A glance at the Spanish league table and the familiar name of Valencia in fourth place may not seem all that remarkable – but scratch beneath the surface and it wasn’t all that long ago that the things looked a whole lot worse for a club where, for once, the overused term crisis was totally justified. It might only be a minor success story, but credit is due to Unai Emery for turning things around in recent weeks.

Last season the year began with Valencia as close to relegation as they were to the top. Off the pitch, things were even worse: the players hadn’t been paid in over two months and the credit crunch hit them far harder than anyone could possibly have imagined. Unable to sell off the old stadium and training ground to finance the new ones, the club had amassed a staggering $725 million debt through a combination of bad luck and incredibly bad fiscal management. The future looked bleak and the prospect of a mass exodus in the summer of  the club’s biggest stars appeared inevitable. Faced with the departures of his best players at the end of the season, coach Unai Emery – who was forced to work with three different presidents in as many months in charge – conceded “This football club has hit rock bottom.”

Fast forward to the beginning of this season and, to everyone’s astonishment, most of Valencia’s star players were still at the club. A combination of credit agreements, loans from friendly banks and local government - plus some unexpected twists in the transfer market meant that Unai Emery could somehow count on David Silva, David Villa, Juan Mata, Carlos Marchena and Ever Banega for the season ahead.

But after five games of the season, it looked as if the crisis and uncertainty surrounding the Mestalla had taken its toll: the team was throwing away points against weak opposition and the defensive lapses that plagued them last season were as bad as ever with the team letting in nine goals in those opening fixtures. Emery appeared not to have the solution and was even publicly criticised by David Villa after one typically frustrating team performance. After throwing away a two goal lead against a poor Atletico Madrid, Emery was hauled before the board who demanded an immediate improvement. That was exactly five games ago.

Since then, Valencia have gone on to become Spain’s most in form team and after conceding nine goals in their first five games they have let in just  a single goal in their last five; that’s four clean sheets in a row from a side that broke a club record last season when they conceded in 21 consecutive games. Emery has made few changes: In goal Moya  has been replaced by César; David Navarro has been installed in the centre of defence; Dealbert – a free signing from the lower leagues has been a revelation at the back – and David Albelda is in the midst of a renaissance protecting the back four while Ever Banega provides the dynamism in the centre if midfield that has been missing for so long.

But it is as a team that the biggest improvement can be noted: as Emery now has Valencia defending and working as a unit and when they play with discipline and intensity, they can be more than a match for the very best, as they proved against Barcelona recently.  And for that, in what must be incredibly difficult circumstances at times, the young coach from the Basque country deserves a lot of credit.

Emery is a tactically very astute manager who reminds me of Rafa Benitez in his obsessive attention to detail and his tireless, almost scientific, approach.  A former player of Emery’s described him a “colossal pain” because of his endless training sessions, detailed team talks, videos and analysis every second of every match. That same player also said that he continually repeats to the players that “an open hand can only deliver a slap but a fist, with everything tightly packed together, is capable of doing real damage”  - which just about sums up Valencia’s team performances in recent weeks.

Let’s not make the mistake of thinking that Valencia’s problems are in the past: they are not. But if they can maintain their current form and discover some consistency against weaker opposition while staying “ packed together to do damage” against bigger sides, then who knows, maybe the club we all thought might drop from sight can cling on to its place amongst the elite after all...