Marked for Thibault Marty
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2042
A fracture rules Charlie Dinsdale out for 57 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.
Squad28 Jul 2042
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.
Squad28 Jul 2042
Rento Takaoka 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jun 2042
A fracture rules Charlie Dinsdale out for 85 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.
Squad30 Jun 2042
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.
Squad30 Jun 2042
Dimitri Colau 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Feb 2042
Beaten 0‑4 by FC Nantes, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad10 Feb 2042
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.
Match8 Feb 2042
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad10 Feb 2042
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.
Squad10 Feb 2042
Rento Takaoka 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.
Squad10 Feb 2042
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Henrique Tavares, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 Feb 2042
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings10 Feb 2042
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Feb 2042
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Arnaud Picard leaves Valenciennes the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Sep 2041
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kenneth Simons
31 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.
Squad16 Sep 2041
A fracture rules Mahamadou Tandia out for 34 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.
Player ratings16 Sep 2041
Rento Takaoka, 34, rolls back the years — 8.01
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad16 Sep 2041
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.
Squad16 Sep 2041
Rento Takaoka 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.
Match14 Sep 2041
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.