The Valenciennes Post
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Cisse Sandra runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Valenciennes
Romain Thomas 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Valenciennes
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Stredair Appuah Owusu 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Émile Huet joins the Valenciennes first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Émile Huet is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Robert Pierre joins the Valenciennes first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robert Pierre is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Michel Gaillard joins the Valenciennes first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michel Gaillard is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Valenciennes
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rémy Boissier dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
- Market Ahmed Diomandé told to find a new club
- Boardroom No investment in the facilities at Valenciennes
- Match No goals between Valenciennes and Dijon