Valencia players get iPads as training aids
Valencia coach Gary Neville is using modern technology to get his ideas across to the players and his assistant Miguel Angel Angulo says he is managing with the language barrier better than he expected.
Neville was known for his dexterity with touch screen analysis as a television pundit and he is now using computers at Valencia to compensate for his basic Spanish.
"He has given an iPad to each player to help them follow training and different actions during games," Angulo said.
"He is doing better than I expected.
"I thought the language barrier would be more of a problem.
"Gary has already started to speak a little Spanish and he is improving quickly.
"There is a good understanding with the players asking him or me what is wanted.
"It won't take long before we can demonstrate the style of football that we want."
Neville faces a difficult challenge to get Valencia back on track and he is yet to win after two games in charge.
They failed to reach the Champions League knockout stage after losing at home to Olympique Lyonnais and got a fortunate draw at Eibar in La Liga on Sunday with a late own goal that left them eighth in the table with 21 points from 15 games.
He could get his first win this morning (Singapore time) against lower league Barakaldo in the Copa del Rey, but Neville understands the scepticism surrounding his appointment by Valencia's Singaporean owner Peter Lim, who is a business partner of the Englishman.
Neville told Sky Sports: "I absolutely would be sceptical (about my appointment).
"I remember when Mauricio Pochettino first came over to Southampton, doing the first Monday Night Football and thinking that Nigel Adkins had done a good job; why have they got rid of him?
"Why have they brought in a foreign coach?
"And then within three or four weeks I was: 'Wow this man can coach. He's affected the team, had a big impact on them.'
"But I would definitely be sceptical, why wouldn't I be sceptical? If I was a Valencia fan, a reporter or in the Spanish media, I would be saying: 'It's a risk, it's a big risk' and I think it's a big risk for me.
"But the risk that I'm taking is manageable because I know the owners, what I'm here to do and where I'm going beyond five months... I know what's happening at the club, that they don't want upheaval." - Wire Services.
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