Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 141 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
8 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Rento Takaoka 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.
Squad9 Feb 2043
Fredrik Berg 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Charlie Dinsdale 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 Oct 2042
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rento Takaoka 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.
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.
“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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Valenciennes hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Charlie Dinsdale 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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings8 Sep 2042
A brace, and Rento Takaoka takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rento Takaoka provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Renato Marin and Valenciennes agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Sep 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rento Takaoka. 3‑2 against Monaco, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Charlie Dinsdale 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.
Squad18 Aug 2042
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rento Takaoka 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.
11 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Édouard Robin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Denis Barbier has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Charlie Dinsdale and Valenciennes agree another 2 years.
Charlie Dinsdale 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Axel Kedvesi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Valenciennes have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Albian Gavranovic has his answer from Valenciennes; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
28 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Valenciennes hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Squad7 Jul 2042
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rento Takaoka 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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Charlie Dinsdale 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.
Squad28 Apr 2042
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri Colau 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.
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.
Squad14 Oct 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.
17 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.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
4 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.
Squad30 Sep 2041
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.
24 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.
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.
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.
Squad23 Sep 2041
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rento Takaoka 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
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.
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.
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.
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.
38 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Charlie Dinsdale provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Rento Takaoka 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.
45 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 8. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Sep 2041
The window shut and Elías Verón is still in the building
Valenciennes spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
52 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
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.