Marked for Frankie Baker
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jan 2032
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valenciennes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jan 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valenciennes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom19 Jan 2032
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad19 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valenciennes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Yohan Bilingi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Jan 2032
The manager makes an example of Quentin Daubin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Jan 2032
It needed Edens Cadeau to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sochaux, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Jan 2032
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against US Creteil, and it could have been more.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Santiago Muñóz, 33, rolls back the years — 8.11
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market12 Jan 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valenciennes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Daou Diomandé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Bilingi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Frankie Baker was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Market12 Jan 2032
Stade Lavallois are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Valenciennes will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Nov 2031
A fracture rules Rayan Souici out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valenciennes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Nov 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valenciennes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Daou Diomandé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Bilingi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match15 Nov 2031
Dijon left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Nov 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ousmane Ba, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market17 Nov 2031
The Charles Abi talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Valenciennes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Off the bench and decisive: Frankie Baker
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Valenciennes were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Sep 2031
A 1‑0 win over Toulouse FC, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market22 Sep 2031
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valenciennes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valenciennes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rémy Boissier is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad22 Sep 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yohan Bilingi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
A mark of 7.60, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Quentin Daubin knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Quentin Daubin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match20 Sep 2031
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Nimes will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Aug 2031
Frankie Baker hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valenciennes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Daou Diomandé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Bilingi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad25 Aug 2031
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad25 Aug 2031
The manager makes an example of Santiago Muñóz
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Valenciennes support went home talking about one name.
Market25 Aug 2031
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Valenciennes will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match23 Aug 2031
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. AC Ajaccio will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Mar 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rémy Boissier
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valenciennes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Mar 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Mar 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Feb 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Samuel Tabares
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valenciennes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Feb 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valenciennes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Daou Diomandé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rémy Boissier is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 Feb 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Frankie Baker and Valenciennes agree another 3 years.
Market17 Feb 2031
Valenciennes have let the market know Samuel Tabares can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Jan 2031
7 matches without a win for Valenciennes
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Valenciennes are no longer polite ones.
Market20 Jan 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valenciennes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Frankie Baker: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valenciennes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Daou Diomandé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Bilingi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match18 Jan 2031
It needed Daou Diomandé to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sochaux, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad20 Jan 2031
The manager makes an example of Axel Dehaine
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.