
"We were the better side in the first half, but in the second we conceded a lot of counter-attacks and conceded the second goal. Lyon have good attacking players but we should have done much better.
Trending
- Liverpool score SIX at Tottenham LIVE!
- World Darts Championship: Searle wins as Cullen storms out of presser
- Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth highlights
- Chelsea squander chance to go top with frustrating Everton draw LIVE!
- Bournemouth stun Man Utd in Christmas nightmare for Amorim
- World Darts Championship schedule: Anderson headlines Sunday's action
- Man Utd latest: Neville says Rashford could go in January
- Leicester 0-3 Wolves highlights
- 'The fight's too ******* close!' | What was Fury told ahead of final round?
- 'I've been shown no respect' | Cullen storms out of press conference!
"They were better than us and there's no excuse. We can't be happy with how we played and we can't blame anyone."
Neville's Valencia now drop into the Europa League, where they could face Manchestrer United, but the former defender is not thinking about reuniting with his old club.
"We will take the competition seriously, number one," said Neville of the Europa League, which has been won in four of the last six seasons by a Spanish club.
"Who we draw and whether we play Manchester United is the last thing on my mind at this moment in time, I'm thinking about Sunday's game in the league, I'm thinking about recuperation, recovery and making sure the players are well prepared for Sunday.
"Honestly at this moment in time I couldn't care if we play Manchester United or anyone else in the next round of the Europa League. That's in the distance. I've got to think about tomorrow, the day after and doing my job and how that can affect the players on Sunday.
"I'm positive about what I have seen in terms of the application," added Neville. "You see some of the effort put in by the players to try and recover the game, it was immense.
Live La Liga Football
"I'm positive with what I've seen in the last two days in training. I know that they understand certain things that we want to do, but tonight Lyon played a good game and I never felt Lyon wouldn't play a good game. I never imagined it would be any different.
"Obviously, it's a disappointment tonight as well. It was my first game in front of these fans who in the second half were absolutely amazing when they were trying to lift the team. I could haven't asked for any more, but tonight we couldn't do it for them."
Neville's first La Liga match, a trip to Eibar on Sunday, comes as Valencia look to move up the table, having finished fourth last year.
His side are currently eighth in the table, five points off the top four, but Neville knows his task in Spain is tough.
"We have a fight in front of us, an objective. We have some games left before the Christmas break and I hope we can get some injured players back. Today we simply weren't good enough," he added.
