Valenciennes ended up avoiding relegation from Ligue 2 by quite a distance, even cruising for the final month of the season. With their resources once again limited, head coach Faruk Hadzibegic had to channel his efforts into a relatively small squad of players who had to be flexible and dependable. With a young team, it was always going to be difficult for them to be consistent and for long stretches of the campaign they struggled to strike a balance. At times, they would be robust at the back but offer little going forward, while there were spells they would play in a really open and entertaining manner, with goals coming at both ends of the park. Certainly, towards the end of the campaign they could not be blamed for shutting up shop somewhat, as their team was decimated by injury problems, most notably to the few experienced players in their ranks, such as Ahmed Kantari and Sebastien Roudet. With a little more luck on this front, they could easily have finished higher up the standings, particularly as leading attacker Nuno da Costa suffered an injury in January that effectively ended his campaign, having scored at a rate of nearly a goal every other game to that point. One of the surprising stories of their season was the joy that Saliou Ciss had in a more advanced midfield role. He ended the campaign the club’s second top marksman and was no longer the disciplinary liability he had been a season earlier. Indeed, the flurry of reds that VA had seen a year earlier dried up to a trickle, with only three all season – had they been poor on this front, they could really have had some problems on the selection front. Improving upon this campaign will be a tough challenge for Valenciennes, although if they can get some of their younger players to be more regular, like Angelo Fulgini and Lamine Ndao, they have a chance. There is, however, little sign of a return to the top flight any time soon.
