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As Gary Neville begins to gradually overcome the cultural differences between Manchester and the Mediterranean,

is only becoming more apparent.

A week in the job, Neville takes charge of his first La Liga game at Eibar on Sunday afternoon looking to bounce back from

But preparations for this game have been far from ideal, with Neville shocked at the poor infrastructure awaiting him at Mestalla and on Wednesday night he admitted to that he was still somewhat in the dark about Eibar:

“I came here and there was nothing in place for me to be able to say ‘we’re ready to go’ in terms of preparations.

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(Image: Getty)

“We’ve had to do our own work in terms of tonight and Eibar. We have three analysts and we have three coaches. The analysts that were working with me towards Lyon moved onto Eibar [on Tuesday] so we’ve started preparation for that now.

“We’re playing catch-up from that point of view. The amount of preparation that I would do normally would be three or four weeks in advance. I’d be thinking about the games [in January] against Villarreal and Real Madrid right now, but we aren’t.

“That’s not what we’ve inherited here.”

“I think things are different in Spain,” he said.

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(Image: Alex Caparros)

The former Manchester United captain has quickly tried to implement a more professional structure at the club's Ciudad Paterna training ground.

For a start he has drafted in former United press officer Di Law, daughter of club legend Denis, to help manage his affairs in Spain.

After Neville struggled to find a Spanish teacher willing to wake up as staggeringly early as he does every day, one of her first pieces of advice to Neville was to mention it in

Within hours Valencia, Salford City and friends of Neville had been inundated with hundreds and hundreds of offers to provide the 6am classes Gary was looking for.

Having promised to immerse himself into the language and culture, the 40-year-old is getting there gradually. And when it comes to food he's thrown himself in at the deep end.

"I've had paella every day. On Friday I had one in the centre of Valencia with rabbit!

"For me, having a paella with rabbit is a bit weird. I've eaten octopus too, which is also weird for me but the food is really good."

(Image: Getty)

Even without language, Neville has used group meetings and video sessions to get his message across to the players before games. He's satisfied that the players understood what he wanted from them on Wednesday night, even if their energy level let them down, and has put in hours of work himself to prepare for

today.

"I've watched a lot of video, I've seen it's a typical British stadium and this type of ground is a physical and mental test," he said of their 6,000-seater Ipurua home.

"It'll be a great game from a quality point of view."

(Image: AFP/Getty)

One player he's banking on to help fire Valencia back up the table is Alvaro Negredo, who was frozen out under predecessor Nuno but is now back in the fold after making his first appearance on two months against Lyon.

"Alvaro had a great impact in the Premier League, at [Manchester] City he was the perfect striker and I don't see any reason why he can't regain that level."