Valencia have been through tough times recently.
The legendary club qualified for the UEFA Champions League in the 2018/2019 season and won the Copa del Rey in 2019, but from then on, things derailed quickly for the club from the South-East of Spain.
Owner Peter Lim lost interest in the club, cutting the budget by a huge margin.
This resulted in many players leaving the club, including Dani Parejo, Francis Coquelin, Gonçalo Guedes, and Ferran Torres.
In the 2020s, the club had a succession of managers as they sought stability and a way out of their downward spiral.
Their academy saved the club multiple times, with players like Carlos Soler, Cristhian Mosquera, and Javi Guerra taking on prominent roles in the first team.
However, most of the young players, such as Mosquera, who decided to leave this year and join Arsenal in the Premier League.
At the end of 2024, Valencia hit rock bottom.
After a huge flood hit the city, many of the teams games were postponed, and the club found itself dead last in La Liga with only slim chances of getting out of the relegation zone.
Club legend Ruben Barajá was sacked, and a young manager, Carlos Corberán, was bought out of his contract at West Brom.
It has been an absolute success story so far.
Under Corberán, Valencia collected 34 points in 21 league games and got back into the midfield.
Now, Valencia have signed multiple experienced players to strengthen their squad, especially the two midfielders, Baptiste Santamaria from Rennes and Filip Ugrinic from Young Boys.
In this tactical analysis, we will examine what Corberán has prepared with his team for the next season, how their two new midfielders will fit into that tactical scheme, and what to expect from the team next season.
Valencia Attacking Press Analysis
Looking at what Corberán did in comparison to what happened at Valencia before his takeover, he changed two main things to make the team more successful quickly.
The first thing is their build-up play.
The young Spanish coach adjusted the teams positional play, making them more secure on the ball in their passing game and allowing for more progression with planned rotations and by exploiting the space between the lines.
The second thing he changed was more important.
Under Corberán, Valencia stopped defending exclusively in a deep block and started playing a very aggressive attacking press, trying to push their opponents into mistakes high up the field.
While it wasn’t perfect last season, it still significantly impacted the teams performance against the ball.
After spending an entire pre-season working on it, Valencia looked sharp in their season-opening friendly against Torino, completely dominating the game from the start.
Looking at the game for the Trofea Naranja, the silverware Valencia hands out to the winner of their season opener, we can see that the team and coaching staff worked hard on the way they are starting their press.
In this case, they forced a backwards pass to the keeper after a goal kick and moved forward as a unit to push their first line of press right into the box of their opponent.
The attacking press
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