With Ruben Baraja, Valencia continues their rise. They're back to their glory days. 5 wins in the last 6 games, the only loss was against Atletico, an acceptable result. Valencia will do everything to finish in the top 7 of the league, I believe they will succeed.
Well, Ruben Baraja really brought a breath of fresh air to Valencia, after previously Valencia could only finish in 16th place (almost relegated). They're currently in 7th place in the La Liga standings, and I'm sure they have bigger plans. There are still 15 games left before La Liga finishes, so I think it's still possible for them to get a UCL spot.
Today against Almeria they played a superior game. However, I would say the decisive moment was the missed penalty at 2-1 and Almeria's failure to score on the return ball. Pepelu's penalty kick hit the post and Almeria on the counter-attack came close to scoring through Ramazani's shot. If the score had been 2-2 it would have been very difficult for Valencia in the last part, but luckily they didn't score.
No one thought that Valencia could win this match, just look at the statistics, Almeria dominated the match but they were unlucky this time. Therefore, in the upcoming matches they (Valencia) must not just rely on their luck.
Valencia found itself with Ruben Baraja and the team started to collect points. Sometimes some small touches affect the team's game positively. This touch seems to have been made for Valencia. There was a team on the field striving for victory and shaping their attack, and they managed to get 3 points. Almeria is not that strong of a team, but they played well in this match and it was important to get 3 points from this match, Valencia did it.
Even if you play badly in some matches, you need to play smart. Valencia did that today and managed to do the things needed to win in time. Even though they can't play a very superior game, they can still manage to score goals.