The Valenciennes Post
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Stredair Appuah Owusu runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Real improvement from Kylian Kouakou at Valenciennes
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kylian Kouakou is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Gaëtan Courtet
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Valenciennes draw a blank against Clermont Foot
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Clermont Foot defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
- Market The window shut and Joël Ngoya is still in the building
- Player ratings Quentin Daubin spends the afternoon fouling