Levante 1-0 Valencia: Gary Neville furious after Giuseppe Rossi winner

By Lewis Dean

Monday 14 March 2016 11:34, UK

Gary Neville branded Valencia "unacceptable" and "indefensible" after their 1-0 La Liga defeat at city rivals Levante on Sunday.

Giuseppe Rossi - a former Manchester United team mate of Neville - piled on the misery for the visitors with a 65th-minute winner at the Estadi Ciutat de Valencia.

The margin of defeat could have been more for Valencia and Neville but for the home side's profligacy in front of goal.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Neville could barely hide his anger at this side's performance in a typically blunt assessment.

"I have been here three months and I have sat up here after defeats and defended performances," Neville said. "I have sat up here and said we were unlucky. But I am not defending that.

"I have got to take responsibility for defeat, first of foremost, but that was an indefensible performance. Unacceptable. It was not good enough.

"I apologise to the fans of Valencia because the very basic premise of football match is that you run as hard, you fight as hard and you tackle as hard as the opposition.

"You might sometimes think that things go against you, but not today. Levante were the better team. I can't defend what I've just seen… I take full responsibility for that."

The loss was the third in succession in all competitions for Valencia after signs of encouragement in the Spanish league and European competition.

They routed Rapid Vienna 10-0 on aggregate in the Europa League in February, setting a new record for the biggest win in the competition's history.

Neville denied his focus was on the competition and promised fans they would see an invigorated Valencia when they take on Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League 1-0 down from the first leg on Thursday.

"We won't play with that intensity on [Thursday], I can assure you that. From my point of view we have to pick ourselves up immediately," he added.

Answering questions in English, Neville denied there were communication problems between him and his players as he was surrounded by Spanish coaches.

"I've got eight Spanish staff and we speak together every single day. It is clear that communication lines have improved. I don't think it is a problem with communication."