Valenciennes

[ChristopheVAFC]

4 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Is Rento Takoaka a decent prospect? He's still quite young but wonder could he step up?

I quite like Rento; he puts in a lot of effort, isn’t afraid to get stuck in despite his small stature, and never shies away from hard work. In my view, he deserves a bit more playing time.

 

So yes, he isn’t very tall and can’t quite compete with traditional players yet, but he’s very deserving.

 

I’d really like the club to keep him on for next season.

[ChristopheVAFC]

Good match everyone ❤️🤍

[ChristopheVAFC]

End game before few minutes.

Non win tonight...

0-0.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

0-0

That was grim. The highlights at the end make all the poor touches, passes and decision in between much better.

VA did get the ball in the net in added time. The ref blew before it got there. Either for a very soft foul on their keeper, or for comedy diving from a VA player to try and get a penalty.

Moments later, their forward heads the ball past the high VA defence. He's got a long run, one on one with Louchet, who blocks it.

Louchet had another decent block in the first half. He gets my VA player of the match. His falling over is on purpose.

VA missed a good chance when a player fell over his own feet rather than cut the ball back into the box. Courtet also tripped himself up trying to get a ball up from midfield.

Aubagne had fallen further and further into their defence in the second half. But VA offered no real coherent attack. The visiting keeper spilled a tame effort on 55 minutes, that VA didn't capitalise on. Other than that, it was snapshots. 

Appuah and Niakate had moments where it looked like they might link up. Passi looked the most likely to do something. He's the central defender, which says a lot about VA's attack.

Diomande was versatile, but was easily snuffed out tonight, and got subbed. Courtet was his usual, lonely frustrated self across the pitch.

VA may look at it as a point gained, ensuring their safety. But it was another disjointed effort from a tired looking side. Those 3 absentees were missed after all.

 

[ChristopheVAFC]

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all well on the eve of one of your biggest matches of the season.

News from Valenciennes:

Following last Friday’s 0-0 home draw against Aubagne (who parked the bus and came away with a point), we’re now heading to the Stade Robert Diochon to face Quevilly Rouen Métropole, who are second from bottom in the league.

As for VA, we reckon they need two more wins to officially secure their place in National 1 (in Ligue 3 next year). Facing an opponent who don’t want to be relegated, it won’t be easy, but the Stade Robert Diochon holds fond memories for VA:

- Two years ago, the club beat FC Rouen at this very stadium to reach the semi-finals of the Coupe de France.

- Last January, again at the same venue, VA faced FC Rouen in the league; the home side, who were league leaders at the time, were beaten 2-1 by Valenciennes.

The bad news: Rento Takaoka has been ruled out with an injury sustained whilst on international duty. We don’t know the extent of his injury, but I hope he’ll be back soon!

The match kicks off at 7.30 pm French time and the link to the match is below:

I’ll be sharing articles from today’s press with you throughout the day.

Allez VA !